Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (September 18, 2023)

Funding News

Equity List raises $2.2M seed funding

Equity List, a full-stack equity and shareholder management platform, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. The funding round saw participation from AngelList India, Hustle Fund (marking Hustle Funds’s maiden investment in India), Republic, Unpopular Ventures, Mana Ventures, Riverwalk Holdings and Super Capital.

The round also saw the participation of angel investors like Tanmay Bhatt, Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Gajendra Jangid (Cars24), Sairee Chahal (Sheroes), Rangarajan Krishnan (Five Star Finance), Sajid Rehman (MyAsiaVC) andFaiz Mayalkarra (KubeVC) among others.

The company will use the funding to hire top talent and accelerate its expansion plans. 

Qube Health bags funding from Inflection Point Ventures, Green Ivy Ventures & others

Qube Health, a healthcare payments company has topped-up its Pre-Series-A round with investments led by the Inflection Point Ventures, Green Ivy Ventures and other Family Investment offices. Keiretsu Forum and other existing shareholders of the company, also added to the undisclosed funding amount.

Speaking on the funding, Chris George, Co-Founder and CEO, Qube said, “Qube is changing the way Indians pay for their family’s healthcare. Integrating payment methods, no-cost medical loans, an open network of healthcare providers, we are on a mission to make healthcare payments, frictionless.

This funding round adds to our pre-series-A corpus and gives us a runway of up to two years, while setting us up for our upcoming Series-A.”

Qube, offers a payment system and healthcare credit line to employees of companies that sign up to its QubeHealth-Credit product offered as a compliment to the group health insurance policy provided by employers. From paying medical bills that are not covered, or partially covered by health insurance, to paying non-cashless bill payments OR OPD, Qube’s Users borrow and pay as they need from a pre-assigned credit limit.

The Good Bug raises Series A funding of $3.5M

The Good Bug, a brand focusing on gut health, raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by Fireside Ventures. The startup, founded by Keshav Biyani and Prabhu Karthikeyan, will deploy a large part of the funds for new product development, team expansion, and brand investments.

The Good Bug delivers scientifically backed and user-friendly solutions as it addresses chronic issues across bloating, constipation, weight management, and others through the gut.

"We aim to pioneer and expand the gut health category in India, which has been an unexplored segment. We’re unravelling the same by helping people get to the root cause of core health issues and holistically solve them," the company said in a statement.

"Our journey has been about more than just business; it's about transforming lives. We are thrilled to see the impact we've had on people's health and well-being. We are excited to have Fireside Ventures as our partner in this journey, with their deep knowledge of the Indian consumer and startup ecosystem,” it added.

Ummeed Housing Finance gets funding of up to $20M

Ummeed Housing Finance, a Gurugram-based digital affordable housing finance company, has received funding of up to $20 million (about Rs 160 crore) from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

It will use the funding for providing long-tenure housing finance to the economically weaker sections, lower-income groups, and middle-income groups in Tier II, III, and IV cities in India. Further, DFC is partnering with UHFPL to fund about 2,000 new, low-ticket mortgages, averaging $11,600 (around Rs 9 lakh) in size, with tenures of up to 15 years.

UHFPL began its journey in 2016 and provides affordable housing finance to the underserved and underbanked population, and now operates through 84 branches in seven states across north and central India.

The company has developed a fully digitised loan approval and disbursal system, which allows for a quick turnaround of customer requests. The company offers loans in the range of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for home purchases, home construction, home renovations and repairs, loans against property, and business loans. The company has disbursed loans to over 24,000 customers since its inception.

Other news

About 79% businesses in Asia leverage tech to enhance last-mile logistics efficiency: Locus

Around 79% of businesses across Asia are harnessing technology to enhance their last-mile efficiency, but a staggering 84% lack confidence in their processes to drive growth and enhance customer experiences, according to dispatch management SaaS company Locus.

The company recently released a new research report titled 'Decoding Asia's Last-Mile Maturity', which uncovers valuable insights about the current state of last-mile logistics in India, Indonesia, the UAE, and other Asian countries. It also shows progress and gaps in the ecosystem and the role of technology in driving business success.

These findings underscore that there’s widespread adoption of technology in the industry. However, a majority of businesses are not able to leverage it to its full potential.

Kapture CX appoints Garima Rai as the VP of Marketing

Kapture CX, the SaaS-based customer experience platform, has appointed Garima Rai as the new VP of Marketing.

A customer-focused business strategist, Garima has mastered the art of using data and analytics to drive informed marketing decisions and deliver tangible business outcomes. Her expertise lies in assessing market potential, devising new market entry strategies, defining precise customer profiles and buyer personas, and shaping product roadmaps, to ultimately drive business growth, said a statement from the company.

Before joining the Kapture CX, Rai served as Director of Marketing at ClearTrail Technologies, where her efforts played a pivotal role in establishing a market presence for Klera, a no-code data analytics and process automation platform.

Lord’s Automative forms partnership with GarageWorks

Lord’s Automative Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Lord's Mark Industries and maker of electric two and three-wheelers, has partnered with GarageWorks, a provider of aftersales service for two and three-wheeler vehicles.

The partnership expects to strengthen the electric vehicle ecosystem in the country, where it looks to provide end-to-end support right from sales to service. Lord’s Automative was incorporated in February 2020 and launched electric scooters in October 2020 under the brand name Lords Zoom.

It has partnered with 267 dealers in more than 22 states and sold more than 16,000 EVs in India. Founded in 2017, GarageWorks has a presence in 10 cities across the country and claims a customer base of more than 80,000 and delivery of over two lakh services.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)