Startup news and updates: daily roundup (March 15, 2024)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Friday, March 15, 2024.
Funding news
Fluid Analytics raises $1.6M in pre-Series A round
raised $1.6 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by Pravega Ventures, with participation from an angel investor. The company is currently in the process of raising additional funds as this initial series progresses.
The startup will use the funds to automate wastewater infrastructure monitoring. It will also use it to expand its operations by deploying solutions with positive environmental and public health impacts, initially focusing on North America.
Cleantech startup Fluid Analytics deploys data analytics for solving urban water pollution. It was founded by Nidhi Jain, an Acumen fellow, and Asim R. Bhalerao, who serves as the company’s CEO.
Qurex secures over $250,000 in pre-seed funding round
, a healthtech startup offering sexual health solutions, raised over $250,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by 7Square Ventures and PointOne Capital.
Qurex plans to use the funds to further expand into new markets and develop its platform to enhance user experience.
Founded by Shailja Mittal and Amit Singhi, Qurex aims to become the dependable solution for sexual health, offering comprehensive solutions for sexual dysfunctions that impact over 200 million people in India and 1.4 billion globally. It has recorded over 30% month-over-month revenue increase.
GobbleCube raises $1.9M seed funding
GobbleCube, a purpose-built B2B AI-based revenue startup, raised a seed round of $1.9 million led by Kae Capital, with participation from CRV (US-based consumer fund) and marquee angel investors.
It will use the funds to focus on its GTM strategy, starting with India, Southeast Asia, and the US, and strengthening its product engineering capabilities.
GobbleCube automates data and decision-making processes across the entire ecommerce value chain to boost share of voice (SOV), minimise out-of-stock (OOS), and prevent revenue leakages, leveraging AI and automation to present brands with actionable insights. This enables brands to focus on executing actions that drive growth and profitability, while GobbleCube abstracts the entire end-to-end process.
Woodsmen Mountain Whiskey raises Rs 12.5 Cr in Series A funding round
Ginglani Distillers-owned Indian whiskey brand Woodsmen Mountain Whiskey raised Rs 12.5 crore in a Series A funding round led by Ahmedabad-based Finfirst Group and Anthill Ventures.
The round also saw participation from Nikhil Vora (Sixth Sense Ventures), Chaitanya Rathi (Ex-Sula Vineyards), Shantanu Deshpande (Bombay Shaving Co.), Claris Capital, and Baymore Ventures, among others.
Existing investors—Country Delight Founders Nitin Kaushal and Chakradhar Gade—doubled down on their investments. The round also saw about 10% participation from the core team of Ginglani Distillers, including Joseph Jacob (Ex-AB InBev), Sunil Thakur (Ex-Paul John), and Harpreet Bali (Ex-DS Group).
With this capital, Ginglani Distillers plans to expand to new markets while enhancing its distribution in existing markets. It also wants to focus on brand building, digital and on-ground marketing, team building and new product innovations. The company has also started working on its Single Malt range.
FlexifyMe secures funding on Shark Tank India
, a health and wellness startup, has secured Rs 1 crore in a mix of equity and debt from Namita Thapar (Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals) and Amit Jain (Founder, Car Dekho) on Shark Tank India Season 3.
Post the funding, the startup is now valued at Rs 40 crore.
Other news
C-CAMP and Indegene announce strategic collaboration
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), a not-for-profit enabler organisation in the deep tech innovation space, and Indegene, a digital-first, life sciences commercialisation company, have partnered to help early-stage life sciences startups accelerate technology innovation, product development, and go-to-market.
Under the agreement, Indegene will provide financial support, mentorship from specialised experts, and a digital service suite to aid C-CAMP in nurturing a minimum of 5-7 early-stage deep-science startups, fostering a comprehensive ecosystem.
UNIVO Education appoints Ravendra Kumar Singh as CTO
UNIVO Education, an online higher education company, appointed Ravendra Kumar Singh as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
With over 17 years of software engineering experience, he has held pivotal roles in fintech companies, including spearheading the core banking division at Paytm Payments Bank and contributing to payment solutions at BillDesk.
At Infosys, he led transformations for banks across APAC, including Punjab National Bank, the DBS Bank, and digital initiatives at HT Media.
IIT Madras initiative aims to reach 50,000 government school students in seven states by 2026
IIT Madras is targeting to reach 50,000 government school students by 2026 in seven states through its initiative to promote careers in STEM. This outreach initiative is provided free of cost in seven vernacular languages–Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi, along with English.
The institute has distributed 3.2 lakh books to 9,193 rural and government schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Key activities include translating popular science books into vernacular languages for distribution to government school students, providing career guidance in vernacular languages, and motivating students in STEM careers through science experiments and inspirational sessions.
Additionally, students undergo a free career guidance assessment called ‘My Choice My Future’ (MCMF), developed by faculty and alumni of IIT Madras in partnership with BodhBridge. MCMF offers detailed insights to help students identify suitable career paths based on their strengths.
(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
Edited by Suman Singh
