[Funding roundup] Pescafresh invests in Hackle; Univest, Savart raise early-stage deals

Pescafresh invests in logistics startup Hackle 

Bengaluru-based logistics and distribution network startup Hackle raised $1.25 million from D2C seafood and meats brand Pescafresh and UK-based Elara India Opportunity Fund. The round also saw participation from Callapina Capital and Indian Angle Network (IAN). 

Launched in 2022 by Deepu Chandran, Jayaram Kasi, Siby Mathew, Suraj Valimbe, and Bhargav Bhamidipati, Hackle is an omnichannel fulfilment and distribution startup.

Post the funding, it will manage Pescafresh’s fulfillment centers, inventory, and last-mile delivery processes. It caters to over 8,000 General Trade (GT) and independent standalone supermarket (SMT) stores. 

“Our investment in Hackle is in line with our objectives of scaling with the help of industry experts. The seafood and meat business is operationally heavy, and a strong supply chain play is much needed. In addition to Hackle managing online fulfilment, its offline FMCG distribution platform focused on distribution to modern and general trade is exciting for our products,” said Sangram Sawant, Founder at Pescafresh.

In April, Pescafresh had raised $2 million from Elara India Opportunities Fund in a pre-Series A1 round, which it said it will deploy for geographical expansion, technological intervention, along with strategic acquisition for expansion of the brand’s reach.

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Univest secures pre-seed funding of Rs 3.8 Cr

Gurugram-based fintech startup Univest raised Rs 3.8 crore in its pre-seed funding round from angel investors, including Pritesh Talwar (CEO, Livpure), Aakash Anand (Founder and CEO, BellaVita Organics), Deep Bajaj and Mohit Bajaj (Co-founders, Peebuddy), Saahil Nayar (Co-founder, IDAM House of Brands), Ajay Pawah (Co-founder, Fixigo), Rahul Gambhir (CFO, Brookfield), Chetan Nigam (VP, HCL), Neeraj Goswami, and others.  

The startup will use the funds toward product launch and team building. 

Founded by Pranit Arora and Avneet Dhamija in 2022, Univest is a stock market investment platform for retail investors, which aims to improve ROIs for stock market investor by helping them with timely exit from non-performing investments. It has onboarded around 4,000 active retail investors. 

The startup is in advance talks to close its seed round, seeking $4 million and is looking to touch three million users soon. It also plans to expand in other classes like commodities, mutual funds, and investments in startups, besides exploring Southeast Asia markets like Indonesia.

Wealthtech startup Savart raises $1.5M led by 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts’ Angel Fund

Wealthtech startup Savart raised around $1.5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts’ Angel Fund. Existing investor Beenext Asia Fund also participated.

The Hyderabad-based startup aims to simplify investing in stocks and mutual funds following a psycho-metric analysis. It aims to double down on its marketing efforts, ramp up the product suite expansion, and expand its global reach on the network of its new investors. 

Founded in by Sankarsh Chanda, the wealthtech startup claims to help users create long-term out-performance with their mutual fund and stock investments using its proprietary research system – APART (Advanced Process Automation & Research Technology). 

The system crafts customised portfolios for investors based on their temperament and needs, using EFG (Emotional, Financial, and General) analysis that uses behavioural analytics to tailor investment, including strategy, intra-asset allocation, and securities.

The company is also betting on local languages and expects its platform to be available in five languages, including English, Hindi, Telugu, and Gujarati, over the next five months. It is looking to grow its assets under advisory (AUM) to $1 billion by the end of 2023.