Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (June 18, 2024)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
Funding
Rockit raises Rs 6 Cr in seed funding
New-age beverage brand Rockit has raised Rs 6 crore in seed funding from Sauce.VC and Rannvijay Singha.
Rockit, founded by Vedant Garg, is a mass-processed berry-flavoured energy drink. The company plans to launch a variety of energy drinks, fruit-flavoured drinks and hydration products.
Going ahead, Rockit will be focused on creating an omnichannel presence in northern India, starting with UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh before expanding across the country.
Sauce.VC is a first cheque investor. The company has previously partnered with Hocco Ice Creams, Mokobara, The Whole Truth Foods, XYXX, Supertails, and Innovist.
Maxim AI raises $3M in funding
Maxim Ai has raised $3 million from Elevation Capital and angel investors including founders of , , , and .
The company also announced the General Availability (GA) launch of its platform; it plans to use the funds to expand its team, scale its operations and build partnerships with enterprises.
Maxim AI, founded by Vaibhavi Gangwar and Akshay Deo, is an enterprise-grade evaluation and observability platform for AI applications. It provides end-to-end AI evaluation across the development lifecycle: from prompt engineering, pre-release and post-release testing for quality and functionality, to data management and fine-tuning.
Other than decreasing turnaround time, the platform also allows for last-mile evaluation including support for human evaluation as well as custom datasets and models.
Wahter raises Rs 5 Cr in pre-seed funding
Packaged drinking water brand has raised pre-seed funding of Rs 5 crore at a valuation of Rs 52 crore.
The company, founded in December 2023, sells bottled water which is completely covered in advertisements and serves as moving billboards. It integrates brand advertisements into the water
bottle labels, ensuring that advertising investments subsidise the cost of water.
Through a fresh set of funds, the company plans to expand its distribution network, optimise its production process and enhance its ad-driven revenue model. Wahter plans to increase the number of carts, strollers and kiosks to tap into high-traffic areas and also unlock a broader demographic target. It will also invest in technology to streamline operations, improve logistics, and increase headcount.
The company, founded by Amitt Nenwani and Kashiish A Nenwani, has over 100 carts, strollers, and kiosks in high-footfall areas and has partnered with popular brands like boAt, Vijay Sales, and ACE Capitals.
LEO1 adds Rohit Sharma as strategic investor
Ed-fintech player has received investment from Indian cricket Captain Rohit Sharma.
The company, previously known as Financepeer, has raised $35 million in the last three years through two rounds. It counts Aavishkar Capital, QED Investors, 9 Unicorn, and DMI Finance, among others, as its investors.
The company works to resolve cash flow issues in educational institutions, its newly launched ‘Financial SAAS’ product offers a comprehensive solution for financial transactions in the education space. This includes a LEO1 payment card that serves as both a Smart card and a LEO1 Smart ID card within campus premises, allowing for tap-and-pay convenience for institute fees, retail purchases, online transactions, and ATM withdrawals, whether on or off campus.
It also provides immediate access to education loans and incentivizes timely payments through rewards. The company has collaborated with 31+ major institutions across the country.
Ayna raises $1.5 million in seed capital
AI-based product photography startup Ayna has announced a seed fundraise of $1.5 million in a round led by Inflexor Ventures.
Ayna uses proprietary Compound Foundational Models (CFMs) and diffusion models which enable brands with expansive creative control and realism in product imagery. The platform allows the brand to create studio-quality product photoshoots at scale, without physical photoshoots and costly overhead costs that accompany it.
The platform, founded by Aastha Rajpal and Yash Bansal, gives brands granular control over minute details in product images and also allows them to specify exact requirements, swap elements, and even A/B test different styles.
Ayna, which counts brands like Reliance Retail’s Clovia, Wakefit, WomanLikeU, and others as its users, plans to expand to the United States. The company is also planning to establish strategic partnerships with multiple marketplaces as part of its expansion plan.
GreyLabs raises over $1.5M in seed round
Speech analytics platform has raised over $1.5 million in seed capital in a round led by Matrix Partners India.
The round saw participation from angel investors including Vasant Sridhar (Founder of OfBusiness), Narasimha Reddy (Founder of MoEngage), Nitin Gupta (Founder of Uni Cards), and Anil Goteti (Founder of Scapia Cards), among others.
