Startup news and updates: daily roundup (June 5, 2023)

Funding

Sentra.world raises $2M in seed funding led by Avaana Capital

Sentra.world, an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) SaaS platform, has successfully raised $2 million in seed funding to support its mission of helping industrial businesses achieve their net-zero goals and effectively manage Scope 3 emissions. The funding round was led by Avaana Climate Fund with participation from RPG Ventures and Golden Sparrow Ventures. 

"We envision empowering global industrial businesses on their net-zero journeys through sector-specific SaaS products," says Harsh Choudhry, Co-founder and CEO, sentra.world. 

Sentra.world offers products namely sentra.calculus, sentra.network, and sentra.portfolio to help companies measure and reduce emissions, improve supplier management, and meet global reporting standards. The funding will be used for sectoral climate intelligence, product development, team expansion, and strategic partnerships. Sentra.world aims to manage 1% of global GHG emissions in the next five years.

Suniel Shetty invests in edtech startup Klassroom

Actor Suniel Shetty has invested an undisclosed amount in a Mumbai-based education startup, Klassroom Edutech, which operates as a hybrid tutoring platform for students. The startup caters to over 60,000 students across 500 cities through a network of 150 offline centres. It has also been developing digital resources in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, to be utilised in over 2,650 government schools.

"I'm delighted to be a part of Klassroom, as they're making a real impact by implementing the NEP 2020's innovative teaching methods,” Shetty said. Shetty’s association with the startup is projected to boost its social initiatives, support the expansion of its learning centres and increase user engagement on the learning app.

Till now, Klassroom has raised a total of $1 million in funding from well-known investors like ah! Ventures Angel Fund, Hem Angels, Pavan Bakeri (Managing Director, Bakeri Group), Kishore Ganji (Founder, Astir Ventures) among others.

Other news

CleverTap launches Retention Accelerator programme for startups

CleverTap, a customer engagement platform, has announced the launch of its Retention Accelerator programme, specifically designed to help digital-native startups personalise and optimise customer touchpoints, and improve user engagement and conversion rates on their platforms.

The programme will support 10 selected startups every year giving them free access to the platform, along with one-on-one mentoring sessions with CleverTap experts and networking opportunities with investors and industry leaders.

“We recognize the importance of empowering startups to build a robust customer engagement and retention roadmap to drive sustainable business growth, and this accelerator is a step towards helping these startups scale,” said Abhinay Jain, Director, Product Led Growth, CleverTap.

The first cohort of participants will be announced in July 2023. The selected startups will also get the opportunity to network with investors and industry leaders, said the company.

Zingbus, Sheru partner to scale up intercity e-mobility

Zingbus, a tech-based intercity bus provider, has joined hands with energy startup, Sheru, to scale up e-mobility for intercity commutes. Zingbus plans to expand its fleet by adding 2,200 electric buses and 4,000 electric cars over the next five years.

To ensure efficient battery management, it will utilise Sheru’s cutting-edge solution, ScaleBat, which offers features for battery performance, reducing operational costs, and extending battery life. Zingbus will also leverage Sheru’s NetBat platform to monetise idle time by connecting electric vehicles to Sheru's energy storage network.

"With Sheru’s expertise in battery management and energy storage solutions, we are confident that we can drive innovation together and create a greener future for the transportation industry," says Prashant Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Zingbus.

Lumos Labs launches educational platform for Web2, Web3 enthusiasts

Lumos Labs, a Web3 innovation enabler, has announced the launch of an educational platform, Lumos Academy, that aims to help Web2 and Web3 developers and enthusiasts in smooth transition into Web3 by upskilling them.

The developer-centric program consists of insightful tutorials, exercises, hackathons, and incentives in the form of personalised NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), which will build their understanding around Web3, crypto, NFTs and the overall blockchain sector, says the company.  

The curriculum is focused on simplifying dApp (Decentralised Application) creation along with providing resources to help developers to build on several blockchains such as Ethereum, Polygon, Glitch, and Internet Computers, using tools like Truffle, React, and Solidity. 

According to the data provided by the company, it has a community of 60,000 developers and has disbursed over $10 million in grants to collaborate with renowned players in the blockchain industry.

EatFit, HRX to launch HRX by EatFit offline stores 

Healthy food platform EatFit, and homegrown fitness brand, HRX, have jointly announced the launch of their offline stores, HRX by EatFit. The expansion to offline stores marks a new milestone in their partnership that started in July, 2022. 

The stores will primarily target major metro cities in locations such as food courts, fitness studios and malls, and their menu will provide a diverse range of health bowls, health jars, smoothies and smoothie bowls. 

“HRX aims at providing holistic solutions to live a healthier lifestyle and eating right is crucial to our vision. I hope that the HRX by EatFit offline stores will enable individuals to access nutritional meals on the go,” said Hrithik Roshan, Founder, HRX, commenting on the launch.  

