This week the startup funding activities finally got a decisive boost as investors finally decided to overcome their docile mood and open up their coffers.
As a result, the week saw some big ticket funding to round up to what is presumably the best funding week so far of this New Year.
On this cautiously optimistic note, let us have a look at this week’s top funding activities in our weekly startup funding section.
FirstCry: Kids omnichannel retailer FirstCry became the second unicorn of this year after raising whopping $300 Mn from SoftBank.
Japanese investor SoftBank is one of the existing investors of FirstCry. Masayoshi Son’s company owns nearly 40% stake in the Pune based company.
FirstCry’s exact market valuation could not be ascertained but reports claim that the company commanded valuation of approximately $1.2 Bn during the round.
Innovaccer: SaaS healthcare data platform Innovaccer notched up whopping $70 Mn in a series C round from group of marquee investors.
Tiger Global and SteadView Capital spearheaded the funding round. Clutch of existing investors including Dragoneer and Westbridge Capital also pumped funds into the round.
Innovaccer is actually an Indo-US startup that is based in San Francisco and operates several offices in India.
The startup will utilize the funds to ramp up its existing healthcare digitization process by strengthening its data activation platform.
Vedantu: Edtech startup Vedantu scooped up $24 Mn in an extended series C round that was spearheaded by global venture capital firm GGV Capital. Few existing investors also participated in the round.
With the latest capital infusion, Vedantu has raised total $66 Mn in the series C round. The round was initiated in August last year, when Tiger Global along with other investors pumped $42 Mn into the company.
The online platform will use the latest proceedings to increase its brand leadership and expand to new categories.
Chaayos: Tea chain startup Chaayos raised $21.5 Mn in a series B round spearheaded by San Fransico headquartered investment firm Think Investments.
The round was a mix of equity and debt, with Think Investments along with other existing investors contributing $18.5 Mn in equity and InnoVen Capital contributing $3 Mn through debt route.
Tiger Global and SAIF Partner were among the existing investors that participated in the funding round.
Chaayos said that it will use the funds to expand the network, for talent acquisition and to ramp up the technology.
Simsim: Social commerce platform Simsim, which is operated by SZS Tech, secured $8 Mn in series B round.
Existing investors China’s Shunwei Capital and Accel Partners led the round. No other investors reportedly participated in the round.
The company will utilize the funds for further expanding its network of influencers and improving its technology platform.
Simsim app leverages the power of social media influencers to sell wide range of products to consumers. Influencers engage with potential customers through interactive videos.
Coding Ninjas: Edtech startup Coding Ninjas scooped up $5.2 Mn in a series A funding round. Info Edge, parent company of job portal naukri.com, led the funding round.
Coding Ninjas offer online courses in software programing like Java, Python and C++. It also offers online courses in cutting edge technologies like machine learning and data science.
The company said that it will use the proceedings to consolidate its tech and content capabilities, create new business verticals and scale up its new product offering called Career Camp.
Esper: Enterprise tech startup Esper raised $7.6 Mn in series A funding round led by US based VC firm Madrona Venture Group.
Existing investors Root ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Haystack Ventures and Pathbreaker Ventures also contributed to the funding round.
The company, which is headquartered in Bengaluru, said that it will use the funds for market expansion in the US and India.
Brick&Bolt: Real estate e commerce platform Brick&Bolt raised approximately $1.5 Mn in Pre-series A round.
Sequoia’s scale up program, Surge, spearheaded the funding round. Group of individual investors including Livspace’s founders Anuj Srivastava & Ramakant Sharma also participated in the round.
Bengaluru based firm will use the proceedings to enhance its core technology platform, scale up its team and expand their presence across tier 1 and tier 2 cities.
HempStreet: India’s fully integrated Cannabis startup HempStreet secured 1 Mn in a Pre series A funding round. Pharma company Pharmacon Holdings and angel investor Roman Barberis led the round.
HempStreet is India’s answer to rapidly growing legal cannabies industry across the world.