Legal-Tech Startup Lawyered To Raise Rs.7 Crore In Pre-Series Funding
Published on 5th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
New Delhi: Lawyers and legal education aggregating platform, Lawyered Friday said it is seeking to raise Rs. 7 crore in a pre-series funding from investors, days after it concluded an angel investment round. The startup is bringing practicing advocates, and clients on a technology platform and onboarding legal students and connecting them with jobs in law firms. “There are at least demand for a three billion legal helps – from notarized record to startup compliance, from family legal cases to criminal offences every year, but people are not aware about how to get legal help and how to reach out to lawyers of their choice,” he said. “While it’s often a challenge for small companies, startups and individuals to get the right legal support, our start up helps them through its digital platform to get an array of legal experts to choose from without any commission or fee,” he claimed. “The covid-19 has increased the acceptance of technology adoption in legal fraternity as well as people who are not hesitating to seek legal help while sitting in remote locations with the help of technology. This is aiding our growth and we see a good potential here,” Gupta added.
Paytm FY20 Loss Narrows By 40%, Revenue Rises To ₹3,629 Crore
Published on 5th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
NEW DELHI : Digital financial services firm Paytm on Friday said its revenue for fiscal year ended March 31, increased to ₹3,629 crore supported by increase in number of transactions across various segments and point of sale devices. “We are on path to become profitable by 2022. Paytm is also moving its efforts to become a dominant digital financial services platform with Paytm Postpaid, Paytm Money and Paytm Insurance services contributing an increased turnover in the coming fiscal years,” Deora said. Paytm has expanded its financial services with lending, wealth management and insurance segments, which the company claims have opened up new revenue streams. Paytm expects significant push in recently launched stock trading segment on its online investment and wealth management platform Paytm Money and expects to get traction of both experienced as well as first-time investors. “Paytm has registered over 1.7 crore merchant partners benefiting from its payment and financial services with launch of merchant focused products such as Paytm for business app, Soundbox, Business Khata, Payout services among others that are transforming the way SMEs do business in the country,” Deora said.
E-payments jump in small towns, cities
Published on 4th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Digital payments are moving beyond the metros, and electronic payment firms are positioning themselves for the change. “In the past five months, with people staying indoors, the demand for online payments grew by 40% in tier-II and -III cities. Earlier, consumers from a lot of these tier-II and -III cities would only order essentials online, but are now demonstrating high adoption for non-essential purchases like bill payments, video streaming subscriptions and even dating and matrimony services,” said Harshil Mathur, CEO and co-founder, Razorpay, an online payment gateway provider to businesses. Paytm Payments Bank has earmarked ₹100 crore to promote its point-of-sale device, Paytm Soundbox, in tier-II and -III regions, apart from introducing digital ledgers for merchant partners and a product to help small enterprises make bulk payments. “We’ve seen much higher propensity to use digital payment methods in tier-II cities and beyond. BharatPe has seen a 30-35% jump in transaction value on the platform in these areas post lockdown,” said Suhail Sameer, group president, BharatPe.
Gaming startup WinZO raises $18 million in Series B funding
Published on 4th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Online gaming platform WinZO has raised $18 million in Series B funding round led by Singapore based Makers Fund and US based Courtside Ventures, making it the single largest investment into an Indian gaming startup since the covid-19 outbreak. Last month, Gamezop received $4 million in series A funding from Bitkraft, Velo Partners, FJ Labs and others. Kalaari Capital, which led a $5 million series A funding in WinZO in 2019 was involved in the series B round. “Mobile gaming is a large opportunity in India, and in a short span of time, WinZO has built a high quality vernacular gaming platform for the masses. We are very excited to partner with Makers and Courtside in the next leg of WinZO’s journey and bring superior entertainment to the next 200M gamers,” Rahul Garg, Principal at Kalaari Capital said in a statement. Founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018, WinZO is one of the fastest growing gaming platforms with revenue growing at 1500% and 20 million new user additions in the last 12 months. With the new round of funding, WinZo plans to improve its content pipeline and engage mobile first gamers.
