[Funding roundup] O'2 Nails India, FlexC, Speedlabs raise early-stage deals

O'2 Nails India raises second funding from Atal Incubation Center - BIMTECH

O'2 Nails is one of India's fast-growing consumer and fashion retail startups that specialises in nail care space has raised $75,000 funding from Atal Incubation Centre – BIMTECH under the Government of India’s Startup India initiative along with some marquee investors. The funding comes in the form of debentures under the Seed Fund Scheme. AIC – BIMTECH is also incubating O’2 Nails India under their “Gurukul” programme, where they are reformulating nail care products in a more sustainable fashion.

This fundraise saw participation from other leading angel investors including G Sowmya (Product Head – Google) and Sanjay Vijayvargiya (Partner Mahindra Holiday). Atal Incubation Centre – BIMTECH led the round along with Parul Aggarwal and other investors. O’2 Nails India will use these funds for technological advancement along with retail growth by increasing its store numbers.

“Speaking on the occasion, Aparna Singh, CEO, O'2 Nails India said,

"Our audience does not buy goods or services. They are keen to buy relations and stories, which they can showcase socially. As India is full of festivities and colour, now you have options to express them through your nails with our combination of technology and techniques. Aparna added, “I’m immensely confident after incubation by Atal Incubation Centre – BIMTECH, we’ll surely creating change in the nail care industry. We’re grateful to our existing investors, who’re also delighted that we’re progressing with 5X growth YoY. We’re also adding 10 boutiques in this quarter and taking our total number to 50 in this calendar year with 90% She Power, which takes our customer base to 100,000 regular paid customers. Our store strength will give us penetrate the nail care market across India and compete with Global Market and standards. On the product front, this mother’s day we’ve started our entry to product segment also and launching five products under nail care category on all ecommerce platforms from July’22”.

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FlexC raises undisclosed funding from Dr RA Mashelkar, Amey Mashelkar

FlexC, an AI talent marketplace for hiring and managing a hybrid workforce, has secured undisclosed funding by bringing in new investors — Dr RA Mashelkar and Amey Mashelkar. 

Dr Mashelkar has served as a director on the boards of India’s leading companies, such as Tata, Reliance KPIT Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, Piramal Group, Mind Tree, and many others. More than 45 global universities have bestowed honorary doctorates upon him.

He is a Padmavibhushan awardee and has also received the dignitary award Star of Asia awards from George Bush (Sr), former US President.

The other investor who has invested in FlexC is Amey Mashelkar who is the head of JioGenNext, the startup innovation and mentoring programme of Jio. He is also an angel investor with a focus to invest in promising companies that are building global businesses.

FlexC was created with the vision to make the best Indian talent accessible to the global markets. The company will use the funding for expansion of the various business horizons beyond IT and BPO and venture into consumer tech, BFSI, and retail. It also has plans to invest in technology platforms to render a competitive and comprehensive workplace ecosystem. 

Mumbai Angels, others invest Rs 14.31 Cr in Pre Series A round of SpeEdlabs

Mumbai Angels, a premium platform for private investments, has invested in SpeEdLabs, one of the leading AI-based edtech platforms, as a part of the Pre-Series A funding round. The fundraise to the tune of Rs 14.31 crore, also saw the participation of LetsVenture, Ecosystem Ventures, and SucSeed Ventures. SpeEdLabs will direct the freshly infused capital towards expanding its presence and bolstering its infrastructure. 

Nandini Mansinghka, Co-founder and CEO of Mumbai Angels, said, “The advent of AI-enabled platform-as-a-services solutions have been revolutionising the hitherto unorganised after school tuition market. There is a tremendous demand for the non-generic mode of learning given the one-size-fits-all education system prevalent in India today. We are confident that the unique tech driven learning solutions will continue to enrich students' learnings and fuel future demand for personalised coaching.”

“As the world gradually moves toward a hybrid model of education, it’s high time children/students receive education personalised as per their requirements. Pure online tutoring was a forced choice during COVID-19 lockdown, but now the offline classroom model using technology will be the successful hybrid model. SpeEdLabs platform uses data-driven hyper personalisation, dynamic adaptive learning, algo-driven automated content management and analytical data visualisation to help students achieve their potential as we bring the best of both worlds. We are also delighted to have marquee investors supporting our journey. Currently present in 200+ cities, enabling 100,000+ students and empowering over 5,000 teachers, SpeEdLabs will soon be expanding their presence to 800 cities across 23 states in the country,” said Vivek Varshney, Founder of SpeEdLabs.