[Weekly funding roundup] Startups investment rise by 84 percent to touch $92 million

The first week of June started on a positive note for the Indian startup ecosystem as funding almost doubled as compared to previous week though the overall mood remains subdued given the deep impact of coronavirus pandemic.

Funding into Indian startups for the first week of June stood at $92 million as compared to $50 million last week. Though it seems like a sharp jump, the overall momentum of funding has been on the lower side for the last two months and it has not crossed the three-figure mark of $100 million.

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During this week, there were 19 deals with startups getting funded from various sectors such as healthcare, automobile and B2B. The majority of deals were in the early stage which accounted for 13 deals followed by three each in late and growth stages.

There was no debt deal during this week and this has also been the trend over the last few months with very few startups actually raising a loan.

Key highlights

Automobile classifieds portal Cartrade.com has raised $42.5 million from two of its existing investors in its Series H round of financing. Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings and US-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus participated in this round. The online auto classifieds platform provides customers and sellers with an interface for buying and selling new and used vehicles. 

Bengaluru-based online doctor consultation startup DocsApp has announced merger with MediBuddy, a digital consumer health business for enterprises. The joint entity also raised a $20 million in Series B round of funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Fusian Capital, Mitsui Sumitomo, and Beyond Next Ventures. Existing investors including Milliways Ventures and Rebright Partners also participated in this round. 

Combining their respective strengths, the joint entity named "MediBuddy DocsApp" will continue to focus on enabling healthcare services like online specialist doctor consultations, lab tests, preventive health checks, delivery of medicines, etc to customers across India.

Other deals

BankBazaar, a Chennai-based online financial services marketplace with 100 million visits per quarter, has raised Rs 45 crore (approx. $6 million) in financing from new investor WSV – a joint venture fund of Walden International and Korean company SKTA – and its existing investors including Amazon, Sequoia India, Experian, and Eight Roads. SKTA is part of the Korean conglomerate SK Group, the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea. The latest capital raise is part of Bank Bazaar’s Series D1 equity financing round, and the proceeds are earmarked for accelerating the delivery of contactless personal finance products and business expansion in India. 

IVF Access, a Bengaluru-based healthcare startup focussed on providing In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatments in India, has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The investment was made by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India (Vertex Ventures SEA & India) and will see its Managing Partner, Ben Mathias, joining the board of IVF Access. The capital will be used to set up IVF clinics across India that provide assisted reproductive treatments, with its operations enabled by a proprietary IT platform.

Bengaluru-based ed-tech startup iNurture Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a provider of formal higher education programmes in India, has raised $4 million (Rs 30 crore) from Kimera Ltd, a Dubai-based family office. According to this startup, it closed 2019-20 with revenue of about Rs 150 crore and that it has turned profitable in this financial year.

Jaipur-based online custom furniture platform WoodenStreet said it has raised $3 million in a Series A funding round led by IAN Fund and Rajasthan Venture Capital Funds (RVCF). The startup plans to utilise the funds to increase its footprint, both domestically and globally. With the new investment, Wooden Street sees itself emerging as a global home décor brand, with over 50 experience stores across the globe. It expects revenue of around Rs 300 crore over the next two years. The company added it anticipates closing out the current year with Rs 100 crore in revenue.

Rentomojo, an online furniture and appliances rental startup has raised around Rs 22.43 crore from existing investors, Shri Investment, Pratithi Investment Trust and Gautam Dalmia. In its six years of operations, Rentomojo has raised over $35 million from the likes of Accel, Chiratae Ventures, and Bain Capital. The Geetansh Damania-led firm had recently touched the $100 million valuation mark.

The online beauty marketplace Nykaa is raising Rs 19.6 crore ($2.6 million approx) from Hero Group’s Sunil Kant Munjal. Nykaa will be issuing 32,350 equity shares to the Hero Group promoter at a price of Rs 6,050 per share.

Online gaming startup Pocket52 has raised $1.75 million, as part of its Series A funding, from game publisher Gameskraft. Pocket52 will use the funds to enhance its technology framework, expand user base, and scale business operations as it looks to add more clients. Pocket52 is an online poker playing platform which also helps other online gaming firms integrate with its plug and play and launch online poker gaming as an offering on their respective platforms.

