[Funding Galore] From Cars24 To Delhivery— Over $900 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

Further continuing its recovery, the Indian startup ecosystem has witnessed a 58% jump in the amount of capital infused as compared to last week and a 101% jump from the week prior.

This week, while no Indian startup entered the celebrated unicorn club, the ecosystem has managed to raise $900 Mn across 38 deals.  The week also saw software-as-a-service (SaaS) based unicorn Freshworks get listed on the US stock exchange NASDAQ. 

The highest funding this week was raised by online used car marketplace — Cars24. The automobile unicorn raised $450 Mn led by DST Global, Falcon Edge and SoftBank Vision Fund, at a valuation of $1.84 Bn. 

The week also saw former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel’s Addition pump in $125 Mn in Gurugram-based logistics startup Delhivery. Earlier this month, Inc42 had exclusively reported that Addition had infused $558 Cr in exchange for 146,961 Series I Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) of Delhivery. 

Mumbai-based B2B healthtech Medikabazaar announced $75 Mn Series C round from CDC Group and CREAEGIS, along with other investors, after Inc42 had exclusively reported that UK-based CDC Group along with CREAEGIS is infusing INR 433 Cr in the startup.

Another startup that closed its Series C round was Bengaluru-based fintech startup ZestMoney. The startup raised $50 Mn led by an Australian stock exchange-listed firm, Zip Co Limited. 

Of the 38 deals, ecommerce sector managed to bag the highest amount of deals worth $528.77 Mn, which is 58.7% of the total deal amount, followed by the fintech sector that raised $123.38 Mn across 10 deals and contributed to 13% of the week’s fundraise. 

Here are all the funding rounds disclosed this week:

Startups IPO This Week

Girish Mathrubootham’s Freshworks Makes Its Debut On NASDAQ Stock Exchange

Girish Mathrubootham rang the bell of NASDAQ stock exchange on September 22, as his startup Freshworks got listed on the US stock exchange. The $10 Bn-valued SaaS unicorn, post the listing, announced that over 500 of its shareholding employees in India have become crorepatis. Globally, Freshworks employs around 4,300 people. 

After its robust debut on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the startups’ market capitalisation crossed $13.3 Bn. Freshworks’s shares traded at $46.75 Mn when the market closed on Friday evening. 

IPO-Bound OYO To Have 75% Primary & 25% Secondary Component In Its Offer

Ritesh Aggarwal-led hospitality unicorn OYO, which will be filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator SEBI in the next 10 days, is likely to have around 75% primary component and 25% as its secondary component in its offer.

According to sources, OYO’s IPO offer will include fresh issues of share ranging between 70% to 80% of the offer, and the remaining will consist of secondary issues, meaning the shareholders in the unicorn will sell some portion of their shares. 

OYO is likely to go for an IPO ranging between $1 Bn to $1.2 Bn. Based on calculations, the hospitality unicorn is likely to issue fresh shares worth $700 Mn to $800 Mn and the rest which is likely to be around $200 Mn will be offered for sale.

The startup is eyeing for $12 Bn – $14 Bn valuation. As per media reports, Aggarwal is not likely to offload his shares during the IPO.

Online Automobile Marketplace Droom To Go For INR 1,000 Cr IPO Next Year

Newly-turned unicorn Droom is planning an INR 1,000 Cr listing, only to follow its competitor CarDekho, which opted for a public listing worth INR 2,000 Cr. Sandeep Agarwal-led Droom is likely to hit the public market sometime early next year. 

Droom which converted into a public company last month, entered the celebrated unicorn club after it closed the first leg of its ongoing IPO growth funding round of $200 Mn.

