HungerBox raises $4.5M; UAE-based Phygicart enters Indian market
While train travel brings in the best memories, one is never sure of the quality of food. To change this, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will now allow passengers to live stream kitchens to see how food served on trains is made. According to a statement released by the national transporter, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had suggested the idea in a review meeting. Also, the move has been made to increase transparency and ensure quality.
InnoVen Capital on Thursday announced that it has invested Rs 16 crore in debt financing in Mumbai-based Eruditus Executive Education, a firm that offers global executive education programmes. According to the press release shared by InnoVen, the funds will primarily be used to add new programmes to Eruditus’ portfolio and effectively scale the business. Till date, Eruditus has raised close to $8.2 million funding from Bertelsmann India Investments. Founded in 2010 by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera, Eruditus offers management and professional development programmes for professionasl and corporates in Dubai, Singapore, and India.
Bengaluru-based B2B food tech startup HungerBox has raised Series A investment of $4.5 million. This round was led by Neoplux, a South-Korean investment firm and Sabre Partners. The round also saw participation from existing investor and Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalkrishnan and Lionrock Capital. The funds raised will be used to fuel HungerBox’s growth, and the company’s expansion into the South East Asian market.
Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap on Thursday announced that it had closed its third round of equity funding of $6.25 million from Shunwei Capital, with co-participation from Tuscan Ventures and Ashish Goenka from Suashish Diamonds. Existing investors India Quotient and Kae Capital also invested in this round. According to the company, this round takes the cumulative funding raised by LoanTap to over $20 million in debt and equity, while the company plans to leverage an additional $30 million in debt this year.
Mumbai-based smart home automation startup Picostone on Thursday announced that it has raised Rs 5 crore from US-based Metaform Ventures LLC. Headed by Nilesh Jain, this is Metaform Ventures third investment in India in the last one month. Founded by Virang Jhaveri, Niket Sarvaiya and Priti Jain, Picostone is a home automation startup that focuses on affordable home automation solutions that are easy to install and use.
Riding on its success in the Gulf, Dubai based e-commerce and direct marketing company, Phygicart.com announced its entry into India with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore. Phygicart, which follows a hybrid method of combining digital and physical marketing, will flag off its India operations from Kerala this month.
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