Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [18-23 June 2018]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding of the week.

In one of the biggest funding round this week in the Indian startup ecosystem Swiggy secured $210 Mn in a Series G funding led by existing investor Naspers and new investor DST Global. The round will also see participation from Swiggy’s existing shareholder, Meituan-Dianping, and a new investor, Coatue Management.  With the latest round of funding, Swiggy marks its entry to the Unicorn club. Soon after, reports also surfaced around Zomato which is said to be in talks with its existing investors Ant Financial and Temasek to raise a $400 Mn funding round.

This week 13 startups in the Indian startup ecosystem raised around $271 Mn in funding altogether and one startup acquisitions took place. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Wicked Ride: Bengaluru-based bike rental platform Wicked Ride raised $8.98 Mn (INR 60.9 Cr) in the latest funding round led by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. With the support of Sequoia and Accel Partners, the startup looks to support its expansion plans against its increasing number of competitors. Currently, Wicked Ride offers around 65 to 100 bikes at 36 out of 42 metro stations across Bengaluru.

Noble House: Delhi-based HRtech startup Noble House raised $734K angel funding from HR and Business leaders based in Singapore and India. The startup is now looking for a Pan-India and Asia expansion before they start exploring the other geographies across the globe. The funding will also help the company enhance its technology platform and accelerate hiring to create a wider outreach.

Pivotchain Solutions: Pune-based data science startup Pivotchain Solutions raised $290 K (INR 2 Cr) from the full stack fintech platform, Mobikwik. Pivotchain is a Predictive Analytics startup and has built exclusive AI and deep learning models for MobiKwik. These models will be instrumental for MobiKwik as it rolls out numerous lending products to address the credit requirements of its user base. The startup looks forward towards working with MobiKwik, to deliver the right lending solution across the user base.

Cashify: Gurugram-based online used phone platform Cashify raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Chinese recommerce giant AiHuiShou.The startup  AiHuiShou as its investment and strategic partner. The partnership will also enable Cashify to tap into AiHuiShou’s technology. The startup plans to expand to international markets like Indonesia and the Middle East as a joint entity by next year.

IndiQube: This is the second biggest Indian startup funding round this week. Coworking space provider IndiQube raised $15 Mn (NR 100 Cr) equity funding in a round led by WestBridge Capital. Ashish Gupta, co-founder of Helion Ventures, also participated in the round. The Bengaluru-based startup plans to use the funds to strengthen its execution capabilities and expand aggressively across Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and NCR. Currently, IndiQube manages 25 office spaces spread over a total of 1.4 Mn sq ft in Bengaluru.

RentSher: Bengaluru-based online product rental startup raised $1.1 Mn funding from Abu-Dhabi based venture capital fund Shorooq Investments and Dubai-based Latitude Consultants. The startup plans to use the funds towards developing a global tech platform that supports customers as well as business partners. RentSher is also planning to use the funding for geographical expansion in some five to eight cities in India and the Middle East in 2018.

Purplle: Mumbai-based online beauty products marketplace Purplle raised $2.57 Mn (INR 17.5 Cr) from a clutch of investors. The funding round was led by by an unidentified London-based investment fund, with participation from Patrick Chong Fook Seng (Founder of Luxasia Group) and existing investor JSW Ventures. The startup also runs its own private label by the name of StayQuirky.

Wonderchef: This is the third biggest Indian startup funding round this week. Mumbai-based startup led by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor raised $10.2 Mn (INR 70 Cr) from Amicus Capital at a valuation of $102.6 Mn (INR 700 Cr). The online store for kitchen products plans to use the funds in brand building and expanding capabilities in terms of manufacturing and warehousing. Wonderchef also aims to diversify its portfolio with new products

SMECorner: Mumbai-based online microlending startup SMECorner raised around $7 Mn in the latest funding round led by Capital First and existing investor Accion Venture Lab. According to reports, the capital is a mix of equity and debt with $3.66Mn (INR 25 Cr) in debt and $3.3 Mn (INR 22.5 Cr) in equity. Capital First will own a 14.2% stake in SMECorner post this investment. The startup plans to use the funding to scale its loan book by expanding on its offline branches and honing its technology platform.

Clinivantage: Mumbai-based healthtech startup Clinivantage Healthcare Technologies raised $1 Mn from US-based investor group Metaform Ventures LLC. Clinivantage plans to use the newly raised funds to scale and expand across the globe, for product development, deployment of resources for implementation, and for travel and administration. The startup offers a flagship PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) across IoA (Internet of Applications) products and the DoTTM (Doctor of Things)-connected IoT medical devices.

Drip Capital: This is the second biggest Indian startup funding round this week. California and India-based SME lending startup Drip Capital raised $15 Mn in an equity funding round from Accel, Sequoia India and Wing VC investors. The startup is planning to use the raised funds to scale up its operations in India and for modifying its models in other geographies. Drip Capital aims to create a playing field for existing SMEs and increase the global trade.

