Startup news and updates: daily roundup (June 15, 2023)

Funding

Urvann raises Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures

Urvann, a gardening-focused hyperlocal marketplace, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

The company plans to use the funds to enhance the technology and facilitate expansion into different regions across the country.

Founded in 2021 by IIM-Ahmedabad and ISB alums, a husband-wife duo who quit their consulting careers to pursue their passion for plants. By partnering with local nurseries in a city, it provides the most variety and next-day delivery of fresh plants at the lowest prices, distinguishing itself from traditional players who courier plants from one city to another, resulting in high delivery costs and suboptimal plant quality due to long transit times.

Since its establishment, Urvann has fulfilled over 75,000 orders and a current daily delivery volume of over 500 orders. Moreover, it has distributed around 500,000 plants, specifically air purifiers, throughout Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

Plant protein-focused Evolved Foods bags Rs 7.3 Cr in seed round

Evolved Foods, a plant-based protein company, raised Rs 7.3 crore in a seed round led by marquee investors like Zerodha-backed Rainmatter Health and Kamala Capital.

The round also saw participation from Anvitha Prashanth (Anyaa Ventures), Aprameya Radhakrishna (Founder of Koo App), and a group of angel investors—including Rachel Goenka and Karan Khetarpal (Goenka Ventures Family Office), B G Mahesh (Founder/ex-MD of OneIndia.com), Sushant Arora (Co-founder of CleanMax Solar), Swapnil Shah (ex-brand head, Proctor and Gamble), and Vananam Ventures Trust.

The investment will be used to accelerate growth plans and capitalise on the strong order pipeline from the domestic and export markets.  The company is also in the process of launching its products in the Middle East and Europe.

GroClub secures Rs 4.3 Cr pre-seed investment led by Ramaiah Evolute

D2C kids subscription platform GroClub has secured funding of Rs 4.3 crore, at a valuation of Rs 25 crore, led by Ramaiah Evolute, a startup wing of MS Ramaiah Group. 

An angel consortium consisting of Deepak Gowda of Ascent Capital and Purushotham R, Chirag Shah of Velvet (Los Angeles), Isaac Reyes of Ravis (Panama), Amit Nanavati of Juicy Chemistry, Sanjay Munirathna of Keerthi Group, Dinesh Talera, Shricharan N J, and Sanjay Sunku (Drink Prime) also participated in the round.   

Launched in January 2022, GroClub offers products on subscription for growing kids which kids can upgrade as they grow. It is currently available in Bengaluru.

Revoh Innovations bags $425K in seed funding

IIT-Madras-incubated Revoh Innovations, an EV sub-components manufacturing company, has raised $425,000 in a seed round from Nexzu Technologies and Whiteboard Capital.

The startup plans to invest the funds to expand the team size and focus on developing specific products that cater to the current needs of the Indian electric vehicle market. The funds also will be utilised to manufacture products with higher power specifications while simultaneously enhancing the existing products by incorporating advanced features.

Revoh Innovations develops technology solutions for motor controllers to enhance the efficiency of two-wheeler/three-wheeler EV vehicles. It works with around 75 clients worldwide, ranging from multinational corporations to startups.

Also Read

How Sheru’s V2G tech can help support the grid as EV adoption grows

Other news

Veeam onboards Kacy Hassack as Chief People and Culture Officer

Data Protection and Ransomware Recovery,  Veeam Software has appointed Kacy Hassack as the company’s Chief People and Culture Officer (CPC).

Kacy joins Veeam to lead all things people, including attracting and nurturing talent, leadership development, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, employee engagement, and making Veeam the best place to grow careers and enable everyone to bring their best selves to work.

Prior to joining Veeam, Kacy held leadership roles at technology organisations, including Indeed, Amazon Web Services, Hewlett Packard, and Dell. With a focus on global growth and scale, she has lived and worked in multiple regions, including the US, Central America, and Asia-Pacific. 

Raptee opens its first manufacturing plant in Chennai

Premium EV motorcycle startup Raptee Energy has opened its first factory for manufacturing EV motorcycles to be rolled out later this year. The factory, which is opened in Chennai, is spread across three acres and will house a majority of Raptee’s research and development team.

The startup plans to invest Rs 85 crore in this plant which will have an annual capacity to produce 1 lakh units and will serve as the primary production plant for Raptee for the next 24 months.

It also plans to employ 470 people for manufacturing and further design innovation in its motorcycles. The R&D centre will house state-of-the-art development and testing facilities on-site, and will aid in future products while the manufacturing plant will house a dedicated battery pack assembly line.

Ready Accountant to open 50 more offline branches, train 25,000 students

Kolkata-based JobReady training platform for freshers, Ready Accountant, has unveiled its expansion plans to establish 50 additional offline branches across major cities, including state capitals, and train 25,000 students by the end of 2025. It specialises in accountancy, income tax, GST, and compliance to take up any challenge in these fields.

Its offline branches provide a conducive learning environment, ensuring students receive hands-on training from expert faculties. The institute will be recruiting 200-250 qualified faculties to support the operations of these new centres. With a strong focus on practical skills development, Ready Accountant empowers students to take up various challenges in the accounting domain and thrive in corporate cultures.

Cisco, Social Alpha unveil second cohort of Krishi Mangal accelerator

Cisco and Social Alpha have selected the cohort of startups for its second edition of Krishi Mangal, a scale-up accelerator programme to support agritech enterprises working on solutions for smallholder farmers.

The 18-month market access and scale-up accelerator programme will support seven in-revenue startups impacting agriculture and allied livelihoods. These startups will focus on scaling technologies for soil rejuvenation, water and crop management, and efficient post-harvest management.

Each startup will receive grant funding, piloting opportunities, go-to-market assistance, fundraising guidance, technology refinement, and mentorship support from experts. By combining Social Alpha's innovation curation approach with Cisco’s technological expertise, these startups will deploy income-enhancing climate-resilient technologies at scale.

Initiated in 2021, the first edition of Krishi Mangal successfully impacted more than 17,000 farmers and led to the creation of more than 200 jobs, facilitated over 500 micro-entrepreneurs and onboarded nearly 25 Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPOs). The programme was delivered across Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. 

(The story will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)