Startup news and updates: daily roundup (July 27, 2021)

Biocon Biologics gets licence for COVID-19 antibody treatment

Biocon Biologics, a subsidiary of Biocon, on Monday said it has got a licence from US-based Adagio Therapeutics for an antibody therapy to treat and prevent COVID-19, for India and select markets. Adagio Therapeutics has granted an exclusive licence to the company to manufacture and commercialise an antibody treatment based on ADG20 for India and select emerging markets.

Microsoft, SEEDS launch 2nd phase of AI model to predict heat waves risks in India

Technology giant Microsoft India on Monday announced launch of its second phase of an artificial intelligence model 'Sunny Lives' for predicting heatwave risks in India in partnership with Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS). Last year, the model was successfully tested for cyclones and floods in disaster prone coastal areas in the country.

Trifecta Capital announces first close of late-stage VC Fund at Rs 1,000 Cr

Trifecta Capital has announced the first close of its late-stage venture capital fund — Trifecta Leaders Fund – I — with commitments of over Rs 1,000 Crore ($ 130 million). It invest in a targeted set of category leaders, selected predominantly from Trifecta Capital’s portfolio across its Venture Debt Funds where the firm has proprietary knowledge of the businesses as well as deep relationships with founders and investors

Axio Biosolutions raises $6 million to expand its global footprint (Funding)

Axio Biosolutions, an Ahmedabad-based medtech company, today announced a $6 million Series B2 equity raise led by TrueScale Capital. Existing investors Omidyar Network India, University of California–Ratan Tata Fund, and Accel also participated. Sameer Nath, Managing Partner at TrueScale Capital, will join Axio’s board of directors.

Freightify raises pre-Series A round of $2.5M led by Nordic Eye Venture Capital (Funding)

Ocean rate management platform Freightify (formerly FreightBro) that brings advanced e-booking functionality to freight companies, has raised $2.5 million funding in pre-Series A round led by Nordic Eye Venture Capital. The round also saw participation of Tradeworks VC, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, Blume Founders Fund, and existing investor Vinod Kumar Talreja.

Nium raises over $200M in Series D round (Funding)

Nium, a global B2B payments platform, has raised over $200 million in Series D round led by Riverwood Capital – a US-based high-growth tech investor. Temasek, Visa, Vertex Ventures, Atinum Group of Funds, Beacon Venture Capital, Rocket Capital Investment, and other notable angel investors, including DoorDash executive, Gokul Rajaram; Chief Product Officer at FIS, Vicky Bindra; and, Co-Founder of Tribe Capital, Arjun Sethi, also contributed to the round.

SaaS startup Gumlet raises $1.6M led by Sequoia’s Surge (Funding)

Gumlet, a SaaS startup providing new-age media delivery infrastructure to automate the media publishing pipeline, has raised $1.6 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge. Gumlet helps developers across the globe automatically resize and optimise their images and videos as per the end user's device or browser, delivering high quality media at the lowest possible bandwidth.

Moj, ShareChat owner raises $145M at $2.8B valuation from Temasek, others (Funding)

Mohalla Tech, the parent company behind Moj and ShareChat, has raised $145 million as an extension of its Series F round. At a valuation of $2.88 billion, the investment has been led by Singapore state investor Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), along with participation from Mirae-Naver Asia Growth fund. This is an additional investment beyond the $502 million raised in April this year with which the startup joined the unicorn club.

D2C beauty brand MyGlamm raises Rs 355 Cr from Accel Partners, others (Funding)

Direct-to-consumer beauty brand MyGlamm has raised Rs 355 crore in fresh funding from Accel Partners, along with participation from existing investors, taking the total funds raised in this round to Rs 530 crore. MyGlamm had started its series C funding in March this year with a Rs 175 crore investment from Ascent Capital, Amazon, and Wipro.