As the year comes to a close, there has been a significant contribution from investors interpreting the potential of Indian startups across various verticals, and the journey is becoming smoother. In the developments of this week, we have stumbled across greater funding in the fashion industry, parts and accessories firm, cyber security, health, and aerospace. Organizations are expanding their presence outside india with the funds received from the investors and using it to hiring top talent, technical collaboration and a health firm is seeing a significant improvement in the early detection of mental illnesses and services offered at a reasonable price.

We have collated the list of companies that excelled this week.

Virgio

Fast fashion startup Virgio, founded by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, said it has raised $37 million in a funding round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Partner and Accel Partners. This is a significant infusion of capital by institutional investors in an early-stage round, given the ongoing funding winter.

The company said that it will use the money to invest further in technology and hire more people. Catering to Gen Z and late millennial audience, Virgio is building a fashion tech platform that will allow designers to access consumer preferences in real time. It is also envisioning a tech-led network of factories that will enable designers to quickly build prototypes, get consumer feedback, and scale up production.

Virgio is seen as the Indian version of Chinese fashion behemoth Shein, which rose to fame for its ultra-fast fashion business model. Virgio recently opened its platform to consumers and its app has been downloaded over 100,000 times. Its Singles’ Day sale last month saw 1 million new users use the platform. Virgio currently has about 20,000 daily active users.

myTVS            

myTVS has announced that it has raised its Series C funding of INR 690 crore as a combination of INR 487 crore from Castrol India and INR 203 crore from Exor fund managed by Lingotto. A press release from myTVS noted that earlier in November 2022, the company had raised INR 487 crore from Castrol India to explore business and technology collaborations.

The new lot of funds will be used to scale up its online-to-offline (O2O) business model, expand its network, invest in technology to enhance its services and spares platform, and expand the country’s automotive aftermarket ecosystem via ‘myTVS’, for two and four-wheeler customers.

Additionally, the funds will be utilised for debt repayment, including acquisition financing, brand building and international growth. G Srinivasa Raghavan, Managing Director, myTVS, said, “The additional investment by Exor reiterates myTVS’ successful business model and its leadership position in the growing Indian automotive aftermarket segment.”

SafeHouse Tech

New Delhi-based cybersecurity startup SafeHouse Tech has raised $6 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by billionaire investor Gonpo Tsering among a consortium of other strategic HNWIs.

The startup plans to use the raised capital to fuel international expansion in Europe and Southeast Asia. It will also focus on the groundbreaking R&D division to enhance market-leading technology and new product features set for release in 2023.

The startup claims that its app has secured more than 2.5 million Indian users, with a distribution network in 5,000 stores covering more than 700 cities.

Med Prognostics

Pune-based In-Med Prognostics, an AI-based health tech startup, has raised $2.13 million in a new funding round led by Exxora, along with the participation from angel investors. According to the startup, the raised capital will be used towards expanding its product portfolio and tap global markets.

The startup uses machine learning to provide analysis which aids in the assessment and early detection of neurological disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s at affordable prices.

The startup said it has been collaborating with other prominent diagnostic care service organizations in India, like Aarthi Scans, Scansworld, Gujarat Scans, Nanavati, and Cauvery Hospitals, and plans to expand to Africa as well.

GalaxEye

Bengaluru-based GalaxEye, a space tech startup focused on earth observation, has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest, along with the participation from Artha India Ventures, Veda VC, Anicut Capital, Upsparks, and a clutch of entrepreneurs including Nithin Kamath, Prashant Pitti, Abhishek Goyal, and Ganpathy Subramaniam.

According to the company’s statement, the raised capital will be used towards hiring top-tier talent and accelerating the launch of the multi-sensor satellite for earth observation. Additionally, the startup said the round also marks the beginning of commercialization with GalaxEye customers across the US, Europe and Africa.

GalaxEye has also signed partnerships and commercial contracts with several organizations in the space tech ecosystem, including US-based space software provider Antaris.

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