[Weekly funding roundup] BlackBuck raises more than half of the $50M raised in mid-October

After a bumper month in September, the second week of October was somewhat slow. Logistics was the flavour of the week, with online marketplace for logistics transactions Blackbuck raising close to $27.4 million in a Series D round and logistics booking platform LetsTransport wrapping up $12 million in Series B funding from Chinese investor Fosun RZ Capital.

According to YourStory Research, 9 deals took place this week, of which three were undisclosed. Of all the startups which got funded, only New-Delhi based fertility services provider, Elawoman, had a woman co-founder.

In other news, Mettl, the HR tech startup co-founded by Ketan Kapoor and Tonmoy Shingal in 2010, was acquired by Mercer, a global consulting leader and a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. The acquisition closed at approximately Rs 300 crore, which is 7x the $4.2 million-$4.8 million (about Rs 33 crore, depending on what conversion rate you apply) that the startup raised in equity funding over the years. Read more about it here.

Also this week, VC firm IDG Ventures India rebranded itself to Chiratae Ventures. The move signifies its focus on staying agile and sharp, like a ‘Chiratae’, or leopard, in the everchanging startup ecosystem.

Here is a quick look at the top fundraisers:

The top fundraisers

BlackBuck raises $27.3M, brings Sequoia on board

On Monday, news broke that one of India’s biggest logistics startup, Bengaluru-based BlackBuck, raised close to $27.3 million in a Series D round, which brought Sequoia Capital India onto the list of existing investors.

As per regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies, Sequoia led the round, infusing over $13.5 million in the company, followed by Accel Partners and Sands Capital.

Transportation logistics provider LetsTransport raises over $12M

According to a report in The Economic Times, Chinese investor Fosun RZ Capital marked its second investment in India’s logistics sector, infusing about $5 million to lead the Series B funding round in Bengaluru-based LetsTransport. The round also saw participation from two other undisclosed investors of Japanese Origin.

Innov8 raises $4M in Pre-Series A from Credence Family Office

Bengaluru-based co-working space startup Innov8 on Wednesday announced it had raised $4 million as part of its pre-Series A funding led by Credence Family Office.

Speaking to YourStory, the company said it would use the funds to open up more centres and double its seat and customer count to 8,000 and 7,300 customers, respectively, in the next the six months. Founder and CEO Dr Ritesh Malik said the expansion will mean opening three co-working spaces in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, with some of them as big as 1 lakh square feet.

Fertility platform Elawoman raises $3M from Chiratae Ventures

Delhi-based data-driven fertility platform Elawoman raised $3 million in series A round of funding. The round was led by Chiratae Ventures (previously known as IDG Ventures India), along with healthcare and consumption focused co-investor Alkemi Venture Partners. The platform said it plans to use the funds to enhance technology, and expand to non-metro cities and to Asia Pacific countries, catering to an over $4 billion market.

Second-hand goods marketplace Gozefo gets $3M in fresh funding

A report in VC Circle said Bengaluru-based second-hand ecommerce marketplace Gozefo has raised around Rs 21 crore (close to $3 million) in a fresh round of funding. According to the report, the round was led by New York-based stage-agnostic investment firm FJ Labs, co-founded by Fabrice Grinda, one of the founders of online classifieds firm OLX.

Used cars marketplace Truebil raises funding from Kalaari Capital

Mumbai-based online marketplace for pre-owned cars Truebil said it has raised close to $1 million (Rs 7.40 crore at the current exchange rate) in a fresh round of funding from existing investor Kalaari Capital. The news first appeared in VC Circle. In February last year, the company had raised $3 million in follow-on Series-A round from Shunwei Capital, a Chinese venture capital fund. In January last year, the company had raised $5.5 million in a Series A round led by Kalaari Capital, Inventus Capital, Kae Capital, and Tekton Ventures.

[Also read: From a Rs 33 Cr investment to a Rs 300 Cr exit: Why India needs to celebrate Mettl's acquisition]

Here are the undisclosed deals this week.