Funding Rundown: LeadSquared turns unicorn, Stashfin raises $270 million, Fundamental VC launches maiden fund of $130 million, Cashify bags $90 million & Matter raises $10 million

The round which was a mix of debt and equity brings the platform closer to the unicorn tag, valuing it at $700-800 million. Existing investors including Altara Ventures, Kravis Investment Partners, and Snow Leopard also participated in the round.

While the company is based out of Singapore, it currently only caters to the Indian market. Stashfin has said that it will use the funds to expand its footprint in Southeast and South Asia and upgrade its technology for new products.

Fundamental VC, an early-stage venture capital (VC) fund has launched its maiden fund with a target corpus of $130 million. The fund will be focused on sectors such as consumer internet, healthcare, insurance, financial services, software-as-a-service (SaaS), gaming, and artificial intelligence (AI), among others, the company said in a statement.

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Fundamental VC said it received the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI’s) approval in March. The VC claimed that it already has started deploying capital and plans to lead investments in pre-seed and seed rounds. It plans to invest up to $1.5 million in each startup and aims to back 30 startups, over a period of two years.

Re-commerce marketplace Cashify has bagged $90 million in its Series E funding round led by NewQuest Capital Partners and Prosus Ventures.

Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, and Olympus Capital also invested in this round, with participation from the new investor, Paramark Ventures.

The fresh capital will be deployed towards strengthening the team, building technology infrastructure, and marketing to build the brand and expand into new markets, the company said in a statement.

Overseas education platform Leap has raised $75 million in its Series D funding round led by Owl Ventures. New investors Steadview Capital and Paramark Ventures also joined the company’s cap table.

Existing investors Jungle Ventures and Sequoia Capital India too pitched in the funding round. Since its inception in 2019, the startup has raised over $150 million in equity.

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Leap, which runs LeapScholar, LeapFinance, and Yocket, is a full-stack international student mobility platform. The company claimed to have helped over 175,000 students in their study abroad journey in the past 12 months.

Tea cafe chain Chaayos has raised $53 million in Series C funding led by Alpha Wave Ventures. The latest round saw participation from existing investors Elevation Capital, Tiger Global, and Think Investments.

The company said it will use the money for tech enhancement, hiring, and store expansion. Founded in 2012, Chaayos runs 190 stores across six cities and plans to add 100 more by the end of this year.

"The latest capital raise will help us deepen our technology investments to further enhance our guest experience and build a ubiquitous brand that is an integral part of Indian society over decades to come," said Nitin Saluja, founder, and CEO of Chaayos. "We are also continuously on the lookout to hire talent to handle the scale that we aspire for," he added.

WeRize, a full-stack financial services platform has raised $15.5 million in a new funding round led by new investors, British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance and impact investor group, and Sony Innovation Fund.

Existing investors 3one4 capital, Kalaari Capital, Picus Capital and Orios Venture Partners, also participated in the funding round. The company has raised total funding of $25.75 million to date.

The fintech startup said it will use the fresh funds to accelerate growth, build new financial products for its customers, expand and improve the technology platform as well as onboard freelancers in 1000+ new towns that it is set to enter.

FinBox, a B2B credit infrastructure fintech has secured $15 million in a funding round led by A91 Partners with participation from Aditya Birla Ventures and Flipkart Ventures. Existing investors Arali Ventures also participated in the round.

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The company said it will use the fresh capital to scale its offerings and expand to South East Asia. The company also announced that it will be doubling its current workforce to power its expansion.

FinBox said it is on track to facilitate the disbursement of more than Rs 20,000 crore in credit by March 2023 through its ecosystem of more than 50 partners, including NBFCs, Banks, and FinTechs.

Open road transport marketplace Vahak has raised $14 million in its Series A fundraise led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from Foundamental, iSeed Ventures, Leo Capital, RTP Global and Titan Capital.

The company has now raised a total of $20.3 million since its first round in March 2020.

The startup intends to use the fresh capital rapid user-base expansion, building a stellar tech infrastructure by incorporating AI, ML, Big Data, and providing additional value-added services. Vahak aims to create an all-encompassing ecosystem for truck suppliers and become the go-to digital solution for them, it said in a statement.

Payment solutions startup PayGlocal has raised $12 million in a Series B funding round that was co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India, along with participation from existing investors BeeNext.

Angel investors like Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Citrus Pay and Jupiter founder Jitendra Gupta, and Cred’s founder Kunal Shah also participated in the round.

PayGlocal plans to use the fresh funds to further scale its cross-border merchant payments solution.

The startup is also looking to launch new cross-border payments solutions to help international merchants receive payments from Indian consumers, as well as cross-border B2B solutions, it said in a statement.

Neuron7.ai, an AI-powered customer and field service software, has secured $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Battery Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. Bill Binch, Operating Partner at Battery Ventures, will help accelerate the company's growth by joining its board of directors, a statement said.

The firm plans to use the new funding to grow its product and customer success teams in the US and India. Both teams will enable Neuron7 to continue bringing innovative solutions to the market that help customers as they move to outcome-as-a-service and predictive service business models, it said in a statement.

Matter, a tech startup focused on electric mobility and energy storage, has raised an initial $10 million in its latest round of funding led by Capital 2B, a technology fund backed by Infoedge, Climate Angels Fund, and other marquee Indian and overseas HNI’s. The company already has existing investors including Baring Private Equity Partners.

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The new investment will be utilised towards the launch of its line of electric mobility and energy storage products, that are designed and innovated for India and the world using a completely new 'ground-up' approach, a statement said. Matter intends to launch its first EV motorcycle later in the year.

"Matter is gearing up for its first electric motorcycle launch this year and we aim to develop a world-class portfolio of EV and energy storage products to catalyse the clean energy transition in India," said Mohal Lalbhai, founder and CEO of Matter.

Vegan beauty and personal care brand has received an undisclosed investment from actor Rashmika Mandanna. With this deal, Mandanna joins the D2C startups as an investor and a brand ambassador.

Plum claims to have grown 15x since its first round of funding in 2018. The brand is today available in over 250 towns and cities in India, through nearly 1,000 assisted retail outlets, and over 10,000 unassisted outlets – growing month on month.

At a current ARR of Rs 300 crore on a net revenue basis, Plum is aiming to double that number over the next 12 months. The brand is also planning to expand its online presence and offline footprint across India and further scale its production, launch innovative new products and employ great talent under its leadership team.