Propelld raises Rs 15 crore from Stellaris Venture Partners and India Quotient
Propelld is a lending platform that offers loans to students pursuing vocational training in areas ranging from machine learning to hospitality management
Propelld, a fintech startup that enables students to get education loans, has raised Rs 15 crore from StellarisVenture Partners and India Quotient. Existing investor India Angel Network also participated in the funding round.
Other investors including Raghunandan G, the founder of TaxiForSure, and Ramakant Sharma, the founder of Livspace, participated as part of the members of Stellaris’ Founder Network.
Propelld had raised a seed round of Rs 1.7 crore from IAN in 2018.
Atlan raises Rs 18 crore in Series A funding led by WaterBridge Ventures
Atlan’s products helps teams in large enterprises collaborate seamlessly on data projects by truly democratizing data, both internal and external, while automating repetitive tasks.
Atlan has raised Rs 18 crore in Series A funding, led by WaterBridge Ventures. It counts Ratan Tata and RajanAnandan among existing investors.
Atlan’s products helps teams in large enterprises collaborate seamlessly on data projects by truly democratizing data, both internal and external, while automating repetitive tasks.
The company works with more than 200 corporations globally, including Unilever, GroupM, Mahindra Group, Kotak Mahindra Bank and InMobi.
“To win with data, diverse individuals such as engineers, data scientists and business users need to collaborate effectively. We are building the glue — the collaboration layer — for these diverse teams, to make them more agile and efficient,” said Prukalpa Sankar, co-founder of Atlan.
Khatabook in talks to raise $20 million in Series A funding
The startup, which makes accounting and business record-keeping simple for small merchants and entrepreneurs, may also get an additional $5 million from Chinese investors.
Khatabook is in talks to raise $20 million in Series A funding from DST Partners’ fund Ribbit Capital and Sequoia Capital, according to two people in the know of the matter.
More than 20 angel investors including prominent investor Gokul Rajaram, Jitendra Gupta, the founder of Citrus Pay, and Kunal Shah, CEO of Cred, are also likely to participate in the round.
The startup, which makes accounting and business record-keeping simple for small merchants and entrepreneurs, may also get an additional $5 million from Chinese investors.
AI startupUniphore Software Systems raises $38 million
The company is investing heavily in R&D around speech recognition and utilising AI to build a conversation engine.
Chennai-based speech recognition company Uniphore Software Systems has raised $38 million in fresh funding, led by California-based venture capital firm March Capital Partners, at an estimated valuation of around $130 million.
The Series C funding round also saw National Grid Partners, Sistema Asia Fund and Patni Wealth Advisors among others, participate in the round along with existing investor Chiratae Ventures.
Uniphore raised a total of $37.9 million in two tranches on June 5 and June 24, according to regulatory documents sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc.
Droom eyes $200 million funds
Droom’s existing set of investors, which include Lightbox, Beenext and a host of Chinese-origin family offices, among others, will likely invest $20-$30 million in the upcoming round
Droom Technology, an automobile marketplace and auto services company, is raising $200 million in its latest funding round, potentially valuing the venture at more than $1 billion.
The company is in talks with a number of financial and strategic players for the new equity financing, with global merchant bank Credit Suisse mandated to scout for fresh investors. Aggarwal told ET that the financing round was likely to be the last before Droom files for an IPO on the Nasdaq in the first half of 2021.
The CEO, however, declined to disclose the names of potential investors.
Financial boom back in Startup Inc
India’s startup ecosystem is witnessing a financing boom, which is likely to pick up further in the second half of the year as investors from around the world are rushing in.
India’s startup ecosystem is witnessing a financing boom, which is likely to pick up further in the second half of the year as investors from around the world are rushing in. They are backing a new crop of entrepreneurs building businesses in areas like urban mobility, social commerce, financial technology and software services.
With the abundance of capital, startups are seeing their valuations jump four-five times in a few months, raising concerns if entrepreneurs will flip to preferring growth at all costs over building viable business models, according to about a dozen venture capital investors and entrepreneurs TOI spoke to.
