Here’s the lowdown of the top deals from the startup space this week.
Shiprocket bags $185 mn with Zomato, Temasek & Lightrock as lead investors
E-commerce shipping platform Shiprocket has raised $185 million in a Series E funding round led by Zomato, Temasek and Lightrock India.
Moore Strategic Ventures and 9unicorns came on as new investors in this round, with participation from existing investors InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital.
This transaction marks Shiprocket’s third round of funding this year, taking the total funds raised to $280 million. Shiprocket will deploy the freshly infused capital for product expansion, talent acquisition, and product development.
This year, it is Zomato’s fourth investment in Indian startups — Grofers, Curefit, Magicpin and Shiprocket — as it seeks to build a hyperlocal e-commerce ecosystem by investing and partnering with other companies to tap into growth beyond food.
Pristyn Care newest entrant in unicorn club
Healthcare startup Pristyn Care is the latest startup to enter the unicorn club, as per Venture Intelligence.
The firm has raised around $85 million in a Series E round from Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Hummingbird Opportunity Fund and Amber Winter. As per reports, this is expected to be a part of a larger funding round.
Pristyn Care had raised $53 million in April 2021, led by Tiger Global at a $550 million valuation. The company has planned to use this capital to expand into new geographies and new surgery specialties.
Ola Electric raises Rs 398 cr from Temasek and others
Ola Electric has raised about Rs 398.3 crore in a fresh funding round from investors such as Temasek, IIFL, Edelweiss, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s VSS Investco and DST Global's Rahul Mehta.
The firm allotted a total 371 shares at Rs 1.07 crore each, as per regulatory filings sourced from Tofler.
Temasek invested Rs 185 crore, while Edelweiss put in Rs 111.6 crore and IIFL invested Rs 74 crore. Bollywood personalities such as Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Zoya Akhtar, Amrita Arora Ladak and her husband Shakeel Ladak (Azara Advisors) have also been allotted shares in the company.
Ola Electric, which was spun out of the ride-hailing major Ola in 2019, had previously raised a $200 million financing led by Falcon Edge, SoftBank and others, at a valuation of $3 billion in September this year.
The company is now planning to start the first batch of deliveries from December 15.
VC firm Antler commits $100-150 mn for funding Indian startups, to back web3 and blockchain projects
Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Antler has announced that it will deploy $100 million-$150 million for funding more than 100 Indian startups over the next three years.
Antler said it will dedicate up to a third of the capital investment planned in India towards backing Web3 and blockchain projects by funding 25-30 startups in the space over the next two to three years.
The VC firm will look to make the investments at an average ticket size of $2,50,000, but is also flexible in terms of pulling in more capital from its global funds to make bigger investments in some cases, it said in a statement.
Farm e-comm startup AgroStar raises in $70 mn Series D, to invest in tech & expansion
Agritech startup AgroStar has raised $70 million as a part of its Series D funding round from Evolvence, global asset manager Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise, and UK’s development finance institution CDC.
Existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures also participated in the round.
According to the company, it plans to use the fresh capital to strengthen its technology platform, hire senior talent, and further scale its omnichannel strategy.
HR tech startup Sense raises $50 mn led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2: Reports
AI-driven talent engagement and communication platform Sense has raised $50 million in Series D funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
This financing comes a few months after $16 million Series C round in June 2021. Sense has, so far, raised $90 million from investors such as Accel, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Avataar Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Signia Venture Partners, as per reports.
The startup plans to use the funds for international expansion, with the focus on high-growth markets such as Western Europe. The proceeds will also be used to ramp up go-to-market strategy and increase awareness with companies that hire at scale across industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and retail, reports added.
Indonesian fintech startup Flip raises $48 mn in Series B round from Sequoia India
Indonesia-based fintech company Flip has raised $48 million in a Series B round co-led by Sequoia Capital India, Insight Partners, and Insignia Ventures Partners.
The round also marks the first investment in Indonesia by Insight Partners, a New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm.
Flip plans to use the fresh funding to further accelerate its business expansion, strengthen its operations in the archipelago, invest in tech for a higher quality of service, and expand its workforce, especially its engineering and product teams. It has more than 100 domestic banks in its network.
MoEngage bags $30 mn from Steadview Capital
Customer analytics startup MoEngage has raised $30 million in a funding round led by Steadview Capital, doubling its valuation to about $500 million in six months.
Existing investors Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Matrix Partners also participated in the funding round.
“We aim to continue investments in Sherpa, our AI engine, and our predictive capabilities while strengthening our partner ecosystem," Raviteja Dodda, chief executive officer of MoEngage, said.
The company will also expand its global presence and strengthen its customer service and support functions, Dodda added. The company said it has scaled rapidly in the last 12 months and has doubled its headcount to 450 employees globally.
Otipy secures $26 mn in ongoing Series B round: Report
Otipy, a community group buying platform for fresh fruits and vegetables, has raised around $26 million in its ongoing Series B round from WestBridge, SAI Global and others, Entrackr reports.
WestBridge led the round with an investment of 125.6 crore followed by SAI Global and Omidyar Network which invested Rs 44.8 crore and Rs 22.5 crore respectively. The agritech startup is likely raise more funds in this institutional round in the coming days, the report added.
The fresh funds have come within five months for Otipy, which transformed from a farm-to-retail model
Pocket FM secures $22.4M in Series B funding round from Lightspeed
Audio-based over-the-top (OTT) platform Pocket FM has raised $22.4 million as part of its Series B funding round led by Lightspeed,
The funding round also saw participation from the Times Group and first-time investors in the company, Tanglin Venture Partners.
