Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 21, 2023)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Monday, August 21, 2023.
Funding
Hypergro.ai secures Rs 7 Cr from Silverneedle Ventures, others
Bengaluru-based martech startup has raised seed funding of Rs 7 crore. The round was led by Silverneedle Ventures, with participation from Huddle, TDV Partners, HME Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, FiiRE, and angel investors like Arjun Vaidya, Ankit Kedia, and Rajesh Sawhney.
The funds will be used to attract talents in areas such as AI and machine learning, tech, product, sales, and marketing. In addition, the company is setting its sights on new markets and is ready to make its innovative solutions available to a wider range of businesses.
Founded by Rituraj Biswas (CEO), Neha Soman (CBO), Abhijeet Kumar (CTO), and Arijit Mukhopadhyay (CPTO) in 2022, Hypergro.ai is focused on helping brands streamline their marketing efforts, offering a highly effective, cost-efficient solution for businesses.
Insurtech startup Square Insurance secures $1M from Recur Club
Square Insurance has raised $1 million in funding from .
The funding will be used to support the company's expansion plans and commitment to remaining at the forefront of industry technology.
With this new fundraise, Square Insurance plans to open 15 new branch offices and strengthen its workforce. This strategic move aims to better serve its growing customer base and enhance support services through increased manpower and the development of cutting-edge technology.
Women's wellness brand Inaari bags Rs 4 Cr from HyugaLife.com
Health and wellness ecommerce platform has invested Rs 4 crore in Inaari.
The funds from this investment will be channelled towards further developing Inaari's product range and strengthening its presence in the women's wellness market. The brand aims to enhance its research and development efforts to create even more effective wellness solutions tailored to women's self-care needs.
Founded by Rashmi Putcha, a hormonal health coach, Inaari addresses a significant gap in supporting women's health. Its meticulously crafted product range addresses women's well-being, from puberty to menopause, addressing key concerns such as period management, PCOS/PCOD, fertility and menopause support.
Car Easy raises undisclosed seed round from ah! Ventures Angel Platform, others
raises an undisclosed seed round from ah! Ventures Angel Platform, EvolveX, We Founder Circle, and Alaka Capital.
This round also saw participation from marquee investors such as Arvind Agarwal (CFO, Pay U India and ex-CFO, Nykaa), Anand Padmanabhan (President of Corporate Affairs, Shahi Exports), Vinay Soni (Finance Director, Flipkart), Abhishek Gupta (CEO, Turbotic and ex-KPMG partner), and Saurabh Singh (Head Business Strategy and Programme Management at Greaves Electric Mobility).
The funding will be used to help the company expand its founding team.
Ah! Ventures has made 185 investments in 119 startups, bringing its total investment portfolio to Rs 385 crore ($48 million) with 16 exits and 48 follow-on rounds. 31 investments have been made across all three platforms and the 2023 fund.
Other news
Zomato, Battery Smart to promote greener last-mile deliveries
Food ordering and delivery platform has announced its association with Battery Smart, a battery-swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers. As part of this association, delivery partners onboarded on Zomato can get access to Battery Smart’s existing network of more than 800 swap stations across over 30 cities.
To kick off this association, the companies collectively organised a first-of-its-kind two-wheeler ‘EV Mela’ in Delhi last month. The event aimed to raise awareness amongst two-wheeler-based delivery partners about the benefits of using an EV and to showcase Battery Smart's battery-as-a-service model, which aims to reduce high upfront battery costs and eliminate range anxiety.
The EV Mela was attended by hundreds of EV enthusiasts, mainly delivery partners onboarded on Zomato and featured the participation of vehicle partners, Lectrix and Fujiyama, as well as financing partners, Revfin and Mufin.
PrepInsta to partner with over 100 academic institutes by FY23-24
has announced its strategic initiative to collaborate with over 100 academic institutes by the close of the fiscal year 2023-24.
It already has joined forces with more than 30 educational institutions such as Gitam, KL University, SNS, KRGI, SSIET, and many others. These partnerships have enabled PrepInsta to expand its reach to prominent cities across India, including Chennai, Coimbatore, and several other major south Indian urban centres.
In the coming quarter, PrepInsta's plan will partner with another 30 institutions, a significant leap towards its goal of 100 collaborations by fiscal year-end. These alliances will help extend the reach and impact of PrepInsta's innovative education.
BetterPlace appoints former Twilio, Myntra exec Ved Antani as CPTO
has appointed Ved Antani as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer. With over 15 years of experience in building highly-scalable platforms and products across SaaS, ecommerce, gaming and enterprise sectors, Ved will lead the company's efforts to become a robust, AI-optimised full-stack workforce management SaaS platform.
Prior to joining BetterPlace, Ved was the General Manager and Vice President of Engineering and Product at Twilio where he was responsible for creating a global engineering and product vision for the company. He also led efforts to enhance the engineering roadmap for Myntra to improve their progressive web apps and increase fraud detection and prevention during his tenure as the Vice President of the company.
BetterPlace recently partnered with Microsoft to bring in AI and analytics into their tech stack to provide more value to their enterprise customers.
Netscribes appoints Soumyajeet Mahapatra as VP, Digital Strategy
has appointed Soumyajeet Mahapatra as Vice President of Digital Strategy. With almost two decades of experience in big tech automation, digital transformation, and technology adoption consulting, Soumyajeet will be responsible for strengthening the digital and technology roadmap for Netscribes across major global markets.
With a strong background in digital market trends of nearly two decades of driving strategic initiatives and digital technology adoption consulting, Soumyajeet will work closely with customers to improve the overall human experience, harness the power of data and analytics, and drive digital transformation for diverse enterprise environments.
In the past, Soumyajeet has held key positions at firms such as Infosys, TCS, and Cognizant Technologies.
Personal care brand Clensta appoints Navin Prajapati as VP, retail sales and new initiatives
Personal care brand has appointed Navin Prajapati as Vice President—Retail Sales and New Initiatives. Prajapati brings seven years of experience to Clensta, using his deep understanding of market dynamics and consumer preferences to optimise the brand's presence in traditional retail channels and build strong partnerships with key industry players.
In his new role, he will also develop fresh avenues for expanding the company’s reach globally and establishing a strong business presence for Clensta in international markets. In addition to ensuring customers have easy access to Clensta’s range of skincare, haircare, body care and wellness products, Navin will also drive the generation of additional revenue streams in sectors such as general trade, modern trade, institutional sales, and the HORECA business.
Clensta recently joined hands with actress Parineeti Chopra as an investor, partner and brand ambassador. Since its inception, Clensta has secured funding from notable investors like IAN and IAN Fund, IPV, VCats and Hem Securities.
Magenta Mobility appoints Dharmistha Chaudhary as Chief Human Resources Officer
has announced the appointment of Dharmistha Chaudhary as its Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO).
With a career spanning more than 22 years across diverse sectors including logistics, retail, and manufacturing, Chaudhary brings a wealth of experience and a dynamic vision to her role at Magenta Mobility. She previously worked with organisations like Sandvik Asia Limited, Reliance Group, Chalhoub Group, and CMA CGM Group.
Chaudhary's appointment comes at a pivotal time as Magenta Mobility accelerates its operations and expands its market presence in the electric mobility sector.
(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh