The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (18 - 23 October)


The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (18 - 23 October)

Indian startups have made a bountiful harvest in the third quarter of 2021. Amid pandemic-induced rise in digitisation, investors, both global and local remained confident on the prospects of India's internet economy in the third quarter of 2021. All industries saw an increase in funding activity, both in terms of value and volume. Fintech, edtech, and SaaS, on the other hand, are the top three hot investment industries in CY21, accounting for nearly half of all fundraising activity. Down below are the startups that raised funds this week.

Online pharmacy and medical store, PharmEasy has received approximately $350 million in a funding round, just ahead of the company filing for draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) before an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

As reported by a leading Indian daily, based on the regulatory documents PharmEasy has received close to $204 million in primary funding from Singapore’s Amansa Capital, Blackstone-backed hedge fund ApaH Capital, US hedge fund Janus Henderson, OrbiMed, Steadview Capital, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ, hedge fund Neuberger Berman and London’s Sanne Group.

Based on the document, Amansa Capital has invested about INR 370 crore in the round, Sanne Group has invested over INR 443 crore and Steadview Capital has invested in INR 110 crore. Additionally, Janus Henderson-managed funds added approximately INR 100 crore and ADQ has put around INR 74 crore. The rest of the investment came from New York-based Neuberger Berman and others, said the filing documents procured by the leading Indian daily.

Numadic, a vehicle interface platform, raised $2.5 million in a fundraising round led by 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts, valuing the company at $20 million post-funding. Google, Chona Family Office, angel investors, as well as Spark Private Wealth, took part in the financing. The company uses its funds to hire additional employees, develop new technology, and grow new products.

"We are moving closer to a world of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous payments for those vehicles will come first,” Luke Sequeira, cofounder and chief executive, said in a statement on Monday. “This new round of funding fuels our next phase of growth towards ‘undisrupting’ vehicle movement.”

Numadic, founded by Sequeira, Aprup Shet, and Haston Silva, builds apps and APIs (application programming interfaces) to make the automation of vehicle identification, location and transactions a simpler process. The company, which is situated in Goa, offers four products namely Nu Visibility, Nu Toll, Nu Fuel and Hemica.

Aviom India Housing Finance, a housing finance company has pumped $8 million in a series C funding round. The round was organized by Sabre Partners. Aviom Finance deals with micro mortgage. The company will utilize the new fund for operational expansion and growth.

The company carters low-interest rate loans around INR 50,000 to INR 5 lakh to women who do not have any income source. These loans are usually for sanitation, improvement, renovation and construction. It provides loans for business requirements. It also provides low-income households in semi-urban and rural areas.

Aviom India Housing Finance was founded by Kajal Ilmi in 2016. It operates 100 branches in 14 states. Kajal Ilmi says, “We are excited to partner with such pedigreed investors and shall be using the funds to expand our footprints and grow the business further”.

Cloud-based platform SaaS Labs has raised $17 million in its Series A funding from Eight Roads Ventures and Base 10 Partners.

The startup will use the funds to hire talent, expand its customer base, improve service delivery and for product development.

With a 70-member team in India and the Philippines, SaaS Labs hopes to double headcount by the year-end, said Gaurav Sharma, founder, adding it currently serves over 6,000 companies globally, including Walmart, Jaguar, EY and Divvy Homes, among others.

We are going to deploy this fresh capital for product development, R&D and hiring talent globally, he noted.

Call centres have most of the inbound traffic telephone-based. The contact centre as a service (CCaaS) software has opened the way for multiple efficient and high-speed forms of communication between enterprises and their customers. This is the reason why cloud-based contact centres are rapidly becoming mainstream.

Plutus Management LLP and current investor Oaks Asset Management led a $30 million Series B capital round for CredAble, a fintech business focused on supply chain financing. The funds will be used to develop a new product and expand the company's technology infrastructure, according to cofounder and CEO Nirav Choksi.

The funding comes at a time when fintech companies are gaining more investor interest than ever before, with the industry attracting the most cash so far this year. The company has raised $50 million to date, including the most recent round.

It raised $14.8 million (Rs 35 crore) in a Series A round from Alpha Capital in 2018 and $4.5 million (Rs 30 crore) in a bridge financing from Oaks Asset Management last year.

Acquisition

One of the fastest-growing tech upskilling startups, Scaler has announced the acquisition of Coding Minutes, an online learning platform for USD 1 million in an all-cash deal.

With this acquisition, Coding Minutes will focus on building specialised content that engages the beginner-level tech aspirant. The edtech brand is focussing on upskilling the existing tech talent. Scaler will also tailor content towards students and professionals who have no background in coding.

Coding Minutes was started by Prateek Narang, Mohit Uniyal and Jatin Virmani in early 2021. Coding Minutes will continue to bring pocket-friendly specialised courses for beginners as part of the acquisition. It also strengthens Scaler’s instructor and engineering teams. Scaler acquired Coding Elements in August to accelerate business growth.

India's largest cosmetics retailer, Nykaa has acquired Dot & Key, a domestic skincare company, just days before its IPO (Initial Public Offering). The deal's details haven't been revealed.

This is the start-up's first transaction in the direct-to-consumer area, led by Falguni Nayar.

The deal, on the other hand, is reflective of the industry's greater upheaval.

According to a statement made on Friday, “Following this investment by Nykaa, Dot & Key will join Nykaa’s stable of owned brands”.

Nayar said, “We are excited to bring Dot & Key into the Nykaa family in time to serve the demand in high quality skincare by Indian consumers’’. “Its product range presents an exciting opportunity for Nykaa as it allows us to extend the brand’s reach to a larger landscape of consumers and enter the nutraceutical space as well”, added Nayar.