From The Acquisition Desk

• The Kalpathi AGS Group-owned Veranda Learning Solutions has acquired Edureka, a live-instructor-led online solutions provider for INR 245 Cr
• Edtech Startup Eupheus Learning Acquires ClassKlap In $19 Mn All-Stock Deal. The acquisition comes shortly after Eupheus Learning raised $10 Mn in a Series C round from Lightrock India.
• Thrasio-Style Startup 10Club marks its first acquisition by buying D2C baby brand My Newborn. The acquisition comes on the back of its $40 Mn fundraise, one of the largest seed rounds.   
• Fintech startup M2P Fintech has acquired credit card sourcing startup Wizi. With the acquisition, M2P aims to strengthen the plug-and-play model of its platform. Reports suggest that the deal was a mix of cash and stock, bringing the valuation of Wizi at approximately $5 Mn. 
• Construction tech marketplace startup Infra.Market has acquired RDC Concrete India from homegrown private equity firm True North. According to media reports, Infra.Market had to shell $100 Mn for the acquisition.
• Bengaluru-based lifestyle social commerce startup Trell has acquired Womaniya, a community focused on women’s self care, for an undisclosed sum. Womaniya is a mobile application only for women, full of trusted information around pregnancy with original videos, infographics, and articles. The community also provides support from gynecologists and experts in a question-answer format and live sessions. 
• Mylab Discovery Solutions has acquired a majority stake in point-of-care startup Sanskritech for an undisclosed amount.
• Edtech startup Oliveboard has acquired online SSC test preparation startup SSCTube for an undisclosed amount. As part of this deal, SSCTube’s 500,000+ users will be moved to the Oliveboard platform, with an aim to grow the exam segment to over 2 Mn in the next 6 months.
• Delhi NCR-based SaaS startup Rategain has acquired Germany based myhotelshop which provides a platform to help hotels improve direct guest acquisition.
• DotPe has acquired Bengaluru-based PoS service provider Rista in an all-cash deal. Post the acquisition, Rista will continue to work as a standalone entity.

Fund Launches This Week

• Delhi-based online gaming startup WinZO has announced a $20 Mn fund for the Indian game developer ecosystem. Earlier, the startup had announced Fund II of $5 Mn in 2020 and Fund I of $1.5 Mn in 2019. The development comes on the heels of WinZO raising $65 Mn in a Series C funding round led by California-based Griffin Gaming Partners.
• Pune-based Pentathlon Ventures, an early-stage B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS)-focused VC firm, has announced the final close of its debut fund at INR 76 Cr, and said it will invest in 20+ B2B SaaS startups.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Inc42 exclusively reported that Myntra has received a capital infusion of INR 492 Cr from its Singapore-based parent company FK Myntra Holdings ahead of the festive season. The Flipkart-owned fashion ecommerce platform is gearing up for its seven days ‘Big Fashion Sale’ which is scheduled between October 7 and October 13, 2021.
• US-based ecommerce giant Amazon has infused INR 450 Cr into Amazon Pay India, its payments arm. As per the regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, Amazon Pay India will be allotting 449,955,036 equity shares to Amazon Corporate Holdings and 44,964 equity shares to Amazon.com.incs Limited.
• Bengaluru-based foodtech startup iD Fresh Food, which supplies idli-dosa batter across the country, is reportedly planning to raise about INR 400-450 Cr that will value the company at INR 1,800-2,000 Cr.
• Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)  is reportedly venturing into multi-brand and private label cosmetics, competing with online marketplaces such as IPO-bound Nykaa, Sugar, Lush, Purplle and MyGlamm, as well as offline brick and mortar stores such as Sephora, MAC cosmetics, Ulta and Macy’s.
• Inc42 exclusively reported that early-stage investor Kalaari Capital received almost 14X return after its exit from Bengaluru and San Francisco-based edtech startup Simplilearn. While early to mid-stage venture capital Helion Ventures has received around 10-12X returns, Mayfield, which led the Series C round of $15 Mn in Simplilearn in 2015, received about 8X return from the exit. 
• B2B ecommerce marketplace Udaan has received its shareholders approval for raising upto INR 2,000 Cr by allotting NCDs (Non-Convertible Debentures). 
• Social commerce startup Meesho is reportedly in talks to raise a fresh round of funding worth between $550 Mn to $600 Mn at a valuation close to $5 Bn. According to a media report, the new round of investment will be led by US-based Fidelity.