[Weekly funding roundup] Startups raise $62 million across 12 deals

Startups in India raised $62 million in funding, cutting across 12 deals, in the first week of April. The amount was fairly reasonable, considering the very depressed sentiment in the time of coronavirus.

In comparison to the previous week, when the startup ecosystem raised $133 million, it was certainly a decline. However, in the previous week, there was one single deal in excess of $100 million, which boosted the numbers.

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For the first week of April, there were 12 deals, with early-stage ones accounting for the largest share at eight, followed by two each in growth and late stages. In terms of value of the deals, growth stage accounted for $24 million followed by early stage at $18 million.

There was one debt deal during the week, which amounted to $5 million.

Highlights of the week

Bengaluru-based payments technology firm Juspay Technologies raised $21.6 million in its Series B funding. The round was led by Sweden’s Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF), which invested $13 million into the company, marking its first investment in the country. Post investment, VEF will also get representation on Juspay’s board of directors. Other investors who participated in the round include Boston-based Wellington Management Company and existing investor global venture capital firm Accel.

Online beauty turned omni-channel lifestyle retailer Nykaa announced that it had raised Rs 100 crore from its existing primary investor Steadview Capital. Last year, Nykaa had raised Rs 100 crore from Singapore-based TPG Growth IV SF. This was soon after it had acquired fashion styling and ecommerce platform 20Dresses.

Prior to that, in September 2018, Nykaa had raised Rs 113 crore from Lighthouse India Fund III, an affiliate of Lighthouse Advisors, and another Rs 160 crore through primary and secondary shares sale.

Other deals

Recko, the enterprise fintech startup, has raised $6 million Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. The round also saw participation from existing investor Prime Venture Partners. The funding will be used towards hiring, product development, and expanding its presence outside India.

Founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Prashant Border and Saurya Prakash Sinha, the platform enables AI-powered reconciliation of digital transactions. It has recently started working with banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies, and is running pilots with them. The team claims to have reconciled transactions worth $5 billion, and is looking to reconcile transactions worth $10 billion by the end of this year.

Online furniture rental and home decor services company Furlenco closed a $10 million (about Rs 76.4 crore) debt and equity financing round, led by the Bengaluru-headquartered company’s existing cohort of investors.

The latest round saw venture capital firm Lightbox, and Dabur scion Saket Burman, who has invested through his personal investment arm Chowdry Associates, put in equity financing. Separately, a host of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, including Kris Gopalakrishnan, former chief executive of Infosys, and Gautham Radhakrishnan, a former partner with private equity firm Tata Capital, have provided debt financing through the issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) by the company.

Aavishkaar Capital, the venture capital arm of Aavishkaar Group, said it has invested Rs 35 crore in agritech startup Ergos. Aavishkaar Capital had invested in Ergos in 2015 at the ideation stage, and has worked with the promoters in scaling the company. The Series A funding round is expected to mop up Rs 100 crore.

Camp K12, a Gurugram-based education technology startup focused on building a global online school for K-12, announced that it had raised $4 million in a seed round led by Matrix Partners India and SAIF Partners.

Founded by Anshul Bhagi and Sandeep Bhagi, Camp K12 connects students from kindergarten to Class 12, providing access to teachers for interactive, gamified, and live-learning courses for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) subjects. 

Tapits Technologies, which owns and operates fintech startup Fingpay, has closed an estimated Rs 27 crore Series A round of funding from early-stage investment firm IvyCap Ventures. The four-year-old company, founded by Pratyush Halen and Anuraag Agrawal, will use the proceeds from the latest round of funding to add various banking and financial products on the platform that can be accessed by its last-mile customers, and enter new geographies.

Mumbai-based edtech startup Lido Learning has raised another $3 million within just a year of inception. The latest investors coming onboard this Series B round include Picus Capital, backed by Rocket Internet Founder Alex Samwer, and Paytm President Madhur Deora. In November last year, it had secured $3 million in Series A funding.

New Delhi-based cloud kitchen startup Kitchens Centre, which provides ready-to-move-in, fully equipped, and compliant kitchens along with the essential technology to delivery-only restaurants, announced that it has raised $500,000 in a seed round of funding. 

Noida-based fintech startup Mera Cashier has raised $150,000 in a bridge round of funding from Bollywood singer Sukhbir Singh, India Accelerator, Boudhik Ventures, Shankar Nath (ex-CMO, Paytm) and Shaurya Garg (Founder, Fundoo Works). 

Bengaluru-based women's healthcare startup Zealthy raised an undisclosed seed funding led by KYT Ventures, First Cheque, AngelList, and a few prominent angel investors. The startup plans to use the funding to further develop its product and tech and add more Indian languages to its platform. It is also looking to expand further in Tier II and III cities of India.

Venture Catalysts, an integrated incubator and accelerator platform, recently invested an undisclosed amount in seed round of funding in Delhi-based Samadhan, a tech-enabled insurance grievance redressal platform. 

(Edited by Javed Gaihlot)