[Funding Galore] From Swiggy To Ola Electric— Over $1.9 Bn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

After two consecutive weeks of raising funds lower than the $1 Bn mark, the Indian startup ecosystem has managed to raise $1.9 Bn in total funding in the last week of January across 67 deals. This is also a 275% rise from $519 Mn across 50 deals the ecosystem raised a week back.

The week also saw the rise of well-anticipated DealShare turning into a unicorn after closing $165 Mn funding led by Tiger Global at $1.62 Bn valuation.

The week’s highest funding was received by food delivery aggregator Swiggy, receiving a cheque of $700 Mn, that helped the Bengaluru-based startup and a rival to the listed Zomato valuation soar to over $10 Bn. 

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

D2C Headphone Maker boAt Filed INR 2,000 Cr DRHP

Delhi-based headphone maker boAt which is operated by Imagine Marketing Limited has filed INR 2,000 Cr DRHP with the market regulator SEBI. As per the documents reviewed by Inc42, the D2C brand’s offer consists of INR 900 Cr of fresh issue of shares, and upto INR 1,100 Cr for offer-for-sale. 

As per the DRHP documents, founders Aman Gupta, and Sameer Mehta will be offloading shares upto INR 150 Cr both. Among investors, South Lake Investment LTD will be offloading upto INR 800 Cr during the IPO. 

OYO Received In-Principle Listing Approval From NSE & BSE

Hospitality unicorn OYO has received in-principal approval for its INR 8,430 Cr IPO from BSE and NSE. According to the documents reviewed and under possession of Inc42,  OYO has received a nod for listing on both BSE and NSE.

Square Yards’ Promoters, Management To Hold 55% Stake, Early Backer Likely To Exit

Inc42 earlier this week exclusively reported that proptech startup Square Yards which is heading for a domestic IPO will see its promoters, management hold 55% stake post the public listing. The startup which is heading for an IPO between April and May, is likely to see its early backer Reliance Capital exit. 

Infurnia Technologies To File INR 40 Cr IPO On BSE Startup Platform

Cloud-based architectural design software startup Infurnia Technologies is planning to raise INR 40 Cr in an initial public offering (IPO) on the BSE Startup Platform. 

From The Startup Acquisition Desk

• Content-to-commerce unicorn, Good Glamm Group, picked up a majority stake in beauty and personal care startup, Organic Harvest.
• Bengaluru-based rollup ecommerce startup, Mensa Brands, this time acquired a majority stake in gardening solutions startup, Trustbasket.
• Cloud kitchen brand aggregator Curefoods announced its merger with cloud kitchen player Maverix.
• Japanese home medical support company, Human Life Management (HLM), acquired Indian home healthcare startup, Care24, for an undisclosed amount.
• Co-living startup Ishtara acquired LetsMobility to strengthen its technological solutions. 
• Global fintech player MODIFI acquired Seawise Capital’s trade finance and SaaS business.
• AppX acquired a website building platform for creators super.page.
• Edtech startup TeachMint acquired education ERP player MyClassCampus.
• Odisha-based edtech startup LectureNotes acquired Kolkata-based CollegeShala for an undisclosed amount.  

Startup Funds This Week

• A $150 Mn India-UAE (United Arab Emirates) venture capital fund has been announced at a recently held Expo 2020, in Dubai. It was announced by Ajai Chowdhry, HCL founder and chairman of the Start-Up Committee at FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)
• Startup incubator Venture Catalysts launched a growth capital fintech fund of $100 Mn called Beams FinTech Fund that will invest in India-based fintech startups. It is being launched by an integrated incubator Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns 
• IPO-bound Pine Labs’ CEO Amrish Rau, Sweta Rau, and neobank startup Jupiter founder Jitendra Gupta have launched White Ventures Capital with a corpus of $40Mn. The VC firm will back fintech startup across India and Southeast Asia

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• After investing in Mukesh Ambani’s Jio, tech giant Google has invested $1 Bn in Airtel, a popular telecom service provider in India. The deal includes an infusion of $700 Mn via equity investment and $300 Mn towards potential multi-year commercial agreements.
• Bengaluru-based social commerce platform Trell has concluded an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback worth INR 12 Cr ($1.6 Mn)
• Zomato-backed, Gurugram-based savings platform magicpin has increased its ESOP pool by 2.2X. As per the latest regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, Samast Technologies, which operates magicpin has increased its ESOP Scheme of 2015 from 1,76,520 ESOP to 3,89,580 options.

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