[Weekly Funding Roundup] Startups raise $216.9M in equity; CARS24 corners lion's share

Unlike last week, this week's funding activity saw two venture debt deals being signed. About $216.9 million was raised in equity deals, up 113 percent, compared to last week. While two late-stage deals cornered $123 million of the total funding, the balance amount was raised by early-stage and other deals.

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[Funding alert] Pre-owned car platform CARS24 raises $100M in Series D funding led by Unbound

Deal of the week:

CARS24, a tech-enabled used car platform, raised $100 million as part of its Series D round of funding from Unbound, a London-based global investment firm, and New York-based Moore Strategic Ventures. The company's existing investors – KCK, Agnelli (Fiat) Family and Sequoia India, also participated in the said round.

According to the company, the fund raised will be used to strengthen the company's footprint in new cities, scale franchise model, technology, and the recently announced consumer lending (NBFC) business. 

Early-stage deals:

Bengaluru-based security management startup for gated communities MyGate announced that it has raised $56 million as part of its Series B financing. The new round of investment came just a year after the firm raised its Series A round. The round was led by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, alongside US-based JS Capital LLC, and Tiger Global Management. Existing investor Prime Venture Partners also participated in this round. The startup will invest the capital in its technology architecture and hire almost 200 individuals across its product and technology functions.

Bengaluru-based UrbanPiper, a platform that simplifies online ordering for restaurants, raised $7.5 million as part of its Series A round led by Tiger Global along with Sequoia India. Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global Management, said, “UrbanPiper is helping restaurants reduce costs and improve connectivity with diners and food delivery platforms.” The startup will use the new funds to scale the team, its product suite, as well as, for international expansion.  

Noida-based Mall91, a social commerce platform has secured $7.5 million through its Series A funding round led by Go-Ventures, the investment arm of ride-hailing firm GoJek, with participation from existing investors Beenext, Kalaari Capital, and AngelList India. Started in 2018 by Nitin Raj Gupta and Shubham Paramhans, Mall91 is a vernacular social commerce platform which combines live videos-based shopping, local language voice recognition-based catalogue, Whatsapp-like chat-based checkouts.

Premium beer brand White Owl said that it has raised $5.6 million (Rs 40 crore) funding led by IIFL India Private Equity Fund supported by its existing investors. According to the company, the new funds will be used to deepen White Owl’s presence in its existing markets, expand the brand’s presence to new markets within India and abroad, as well as, grow its portfolio to include both strong craft beer and kegged craft beer nationwide. 

IoT-based startup WEGoT closed $2 million as part of its seed funding led by GoFrugal, Shyam Shekar (Founder of iThought), and Brigade Enterprises Ltd. Other investors who participated in this round include Vibhu Natarajan, Director at Grotech Landscapes; Rajagopal S from Entrust; Joydeep Ponugoti from Manbhum Constructions; and Promod Kumar, who are industry experts in the real-estate technology and consumer industries.

Integrated marketing solutions agency Muse Dot Media announced that it has raised $1 million in fresh funding from two existing angel investors. The latest funding has raised the firm’s capital from Rs 26 crore to Rs 32 crore. In January 2019, the company had raised $300,000 from the same investors.

Bengaluru-based mobile-based dermatology consultation platform Remedico has raised $500,000 in a seed round from Venture Catalysts, an integrated incubator and accelerator platform.

Bare Anatomy, a Gurugram-based data-driven beauty startup, raised its seed funding of $500,000 from Sauce.vc, a consumer-centric venture capital fund. With this funding, the personalised haircare startup will augment its state-of-the-art R&D labs, strengthen its marketing and technology department.  

Gurugram-based legal tech startup Legalkart raised a seed funding of around Rs 3.5 crore ($0.49 million) from a group of angel investors belonging to the technology, retail, entertainment, logistics, and financial services community within eight months of starting its operations. 

School of Accelerated Learning (SOAL), a Mumbai-based hybrid learning venture, closed its first round of funding of $300,000 led by Astarc Ventures. Additionally, tech and startup leaders such as Srinivas Kollipara, Founder, T-Hub; Ramki Gaddipatti, Founder and CTO, Zeta; and Krishnan Menon, Founder, BeeCash participated in this round.  

Delhi-based personal care products startup Super Smelly has raised an undisclosed amount in a round led by Singapore-based Lyte Investment Bank, along with other angel investors. The startup will be using the freshly raised funds for research, product testing and further expanding its portfolio.

Late-stage deals:

Gurugram-based Balancehero, which operates mobile balance-checking app True Balance, raised $23 million in a Series C funding round from a clutch of investors that includes Korean investors NH Investment & Securities, IMM Investment, D3 Jubilee Partners, SB Partners, HB Investment and Shinhan Capital.

Other deals:

Global alternative asset manager Investcorp led an $11.2 million investment in Mumbai-based Bewakoof.com. IndigoEdge was the advisor to Bewakoof.com for the deal. Founded in 2011 by IIT alumni Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot, Bewakoof.com is a direct-to-consumer online apparel company, focussed on providing creative and distinctive fashion at affordable prices for trendy and contemporary Indians. 

Gurugram-based online auto-spare parts marketplace boodmo.com said it has raised Rs 10 crore ($1.4 million) in fresh funding from its existing undisclosed investor. The latest funding has raised the firm’s share capital from Rs 35 crore to Rs 45 crore. Earlier in May 2019, boodmo had raised Rs 8 crore from an undisclosed investor.

Debt funding:

Cash Suvidha, that extends business loans to SMEs and MSMEs, and personal loans to individuals announced that it has raised $4 million in debt. The funds were raised through different financial institutions. 

Mumbai-based NBFC company, InCred Financial Services raised $2.1 million from investors through a market-linked non-convertible debt issue.

Exits and acquisitions:

Nazara Technologies, a gaming and digital sports company, announced that it has invested Rs 83.5 crore ($11.7 million) in Mumbai-based Paper Boat Apps, the creator and publisher of Kiddopia, an award-winning, subscription-based preschool edutainment app. 

Fintech startup ClearTax announced the acquisition of Mumbai-based audio streaming platform Dose FM for an undisclosed amount. The company said the purpose of the acquisition is to utilise the team’s potential to build mobile focussed products.

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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