Railofy raises ₹7 crore from Chirate Ventures
Published on 4th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Railofy, a data science startup that provides a travel guarantee to waitlisted or RAC train passengers, has raised ₹7 crore in seed funding from Chiratae Ventures. Railofy offers flight tickets to railway passengers if their train ticket is not confirmed after chart preparation, at a similar price. For shorter distances, the startup provides buses at nominal prices if the train ticket is not confirmed. “As India becomes more aspirational, passengers will demand a more reliable experience while travelling by the railways. Railofy is working towards this by solving one of the biggest problems affecting railways – Waitlist due to Congestion,” said TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder & Managing Director of Chiratae Ventures India Advisors. Passengers can purchase the protection from Railofy’s portal against their ticket for an average price of around ₹200. If the ticket is not confirmed post chart preparation, Railofy provides a flight close to the price of a train ticket or bus for nominal prices to the destination. The price for flight/bus options is fixed at the time of purchasing WL & RAC protection itself, thus ensuring that passengers are shielded from last-minute rising fares.
Biofourmis raises $100 million funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2
Published on 4th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Health-tech company Biofourmis on September 3 said it has raised $100 million in funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. In May last year, Biofourmis closed its $35 million series B round. “COVID-19 is pushing remote monitoring and digital therapeutics to the forefront of medicine. Our vision is to use digital medicine to empower patients, clinicians and researchers everywhere by providing software-as-a-treatment for patients with unmet clinical needs, from post-acute care to optimal medication therapy,” Biofourmis CEO Kuldeep Singh Rajput said. Biofourmis will use the funding for developing, validating and commercialising several released and unreleased digital therapeutics solutions across cardiology, respiratory, oncology and pain, with a focus on the US and key Asian markets, including Asia Pacific, China and Japan, the company said. “We believe predictive health is the future of medicine and Biofourmis is a leader in using AI and machine learning-based solutions to advance digital therapeutics,” Greg Moon, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said. The new business structure will include two verticals – Biofourmis Therapeutics and Biofourmis Health.
Interior Design Startup Livspace Raises $90m Led By Kharis Capital, Venturi Partners
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
This marks the Series D round for the company that was led by Kharis Capital, a Switzerland based investment firm focussed on managing selective direct private equity investments, and Venturi Partners, an investment platform targeting growth investments in the consumer space in India and Southeast Asia. The latest capital infusion will be utilised for further development of the technology platform, fund new market expansion, creation of new market offerings, expansion of supply chain and private labels in APAC. Established in 2014 by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, Livspace claims to be the market leader in the home renovation space in all its launched markets. The company is currently evaluating its foray in countries such as Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia in the APAC region and the Middle East as its next markets, where the interior and renovation industry is equally fragmented and presents a ripe opportunity for Livspace’s platform-based market entry. In India, where Livspace is already present in nine metro areas, the company is evaluating dozens of new cities including Kolkata, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad. Since its last funding round by Ingka Capital, TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs last year, Livspace claims to have quadrupled its revenue, doubled its margin.
Strata Raises Rs 140 Crore To Invest In Three Warehousing Assets
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
MUMBAI: SAIF Partners-backed Strata, a tech-enabled fractional investment platform for commercial real estate, has raised Rs 140 crore from investors to jointly buy three preleased warehouses amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. These three assets, to be owned fractionally by investors, collectively account for 0.7 million sq ft warehousing space. Of these, Strata Avigna Warehousing I & II located in Hosur received 100% commitment from investors within 42 days of its launch, while the pharmaceutical warehousing asset in Bengaluru was closed in just 7 days. “Avigna is planning on developing multiple industrial and warehousing projects spread over 9 Million sqft in the next five years across 7 cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, etc. We look to strengthening our association with Strata with new projects on the horizon,” said Abhijit Verma, CEO, Avigna Space Industrial & Logistics Park. Minimum investments for these preleased assets ranged between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh and the same can be liquidated anytime, while rentals can be received from the first month of investment.