Meesho is in talks with Naspers for $120M funding round
The investment, if it goes through, is expected to take Meesho’s valuation to $600-650 million, almost three times more than its previous funding round
Meesho is in talks with South African internet group Naspers to raise a fresh $120-130 million financing round, three people in the know said, days after Facebook invested $25 million in the social commerce startup.
The investment, if it goes through, is expected to take Meesho’s valuation to $600-650 million, almost three times more than its previous funding round, people privy to the deal details said. The investment from Facebook was likely a part of the larger capital raise.
Meesho has emerged as one of the buzziest startups in the segment, facilitating micro entrepreneurship especially among housewives and in smaller towns. The online marketplace connects resellers with suppliers, and is now moving to target retailers and small shop owners to increase its addressable market. Resellers on Meesho use platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to sell their pro ducts.
Online pharmacy 1mg closes $70M funding led by Corisol Holdings
The Gurugram-headquartered firm plans to utilise the funds to expand its labs business to 100 cities, its e-pharmacy business to tier-III towns and villages
Online pharmacy 1mg has closed a $70 million investment round led by Corisol Holdings, a European family office, with participation from the World Bank’s investment arm IFC, at a valuation of around $200 million.
The Series-D round also saw South Korea’s Redwood Global and Korea Omega Healthcare fund coming onto 1mg’s cap table. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Maverick Ventures, HBM Healthcare investments, Omidyar Network and Kae Capital also participated in the round.
Grab raises $300M from asset manager Invesco to fuel growth
SoftBank-backed Grab said in April that it was looking to raise another $2 billion this year to ramp up expansion
Grab has received an additional $300 million investment from asset manager Invesco as part of plans by Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing company to raise $6.5 billion in total capital this year.
“The additional investment in Grab takes Invesco’s overall total to $703 million and re-affirms its belief in Grab’s vision and plan for the region,” Grab said in a statement on Thursday.
Beauty brand MyGlamm bags Rs 100 crore
MyGlamm is a direct-to-consumer beauty brand company, which differentiates itself on content and celebrity-led marketing to lure and retain customers.
Beauty brand MyGlamm has raised Rs 100 crore, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and the Mankekar family office, valuing the company at Rs 500 crore.
Existing investor L’Occitane, a beauty and cosmetics brand, also participated in the round.
MyGlamm is a direct-to-consumer beauty brand company, which differentiates itself on content and celebrity-led marketing to lure and retain customers. The company has a Rs 60 crore annual run rate, with customer retention rates of over 50%.
Recko raises $1 million from Prime Venture Partners
The startup intends to use the fresh funds to strengthen the product, expand the scope of offerings and build a strong technology and marketing team.
Recko has raised $1 million in a seed round from early-stage venture capital fund Prime Venture Partners. The two-year-old startup, which provides payment reconciliation services to companies, intends to use the funds to strengthen the product, expand offerings and build a strong technology and marketing team.
Founded by college batchmates Saurya Prakash Sinha and Prashant Border, Recko has built a platform which tracks the complete transaction lifecycle and commercial contracts of organisations.
Roots Ventures on track for Rs 200-cr maiden fund, gets Paytm founder as anchor investor
Alternative asset manager Roots Ventures said it is on track to close its Rs 200-crore maiden fund that will invest in early-stage and growth-stage companies in India.
Alternative asset manager Roots Ventures Wednesday said it is on track to close its Rs 200-crore maiden fund that will invest in early-stage and growth-stage companies in India. Besides, the fund also has a Rs 100-crore green shoe option that will allow it to raise additional capital if the fund is fully subscribed.
“We have already raised Rs 100 crore. We are in advance discussions with two fund of funds and a few family offices and expect to close the Rs 200-crore fund over the next 2-3 months. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is one of the anchor investors in our maiden fund,” Roots Ventures founder Japan Vyas told .
EdtechstartupUnacademy raises $50M funding led by Steadview Capital, others
The company plans to use the investment to onboard more educators, fuel growth across multiple exam categories and build a more robust product and technology team
Educational technology startupUnacademy has raised $50 million in Series D funding, led by Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital, along with existing backers Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures, indicating rising investor interest in growth-stage education platforms.
