The Indian startup ecosystem, from 5th-10th August, raised around ₹221.27 million (approx ₹157 crore) funding from varied category startups along with few acquisition deals.
The week of the funding galore was initiated by Gurugram based logistics startup Transporter.city, which raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Axilor and Touchstone Equities, Lead Angels, and other Angels.
The platform plans to use the current funds to further strengthen their technology and platform capabilities and increase its service capabilities pan-India.
For details: Gurugram-based Transporter.city bags an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Axilor Venture, others
BalleBaazi, a New Delhi-based online Cricket Fantasy gaming platform, raised $4 Mn in a Series A funding round from Delhi-based Snap Angel Tech and an undisclosed Singapore-based investor.
The funds will be used to expand its business to the newer markets and enhance the gaming experience for the users. Also, the company plans to introduce more fantasy games across different genres of sports.
GoWork, a Gurugram-based, co-working space provider, has secured $53 million (approx ₹373 crore) in a debt round to scale its business in the country as competition in the market. The funding was done by BlackRock’s Private Credit Team and CLSA Capital Partners’ Special Situations Group.
The startup will use the infuse funds to expand its accommodation capacity to 25,000 people, up from 12,000 currently.
Indifi, a Gurugram-based fintech startup has bagged ₹145 crore in a series C equity round led by CDC Group, the development finance arm of the UK government.
While, investors such as Omidyar Network and Elevar Equity, and venture capital firm Accel Partners, also participated in the round.
For details: Gurugram-based Indifi bags ₹145 cr in series C round from CDC Group, Accel Partners, others
Mama Mia, a Kolkata-based premium gelato brand, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round of funding led by Pareto Capital, along with a clutch of High Net Worth Individuals from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, for about 20 per cent stake.
With the current fund raise, the company plans to open more than 100 DSOs (delivery service outlets) across the country in the next 12 months.
Furthermore, other startups that contributed in the funding drive are as follows:
Awfis: Delhi-based co-working space provider Awfis, has raised $30 million (approx ₹212 crore) in a series D funding round led by ChrysCapital. While, Sequoia Capital India and the Three Sisters Institutional Office also participated in the round. The platform will use the funds to expand its products and services lineup, and further establish a presence in new micro-markets in India, while enriching the experience for its community members.
Spyne: Gurugram-based SaaS startup Spyne, has secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by Smile Group. While, other angel investors also participated in the round. The AI-driven startup said that the funding will be used to build deeper technology solutions to streamline and distribute massive offline content for photographers.
Gramophone: An agritech startup Gramophone, based out of Indore, has raised ₹24 crore in series A funding from Info Edge, Raveen Sastry, co-founder at Myntra, Asha Impact and Better Capital. There was no disclosure about how the startup has planned to utilise the funds,
For details: Info Edge, co-founder of Myntra Raveen Sastry, others invests ₹24 cr in Indore-based Gramophone
CynLr: A Bengaluru-based robotics deeptech startup CynLr has secured ₹5.5 crore in a seed funding round from Speciale Invest, Arali Ventures, Growx ventures, CIIE Initiatives and Vijay Kedia. The startup will use the infuse capital towards research and development as well as to drive adoption of the product.
iDream Career: Delhi-based education counselling startup iDream Career has bagged an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Gray Matters Capital. The platform will use the infuse funds to strengthen its online platform’s technology and to build automated data-driven career planning tools based on its huge data and content on careers; besides expanding to more private schools in India and the Middle East.
For details: iDreamCareer bags an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round from Gray Matters Capital
Vedantu: An edtech startup Vedantu, based out of Bengaluru, has secured ₹9.42 crore in debt and preference funding from Trifecta Capital. According to sources, the startup has raised ₹8 crore in April this year, and ₹1.4 crore in Series B in the months of May and June of the same year.
Dailyhunt: A Bengaluru-based news and ebooks mobile platform Dailyhunt, has bagged $3 million (approx ₹21.75 crore) in a Series F funding round from Stonebridge Capital. According to sources, the company has issued preference as well as equity shares to Stonebridge’s two entities, Stonebridge and Stonebridge Offshore Holdings.
For details: Dailyhunt bags $3 million in part series F round from Stonebridge Capital
Lendingkart: A fintech startup, based out of Ahmedabad, has raised ₹212 crore in a fresh equity round, led by Fullerton Financial Holdings, Bertelsmann India Investments and India Quotient. The startup will use the infuse capital to expand lending bases, deepen Lendingkart Group‘s reach to small and underserved micro enterprises and further strengthen its technological and analytics capabilities.
There were few other startups that also contributed in the funding galore of the Indian startup ecosystem, but were not covered by theIndianWire.
Therefore, here is the list of acquisition deals that happened within the week.
Mumbai-based premium fashion platform Purple Style labs (PSL) acquired Pernia’s Pop Up Shop (PPUS), an ecommerce website which houses over 500 of India’s pre-eminent designer brands. Through this acquisition, PSL aims at building a comprehensive omni-channel fashion platform that is predominantly focused on meeting the fashion needs of Indians in India and across the world.
Payments company Razorpay has acquired a Delhi NCR-based artificial intelligence (AI) company Thirdwatch for an undisclosed amount. Post-acquisition, Thirdwatch will now be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Razorpay will be based at the company’s headquarters in Bengaluru. This deal is said to augment Razorpay’s efforts at improving the payment experience and avoid fraudulent transactions with the help of AI, machine learning and big data.
Times Internet-owned online restaurant table booking service Dineout announced the acquisition of Delhi-based foodtech company Binge Digital for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is expected to help its digital menu product Dine-in.
For details: Dineout acquires Delhi-based Binge for an undisclosed amount
Personal wealth management platform Scripbox acquired another wealth management startup Upwardly for an undisclosed amount. As a part of this deal, Upwardly team will join Scripbox and the startup founders will take leadership roles in the company.
For details: Bengaluru-based Scripbox acqui-hires Upwardly for an undisclosed amount