Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (October 15, 2024)

Funding news

Magnus Farm secures strategic investment  

Agritech startup Magnus Farm Fresh Pvt Ltd secured an undisclosed strategic investment from Tarun Singh, MD Highbrow Securities, at a 3.5% minority stake in the company. 

The partnership also includes plans for product innovation, with a potential follow-up investment of $3 million within the next year.

The startup will use the funds to develop a state-of-the-art processed food line, including individually quick frozen (IQF), frozen, and retort products, as well as cultivate new fruit varieties, accelerating its global export capabilities and market presence.

Data Science Wizards raises $1.4M seed funding

AI innovation company Data Science Wizards (DSW) secured $1.4 million in seed funding from an undisclosed angel investor.

Building on a pre-seed round of $450,000, this latest seed funding has raised DSW’s valuation to $16.4 million. It will use the capital to develop and enhance its deep tech AI platform, UnifyAI, and strengthen its team.

DSW in a statement said it will also launch 'insurAInce,' which uses UnifyAI’s capabilities, offering pre-learned models and specialised tools to address the unique challenges of the insurance industry—enhancing risk management, operational efficiency, and innovation.

The new funding will enhance UnifyAI and the insurAInce solution for scalable enterprise AI adoption. DSW will soon launch domain-specific AI solutions for banking, telecom, retail, and manufacturing, driving industries from experimentation to full-scale production.

D2C footwear brand Yoho raises Rs 27 Cr in pre-Series B funding

D2C footwear brand Yoho raised Rs 27 crore in a pre-Series B funding round led by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) for its domestic and global expansion.

The capital will also help drive the company’s growth and innovation, including investment in research and development to bring more products to market.

Additional investors supporting the round included Rajeev Misra (CEO, SoftBank Investment Advisers), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (CEO, Paytm), Rukam Capital, and Pankaj Chaddah (Founder, Shyft).

Traqo raises pre-seed round

Traqo.io, a no-code third-party logistics management platform for manufacturers, raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding round led by We Founder Circle.

The startup will use the funding to scale its AI and tech teams, enhancing the platform to meet the rising demand for efficient logistics solutions in the manufacturing and ecommerce sectors.

Founded by Mukesh Deogune, Traqo offers a SaaS platform that covers the entire freight lifecycle—from procurement and tracking to audit and settlement.

Healspan raises seed round of funding led by Lead Angels

Healspan, a tech startup focused on the health insurance segment, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Lead Angels and other angel investors. Prior to this, Healspan had closed a pre-seed funding round of Rs 1.2 crore last year.

Healspan will be utilising the fresh capital raised through this seed round majorly towards bolstering its marketing, sales, and growth. Besides, it will also be used for R&D activity. This startup has partnerships with more than 50 hospitals across ten-plus cities in the country.

Other news

Naveen Goyal joins AuthBridge as Chief of Technology and Products

AuthBridge, an authentication company, has appointed Naveen Goyal as Chief of Technology and Products. Goyal has over two decades of experience in the internet space, including successful stints in ecommerce, travel, and gaming.

Before joining AuthBridge, Goyal held key leadership positions in various organisations. 

ARISE onboards Vinesh Menon as Director General and CEO

ARISE (The Association for Reinventing School Education) has onboarded former AMPERSAND Group CEO Vinesh Menon as its Director General and CEO.

Menon has experience in the education sector and his knowledge of both private and government schools will help in positioning ARISE as a key voice of the private sector schools. He will also help foster relations with the government and industry as an important facilitator in policy advocacy for the education sector.

Chief Product and Technology Officer of Honasa resigns

Jayant Chauhan, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Honasa Consumer, has resigned from the role due to personal reasons. His last working day with the organisation will be November 30, 2024. Chauhan previously held the role of Chief Product Officer at Policybazaar.

Pepperfry, Infra.Market partner to enhance customer experience and product range

Furniture and home decor company Pepperfry and Infra.Market, a construction materials company, have formed a strategic partnership to enhance customer experience and offer a wider range of products and services. 