Cashaa Raises $5 Million From Dubai Based O1ex, A Blockchain Investment Firm
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
MUMBAI: Crypto banking companies platform Cashaa mentioned it has raised $5 million from Dubai primarily based O1ex, a blockchain funding and advisory agency and can use the funds to broaden into the Indian market and patch the customers loss from Delhi OTC hack in July. To faucet into the nation’s rising crypto person base, Cashaa will launch its neo-bank in India, which will probably be regulated below the Reserve Financial institution of India. Aside from India, we may even faucet into the African and Caribbean market,” Kumar Gaurav, CEO & Founder, Cashaa mentioned. In 2017, the London primarily based agency had raised $33 million in the course of the token sale but in addition rejected $14.7 million citing the shortcoming of token consumers to cross its KYC Policy. Cashaa can be the the second firm which didn’t cross the lack of Bitcoin hack to its customers.
Unacademy raises $150 million led by SoftBank, valuation triples to $1.45 bn
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
NEW DELHI: Edtech platform Unacademy has raised $150 million, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2i , trebling its valuation to $1.45 billion. “Learning from the best experts to achieve a life goal has mostly been a privilege, available only to those living in the top few cities of the country. At Unacademy, we are breaking that barrier and helping people achieve their life’s most important goals by giving them access to the best coaching from experts in the field,” said Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO, Unacademy. The startup, which is now the official partner for the Indian Premier League for the next three seasons, had raised money at a valuation of $510 million just six months ago. “By bringing quality education to a vast network of students for the first time, Unacademy is bridging the privilege gap in India,” said Munish Varma, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. In February, Unacademy had raised $110 million from Facebook, General Atlantic, and Sequoia at a valuation of $510 million. Other learning platforms like Vedantu raised $100 million funding during the pandemic, doubling its valuation to $600 mn. Startups in education have already raised around $795 million funding in this period, largely led by Byju’s.
Zomato closes $62 million funding from Temasek
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU : Food tech startup Zomato has closed $62 million as part of its latest funding round from MacRitchie Investments Pte. Mint had reported on 22 August that MacRitchie may infuse at least $60 million in Zomato. In March, Zomato had also raised $5 million from Pacific Horizon Investment Trust, which is managed by UK-based Baillie Gifford & Co. Ltd. The fundraise from Temasek, comes at a time when the Gurugram-based firm has been struggling to access the $100 million it was to receive, as a part of the $150 capital raise in January from Ant Financial. Zomato had received the first tranche of $50 million from Ant Financial, a unit of Chinese internet giant Alibaba, in January. Zomato’s rival Swiggy holds a valuation of more than $3.6 billion, ascribed to it as a part of the $156 million round it raised in the first quarter of 2020, from Naspers, Meituan Dianping and Wellington Management Company. In July, Zomato said that its revenues doubled to $394 million, although it recorded a loss of $293 million, for the fiscal year 2019-20. Zomato has also scaled down its online grocery vertical, Zomato Market, as it looks to continue its focus on improving food delivery experience for customers.
AI startup Entropik Tech raises $8 million in funding led by Alpha Wave
Published on 3rd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
NEW DELHI : Entropik Tech, an artificial intelligence-powered emotional intelligence platform, has raised $8 million in a series-A funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors- Bharat Innovation Fund and IDFC Parampara Fund, the startup said in a statement on Wednesday. Entropik Tech plans to utilise the funds to expand its presence to the US, European Union and South East Asia. This round of funding will help further scale international growth and ramp up its deep-tech capabilities. “As part of this investment from Alpha Wave Incubation, Entropik will expand its presence to the US, European Union, South East Asia while leveraging Abu Dhabi as a base to scale in GCC and MENA markets,” the company said. Through its platform, Entropik plugs a critical gap in consumer insights and research industry and has over 17 patent claims in facial coding, brainwave tracking, and eye tracking. “We have seen a huge demand for our Emotion AI platform, achieving over 10X revenue growth in the last 3 quarters. I am proud of our team for their persistence, and thankful to our investors for believing in our vision,” Entropik Tech founder and CEO Ranjan Kumar said.
