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The funding galore seems to be back in the Indian startup ecosystem as this week scores of startups raised substantial funds. Although we are still not exactly back to those glory days, things seem to getting better for startup founders and co-founders. At least, the investment community is reposing relatively more faith in the startup ecosystem and this week’s robust funding activities once again validated this. So here is a quick recap of the week’s funding activities and how these startups intend to use these funds for their growth.
Udaan: B2B trade platform Udaan achieved a very unique distinction this week. After raising $225 million (Rs 1,575 crore) from existing investors few days back, Udaan became the fastest Indian startup to achieve the unicorn tag. It barely took two years for this Bengaluru based startup to breach the $1 bn valuation mark.
The existing investors that participated in this round were DST Global and Lightspeed Venture. Udaan is actually online trade that brings all the important stakeholders engaged in SMEs under one platform.
GreyOrange: Managing warehouses is a serious business and Gurugram based GreyOrange is one of the forefront players in this space. The startup raised this week’s second biggest funding round, after raising $140 Mn. The investors that participated in the round were Mithril Capital’s co-founder Ajay Royan, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and Blume Ventures.
Mad Street Den: Nowadays it is almost impossible to curb the hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially when there are scores of AI startups raising funds. This week it was turn of India and US-based AI startup Mad Street Den. It raised an undisclosed amount from KDDI Open Innovation Fund 2. The company plans to use the fresh capital infusion for enhancing its AI capabilities and also to increase strength of its marketing & sales team.
CloudCherry: Another Indo-US startup CloudCherry managed to scoop up good funding amount this week. The Saas startup that is engaged in customer enterprise management raised $9Mn in extended Series A funding round. The round was led Pelion Venture Partners along with Cisco Investments, Vertex Ventures and IDG Ventures.
Apparently, this Indo-US startup has managed to hog lot of media limelight owing to fact it has been backed by IT giant Cisco. Cloudcherry competes with established players like Qualtrics and Medalia.
DailyHunt: Bengaluru based Dailyhunt raised $6.39 Mn in a funding round led by Falcon Edge. If reports are to be believed then this funding round was extension of the series E round. The latest fundraising round valued the company at around $335 Mn (INR 2,371 Cr); slightly higher than the previous valuation of $330 Mn (INR 2,230 Cr) during the series D funding round.
Netmeds: This week the online pharma industry got a huge funding boost as Netmeds raised $35 Mn from the investors. The Chennai based startup, which is one of the dominant players in this industry, will use funds for expanding its territorial reach. The latest funding round saw participation from new investor Daun Penh Cambodia Group (DPCG). The existing investors including Sistema Asia Fund also participated in the round.
Nykaa: Online beauty marketplace Nykaa secured $15.72 Mn from Lighthouse India Fund III. Following the latest funding round, existing investor TVS Shriram Growth has exited the company. Nykaa will use the fresh capital infusion for increasing its offline retail presence, increasing it from currently 17 to almost 55 by 2019.
ClearDekho: Lenskart has already earned a huge name for itself in budget eyewear space. Taking cue from its humongous success is ClearDekho. The Delhi based startup received a huge funding boost this week as it raised undisclosed amount from SOSV-MOX China Accelerator. For all those who are not aware, SOSV-MOX China Accelerator is Asia’s leading mobile accelerator.
HappyEasyGo: Online traveling startup HappyEasyGo raised undisclosed amount from South Korea-based Korea Investment Partners (KIP). China based CITIC Capital and Ganesh Ventures also participated in the round. The funding will come as much needed boost for HappyEasyGo as online traveling space is cluttered with intense competition. The space has big players like MakemyTrip, ClearTrip and Ibibo.