GreyLabs has developed a speech-to-text engine, which uses large language models to generate insights from unstructured data, particularly from speech data generated in call centres and email communications, specifically coded for the BFSI sector. The model also allows users to precisely identify lead generations and cross-selling opportunities within calls.
Aman Goel and Harshita Srivastava founded GreyLabs AI in 2023. They were later joined by Debabrata Basak, Raj Sanghavi, Shivam Gupta, and Shreyas Patel; they previously co-founded Cogno AI, later acquired by Exotel.
Landeed bags strategic financing from Paradigm Shift VC
Proptech startup has received funding of an undisclosed amount in a strategic financing round from Paradigm Shift VC.
Landeed, a platform for property title searches, had raised $8.3 million in a seed round in January from Y Combinator, Draper Associates, and Bayhouse Capital.
“We will use this additional firepower to expand our consumer-side offerings and scale our engineering team. Expect to see several new initiatives being accelerated in the coming two quarters as we aggressively double down on our fast-growing business lines and geographic expansion," said Sanjay Mandava, Co-founder and CEO of Landeed.
The company had launched an AI Property Analyser, which allows property owners, agents, developers, and legal advisors to access the complete ownership history of properties—from the initial owner to the most recent—including any transactions or loans against the property.
The platform, which boasts over five million downloads, makes it easier and faster to obtain essential land documents for a nominal fee, it said in a statement. It also provides multiple data points on a single screen, including guideline values and encumbrance certificates, which confirm that a property is free from monetary or legal disputes.
Other news
PhonePe payment gateway launches referral programme
Payment Gateway has launched its referral programme which offers competitive commission rates which are applicable on every transaction.
Businesses on PhonePe’s payment gateway can refer their clients to accept online payments from the PhonePe solution. The programme is open to a variety of businesses, including developers and digital agencies to technology platforms like ERP, CRM, and SaaS companies.
Referral partners receive scheduled monthly payouts, company event invitations, and relationship managers. Technology partners can also avail support to integrate payment gateway with their products.
Marico Innovation Foundation opens application for Innovations for India Awards.
Marico Innovation Foundation has opened applications for the 10th edition of its biennial ‘Innovation for India Awards’ which recognises and supports innovations with the potential to drive large-scale positive change.
The awards will spotlight innovations in two categories, Business which will mainly involve India-based startups and Social Category which will cover not-for-profit organisations. The application window is open from June 17, 2024 to July 17, 2024.
Winners will receive mentoring sessions, capital support, press opportunities and a chance to join MIF’s no-equity accelerator programme.
Almonds AI appoints Ramdas Rajamani as MENA Business Head
has appointed Ramdas Rajamani as Director to lead the company’s operations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
In his new role, Rajamani will be based out of Dubai and will focus on developing and implementing strategies to strengthen partnerships and expand channel engagement in the MENA region.
Rajamani has worked with brands like Sony, Samsung and AI-Futtaim and has experience with establishing networks of distributors, dealers, and merchandisers.
Core Integra expands into Talent Acquisition in select markets
HR company Core Integra announced it has ventured into talent acquisition in select markets including India, the Middle East, the US, and SEA.
With this offering, Core Integra now has comprehensive HR services solutions, including HRO, payroll, compliance, tech solutions, and advisory.
Under its latest offering of talent acquisition, which will be led by Meenakshi Jaryal, the company will offer refined recruitment strategies, high-potential identification, leadership development, and succession planning.
Fairfax Financial donates $5M at IIT Madras’ Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre
Canada-based Fairfax Financial announced a research grant of $5 million for brain research at IIT Madras’ Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre to aid in the development of a high-throughput histology pipeline that processes whole human brains into high-resolution digital image volumes.
Fairfax Financial was founded by Prem Watsa who is an alumnus of IIT Madras. The research grant to IIT Madras Brain Centre will allow the work to continue on high-throughput histology pipeline which will provide data sets of human brains of different types and ages in high-resolution that reveals cellular level details across the entire brain.
Financial Software and Systems appoints Vishal Maru as Global Services Head
Payments technology platform Financial Software and Systems has appointed Vishal Maru as Global Services Head, effective July 2024.
In his new role, Maru will oversee global services, including sales, business operations, IT infrastructure, quality assurance, and information security.
This comes on the heels of the launch of the company's payments technology platform, FSS BLAZE in the Middle East to facilitate efficient payment solutions in the region.
