Funding Galore: Around $88.8 million invested in Indian startups during fourth week of September

The last week of September has not been so charming for the Indian startup ecosystem as the industry was able to pull merely $88.8 million funding against last week’s investment galore of $169.4 million.

The IndianWire has brought to you the weekly funding report that covers all the investments done during this week (23rd- 28th September).

• • Ketofy: A pantry of ultra-low-carb, ultra-low glycemic food products brand Ketofy, has bagged $250,000 (approx ₹1 crore) as a part of its pre-Series A funding from Alok Mittal, former MD of Canaan Partners, Rohit Chanana, founder at Sarcha Advisory and Tejinderpal Miglani, co-founder at India Bulls, among others.
  • SpeakIn: The platform, which creates network with industry experts, SpeakIn has raised an undisclosed amount from Homage Ventures, which is backed by Aditya Ghosh, CEO at OYO South Asia. SpeakIn, a Delhi-based startup has planned to use the funds to launch a first-of-its kind “Expert Platform” and become the world’s window to Asian expertise.
  • Log 9 Spill Containment: Angel investors Renjit Shinto and Omkar Ghaisas have infused INR 4 crore as pre-nanotechSeries A round in nanotech startup Log 9 Spill Containment.
  • Zerodha: Rainmatter, an early-stage fintech fund and incubator, created by Zerodha, has infused ₹4 crore in Finception, a startup which creates content around stock market investments, cited ET.
  • AdvaRisk: A fraud prevention and investigation startup AdvaRisk, has secured $700,000 (approx ₹5 crore) in a seed round led by Sprout Venture Partners, along with SEA Fund and angels.
  • Aquaconnect: A platform for aquaculture farmers Aquaconnect,, has raised $1.1 million (approx ₹7 crore) in seed funding led by Omnivore and HATCH.
  • Blu Smart: Ka Enterprises, owned by Bollywood’ highest-paid actress Deepika Padukone, has infused funds in an electric taxi startup Blu Smart as part of an angel round of $3 million (approx ₹21 crore).
  • Pharmarack: IvyCap Ventures has infused $3 million (approx ₹21 crore) as Series A round in healthtech platform Pharmarack.
  • Digi-Prex: Khosla Ventures has led $5.5 million (approx ₹38 crore) seed round of funding in a healthtech startup Digi-Prex.
  • Darwinbox: A cloud-based HR solutions platform Darwinbox, has secured $15 million (approx ₹106 crore) in series B investment led by Sequoia India as the company aims to accelerate its growth across Asia.
  • WhistleDrive: Planning to enter two more cities other than the three in which it operates presently, WhistleDrive, an employee transportation company, has bagged ₹72 crore in Series B round from Colosseum Group, reported by Mint.
  • Onco: The top notch investment firms such as Accel Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Dream Incubator, have led a series A funding round of $7 million (approx ₹49 crore) in cancer care platform Onco, through which the startup aims to be a one-stop shop for all cancer-related needs of patients and caregivers, cited Yourstory.
  • Ofbusiness: SME lending startup Ofbusiness has raised Rs 250 crore ($35 million) in a Series D round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Falcon Edge and Matrix Partners.
  • Zesty Kitchen: Cloud kitchen startup Zesty Kitchen raised Rs 3 crore (approximately $422,085) from a group of angel investors.
  • Meanwhile, Rivigo, a logistics startup stepped into the unicorn list after it raised $4.97 million from KB Global.

Furthermore, other startups, in the latest series of investments, which contributed into the galore of Indian startup ecosystem are:

• • DIPL: A digital transaction enabler DIPL (Digital India Payments Ltd), a digital transaction enabler, has raised ₹5.75 crore from an alien investment group IC1101. The company DIPL raised the funding after participating in Horses Stable, the Indian adaptation of American television show Shark Tank, cited VCCircle.
  • Agatsa: A health solutions provider Agatsa has raised $1 million in funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and the Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Besides investments, the startups which acquired other platforms comprised of:

• • Junglee Games: Pumping its position in the skill gaming space and ready to provide strong presence for the company in Bengaluru, US-based gaming platform Junglee Games, has acquired Algorin TechLabs, another gaming platform, cited Mint.
  • CRIDS: Sachin Bansal, Flipkart’s co-founder, is all set to assume the charge as CEO at non-banking financial company CRIDS (Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services) as Bansal has acquired stake in CRIDS for ₹739 crore, cited Business Standard.
  • Haptik: Reliance Industries-owned conversational AI platform Haptik, has acquired conversational commerce startup Buzzo.ai. The acquisition will enable Mumbai-based startup Haptik to further enhance voice and chat commerce solutions for its customers globally, and leverage the platform to power multilingual experiences.