Black Soil Capital has invested Rs 10 crore in LetsTransport, a marketplace for fulfilling intracity last-mile deliveries. Founded in 2015 by IIT-Kharagpur alumni Pushkar Singh, Sudarshan Ravi, and Ankit Parasher, LLetsTransportoffers last-mile, techno-logistics solutions for intracity deliveries. LetsTransport provides urban logistics solutions to enterprises by offering tech-enabled intra-regional transportation services.

QuaQua, a Hyderabad-based immersive travel platform, has secured a funding of $1 million from Anthill Ventures and other existing investors. Founded in 2016 by Purav Shah and Sandesh Reddy, QuaQua will use the funds raised to enhance its user experience and build an end-to-end AI and content-driven travel platform.

Farm-to-retail agritech startup, Crofarm, said it has raised $1 million in a funding round led by Smile Group, and entered the business-to-business-to-consumer (b2b2c) space with the launch of Otipy, a community-based platform that connects consumers, resellers and farmers. Earlier last year, the startup had received $500,000 from a clutch of HNIs including Vinay Mittal, former Chief of Strategy at HT Media, Ramit Sethi from Strongbox Ventures, and others.

Cube Wealth, a digital wealth management service for busy professionals, has raised $5,00,000 (Rs 3.7 crore) in funding from two of its existing investors. Existing investors who participated in the funding round include Singapore-based venture fund Beenext and Japan-based Asuka Holding. The Mumbai-based fintech startup, led by online payments firm Citrus Pay co-founder Satyen Kothari, will use the funds for expanding the engineering team and in growth marketing.

Hipla Technologies Pte Ltd, which offers SaaS-based office automation solutions, has raised Rs 2.6 crore ($344,000) in funding from a clutch of wealthy individuals from India and Singapore. Investors who participated in this round include Mousumi Ghosh, the founder-director of Kolkata-based Future Medical and Research Trust and Ang Hiap Chee, a Singapore-based early-stage investor in logistics companies.

Online road transport marketplace Vahak has raised an undisclosed funding amount in its seed round led by Leo Capital and other angel investors. Angel investors, include Founder of Yulu Bikes, Amit Gupta; Founder of Tracxn, Abhishek Goyal; Founder of Livspace, Ramakant Sharma; Founder of OkCredit Harsh Pokhrana; and angel investor and former partner at Unicorn India Ventures, Archana Priyadarshini also participated in the round. The startup aims to use the seed funding to strengthen its team and technological capabilities.

Bengaluru-based packaged food brand for children, Timios has raised Pre-Series A round of funding from Mysuru-based Rangsons Technologies along with participation from Paipal Ventures. The funds will be utilised by Timios towards product development, strengthening the existing distribution network, and enhancing the technology platform.

DSG Consumer Partners has invested an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round of funding in Axys Nutrition Products Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based nutraceutical company developing evidence-based nutrition and nutraceutical products, under the brand name Nutrova. Founded by Akshay Pai in 2013, Nutrova develops research-driven products that provide measurable outcomes for various health goals.

Delhi-based SaaS startup Knorish has raised $3,23,000 as part of its Pre Series A funding round, as a follow up to the seed round raised in December last year from 100X.VC. The current round also saw participation from the Standard Greases Family group and Uday Sodhi, ex-Business Head of Sony Liv. Founded by Kinner N Sacchdev and Rakhi Wadhwa, Knorish is an all-in-one knowledge commerce SaaS platform that enables individuals such as artists, trainers, coaches, professionals, consultants, experts, and institutions to build and launch their entire online business.

India’s first-of-its-kind debt resolution platform Credgenics, a debt resolution platform startup which leverages artificial intelligence with data science, has raised a seed round of funding led by Titan Capital — a fund backed by Snapdeal Founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. The startup will utilise the funds to scale its operations in all metro cities of India, streamline and strengthen its R&D on the product development, and to acquire new clients.