E-commerce, hyperlocal supply chains to get cheaper with EV adoption
Published on 2nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU : The electric vehicle revolution isn’t just mushrooming from consumer demand but also from e-commerce and hyperlocal delivery firms. EV scooter makers including eBikeGo, Okinawa and Ather Energy are helping e-commerce and food delivery firms to convert their petrol-based scooters, used for deliveries, to more cost-efficient EV variants. With more net income being paid to delivery workers, Bigbasket is also able to bring down delivery costs from the earlier ₹50-65 per order to around ₹40-45 per order in areas where it has an EV deployment in the last-mile. Delhi-based EV manufacturer eBikeGo, currently supplies EV scooters to delivery startups such as Bigbasket, Zomato, and to retail brands including Burger King, Nandos, among others. “There is a huge opportunity for EV Industry in e-commerce and hyperlocal delivery market. In the post COVID era, e commerce is going to play a major role in the EV industryWe are in process of building presence in e-commerce and hyperlocal market currently,” added Sharma during a phone interview.
Dunzo to raise $28 million from Google, Lightstone and others
Published on 2nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Bengaluru: Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo has raised around $28 million, as part of its Series E round led by Google International LLC and Lightstone Fund S.A, according to documents sources from business information platform Tofler. Dunzo has allotted 10,310 Series E cumulative compulsory convertible preference shares to Google LLC and Lightstone at ₹1,13,811. “At Dunzo our mission is to make our cities more accessible, and to do so, we have to empower local businesses with the necessary e-commerce capabilities to master the changing marketplace. We have constantly wanted to steer the narrative and conversation in the ecosystem to a better product, user experience, and what makes a dent in the business. It is our humble contribution towards creating a thriving ecosystem for India that impacts users, merchants, and delivery partners. In light of this, we will not be able to comment further on this round,” said a Dunzo spokesperson. In July, Dunzo suffered a data breach that leaked phone numbers and email addresses of its users, the company’s chief technology officer Mukund Jha had said. Jha’s post said that the servers “Of a third party” Dunzo works with were compromised, and it allowed the attackers to get “Unauthorized access” and breach the company’s database.
Kaagaz Scanner, which has had 1.1 million downloads after it was launched in mid-June, works offline—for now— and doesn’t store data
Published on 2nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
India’s ban on Chinese apps left gaping holes across sectors that homegrown apps rushed to fill in. Before it was banned, CamScanner was a popular document scanning app, with more than 100 million downloads in India despite storing sensitive user data abroad and malware concerns. Now, an Indian startup wants to build a similar product but with a promise not to abuse users’ data. “Chinese apps could still operate, but something needed to be done about the data abuse. For Kaagaz, the app, all its data is offline. Even when we launch online storage, our cloud servers will be only in India,” Shrishrimal told Moneycontrol over the phone from Mumbai where the company is based. The app works offline only, which means it stores no data online, on its cloud or anywhere else. The automatic sorting ties in neatly with Sorted AI, an app Shrishrimal and the other two founders’ launched a year before Kaagaz Scanner.
Bikayi has raised $2 million from a clutch of international investors
Published on 2nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
YCombinator-backed startup Bikayi has raised a seed round of $2 million from a clutch of international investors including Mantis ventures, a VC fund promoted by the musical band Chainsmokers. The Hyderabad-based startup helps small merchants create online storefronts and accept orders online. The merchants using the platform are already doing business worth Rs 2 crore. Mantis is a $50 million VC fund to invest in startups and this is their first investment in an Indian entity. Other investors who participated in the round include YC, Pioneer Fund, angel investor Ankur Nagpal among others. “They are a part of upscaling Bikayi, with these funds we will hire more talent to accelerate product development, ramp up the platform and onboard a million new merchants,” said Sonakshi Nathani, cofounder, Bikayi. Bikayi allows small businesses to quickly create their online stores and give them the right tools to manage e-commerce on Whatsapp.
