[Weekly funding roundup] Venture investments drop after a high in the previous week

The third week of September witnessed a 44 percent decline in venture funding as compared to the previous week, but this is not case for alarm. The second week of September witnessed the highest amount of venture funding for the current financial year.

The total venture funding for the third week of September stood at $377 million, cutting across 18 deals as compared to $673 million in the second week. The big push came due to the capital raised by unicorn Dream 11.

Of the 18 deals, there were 13 early-stage deals, followed by three growth-stage and two late-stage deals. There were two deals in the venture debt segment amounting to $1.6 million.

The week was busy for the Indian startup ecosystem when it comes to mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with both BYJU’s and ShareChat announcing buyouts.

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Key deal

Dream11’s parent company Dream Sports raised $225 million in primary and secondary investments led by Tiger Global Management, TPG Tech Adjacencies (TTAD), ChrysCapital, and Footpath Ventures. The gaming startup became a unicorn in April 2019 after a secondary investment by Steadview Capital, the Asia-focused alternative asset manager.

Other deals

Bengaluru-based insurtech player ACKO raised $60 million in a funding round led by Munich Re Ventures, with participation from existing investors Amazon, RPS Ventures, and Intact Ventures Inc — which is the corporate venture arm of Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer. ACKO plans to use the funds to accelerate its growth in existing lines and expand into new product lines.

Observe.AI, the three-year-old tech startup founded in Bengaluru before shifting its headquarters to San Francisco, has raised $54 million in Series B round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Next47 Ventures, and NGP Capital. With this round, Observe.AI has so far raised $88 million in funding. The startup plans to use this fresh capital to expand its go-to-market programmes and invest in R&D.

Virtual event organisation platform Airmeet has raised $12 million Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India and Redpoint Ventures. Existing investors Accel Partners India, Venture Highway, Global Founders Capital (GFC), and Gokul Rajaram (Caviar Lead at Doordash) also participated in the round. With this fund raise, the team plans to expand to a global audience.

CashKaro, a Gurugram-based cashback and coupons site, secured $10 million in Series B funding round led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and existing investor, Kalaari Capital. The company had previously raised its Series A and angel round of funding from Kalaari Capital, Ratan Tata, and London-based angel investors. 

Delhi-based EkAnek Networks has raised Rs 40 crore in its Series A1 investment round. The funding round was led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI). Existing investors — Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India, and Lightspeed India also participated in the round. The company said it will use the freshly raised funds to expand its presence in Abu Dhabi.

Delhi-based mom and baby care brand The Moms Co has raised another $3 million as part of its Series B funding round, which was announced in December 2019 with an amount of $5 million. The round was led by existing investors DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital with participation from angel investors. With the infusion from the round, the startup aims to reach 5 million consumers to become one of India’s fastest D2C brands to reach the Rs 100 crore mark. 

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup Dozee which has built a health monitoring device to curb the spread of coronavirus has raised Rs 12.5 crore in funding led by Prime Venture Partners, YourNest Venture Capital, and 3one4 Capital. Dozee is planning to use this funding to expand market reach and also enhance product capabilities, complete certifications and approvals, and improve the user experience for physicians and patients.

HR tech startup Zimyo has raised seed funding of $1.5 million led by BEENEXT. Other investors such as AngelList, YAN (Yatra Angel Network), and also includes angel investors. The startup plans to use the fresh funds to expand its team and further build out its technology to expand its business. 

Bengaluru-based ecommerce management firm Assiduus Global has raised $1 million in Series A funding for its India business. The round was led by multiple investors including VC Firm K Partners and HNI’s. The startup will use this funding to develop and expand the brands, especially in the domain of Nutraceuticals and beauty.

Mumbai-based Augmented Reality (AR) startup Cub McPaws has raised pre-Series A funding of $800,000 from a syndicate of investors from the US, Japan, Dubai, and India. The funding round was led by a Dubai-based global family office. The startup plans to use the funds to scale up its distribution capabilities, enhance its technology offering, apart from expanding its customer base.

Hyderabad-based AI-powered governance risk management and compliance startup SignalX has raised $750,000 in investment in a funding round led by 3Lines Venture Capital, a US-based early-stage VC. SignalX offers an AI-powered SaaS platform for corporate risk and due diligence for a comprehensive financial, legal, regulatory, and reputational risk analysis on any given target company.

Conversational AI startup GenieTalk has received its first round of angel investment of $750,000 from Shankeshwar Technologies LLP at a valuation of $10 million. The Indore-based startup will use the funding for developing its SaaS-based platform that helps businesses build tailored and personalised AI-powered virtual assistants.

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Newton School has raised $650,000 in a seed round of funding led by early-stage venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners. The funding round also saw the participation of Unacademy founders and other key angel investors. The startup will be using the capital to strengthen its product and expand its team.

Agritech startup Farmers Fresh Zone has raised Rs 3.5 crore led by IAN Fund. With this round, Farmers Fresh Zone’s overall fundraising has crossed Rs 6.5 crore. The Kerala-based startup aims to unlock access to safe-to-eat, pesticide-free fruits, and vegetables directly sourced from farmers. The startup has so far connected over 1,500 farmers to urban consumers through its omnichannel presence.

Bengaluru-based cloud-native architecture design software startup Infurnia has raised $240,000 in its latest round of funding from a cluster of angel investors. This puts the total amount of capital raised at $1 million and valuing the startup at $7 million.

AFK Gaming, an esports content platform, has raised $200,000 in pre-Series A funding round from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), an early-stage investing platform. AFK Gaming will use this round of funding to link reach to revenue through programmatic and direct advertising while also expanding the scope of coverage to additional esport titles in Southeast Asia.

Bengaluru-based robotics startup Invento Robotics has raised a large undisclosed amount from MSPL Limited, Chiripal Group, and angel investors in August. This funding will help the startup to scale its production and get new certification to meet the global standards in manufacturing robots.

M&A

Edutech major BYJU'S has acquired Unitus Ventures-backed LabInApp for an undisclosed amount. LabInApp offers science lab-like simulation on mobile devices, curating interactive, and immersive learning experience for students and teachers.

YourShell, Delhi NCR-based student accommodation startup has been acquired by Stanza Living at an undisclosed amount. Established in 2017 by Delhi University students Sunny Garg, Shaifali Jain, Vishesh Khunger, Gaurav Verma, and Vartika Sharma, YourShell is among the youngest startups to raise venture debt under the Government of India’s StandUp India programme. It was an operationally profitable business across its portfolio of properties at the time of the deal.

Bengaluru-based social media group ShareChat has acquired HPF Films, a video production company specialised in digital content. With the acquisition, a 25-member team from HPF Films joins ShareChat and will be contributing towards content operations, digital marketing, creative solutions, and creator management for both ShareChat and Moj.