Some big names and big funding rounds. This is the most apt way to describe this week’s funding activities as India’s startup story continues to stay resilient amid the talks of economic slowdown. Here are the top 10 funding activities of this week as we rap up our weekly funding roundup section.
Meesho: Social commerce startup Messho raised whopping $125 Mn in a latest fundraising round that was led by South African media giant Naspers. Existing investors including Facebook, SAIF, Sequoia and Shunwei Capital also took part in the round. Barely two months ago, Meesho became the first Indian startup to raise funds from social media giant Facebook.
The latest fund raising from yet another big investor like Naspers will further help Meesho in consolidating its position as a market leader in the nascent social commerce industry.
ShareChat: This week’s second biggest funding round was raised by the multi-lingual social media platform ShareChat. The Bengaluru based startup could not have asked for a more high-profile investor than Twitter. The San Francisco based social media giant along with TrustBridge spearheaded the round. Existing investors Shunwei Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SAIF Capital, India Quotient and Morningside Venture Capital also participated in the round.
The latest capital is expected to help ShareChat to deal with increasing competition emanating from the popularity of Chinese apps like TikTok and Helo.
Emotix: Robotics startup Emotix secured $ 7.5 Mn funding in series A round that was led by Chiratae Ventures. YourNest Venture Capital, investor Bruno Raschle and clutch of independent angel investors also participated in the round. The Mumbai headquartered startup will use the latest capital infusion to increase footprints in North America, UK and the Middle East. A significant part of the funding will also be utilized for R&D purposes.
Cars24: India’s former Capitan and wicket keeper MS Dhoni has invested undisclosed amount in the online used car marketplace Cars24. This was series D round for the Gurgaon based startup. As part of the deal, MS Dhoni will also be the new brand ambassador of the company.
Doxper: Healthcare startup Doxper raised $4 Mn in series A round led by Alkemi Venture Partners. Rainforest Venture Network, growX Ventures and clutch of independent investors also pumped capital in the round. The company will utilize the funds for expansion in domestic market and ramping up technology capabilities and R&D.
Doxper aims towards seamlessly digitizing healthcare data with the help of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Lendingkart: Russian VC giant Sistema Asia Fund invested $2.9 Mn (Rs 21 crore) in fintech startup Lendingkart. The infusion was part of the series D round that helped the Mumbai based startup to fetch nearly $ 30 Mn (Rs 233 crore). Today Lendingkart is among scores of fintech startup that is busy resolving the credit crunch problem faced by small & medium businesses.
Dunzo: Hyperlocal services app Dunzo raised $2.04 million from venture debt specialist Alteria Capital. According to reports, the round was combination of debt and equity. No other investors reportedly participated in the round. Dunzo is a hyperlocal service provider that delivers wide-range of daily use products on the doorsteps – groceries, food, medicines, pet products and more.
Faircent: Peer-to-peer lending platform Faircent raised undisclosed amount of funding from Singapore-based Das Capital and Gunosy Capital. Existing investors Starharbor Asia Pte Ltd, and M&S Partners Pte Ltd also infused funds in the round. The Gurgaon headquartered startup said that it will utilize the funds to increase its loan portfolio, ramp up its technology and expand its distribution channels.
Clicbrics: online real estate marketplace, Clicbrics, raised $3 million in Pre-series A round. Manny Singh of Kavi Fund and Peter Mann (fund manager at Gluskin Sheff) led the round. Clutch of independent HNIs from North America also participated in the round. The New Delhi based startup said that it will use the funds to aggressively expand across the domestic market, focusing mainly on tier 1 and tier 2 cities.
Parentof: Ai startup Parentof, which leverages the power of AI to facilitate parenting, has raised $1 Mn in seed funding round. Following the latest round, the Bengaluru based startup has now raised nearly $2 Mn. Parentof claims that its AI technology helps in simplifying ‘parenting,’ describing it the world’s toughest job.
Major portion of the funding will be spend on expanding parenting network and ramping up technology.