[Funding Galore] From CarDekho To Hubilo — Over $667 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

The festive season seems to have disrupted the investment in the Indian startup ecosystem until last week. During the festive week, the Indian startup ecosystem just managed to raise a total of $667.5 Mn across 26 deals. 

The amount is almost 50% less than what the ecosystem raised last week. Between October 4 and October 9, the ecosystem had raised $1.3 Bn.

Apart from the investment, the Indian startup ecosystem saw the entry of two startups into the unicorn club – CarDekho and Mobikwik.

Delhi NCR-based automobile marketplace CarDekho’s parent CarDekho Group raised the biggest round and entered the unicorn club with $1.2 Bn valuation. The auto startup raised a total of  $250 Mn in a mix of debt and equity in its Series E round. Leapfrog Investments alongside Canyon Partners, Mirae Asset, Harbor Spring Capital and existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Sunley House participated in this round of funding. 

The week’s second-biggest investment round was raised by Bengaluru and US-based event tech startup Hubilo. Founded in 2015 by Vaibhav Jain and Mayank Agarwal, the startup raised $125 Mn in its Series B round from Alkeon Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Balderton Capital.

The third highest investment of the week was by Bengaluru-based neobanking startup Open which raised $100 Mn in its Series C round. Inc42 had exclusively reported about the investment earlier on September 10. The funding round was led by Temasek and saw participation from Google and SBI Investment, one of Japan’s leading venture capital firms. Existing investors, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital, also participated in the round.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Servify is in talks to raise $100 Mn in a Series D funding round, according to a source privy to the development. The round is expected to close in the next couple of weeks and will be led by existing and new investors. 

According to Inc42 sources, Servify’s existing investors Blume Ventures and Iron Pillar will be participating in this round of funding. The startup is in talks with several global investors including US major hedge fund Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, DST Global, General Atlantic, among others for the investment round.

Of the 26 deals, ecommerce sector accounted for 46% of the total investment. The sector saw five deals with $311 Mn being invested. The fintech sector stood second as it contributed 20% with $139.5 Mn. 

Here are all the funding rounds disclosed this week:

 

Startup IPOs This Week

Nykaa Gets SEBI’s Nod For IPO; Increases Fresh Of Shares By 20%

FSN E-commerce Ventures, which runs the online lifestyle marketplace Nykaa received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its INR 4,000 Cr initial public offering (IPO), an Inc42 source said.

The IPO is likely to hit the public market in the next 10 days, the source added. Nykaa had filed its draft red herring prospectus with the market regulator in August this year.

According to the company’s DRHP filing, its offer initially included a fresh issue of shares up to worth INR 525 Cr and an offer-for-sale of equity shares up to 43,111,670 equity shares. 

The company has also raised its fresh issue size to INR 630 Cr from existing INR 525 Cr, regulatory filings accessed by Inc42 showed.

Ecommerce Giant Snapdeal Increases ESOP Pool By 151% 

Inc42, earlier this week exclusively reported that Snapdeal has increased its ESOP pool by 151% ahead of its initial public offering. 

As per the regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, the company’s shareholders have passed a resolution seeking to increase its Employee Stock Option Scheme 2016 from existing 1,98,890 to 5,00,000, by adding 3,01,110 ESOP options exercisable into equity shares of INR 1 each.

The development comes two weeks after Inc42 exclusively reported about Snapdeal increasing its authorised share capital from INR 16.8 Cr to INR 206.08 Cr.

Ahead Of IPO Delhivery Appoints 3 Independent Directors

Ahead of its initial public offering, logistics unicorn Delhivery has appointed three new independent directors. The startup has roped in Kalpana Moparia, Romesh Sobti and Sugata Gupta as new independent directors.

Moparia has earlier served as a chairman of J.P Morgan, south and Southeast Asia and holds a similar position in Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Philip Morris International. 

While Sobti is a director on several boards including Aditya Birla Capital Ltd and Adani Green Energy, Gupta is a managing director and CEO of Marico Limited.

Delhivery has also appointed Sri Rajan and  Deepak Kapoor as independent directors. The logistics unicorn said that it is also likely to appoint another woman independent director to its board.

Pine Labs May File For $1 Bn US IPO By October-End

Fintech giant Pine Labs is likely to file its paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its $1 Bn IPO by the end of this month. The startup had earlier converted into a public company and also has raised $100 Mn from Invesco.

Earlier this year, Pine Labs had also raised $600 Mn from Fidelity Management & Research Company, BlackRock, Ishana, IIFL at a valuation of $3 Bn.

From The Acquisition Desk

• Accenture has acquired Bengaluru-based AI and analytics firm BRIDGEi2i. With the acquisition, Accenture will add 800 BRIDGEi2i employees to its Applied Intelligence team. 
• Graphy, an Unacademy Group company, has acquired edtech platform Spayee for $25 Mn in a bid to consolidate its position in the creator ecosystem.
• InMobi acquires UK-based Appsumer Analytics, a performance insights platform to build an operating system that makes understanding user acquisition funnels easier by using artificial intelligence (AI).
• Fintech startup Smallcase has acqui-hired Nirvana.work’s founding team to improve its ‘Publisher Platform’.
• Digital media platform Dailyhunt and short video app Josh’s parent VerSe Innovation has acquired GolBol — a Made-in-India social networking app.