Blockchain startup 5ire secures $100M as it looks to go public
Blockchain network 5ire has secured a $100 million investment from GEM Global Yield (GGY), a Luxembourg-based private alternative investment group, to go public.
By investing in 5ire, GEM is looking to solidify its foothold in the emerging markets for sustainable level 1 blockchains with a highly diversified portfolio of use cases and a growing cache of MoUs with government and private sector partners, the firm said.
The company was last valued at $110 million after raising $21 million in seed funding round from private and institutional investors like Alphabit, Marshland Capital, Launchpool Labs, Moonrock Capital, etc.
According to 5ire, the fresh capital infusion will be utilised to expand the ecosystem, which involves liaising with government stakeholders in India and upcoming international markets, investing in technology and resources, hiring, and enhancing adoption of 5ireChain.
RapiPay bags $15M to launch digital banking super app
RapiPay has raised $15 million to extend pre-Series A funding round to enter digital banking with its super app — NYE.
Varun Jaipuria (RJ Corp), DLF Family Office, Rahul Gautam (Sheela Foam) and Rohan Kumar (DS Group) participated in this round.
RapiPay, which primarily provides banking services like cash withdrawal or deposits, micro ATMs, point-of-sale devices, loans, insurance and utility payments for rural merchants, is adding a business-to-consumer (B2C) layer with its super app — NYE.
For the super app, the fintech startup plans to leverage its retail network of 6 million merchants for all their requirements from operating bank accounts and accepting payments to offering 'Buy Now, Pay Later' solutions.
Overall, it expects to add two million bank accounts to reach 150 million unique customers and scale daily transactions from one million to 3.5 million by 2025.
Besides the digital banking play, RapiPay wants to strengthen its existing 'phygital' presence by increasing the number of door-step banking agents from 5 lakh to 20 lakh by 2025.
Kenko Health bags $12M in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital
Kenko Health, a Bengaluru-based healthtech startup, has secured $12 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India. Existing investors — Beenext, Orios, 9Unicorns and Waveform — participated in this round.
Founded by Aniruddha Sen and Dhiraj Goel in 2019, Kenko Health provides a subscription-based service that covers health expenses across out-patient department (OPD) and hospitalisation.
The investment will primarily be used to acquire customers, develop new products and add more categories such as dental, mental health, at-home care and sexual health to its OPD coverage.
Currently, Kenko Health has over 50,000 users across 40 cities in India. With the fresh capital, it wants to expand the user base by five times, with a target of 2.5 lakh new users by the end of March 2022.
Capital A launches a $10M cleantech fund 'Evolve'
Capital A, a venture fund for seed to early-stage startups, has announced the launch of 'Evolve', a $10 million cleantech fund aimed at furthering the electric vehicles (EV) ecosystem.
The VC will back EV, EV batteries, battery technology, battery-as-a-service and battery charging startups.
Evolve will help early-stage startups with early-stage capital infusion to develop the products and technologies in areas such as battery as a service (BaaS), manufacturing, battery management systems to optimise battery life and performance, conversion kits, after-sales support, and OEMs, the company said in a statement.
Via the cleantech-focused fund Evolve, Capital A will also look at various tie-ups with academic institutions focusing on the EV sector. The firm added that it aims to encourage entrepreneurship in the domain by providing working capital and mentoring to help startups innovate and create opportunities in the EV space.
Agritech startup Semaai gets $1.25M from Sequoia Capital India's Surge
Agritech startup Semaai has bagged $1.25 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India's Surge and Beenext.
Angel investors Nipun Mehra, Founder & CEO of e-commerce startup Ula; Harshet Lunani, founder and CEO of Qoala; and Prashant Pawar, Technology Investment Banker at Houlihan Lokey also participated in the round.
While Semaai primarily operates in Central Java, Indonesia, a large part of the funding will expand the startup's engineering and product teams in India. Semaai has plans to grow its tech talent in India by at least three times by the end of 2022, it said in a statement.
The startup also plans to expand its service delivery centres to deploy their services, starting with agri-retailers and eventually reaching the vast number of smallholders in rural Indonesia. It aims to deliver its services and impact up to 100,000 smallholders and rural MSMEs by next year.
Jewellery platform Aulerth gets $1.1M in seed round
Jewellery startup Aulerth has raised $1.1 million as seed funding from M Venture Partners.