EatFit, housed under Curefoods, currently operates 100 cloud kitchens.

“The offline stores will showcase the USP of EatFit and HRX first-hand to the customers, bringing a focus to nutritional meals that are specially crafted to seek a healthy lifestyle,” said Ankit Nagori, Founder, Curefoods.

Eyestem Research files for approval of its product to treat geographic atrophy 

Eyestem Research has announced the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the Central Drugs Standards Control Organization, India (CDSCO) to begin first-in-human trials of its product, Eyecyte-RPE™ for subjects with medium- and late-stage geographic atrophy. 

Geographic atrophy (GA) is a chronic progressive degeneration of the macula, a part of the retina, as part of late-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). According to Rajani Battu, Chief Medical Officer, Eyestem Research, Dry AMD is a huge disease burden and this therapy will make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.

Headquartered in Bengaluru and Delaware, Eyestem Research is a clinical-stage biotechnology company backed by venture capital firms, Kotak Investment Advisors and Endiya Partners.

GITAM invites entries from students and startups for SmartIDEAthon 2023

SmartIDEAthon, an annual pan-India mega pitchfest by GITAM (Deemed to be University), has opened applications for student entrepreneurs and early stage startups to submit ideas across four themes: Food & Health, Toys for STEM, Sustainable Fashion, and Frugal Innovation.

Student participants currently enrolled in any undergraduate or postgraduate programs and recent graduates can showcase their venture ideas in teams not exceeding two members. Applications will be accepted till June 10, followed by round 1 results on June 22 and Round 2 results on July 15. Semi-Finals will be held on August 24 and the Grand Finale on August 25, 2023. 

Winning student entrepreneurs stand a chance to win personalised coaching and bootcamps by internationally-trained venture coaches, a sponsored trip to the USA for Boston Entrepreneurship Week, and cash and grants worth Rs 30 Lakh.

BharatPe appoints Kohinoor Biswas as head of its consumer lending business

Fintech company BharatPe appointed Kohinoor Biswas as the head of consumer lending and will be responsible for leading the entire PostPe business. Biswas comes with over 14 years of experience in consumer lending, cards portfolio management, business strategy, and digital initiatives.

This is the third leadership appointment for BharatPe in 2023. The company earlier announced the appointment of Aparna Kuppuswamy as Chief Risk Officer, BharatPe Group and Sandeep Indurkar as Chief Business Officer-Banking and Alliances.

“I look forward to strengthening the existing relationships with the PostPe customers by offering new credit products as well as new payment and commerce use cases,” says Biswas.  He plans to build new-age lending products that appeal to a larger customer set.

BluSmart reaches 200M clean km mark 

BluSmart Mobility, an EV ride-hailing mobility service, has achieved a significant milestone of completing over 200 million electric kilometres through more than six million trips. According to the company, BluSmart EVs have significantly reduced carbon emissions, saving over 14,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions since its inception in 2019.

BluSmart aims to decarbonise transportation in megacities of India. The company’s fleet of over 4,000 EV cars has played an important role in reducing pollution caused by road transportation in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, where urban air quality has been a pressing concern, said the statement. 

“Today, reaching the milestone of over 200 million clean kilometres underscores the immense potential and reliability of our full stack EV ride-hailing service, coupled with our large-scale EV charging infrastructure network," says Punit Goyal, Co-founder, BluSmart.

Greaves Finance launches EV financing platform evfin

Non-banking financial company Greaves Finance has launched the financial platform ‘evfin’ that aims to revolutionise the world of electric vehicle financing. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Greaves Cotton Ltd, Greaves Finance, with the new platform, offers an unprecedented suite of innovative experiences to expedite the transition towards electric vehicles, the company said in a statement.

“Through our comprehensive range of personalised financing solutions, we aim to democratise access to EV consumers by offering the most cost-effective financing options,” says Sandeep Divakaran, ED and CEO, Greaves Finance Ltd.   

He added that the evfin platform has been designed to provide EV owners with an end-to-end lifecycle experience, offering a unique and seamless ownership experience throughout their electric vehicle usage.

Salad Days launches in Bengaluru, aims to acquire 5 lakh new customers

Healthy food brand Salad Days is expanding its operations to Bengaluru as part of its multi-city expansion plans over the next two years. The brand plans to launch three cloud kitchens in the city, offering the same menu as in Delhi, where it has seen great success. 

Founded in 2014, it aims to establish salads and other healthy options as regular meal choices in Indian households. It aims to acquire over 500,000 new customers in the near future by strategically targeting untapped markets and leveraging its existing consumer base. It currently has a network of over 10 cloud kitchens across the Delhi-NCR region.

Varun Madan, Founder and CEO of the company, sees Bengaluru as a challenging market with unique customer buying behaviour and anticipates significant B2B revenue opportunities in the city.

(The story will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)