[Funding Galore] From Meesho To Ola Electric — Over $1.5 Bn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

The last week of September turned out to be a bumper week for the Indian startup ecosystem. The Indian startup ecosystem reported total funding of about $1.5 Bn across 40 deals. 

The week’s investment was 66% higher than the last week’s total investment which was close to $900 Mn, and a 163% rise from the week prior. 

Apart from the investments, the week also welcomed the 27th unicorn of 2021. Edtech startup Vedantu became the 5th edtech unicorn. Besides, hospitality unicorn OYO has finally filed its DRHP with SEBI for raising INR 8,430 Cr. 

The highest funding of this week was raised by social commerce unicorn Meesho. The Bengaluru based unicorn bagged $570 Mn funding round from Fidelity Management, B Capital Group, Footpath Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Good Capital, among others.

Following the round, the company’s valuation has more than doubled from $2.1 Bn to $4.9 Bn in less than five months since it became India’s first social commerce unicorn in April 2021.

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric bagged $200 Mn from Falcon Edge, SoftBank and other existing investors, pegging the valuation of the four-year-old startup to $3 Bn. The investment also comes on the heels of Ola Electric claiming to have sold $150 Mn worth electric scooters within two days of the launch.  

B2B ecommerce unicorn Ofbusiness has raised a fresh round of funding worth $200 Mn in its Series F round, doubling its valuation to $3 Bn.

Vamsi Krishna-led edtech startup Vedantu bagged $100 Mn to enter the unicorn club. The investment was from Singapore-based, Temasek-backed private equity firm ABC World Asia with participation from existing investors Coatue Management, Tiger Global, GGV Capital, and WestBridge.

Of the 40 deals, ecommerce sector raised close to $805 Mn contributing to 53% of the entire investment raised this week. The fintech sector raised close to $174 Mn contributing to 11.6% of the total funding. 

Here are all the funding rounds disclosed this week:

Startup IPOs This Week

OYO Files Its DRHP With Market Regulator SEBI To Raise INR 8,430 Cr 

Gurugram-based hospitality unicorn Oravel Stays which operates OYO has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to raise INR 8430 Cr ($1.2 Bn) through an initial public offering. 

The IPO offer will consist of a primary component which will include an issue of fresh shares worth INR 7,000 Cr and an offer-for-sale, meaning allowing existing investors to offload their shares, amounting to INR 1,430 Cr. 

IPO-Bound Snapdeal Increases Its Authorised Share Capital

This week, Inc42 exclusively reported that ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal has increased its authorised share capital by almost 12.8 times. According to the regulatory filings, Snapdeal is increasing its authorised share capital from INR 16.08 Cr to INR 206.08 Cr. 

The startup has also appointed Kaushik Dutta (Director, Thought Arbitrage Research Institute) as an independent director as per the SEBI listing regulations, the filings with the ministry of corporate affairs reveal.  

From The Acquisition Desk

• Credenc, an education lending fintech startup has acquired B2B digital content platform ObserveNow to disburse more education loans across diverse verticals.
• Dr. Oetker India has entered into an agreement with Spycy Fast Food, a cakes and desserts start-up based out of Noida, to acquire their manufacturing hub, innovation centre and the Kuppies Brand to expand its product portfolio in the cake and dessert category.
• Chennai-based M2P Fintech has acquired Origa.ai to bolster its technology capabilities around the new-age collection. Origa.ai is a full-service technology platform that allows both fintech and traditional lenders to manage their collections operations efficiently with intuitive repayment analytics and a full-stack omnichannel collection capability. 
• Tharasio model-based 10club has made its second acquisition by acquiring sports and fitness equipment brand, Skudgear. Raviteja Visakoti, an IIM Kashipur Alumnus, along with his brother Rithish Visakoti, founded and grew Skudgear that focuses on the sports and fitness category and Rapidotzz, which specialises in smartwatch accessories. 
• Delhi-based cloud telephony startup MyOperator has acquired cloud communications startup Ziffy in a bid to expand its network in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Fund Launches This Week

• Temasek-owned InnoVen Capital has raised INR 740 Cr ($100 Mn) towards the first close of its new independent fund. The target corpus of the fund is INR 1,000 Cr, and it has a green-shoe option to raise an additional INR 1,000 Cr.
• DMI Alternatives Pvt Ltd has raised $40 Mn fundraise for its fintech focussed “The Sparkle Fund”. The Sparkle Fund by DMI Alternatives was set up in 2017 to invest in the digital finance ecosystem. The fintech fund has so far invested $10 Mn in startups including M2P, Credgenics, Servify, Uni and Mobikwik.
• Alteria Capital, a venture debt firm has confirmed that post-SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India) approval, it has closed the oversubscribed, & largest venture debt fund in the Indian startup ecosystem at INR 1,800 Cr (a little over $242 Mn).

Other Development Of The Week

• Edtech startup Unacademy has infused $20 Mn in its job finding platform Relevel 
• Oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) may invest $300 Mn in Glance — a content discovery platform owned by adtech unicorn InMobi.