Unacademy founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini also participated in the round, along with angel investors including Haptik CEO AakritVaish and Udaan cofounder Sujeet Kumar
TapChief raises funds from 500 Startups, AngelList, Kunal Shah, others
TapChief was started by Shashank Murali, Binay Krishna, and Arjun Krishna as an online career advice platform in 2016 and later pivoted to its current avatar in mid-2017.
TapChief, an online platform that connects businesses to domain-specific professionals, has raised $650,000 from a clutch of investors including 500 Startups, AngelList India, Stanford Angels, SucSeed Venture Partners and angel investors like Cred founder Kunal Shah, former Flipkart executive Mekin Maheshwari and Slideshare founder Amit Ranjan.
Existing investors Paytm, NuVentures and Vokal founder Aprameya Radhakrishna also participated in the funding round. The Bengaluru-based startup plans to use the fresh funds to expand the team and accelerate its product development.
Open secures $30M funding led by Tiger Global
Neo-banking platform Open has raised $30 million (about Rs 210 crore) in Series B funding led by US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, with participation from Tanglin Venture Partners Advisors.
Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Speedinvest and Better Capital AngelList Syndicate have also participated in the round.
Streak AI Technologies raises $1 million in funding round
Streak AI has developed a platform which allows retail traders to validate their trading strategies and implement these strategies in live trades in the stock market.
Streak AI Technologies has raised $1 million in a pre series A round of funding led by 3one4Capital along with participation from Rainmatter Capital. The startup had raised its seed round of $350,000 from the latter back in 2017.
Rainmatter Capital is an initiative by Zerodha funds and invests in innovative Indian fintech startups. 3One4 Capital is a Bengaluru based early stage venture capital fund promoted by TV Mohandas Pai, a former top executive at Infosys.
CureFit raises $120M funding from new investors like Unilever Ventures, others
The company has now been valued at more than $575 million. CureFit has raised about $290 million in capital till date, including the latest round.
Health and fitness startupCureFit has closed a $120 million funding round, in a mix of equity and debt, with new investors including Unilever Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital and Kotak Mahindra Bank coming on board.
The round was led by existing investors including Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures), Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, and Oaktree Capital.
India’s space startups ignite investor interest
A new wave of space technology startups are mushrooming in India, catching the attention of investors keen to join the space race.
From companies building palm-sized satellites to those aiming to propel satellites into space using cleaner fuels, a new wave of space technology startups are mushrooming in India, catching the attention of investors keen to join the space race.
Bengaluru-based Bellatrix Aerospace, which wants to propel satellites into orbit using electric and non-toxic chemical thrusters, has raised $3 million from a group of investors, co-founder Yashas Karanam told Reuters.
Bellatrix Aerospace raises $3 million funding from IDFC-Parampara, Deepika Padukone & others
The startup, which has built a launcher for nano satellites and also electric propulsion for satellites, will utilise the fresh capital to prove its products for spaceflight
India’s private rocket startup Bellatrix Aerospace has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding led by IDFC-Parampara, StartupXseed and Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone, among others.
The startup, which has built a launcher for nano satellites and also electric propulsion for satellites, will utilise the fresh capital to prove its products for spaceflight. Bellatrix said it is currently looking for a partner to demonstrate the capabilities of its products in actual space flight.
LetsVenture’s fund to back YC startups
LetsVenture and US-based Pioneer Fund are joining hands to invest in Indian enterprises nurtured by famed Silicon Valley accelerator programme Y Combinator.
LetsVenture, a marketplace for startups to raise early-stage capital, and US-based Pioneer Fund are joining hands to invest in Indian enterprises nurtured by famed Silicon Valley accelerator programme Y Combinator.
As part of the collaboration, LetsVenture is setting up a fund to back five to seven Indian startups from the summer batch of Y Combinator, or YC as it is popularly known, in the June-August period. The fund, called ‘Future of India’, will be $1 million to $1.5 million in size.
