The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (30th Oct - 4th Nov)


The Week that Was: Indian Startup News   Overview (30th Oct - 4th Nov)

Startups can be the engine of growth in the long run. The Indian startup ecosystem has been progressing well, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding the country's population, observing scalable and repeatable business model developments is exciting. Startup India has laid down several measures to ease compliance with the most complex laws for startups to ensure the associated risks are prevented or mitigated.

This week, Online gaming unicorn Games24x7 said it has raised Rs 400-crore investment fund Games 24x7 Ventures to explore early-stage targets in the interactive entertainment space; and Early-stage venture capital fund 8i Ventures on said that it had achieved the first close of its $50 million second fund.

Here is a list of the top five startups that performed exceptionally well this week!

Games24x7

Online gaming unicorn Games24x7 is launching a Rs 400-crore investment fund Games 24x7 Ventures to explore early-stage targets in the interactive entertainment space. The fund will focus on investing in startups that have synergies with the company’s core business areas.

Tiger Global-backed Games24x7, which operates platforms including My11Circle and RummyCircle, raised $75 million earlier this year at a valuation of $2.5 billion. Chief financial officer Rahul Tewari said that it would fund the new investment vehicle from its own balance sheet.

“This is a long-term commitment over the next five years to partner with emerging companies and entrepreneurs and support them not only with capital but also with our operating expertise and a unique way of scaling up our operations in a very disciplined manner while maintaining unit economics,” Tewari said.

LUMIQ

LUMIQ has raised Rs 44.1 crore or $5.5 million in its Series A round led by existing investor Info Edge Ventures. In 2022, this is the 1st round of investment for the Data and Analytics company which builds datastack products and solutions, with a pure Financial Services and Insurance (FSI) focus.

In this round, Info Edge Ventures spearheaded the round with Rs 23.41 crore while Season Two Ventures and RedStart Labs pumped in Rs 19.51 crore and Rs 1.2 crore respectively. This will be used to further develop LUMIQ's presence in international markets US and SEA, and strengthen their FSI-focused product line.

SettleMint

SettleMint, the blockchain application development platform for private and public sector has raised $16 million in Series A funding, the company said in a note. UK-based Molten Ventures, a venture capital firm participated in the fundraising.

New investors including co-lead investor OTB Ventures, Fujitsu Ventures, Allusion and Bloccelerate along with existing investor Medici Ventures, L.P also joined the funding round. SettleMint has established itself as the category defining platform for blockchain application development for enterprise and is trusted by leading banks, financial services providers, global retailers, manufacturers and by innovators in the public sector.

CashKaro

Cashback and coupons platform CashKaro has raised Rs 130 crore as part of its recent funding round led by Affle Global Pte Ltd (AGPL). This minority investment has flowed into Pouring Pounds UK, the parent entity of Pouring Pounds India which houses the CashKaro and EarnKaro brands.

CashKaro has, including the latest round, raised over Rs 125 crore from investors including Kalaari Capital, Ratan Tata, emeritus chairman of Tata Sons; Korea Investment Partners and others. Singapore-based AGPL is a fully owned subsidiary of Affle Holdings Pte Ltd (AHPL). Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), which publishes the Economic Times, is an investor in AHPL.

8i Ventures

Early-stage venture capital fund 8i Ventures on said that it had achieved the first close of its $50 million second fund. “The fund has raised 50% of its targeted assets under management and achieved a first close of $25 million, raised largely from family offices like Salgaocars and Kothari (DSP) who were also invested in 8i Venture's first fund,“ the firm said in a statement.

The fintech and commerce focused fund plans to write $1.5-2 million cheques at the seed stage, going up to $10 million in subsequent rounds. The firm, founded in 2019 by Vikram Chachra & Vishwanath V, said it recorded one of the highest venture exits in India this April, when it partially exited a seed investment in portfolio company M2P at a 36X multiple over 2 years. 8i Ventures Fund I has grown 270% in three years, driven by early-stage investments in Slice, M2P and Blue Tokai, it added.