[Weekly Funding Roundup] Indian startups raise $342M, ecosystem gets new unicorn

In the first week of July, the Indian startup ecosystem raised around $342 million across 20 deals. This is a 45-percent increase from last week when startups raised $235.3 million.

Early-stage deals took the spotlight this week with two Series B deals raising a combined $269 million, which is around 79 percent of the total amount raised. Additionally, there were eight pre-Series A deals, but those contributed to only over $2 million.

Highlights of the week

The top deal was of Ola Electric Mobility, which secured a funding of $250 million in its Series B round from SoftBank. With this, the company has made it to the list of unicorns in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Ride-hailing unicorn Ola also raised $11.37 million as a part of its ongoing Series J round. The funding came in from Swedish-based DIG Investment Ab and US-based Deshe Holdings. The two founders of Jabbar Internet Group – Samih Abdel Rahman and Hussam Khoury - also participated in the round.

Chennai-based speech recognition startup Uniphore Software Systems raised close to $38 million in two tranches as a part of its Series C round. The round was led by California-based March Capital Partners.

The CXO Fund, Patni Wealth Advisors, National Grid Partners, Intuitive VC (Intuitive Growth Ventures), and Sistema Asia Fund along with existing investor Chiratae Ventures also participated in the round.

The second Series B funding of the week was raised by digital insurance platform RenewBuy.com. It raised about $19 million in a round led by Lok Capital and IIFL Wealth with participation from existing investors Amicus Capital.

The company plans to use the funds to expand to newer geographies and introduce new products. According to the founders, the startup plans to cover 1,000 new cities by 2022.

Early-stage funding

Daalchini Technologies, a phygital (physical + digital) vending machine company, raised Rs 3.5 crore in a seed round led by Artha Venture Fund.

Mumbai-based gadgets and accessories etailer startup Gizmobaba.com raised $250,000 in a pre-Series A round. The investment was led by LetsVenture.

B2B agri commerce startup SuperZop raised $1.16 million in pre-Series A from MS Fund of SIDBI Venture Capital Limited, IIM Ahmedabad’s technology incubator CIIE Initiatives, and angel investor Gurumurthy Raman.

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its existing store network, aiming to reach over 30,000 B2B customers over the next year.

Mumbai-based skilling platform, Caymus Technology Ventures (Caymus), raised Rs 1.2 crore in an angel round from a clutch of angel investors from India and the US. 

Silicon Valley technology leader Rob Solomon participated in the round and will join the advisory board as a mentor. 

SucSEED Venture Partners led an investment in Hyderabad-based startup Sepal along with other angel investors. The funds raised will be used for product development and penetrating into the last-mile delivery market.

Others

Mumbai-based B2B logistics technology startup Freight Tiger raised $8 million in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Alsthom Industries, a part of the Dalmia Group Companies, and the Pawan Munjal Family Trust also participated in the round.

Mumbai-based Rebel Foods raised $5 million in its larger ongoing Series D funding round from Indonesia-based Go-Jek.

Sachin Bansal’s new fund BAC Acquisitions invested about $1.4 million in debt funding in two-wheeler rental startup Bounce. BAC Acquisitions had last invested $3 million in debt in Bounce in March this year.

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Propelld raised Rs 15 crore from Stellaris Venture Partners and India Quotient. With this funding, it plans to increase its base of institutes and students 10x over the next 18 months.

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup mfine raised Rs 31 crore as venture debt from Alteria Capital. The capital is expected to be leveraged for growth as the startup aims to expand its hospital network to Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai in the next six months.

New Delhi-based healthtech platform MedTrail raised Rs 6.37 crore led by Strive (formerly GREE Ventures), which alone invested Rs 2.2 crore via its second fund AT-II Investment. 

The other investors who participated in the round include LetsVenture, KB 1 Capital India Private Limited, Miten Harish Sampat (Vice President, Corporate Development at Times Internet), Jamil Khatri (Partner at KPMG), and Dubai-based family fund Diverse Middle East FZE.

Early-stage fund Ankur Capital invested an undisclosed amount in Delhi-based snack brand ToBeHealthy. This is the first institutional round raised by the startup and the funds will be used to expand its retail presence as well as set up manufacturing capabilities. 

Ratan Tata-backed Atlan raised around $2.62 million in its Pre-Series A round, led by WaterBridge Ventures. Atlan plans to use the freshly raised funds to boost its global expansion and leadership hiring in the near future. The data-collaboration platform is also backed by former Google India Chief Rajan Anandan.

Online education startup upGrad acqui-hired Bengaluru-based CohortPlus for an undisclosed amount. Interestingly, this was upGrad’s third acqui-hire in the last three years. It had earlier acquired Acadview and Pyoopil Education Technologies.

Internet-of-Things (IoT) logistics startup Intugine Technologies has raised an undisclosed amount from angel investors of IP Ventures (IPV). According to the company, it plans to deploy its newly raised capital to further strengthen its core software and hardware, and also expand its sales team. 

Delhi-based startup First Step Digital, which builds women’s hygiene and intimate care products like PeeBuddy and Sirona, has raised an undisclosed follow-on investment from Indian Angel Network (IAN).

Bengaluru-based logistics startup Loadshare Networks has raised an undisclosed amount from a group of angel investors.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

ALSO READ

Budget 2019: Relief for startups as govt eases Angel Tax regulations