The startup said it will use the fresh capital to scale up its operations, further bolster its community of content creators, while increasing its presence across geographies. The company will also use the proceeds from the fundraise to invest in technology and improve recommendations for users.
Edtech startup PlanetSpark secures $13.5 mn in Series B round
Edtech platform in the K12 category PlanetSpark has raised $13.5 million in Series B funding round led by Prime Venture Partners.
Marquee global entrepreneurs including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, MakemyTrip CEO Deep Kalra, and others including Dr Ashish Gupta, Gokul Rajaram, and Shirish Nandkarni too participated in the funding round.
PlanetSpark, which provides public speaking lessons to kids between 4-16 years of age, said it will use the fresh funds towards aggressive business growth, product development and international expansion.
LenDenClub gets $10M in Series A funding round from Kunal Shah, Hardik Pandya
Peer-to-peer lending firm LenDenClub has secured $10 million in a Series A round from investors such as CRED founder Kunal Shah and cricketer Hardik Pandya.
Other investors, including Tuscan Ventures, Ohm Stock Brokers and Artha Venture Fund too pitched in, valuing the P2P lending platform at more than $51 million.
The startup will use the money to grow its loan book to a billion dollars and its customer base from 2.5 million currently to 10 million in FY23, it said in a statement. The company aims to invest heavily in innovating and upgrading its proprietary tech-stack platform.
CpaaS startup CometChat bags $10M in Series A funding round
CometChat, a CpaaS (communication platform as a service) startup has bagged $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Signal Peak Ventures.
The “oversubscribed” round also included participation from existing investors Matchstick Ventures, Range Ventures, Unbound VC among others.
The company will leverage the fresh funding to enable growth acceleration along with platform enhancements. It also has plans to invest in expanding its global market share by investing in employee growth, accelerating ‘Go to Market’ strategies, scaling platform infrastructure and platform features, it said in a statement.
CHARGE+ZONE raises $10M bridge round from Venture Catalysts
EV-charging infra startup CHARGE+ZONE has raised $10 million as a bridge round led by Venture Catalysts and others.
The funding will help the startup in amping up its already existing charging network of over 1,000 points across 19-cities largely for electric buses and cars, it said in a statement.
The company will further raise Series A funding worth $50 million in 2022. Launched in 2018, CHARGE+ZONE is a EV charging infrastructure company specialising in B2B and B2C charging services by using smart-grid networks.
Probus Insurance raises $6.7M from Swiss impact fund
Digital insurance broker Probus Insurance Broker has raised $6.7 million in a funding round led by the Switzerland-based Blue Orchard Impact Investment Managers.
The company, which did not reveal the names of other investors, said it will deploy the capital in technology and to expand its presence across geographies.
With this fund-raise, Probus will strengthen its technology infrastructure and deep technology capabilities, enhancing the AI and ML experiences on its platform, further extending support to other languages, Rakesh Goyal, managing director of Probus, said.
Northern Arc executes Rs 300 cr market-linked debenture transaction for Shriram City Union Finance
Financial services platform Northern Arc Capital today announced that it has structured and executed a Rs 300 crore market-linked debentures (MLD) transaction for Shriram City Union Finance.
A non-banking financial company (NBFC), Northern Arc said that the debenture issue was subscribed by multiple, reputed capital market investors.
Shriram City Union Finance will use the proceeds of the transaction to cater to the financial needs of customers across vehicle finance, consumer finance, MSME finance and gold finance, the firm said in a statement.
Social commerce startup Stage3 raises Rs 20 cr in Pre-Series A round
Social commerce startup Stage3 has raised Rs 20 crore in a Pre-Series A round co-led by Inflection Point Ventures and LC Nueva Investment Partners LLP along with Let’s Venture and Stanford Angels.
Blume Ventures, Stage3’s existing investor, has also participated in the round. Other angel investors include Ananth Narayanan, founder, Mensa Brands; Dinesh Aggarwal, CEO, India Mart; and Sashwat Nakhrani, co-founder of BharatPe.
The funds raised will be utilised in improving technology infrastructure, hiring talent and building data science capabilities, the company said in a statement.
D2C startup Clensta picks Rs 20 cr in Series A funding round from investors
D2C personal and home care products startup Clensta has raised over Rs 20 crore in a series A funding round led by Venture Catalysts and Inflection Point Ventures.
Others who participated in the round include Hem Angels, part of Hem Securities Limited, N+1 Capital (RBF), existing investors along with other marquee investors.
The funds raised will be used to scale up the company's sales, ramp up brand marketing and expand Clensta’s online and offline presence across India. The brand has achieved a CAGR of over 130% and aims to earn Rs 1,000 crore in revenue in the next five years, the IIT-backed startup said in a statement.
Trucking marketplace Raaho bags Rs 12.5 Cr in Pre-Series A round
On-demand intercity trucking marketplace Raaho has raised Rs 12.5 crore as a part of its a pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures and Nitish Mittersain, founder, Nazara Technologies.
Existing investors including Roots Ventures, Venkatesh Vijayraghavan, group chief executive officer, Cavinkare. Miten Sampat of Cred also participated in the funding round.
The startup will use the fresh funds to expand its presence pan-India and make the product 100 percent on-demand, it said in a statement.
(Edited by : Vijay Anand)
First Published: Dec 10, 2021 8:01 PM IST
Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!
Punjab Lok Sabha elections: Complete list of Congress candidates
May 18, 2024 4:08 PM
Punjab Lok Sabha elections: Check full list of AAP candidates and constituencies
May 18, 2024 12:59 PM
PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi election rallies in Delhi today: Here are the routes to avoid
May 18, 2024 11:28 AM