[Funding roundup] HostBooks, Exprto, and EduGorilla raise early-stage capital

MSME super-app HostBooks raises $3 million from Razorpay

MSME-focused fintech startup HostBooks on Friday said it raised $3 million in a Series A round led by Razorpay.

HostBooks will use the funds to add new features to its existing product suite and develop innovative products, including a deep learning-based Business Intelligence System and an AI-based Posting and Recommendation System.  

The startup will also use the capital to further scale its operations and enhance its existing product suite with the launch of new products supporting order management, neo-banking, advanced inventory and production management, and AI-based business decision-making tools to better support its wide customer base in India.

Exprto raises Rs 5 crore in seed round from GSF, AngelList US, Agility Ventures, others

Exprto, an experience-sharing and mentorship network for students, raised Rs 5 crore in a seed round led by GSF and AngelList US, along with Agility Ventures, Lets Venture, and Supermorpheus. 

The funding round also saw participation from unicorn founders and angel investors, including Rishabh Karwa (Go Mechanic), Rahul Jaimini (Swiggy), Sanka Aravind (Rapido), Rajesh Yabaji (Blackbuck), Vikas Bagaria (Pee Safe), Rahul Maroli (Zee5), Nitish MitterSain (Nazara Technologies), Dinesh Gulati (India Mart), Deep Gupta, Sahil Mahaldar, and Archana Priyadarshini, among others.

The startup offers one-on-one and cohort-based group mentorship services that vary in duration between one and twelve months. Based on the stage of preparation that the aspirants are at, each service is personalised using their proprietary AI/ML profile-matching tech.

Varun Richharia, Co-founder of Exprto, said, “The total market opportunity for ‘Mentorship as a Service’ (MAAS) in India alone is $11 billion, with $6 billion in the test prep segment. That’s where we will create coalescence and a massive success network within the Indian student community. The evolution of Exprto continues to build on the belief that every mentor’s voice can transform and accelerate people’s careers immensely, and our platform provides them with an entirely new, accessible, and engaging way to do so.”

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Lucknow-based edtech startup EduGorilla raises angel round from ah! Ventures' angel platform, others

Lucknow-based edtech startup EduGorilla raised angel funding from ah! Ventures' angel platform and others, including SucSEED Indovation Fund, Lead Angels Fund, Mumbai Angels, TiE India, VG Angels, WeFounderCircle, and several notable angels. Its current round of Rs 16.5 crore is led by SucSEED Indovation Fund.

Some of the notable super angels, including Ambrish Jain (ex-COO, Vodafone), Vivek Chachra (Director Sales, Harvard Business Publication), Vineet Singh (Director-Infant Nutrition, Nestle), and Rohit Sathe (VP, Philips), also participated in the round. 

With this capital, EduGorilla will expand its content in nine regional languages by April 2023, hone its AI and ML-based platform to increase the success rate of its students from 14X to 25X, increase coaching partners from 3,000 to 15,000, and launch 200 more video courses in various languages.