Funding roundup: Series C rounds make news as Lendingkart and Zoomcar shine
This week's fund raises followed the pattern set over the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, India's startup funding news was dominated by Alibaba, as it pumped money into Bigbasket and Zomato through Ant Financials. Last week was about Swiggy raising $100 million from Meituan-Diaping and Naspers. This week, the fintech sector took centrestage with a $87-million fundraise by LendingKart. Apart from that, Zoomcar raised $40 million from Mahindra & Mahindra.
The key fund raises this week were:
- Lendingkart raises $87 million Series C funding
Lendingkart on Monday announced it had closed its $87 million Series-C round, one of the largest in the SME lending space, led by Singapore’s Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd (FFH), a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. LendingKart Technologies Private Limited, which is a part of the LendingKart group, in September last year had announced raising close to $10.5 million as a continuation of its Series C from Singapore-based Sistema Asia Fund along with participation from current investors - Bertelsmann India Investment, Mayfield India, Saama Capital, India Quotient and Darrin Capital Management.
While speaking to YourStory, Harsh explains that the first part of this round was for existing investors to invest, before the company went for PE investments. However, the talks with Fullerton were on since last year.
2. Zoomcar raises $40 million Series C funding
Zoomcar today announced it had raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Existing investors also participated in the round. Zoomcar had, in August 2016, raised $24 million in Series B funding. With the latest round of funding, the total funds raised by Zoomcar stand at $100 million, according to Crunchbase. The funds will primarily be used to accelerate Zoomcar Associated Programme (ZAP), increase supply for its marketplace, and improve its lead within IoT technologies.
3. Drivezy raises $5 million from ICO (Initial coin offering)
The car rental platform raised $5 million through an initial coin offering. The existing investors and a few HNIs from Singapore and Japan participated in the offering. An ICO is a method of raising money from potential investors using cryptocurrencies. It is believed that startups usually take the ICO route to avoid the regulatory procedures that are needed by VC funds, banks, and private equity investors. An article in the Mint newspaper said Drivezy currently limited the ICO to investors who have a networth of minimum $1 million.
4. MoneyOnMobile raises $5 million
Fintech startup MoneyOnMobile raised Series H funding from S7 the Russian aerospace and private aviation holding company. The fundraise comes a week after the company raised Series F funding from undisclosed investors. The focus of this fund raise would be to drive growth.