Angel investors, including designer Tarun Tahiliani, Taro Nordheider (ex-CEO Swarovski Professional), the LV angel fund, and a network of McKinsey partners, among others, also participated in the funding round.
The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand its operations and build an expansive experts team. The firm also plans to offer a 'renew service' where Aulerth will accept pieces in return for a percentage of the creation's value as credit units to use for the next purchase.
Insurtech startup Insurmile raises $350K from Seeders VC
Insurmile, rural India-focused financial protection marketplace, has raised $350,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by early-stage angel group Seeders.
Parthiv Neotia, director, Ambuja Neotia Group and Abhishek Rungta, CEO, Indus Net Technologies from Seeders led the round.
Insuremile is an insurance web aggregator that enables financial protection to 96% of Indians who are under risk, providing simple, fast and reliable services. The startup intends to empower over 200 million gig-workforce by extending them insurance protection.
So far, the company claims to have onboarded 2000 associates to enable last-mile insurance education, awareness and sales. It has sold over 25,000 policies in its beta phase. Insuremile has tie-ups with over 20 leading insurance companies such as HDFC, Bajaj, Reliance, Tata, ICICI and New India.
With this funding, Insuremile plans to hit 10 million policies and add 1 lakh associates over the next two years.
Actor Suniel Shetty invests in Aquatein, to endorse brand
Actor Suniel Shetty invested an undisclosed sum in protein water brand Aquatein and has become the company's new brand ambassador.
"Health can never be a weakness, but strangely, in my case, it is. My obsession with health and wellness is known, and I've always got excited by new startup brands that focus on health. When Aquatein came to me with a unique concept of protein water with untold benefits, it blew my mind. I mean, it's regular hydration with protein, muscle repair wellness and overall power. Trust me, this is exciting rocket science, and I wanted to be a part of this journey with them," commented Suniel Shetty on his association with the brand.
Athlex Beverages, which owns protein water brand Aquatein, raised an undisclosed seed round from Eaglewings Ventures.
Tartan raises undisclosed amount from Info Edge Ventures
Payroll and workforce platform connectivity startup Tartan raiseed an undisclosed amount of funding led by Info Edge Ventures.
The other investors are 500 startups, Titan Capital, Varanium advisors, EMVC, Yatra Angel Network, Manipal Group and the founders of Groww. They plan to use the funds to grow their team, expand their market base, and product enhancements.
Tartan helps users connect their employer-linked payroll or HR management system (HRMS) account to any app or business and verify their income and employment status in less than 60 seconds.
Tartan's solution opens up financial inclusion avenues for the underserved and unbanked by leveraging their income and employment data. It primarily benefits low salaried individuals, freelancers, social media creators and gig workers who usually have low or no credit score and are considered as 'new to credit' customers.
"We aim to provide a bridge that will allow data to move smoothly between employers and banks, with users having the key to open this bridge at all times. The customer will have the authority to give explicit consent for each transaction and choose who can access which data of theirs," said Meet Semlani, COO & Co-Founder, Tartan.
Men's health brand Bold Care secures Series A funding
Men's health and wellness startup Bold Care has raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-series A funding from Sharrp Ventures, Anthill Ventures, Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs and Shiprocket.
Existing investors NB Ventures and Huddle also pitched in the funding round.
The fresh capital raised will go for product development, widen customer base, and expand.
"From servicing 100 customers in July 2020, we have had a fast-paced growth journey in the last 18 months, scaling to 25,000+ monthly users as of January 2022. Within this short span, Bold Care's user base of 2,30,000+ Indian men reinforces our confidence in the market potential and acceptance," said Rajat Jadhav, Co-founder, Bold Care.
Mumbai Angels & India Accelerator to co-invest in startups
Early-stage investment platform Mumbai Angels has partnered with India Accelerator for 'The Co-investment Program'.
Through this program, the platforms will back promising startups while offering them a chance to raise their next round of funding from Mumbai Angels.
The selected startups will access Mumbai Angels' Multiplier Program, an exclusive marketplace for its portfolio companies.
"Our co-investment program was launched with the idea of backing high-potential startups in partnership with distinguished investment networks/accelerators to enable them to scale their business," said Nandini Mansinghka, co-founder and CEO of Mumbai Angels.
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