Muskaan Dreams: Gwalior-based non-profit social startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Hindustan Zinc Limited (part of Vedanta Group). Muskaan Dreams aims to transform 100 rural government schools in MP through E-learning classrooms for the students with this amount. This will create a significant impact on 15000 rural students, 300 Teachers and 100 villages across Madhya Pradesh.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Digital payments giant Paytm acquired New-Delhi based tech startup Cube26 for an undisclosed amount. The Cube26 team will work towards adding more social engagement features to Paytm’s products and services and improving customer service. The startup has been earlier backed by Tiger Global and Flipkart.
• BigBasket considered acquiring a stake in Bengaluru-based smart vending machines startup Kwik24. The egrocery company recently ran a pilot with Kwik24 to deploy smart vending machines in five apartment buildings in Bengaluru, a part of it’s ‘BB Instant’ service. BigBasket is said to have received a very positive response from the customers and is now looking to have Kwik24 on board full time to work on customised vending machines.
• Cleartrip acquired Saudi Arabia’s largest online travel aggregator, Flyin in a deal estimated to be around $50 Mn (INR 340 Cr). The acquisition provides Cleartrip a wider outreach, larger client base, economies of scale and enhanced competencies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.MENA is home to a large population of tech-savvy consumers and has the highest level of smartphone and Internet penetration in the world.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Edtech startup Unacademy revealed its plans to raise $30 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.The Bengaluru-based online learning platform which is valued at $100 Mn is set to utilise the funds to fuel its expansion into areas like K-12 and competitive exams like JEE.
• BPCL (Bharat Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) agreed to sign an agreement for providing grants to four startups raised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). The agreement took place under BPCL’s startup scheme Project Ankur.The scheme supports projects which have an aim to establish innovative technology and business re-engineering ideas.BPCL will also be providing mentor support and technical assistance in terms of guidance or on need-basis to the Kerala based startups.
• Impact investor company Gray Matters Capital selected eight startups for the first cohort of its accelerator program, GMC Calibrator. The six-month blended zero-equity accelerator programme aims to work towards its mission of reaching one million users by 2020, of which 50% will be women and girls. Eight startups from the first cohort of GMC calibrator are Laqsh Job Skills Academy, MadGuy Labs, Meghshala, Million Sparks Foundation, Multibhashi, Ockypocky, Sarkari Pariksha and Stones2Milestones.
• KPMG India launched its One M&A initiative. This will include all components of a deal ecosystem right from the inception of transaction to post-deal activities, all of which will come together and work as one seamless team under a common leadership and go to market strategy.
• NASSCOM launched women wizards rule tech program exclusively for women technologists. The joint initiative by NASSCOM Sector Skills Council (SSC) and the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) seeks to increase the pipeline of women in senior levels capable of taking up leadership roles, and enable their retention in their chosen domains.
• T-Hub and American tech conglomerate Otis Elevator Co. together launched Otis Innovation Challenge for startups. The global competition aims to identify emerging technology-based solutions that can integrate with Otis products. Otis looks to enhance the efficiency and utilisation of its products by creative and smart solutions from startups The top startups selected for the challenge will get an opportunity to collaborate with Otis to potentially enable innovative technology solutions at its facility in Hyderabad.
• Pune-based online baby products retailer Firstcry may soon raise $100-150 Mn funding from new and existing investors. The startup has reportedly held talks with Temasek Holdings, Chinese Internet giant Tencent and another Chinese investment firm for the next round of fundraising. Firstcry has also appointed Morgan Stanley as its investment bank for the deal.
• Texas Instruments (TI) in association with Ministry of Science and Technology announced the upcoming edition of DST – TI India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC) which opens for registration from June 20, 2018, till Aug 31, 2018. This edition provides the opportunity for the Indian engineering students to earn 15,000+ certificates across various stages of the contest. Qualifying teams will be supported with a funding of $1.2 Mn (INR  8.2 crore).
• Accenture, the Consulate General of Israel to South India, and NASSCOM jointly launched ‘scalerator,’ an exclusive program that aims to enhance the collaboration between Israeli and Indian startups to create innovative solutions for global markets. scalerator will identify growth-stage Israeli startups with deep expertise in emerging technologies — particularly cybersecurity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, automation, the Internet of Things, blockchain and extended reality — and connect them with India’s startup community through NASSCOM.
• Israel startups look to test their products in India. The IIA supports the local tech industry and is an investment arm of the Israel government. Under the new pilot programme, 18 finalist startups will pitch their technologies to executives from Indian companies.  The event will take place in Tel Aviv next week. Six startups will be selected for the programme — two each from health, water, and agriculture sectors.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Funding Galore: Startup Fundings of The week!