Starting in October, the companies will introduce Store-in-Store (SIS) formats at Infra.Market locations in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and more. The partnership will offer customers a wide range of products, including furniture, home décor, renovation services, and building materials.

Additionally, Infra.Market's IVAS will power Pepperfry's modular furniture segment in select stores across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and other cities, creating a seamless shopping experience under one roof.

Cashfree Payments launches UPI(Acquiring) Switch 

Fintech company Cashfree Payments said its UPI(Acquiring) Switch received certification from the NPCI and has started processing transactions. 

The UPI Switch is a software solution that connects core banking systems with NPCI’s UPI infrastructure, ensuring smooth and reliable processing of UPI transactions. It allows businesses to accept UPI payments at a very large scale of 12,000 transactions per second without experiencing payment failures. UPI Switch is built in partnership with NSDL as the sponsor bank.

Built in-house, UPI Switch minimises businesses' losses due to fraud by detecting patterns through trained machine learning models and rejecting risky transactions, particularly those involving QR codes. 

Capital-A elevates Aswani Chaitanya to partner 

Capital-A, a venture capital fund for seed to early-stage startups, has elevated Aswani Chaitanya, VP of Investments, to the role of a partner. 

As a partner, Chaitanya will work to develop investment strategies, lead fundraising initiatives, and enhance portfolio management. 

Chaitanya has over 15 years of corporate experience, having held positions at organisations, including Wipro, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs. His entrepreneurial journey began with a D2C healthy snack brand, Timios, which he scaled and divested to FirstCry in 2021 before transitioning to Capital-A.

Invest4Edu Appoints Manish Sahijwani as Chief Business Officer

Invest4Edu, an education planning company, appointed Manish Sahijwani as its Chief Business Officer of Financial Services. 

Sahijwani brings 20 years of experience in financial planning and wealth management for family offices, institutions, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Before joining Invest4Edu, he had successful stints as Director at IIFL and Senior Vice President at Indiabulls Securities Limited.

IVCA gears up for GreenReturns Summit 2024

The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA), India’s apex industry body for the alternate capital ecosystem, will host the two-day GreenReturns Summit 2024, an initiative focusing on climate change, in New Delhi from December 2-3.

The summit will bring together institutional investors, including sovereign wealth and pension funds, alongside Indian leaders. Among its many highlights will be the Green Pop-up Village, showcasing India’s top companies and startups in the green economy.

In a statement, IVCA said that the discussions during the summit will focus on mobilising capital for renewable energy, emphasising on concessional finance, technology transfers, and innovative financing to tackle India's climate challenges.

Aditya Birla Housing Finance partners with BharatPe

Aditya Birla Housing Finance (ABHFL), a fully owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital, has partnered with fintech startup BharatPe, to facilitate access to home loans and loans against property for merchant partners.

This collaboration will enable ABHFL to offer home loans and loans against property to over 1.3 crore BharatPe merchants across 450+ cities, with a strong focus on Tier II and III markets.

Merchants can initiate loan applications directly through the BharatPe app.

SBI Foundation, Villgro launches agritech startup accelerator programme

SBI Foundation and Villgro have launched ‘Innovators for Bharat’ portfolio featuring 14 agritech startups.

These startups focus on issues such as reducing post-harvest losses, creating value from agricultural waste, and mitigating CO2 emissions. Over the next two years, the programme aims to positively impact the lives of 10,000 individuals, promote sustainable practices on 60,000 acres of land, and prevent 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The programme involves funding support from SBIF, which will also provide a network of banking and financial institutions for mentorship, as well as partnerships with civil service organisations for field trials and pilots. Villgro will offer mentorship, technical assistance, and market linkages.

Nitro Commerce introduces AI-driven advertising solution

Nitro Commerce has introduced Nitro Ads, an AI-powered advertising platform that enables advertisers to target high-intent users across a wide spectrum of publishers.

The company claimed that Nitro Ads enhances the precision of targeting by identifying users with strong purchase intent at crucial decision-making stages. Nitro has also entered into a partnership with Disney+ Hotstar to ensure that campaigns reach consumers on platforms where they are most engaged.

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