This week, startups' fund raises got bigger and better than before
From electric vehicles to language content apps, fintech startups, logistics, and energy startups, this week saw an eclectic mix of fund-raises. There also was the usual mix of angel rounds, undisclosed rounds, seed rounds, Series A funding rounds.
The top fundraises this week were:
- Scooterson raises $1.75 million from ARSAT Industry
California-based mobility startup Scooterson raised funding of $1.75 million from ARSAT Industry, an Eastern European manufacturer known for making precision metal parts. Apart from ARSAT, a few investors from Singapore and India also participated in the round.
The team plans to set up a manufacturing unit for its first product with this fundraise. Scooterson is set to manufacture the world's first intelligent electric kick-scooters, which use a combination of cloud/smartphone technology and Big Data analysis to understand and enhance a rider’s experience while ensuring energy efficiency and safety
2. ShareChat raises $18 million Series B led by Xiaomi Singapore, Shun Wei and others
Indian language social platform ShareChat raised $18 million in Series B funding from Shun Wei Capital and Xiaomi Singapore. Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, SAIF Partners, India Quotient and VH Capital also participated in the fundraising. The funds will be used to strengthen the Machine Learning and AI efforts of the company, to expand the technology divisions. With a monthly user base of more than 8 million, ShareChat plans to utilise the funds for expansion, and efficiently manage increasing cloud infrastructure costs.
3. Razorpay raises $20 million Series B funding
Online payments platform Razorpay announced it had raised Series-B funding of $20 million in a round led by existing investors Tiger Global and Y Combinator, along with participation from Matrix Partners. The current round takes the total funding the company has received to $31.5 million. In 2016, it had raised $11.5 million in a Series-A round from the same marquee investors and 33 angel investors. It also included a strategic investment by MasterCard. The founders said they would use the funding to set up more business verticals, drive adoption and expand their team.
4. Rivigo raises Series D funding of $50 million
Gurgaon based logistics startups Rivigo raised Series D funding of $50 million. The round saw participation from Walburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. According to media reports, Rivigo’s current valuation is at $900 million. According to the company’s Registrar of Companies (RoC) fillings, the revenues were at Rs 4,017 crore in 2016-17.
5. Tonetag raises funding of $1.3 million
Sound-based payments startup ToneTag is said have raised funding of close to $1.3 million. The investors who will be joining the board after the fundraise will include Manipal Global Education’s TV Mohandas Pai, Former Chairman of Alcatel-Lucent and BT India Arun Seth, Development Head Facebook Messenger Anand Chandrasekaran, among others.