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In the wake of growing chorus around economic slowdown and impact of coronavirus, this week investor’s appetite for funding promising startups remained pretty resilient.
The week witnessed some big funding rounds, after quite a few well known startups from fast rising sectors like fintech, healthcare and other sectors managed to get big funding cheques from investors.
Here is everything you wanted to know about this week’s top funding activities in our weekly startup funding activities.
BharatPe: B2B Fintech platform BharatPe secured a massive funding of $75 Mn in a round spearheaded by hedge fund Coatue Management and Fintech investor Rabbit Capital.
New investor Amplo – a US based VC firm – and existing investors Insight Partners and Steadview Capital also took part in the round.
New Delhi based Bahartpe will use the proceedings mainly to funds its NBFC arm Resilient Capital, which is still awaiting license approval from the RBI.
Following the latest funding round, the one and half year old startup’s total fundraising amount has now risen to almost $143 Mn and now commands a valuation of around $425 Mn.
PhonePe: Walmart owned digital payment platform PhonePe got $60 Mn fund infusion from its Singapore based parent company PhonePe Pvt Ltd.
This is fourth time that PhonePe has raised capital through internal funding in the current financial year. With the latest internal funding, company’s total investment for FY20 has now risen to almost Rs 2,116 crore.
Increasing competition from Google Pay and WhatsApp’s impending entry in the UPI payment space has kept the Walmart owned company on its toes.
Rupeek: Rupeek, an online lending platform that offers credit against gold, raised $60 Mn in a two separate round.
The round saw participation from GGV Capital, Bretelsmann India Investments, Binny Bansal, KB Investments, Tanglin Venture Partners, Sequoia India and Accel Partners.
Sumit Maniyar CEO Rupeek, said that they will use the funds for scaling existing as well as new channels for gold monetization. Additionally, funds will also be allotted for customer acquisition and investing in technology.
The company’s headquarter is located in the city of Pune.
Vogo: Micro mobility platform Vogo raised $20 Mn in a series c round led by LGT Lightstone Aspada. Clutch of existing investors including Matrix partners and Kalaari Capital also contributed to the round.
The Bengaluru headquartered company said that it will use the funds for market expansion and ramping up its IOT capabilities.
Vogo’s latest fundraising round has come barely weeks after its prominent competitor, Bounce, raised $105 Mn in a series D round. Vogo boosts Ola among its clutch of high profile investors. The ride hailing major invested $100 Mn in the bike taxi startup in 2018.
Qure.ai: Artificial intelligence backed healthcare platform Qure.ai raised $16 Mn in a funding round led by Sequoia India. MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia also took part in the round.
Founded in 2016, Qure.ai leverages the power of AI to precisely interpret radiology scans in fraction of seconds that eventually helps in saving time and improving the overall quality of the treatment.
Present in over 20 countries, the startup also offer its services in the international markets.
Imerit: Kolkata headquartered AI and deeptech startup Imerit raised $20 Mn in a series B round. U K based CDC Group Plc spearheaded the round while few existing investors also participated in the round.
The company will use the funds to expand its global workforce and further improve its proprietary artificial intelligence based platform.
Incorporated in 2012, Imerit is a IT startup that leverages the power of artificial intelligence to convert complex information into simple data that can be easily usable for machine learning processes.
It also operates data enrichment processes that enhance it for further utilization.
Hasura: Hasura, a software technology firm headquartered in San Francisco and Bengaluru, scooped up $9.9 Mn in series A round.
Vetrex Venture US led the funding round. Early stage venture arm of SAP and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Strive VC also participated in the round. Clutch of independent investors too contributed in the round.
The indo-American startup will utilize the funds for R&D, product development and hiring new talent across marketing and sales departments.
Hasura basically provides seamless data access and data flow tools to software developers through its GraphQL APIs. The company claims that its GraphQL APIs paves way for faster delivery of products.
MinionLabs: Energy analytics startup Minion Labs, which is based in Bengaluru, raised undisclosed amount of investment from Indian Angel Network (IAN).
IAN investors kaushik Rajan and R Mohan Kumaramangalam led the round. The startup said that it will utilize funds for ramping up its production, grow sales and expanding domestic footprint.
The company with the help of its flagship device Minion helps in offering deep insight into energy consumption of electric devices.
AjnaLens: Augmented reality startup, AjnaLens, raised $1.5 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round. Maharashtra Defence and Aerospace Venture Fund (MDAVF) spearheaded the funding round.
Several HNI investors also participated in the round. Based in Mumbai, AjnaLens is also backed by Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
The company said that it will use the funds for improving its defense related products, manufacturing headsets and further ramping up its technological capabilities.
LetsShave: Wipro Consumer Care Ventures – investment arm of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting – invested undisclosed amount of capital in grooming company LetsShave.
Existing investor and one of the largest razor manufacturers, Dorco, also participated in the round.
Based in Chandigarh, LetsShave aims to become preferred destination for grooming solutions for male as well as female population.