Leeds, Prosus lead $113-million round in edtech firm Eruditus
Published on 1st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: Edtech startup Eruditus has raised $113 million in funding led by Leeds Illuminate and South African internet giant Prosus Ventures with participation from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic organisation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. People familiar with the deal told ET that about $20 million of the investment is a secondary cash out, while $93 million has been infused in the company. With the latest investment, the company’s valuation has jumped to over $800 million, sources said, making the executive education firm among the most valued edtech startups in the country. Eruditus partners with top-tier universities across the US, Europe, Latin America, India and China to bring professional education to a global audience. “Covid-19 is dramatically accelerating change across higher education,” said Ashwin Damera, cofounder and chief executive at Eruditus. “We are engaging more deeply with universities worldwide to help them expand their online portfolio and global footprint.” Eruditus has partnered with more than 30 universities to date, including MIT, Columbia, Harvard, Cambridge, INSEAD, Wharton, UC Berkeley and NUS, launching more than 100 courses across multiple languages. CZI had backed Byju’s in 2016, its first investment in India and Asia.
Jobs app for Indian workers gets $8 million from investors
Published on 1st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Apna, an app startup that aims to connect millions of bottom-of-the-pyramid workers to employers amid the devastation of India’s lockdown, has raised $8 million from a clutch of investors. The funding, from new investors Greenoaks Capital, Rocketship VC as well as existing backers Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital, will help the app expand to more cities, the Indian firm said in a statement published Tuesday. It also wants to grow across verticals such as accounting, customer service and nursing. The startup, founded by Apple Inc. alum Nirmit Parikh, is a sort of LinkedIn for non-English-speaking, poorer Indians. The app helps first-time internet users access job opportunities by entering their name, age, and skills to generate a virtual “Business card” that’s shared with potential employers. Less than a year after its December launch, Apna has 1.2 million users.
boAT raises ₹25 crore from InnoVen Capital
Published on 1st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Bengaluru: Consumer electronics startup boAT has raised ₹25 crore from InnoVen Capital, underlining the venture debt and specialty lending firm’s strategy to back consumer brands that are disrupting their categories. BoAT is a lifestyle brand company that manufactures and sells consumer electronics products such as earphones, headphones, speakers, soundbars, travel chargers, and premium rugged cables. Sameer Mehta, co-founder, boAt said, “We continue to stay focused on delivering on our brand promise to our boAtheads. It’s been an exciting journey to build one of the leading homegrown digitally native brands from India but we are more excited about the next phase as we expand our product offering.” In July, 2019 boAt had raised ₹20 crore in venture debt from Sachin Bansal-owned BAC Acquisitions Pvt Ltd. Prior to that, in May, 2018, it had raised ₹6 crore from Fireside Ventures. “BoAt is one of the high performing companies in our portfolio, which has not only grown over 3X since we started the relationship but has managed to do that while being profitable. It’s a perfect case-study on how to build a new age brand, through superior customer insights, effective marketing and relentless execution,” said Ashish Sharma, CEO, Innoven Capital India.
HomeLane raises ₹60 crore in bridge round led by Stride Ventures
Published on 1st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read
Online home interiors start-up Homelane has raised ₹60 crore in a bridge round led by Stride Ventures. Stride Ventures participated through debt funding of ₹20 crore in the company. Existing investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Evolvence India and JSW Ventures have also participated, infusing another ₹40 crore in equity. “This round isn’t purely a runway extension. We have invested in the company keeping in mind the fundamentals in place. The company has a significant target addressable market. Furthermore, they have limited competition and are building a technological moat. Post-lifting of lockdown restrictions, the company has quickly scaled up their orders,” said Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, founder and managing partner, Stride Ventures. Bengaluru-based HomeLane said it will deploy the new funds to enter new markets with a greater focus on non-metro expansion while strengthening the brand’s presence across existing markets. 4 crore operating revenues for the year ended March 31, 2020, a growth of 130% over its revenues of ₹99. During the last six years, the company has established operational presence across 10 cities with 19 experience centres and 900+ design experts on its tech platform.