[Weekly Funding Roundup] After a whimpering end in September, October begins with a bang; equity funding rises to $474.6 M

The first week of October saw equity funding amount raised by startups reaching $474.6 million, compared to $88.8 million last week. The total amount raised this week was spread across 21 deals that include 13 early-stage deals, three late-stage deals, and five other deals.

Friday October 04, 2019 , 5 min Read

Like last week, this week's funding activity was devoid of venture debt deals. But with the help of three late-stage deals, the total funding secured in the Indian startup ecosystem reached $474 million. The three late stage deals raised $380 million, with Udaan providing the strongest tailwind. The balance amount was raised through early-stage and other deals.

Deal of the week

The bellwether startup this week was Udaan. The B2B ecommerce platform raised another funding tranche of around $286.6 million led by Tencent in its ongoing Series D round. In August, the online marketplace for small and medium businesses' Singapore-based parent entity raised a funding of $300 million.

Founded in June 2016, Udaan began its operations a year later and achieved the coveted unicorn status in September last year. So far, it has been one of the few startups to achieve a private valuation of $1 billion in the shortest possible time.

Early stage deals

KhataBook, a mobile app that enables SMEs to record and track business transactions, raised $25 million in Series A funding from Partners of DST Global, GGV Capital, Sequoia India, Tencent, and others. Prominent investors like Kunal Shah, Founder, Cred; Kunal Bahl, Co-founder, Snapdeal; Jitendra Gupta, Head - LazyPay; and Anand Chandrasekharan, ex-Facebook; were among others who participated in this round of funding.

Pune-based digital lending startup LoanTap raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Avaana Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors including 3one4 Capital, India Quotient, Shunwei Capital, and Kae Capital.

Bengaluru-based Datasigns Technologies Private Limited, which operates loan platform Shubh Loans, raised Rs 34 crore (or $4.78 million) as a part of its Series A2 funding led by Omidyar Network India. Existing investors Saama Capital, Beenext, SRI Capital, and Pravega Ventures also participated as a part of this round.

Fyle, the Bengaluru based expense management startup, raised $4.5 million from Steadview Capital in its Series A funding round. According to media reports, the company plans to use the funds to invest in product development and expand its global market footprint.

Blockchain startup InstaDApp on Tuesday raised $2.4 million led by Pantera Capital. Investors including Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase Ventures, IDEO Colab, Robot Ventures, and Kyber Network’s Loi Luu also participated in the round.

Mumbai-based Sleepycat, an online direct-to-consumer mattress and sleep-solutions startup, raised Rs 11 crore in its first round of institutional funding led by DSG Consumer Partners and Sharrp Ventures. The round also saw participation from Gemba Capital and other angel investors.

MetroMedi, a Hyderabad-based online pharmacy and e-health store, said it has raised $1.5 million in seed round from TK GP Rao, a high networth individual, who is also the founder of the TMT Group of industries.

Bengaluru-based payments app TWID has received Rs 10 crore, or about $1.4 million, from SCV LLC, a family-owned business of tech entrepreneurs, as part of its seed round of funding.

ScaleneWorks People Solutions, a Bengaluru-based talent solutioning organisation, on Friday announced that it has got into a definitive agreement to raise about $1 million from its existing investor, Hallmark Group (HG). The firm plans to use the funding towards technology adoption and expansion.

Ahmedabad-based Matrubharti, a vernacular content startup, announced that it has raised Rs 3.24 crore in an angel round of funding from US-based Gujarati NRI angel investors.

Jaipur-based MEngage, a platform which builds customised engagement apps for doctors on both Android and iOS platforms, raised an extended Seed round of $100,000 from Bollywood singer Sukhbir and other angels.

Bengaluru-based fintech startup FinBox raised an undisclosed amount as part of its pre-Series A funding led by Arali Ventures. The round also saw participation from marquee angel investor Anup Pai, Founder of financial services company, Fintellix.

Vernacular social ecommerce platform CityMall said it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a clutch of angel investors including Jitendra Gupta of Citrus Pay; Alvin Tse of Xiaomi; Manish Vij and Harish Bahl from Smile Group, Rishab Malik, ex-co-founder of Droom; Rajesh Sawhney of GSF and M&S Partners among other marquee investors.

Late stage deals

Technology-based real estate startup NoBroker.com said it has raised $50 million as part of its Series D funding led by Tiger Global Management, along with its existing investor General Atlantic.

With this funding, NoBroker.com has raised a total of $121 million in equity funding. The latest round of fund raise comes within four months of the startup raising $51 million in Series C round, which was led by its existing investor.

Concierge cum hyper-local delivery app, Dunzo, has raised $45 million in its Series D round. Media reports said that new investors – Lightbox, South Korea’s STIC Ventures, and US-based 3L Capital – have joined the round where Google also participated.

Other deals

Clix Capital Services Pvt Ltd – one of India’s largest digital lending NBFCs – announced its latest round of capital infusion of $40 million, or about Rs 280 crore, from its existing investor AION Capital Partners Ltd, as well as its promoters Pramod Bhasin and Anil Chawla.

Mumbai-based entertainment firm Rainshine Entertainment picked up a significant stake in media company All Things Small this week to foray into new genres, as it looks to strengthen its global content business. All Things Small (ATS) was co-founded by media executives Supriya Nair, Sidin Vadukut, Gaurav Vaz, and Devaiah Bopanna.

Rainshine also picked up stake in Bengaluru-based FirstAction. It is a creative content and film production company led by Saad Khan and Maaz Khan.

Social venture capital investor Acumen also invested an undisclosed amount in Pune and Boston-based refrigerated solutions provider, Promethean Power Systems Private Limited.

Bengaluru-based Orb Energy, which provides solar energy solutions in India, announced that Shell’s New Energies business has acquired an almost 20 percent stake in the firm in its latest funding round. In a statement, the company said the fresh investment would help more Indian SMEs – a largely underserved part of the market – benefit from lower-cost solar power.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)