Swiggy Instamart to now deliver Hamleys toys
IPO-bound Swiggy's quick commerce vertical Instamart has partnered with Hamleys through which will be able to deliver a range of Hamleys toys in just 10 minutes.
Swiggy reported 300X growth in orders on the platform since it launched toys as a category on Instamart earlier this year. The collaboration with Hamleys, which would be operational across all metros, would allow Swiggy to onboard premium quality toys on its platform.
This follows the launch of another premium offering by Swiggy, Handpicked, a high-end quick commerce grocery vertical which features gourmet options and locally sourced products. This includes homemade paneer, freshly baked breads, and cookies from local players including Iyengar’s and Brik Oven. It also offers niche items such as spices for global cuisines and oriental sauces.
Swiggy launches “Explore” feature to aid in food discovery
Swiggy launched the “Explore” feature to innovate the food discovery process for users.
The feature offers a range of personalized suggestions, this includes new restaurants and different cuisines. It will also feature award-winning restaurants, local favorites and trending or most-ordered dishes.
Veefin acquires strategic stake in Regime Tax Solution
has acquired a strategic stake in Regime Tax Solution to expand its product portfolio by integrating Regime’s TaxGenie and PayInvoice into its supply chain technology platform.
Veefin, which operates in the supply chain finance space, has more than 50 clients and offers end-to-end integrated supply chain solutions including lending stack, smart credit decisioning, business intelligence, analytics, and omni-channel onboarding.
Regime’s flagship product, PayInvoice processed over Rs 65,000 crore of invoices last year, while TaxGenie facilitated filings for over 1,000 corporate and 1,000 corporate GSTINs, and supported over 10,000 corporate mandates during the last financial year.
Magenta Mobility Launches ‘Project 302’ to Decarbonize Logistics at Bhiwandi
E-mobility solution provider launched ‘Project 302’ to decarbonise Bhiwandi, a warehousing hub in Western India.
The company has inaugurated a new office and charging depot in Bhiwandi, deploying electric vehicles (EVs) using the hub-and-spoke model. This will include an initial fleet of 500 EVs at this facility, comprising both three-wheelers and four-wheelers.
The company plans to hire 200 local Delivery Executives (DEs) to operate and run the EV fleets from this location. A charging hub will also be set-up to facilitate the electrification of the fleet. The company has also partnered with an e-waste management company to reduce and recycle e-waste.
Sustainability Mafia awards Rs 31.4L grant to BioCompute
Sustainability Mafia (SusMafia) has awarded a non-equity climate entrepreneurship grant, the Big Pie grant, of Rs 31.4 Lakh to BioCompute, a DNA-based data storage startup.
The grant, offered jointly by PIEDS (Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Society) and SusMafia, is aimed at spurring the startup into being at the forefront of combating the climate change crisis globally.
SusCrunch 2024 saw on-the-spot funding commitments from angel investors Chandrasekaran J (Founder of Watsan Envirotech); Arjun Gupta (Founder of Smart Joules & Director, SusMafia); Aditya Bhat (Cofounder of SusVentures); and PIEDS.
The event was supported by Theia, Invest India, GPS Renewables, Dexler Energy, and Lucro.
Younion appoints Ravi Shankar as VP for ASEAN Growth
Experiential marketing agency Younion has appointment of Ravi Shankar K as Vice President of Growth for the ASEAN market as the company looks to expand its footprint across Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Prior to his appointment, Shankar was Global Marketing Head at Cloud 4C Services. He was also Sr Vice President, India Online Business at Langoor.
Younion boasts prominent clients including Google, Palo Alto, Microsoft, Red Hat, Amazon Web Services, Philips, and Nutanix. The company has a strong presence in India and with Shankar’s appointment, it plans to ramp up its expansion efforts in the ASEAN region.
2070 Health appoints ex-Ola CXO Gaurav Porwal as COO
Venture studio has appointed Gaurav Porwal as Chief Operating Officer and Operating Partner to lead portfolio management of affiliated companies.
Porwal was previously Senior Vice President for Service Commerce at Tata Digital. He was also SVP and Chief Operating Officer for Global Mobility at Ola before that.
2070 Health plans to launch 8-10 startups over the next 3-4 years and will also expand operations outside India over the coming years.
(This copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh
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