[Weekly funding roundup] Unicorns boost venture capital activity; startups raise $740M in third week of June

Venture funding into Indian startups bounced back strongly in the third week of June after a dismal previous week, boosted largely through investments into unicorns.

The total venture funding in the third week stood at $740 million as compared to $46 million in the previous week. The sharp rise in capital inflow was on the back of edtech decacorn BYJU'S receiving additional funding and the emergence of a new unicorn – BrowserStack.

The month of June has already crossed $1.3 billion in total venture funding, setting the stage for a likely record year in terms of capital inflow into Indian startups despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 20 deals were signed during the week, and the overwhelming number of transactions were largely reported in the early-stage category. Meanwhile, debt funding saw a single deal worth $4.7 million.

Key highlights

Edtech company BYJU'S raised $350 million from UBS Group, Blackstone, Zoom founder Eric Yuan, ADQ, and Phoenix Rising, among others, at a valuation of $16.5 billion.

SaaS startup BrowserStack raised $200 million in Series B at a $4 billion valuation led by BOND, Insight Partners, and Accel.

Other deals

Professional networking and jobs platform startup Apna raised $70 million in Series B round led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global.

Insurtech startup RenewBuy raised $45 million in a Series C round led by Apis Growth Fund II.

Fintech startup FamPay raised $38 million in a Series A round led by Elevation Capital, along with existing investor Sequoia Capital India.

Blockchain startup Instadapp received $10 million in funding led by Standard Crypto, Andre Cronje, DeFi Alliance, and Longhash Ventures.

Convosight, a community management platform, raised $9 million in Series A from Qualgro, Unilever Ventures, and IvyCap Ventures, among others.

Fintech startup Flexmoney raised a $4.8 million Series A round from Pravega Ventures and Z5 Capital besides angel investors.

Apparel brand XYXX raised Rs 30 crore in Series A round led by Sauce.VC, along with DSG Consumer and Synergy Capital Partners.

Insurtech startup Vital raised $3 million in pre-Series A round led by BlinC Invest. Venture Catalyst and Survam Partner also participated in the investment round.

SaaS startup SimpliContract raised $1.8 million in a seed round led by Kalaari Capital, with participation from Picus Capital, Arka Venture Labs, and Digital Sparrow Capital. 

Dropshop, a Bengaluru-based B2B startup, raised Rs 9.3 crore in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

MSME edtech startup MSMEx raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round co-led by Razorpay and TNF Investments.

Nutraceutical startup Power Gummies raised $1 million in a bridge round led by 9Unicorns, with participation from DSG and Pivot Ventures.

Samaaro, the Bengaluru-based tech startup that provides an innovative virtual event platform, raised $125,000 in an angel funding round.

Fintech startup Junio raised additional Rs 5 crore in a seed round from Venture Catalysts, HNI investors, and Family Offices.

Imagimake, a children toy brand, raised Rs 4.4 crore in pre-Series A round from Roha Investment Managers and angel investor Saumil Shah.

In fact, Wherehouse.io, WaterScience and Juicy Chemistry raised an undisclosed round of funding in the third week of June.

India connect

Sense, an HRtech startup, raised $16 million in a Series C round led by Avataar Ventures. Accel Partners and Google Ventures also participated in the round.

Vianai Systems, an AI startup founded by former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, raised $140 million from SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Tech startup Contentstack raised $57.5 million in Series B round led by Insight Partners. Illuminate Ventures, GingerBread Capital, and new investor Georgian also participated in the round.

M&A

Info Edge acquired SaaS-based recruitment management platform Zwayam Digital.

InMobi’s Glance acquired social commerce startup Shop101 for an undisclosed value.

Nazara Technologies said it plans to acquire Publishme, a mobile game publishing agency in the Middle East and Turkey.