The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (12th August - 16th August)
The Indian startup ecosystem has set a new record by bagging another round of funding in a few sectors like B2B Healthcare Financing, Fintech, Deeptech, Wealth & Asset management & Hospitality marking another win for the startupreneurs by raising funds and updating the growth probability and standardizing the products and services. The week went by successfully witnessing funds in every stage of funding from Seed to Pre-series A to Series B to Series G Funding round.
Sector: B2B Healthcare Financing
Funding Round: Seed Funding round
Startup: HealthCRED
Established Year: 2022
Funding News: B2B healthcare financing startup HealthCRED raises $1.2 million in Seed Funding round
India’s first B2B healthcare financing platform Delhi based HealthCRED has bagged $1.2 million in its seed round led by Antler India, TRTL VC, DeVC, iSeedVC and Angel List India. The round was led by Antler
Investors: Antler India, TRTL VC, DeVC, iSeedVC and Angel List India, Dr. Subho Ray (President, IAMAI), Nitin Gupta (CEO, Uni Cards), Amit Lakhotia (CEO, ParkPlus) and founders of InsuranceDekho and SEA-based Docquity
The freshly infused capital will be strategically utilized to enhance customer relationships and expand operations to the Southern and Western parts of the country. It will also be allocated to hire fresh talents and develop state-of-the-art B2B loan onboarding and loan management systems, creating an end-to-end digitized B2B healthcare lending framework.
The Co-Founder & CEO of HealthCRED Shrey Jain, commented, "With the rapid penetration of health insurance in the post-COVID scenario, there has been an increased working capital management stress for Hospitals and HSPs. The key factor is the delay associated with the realisation of insurance receivables. Our aim is to work towards stabilising their cash flow cycles, through early financing of these delayed receivables. This would help further ensure quality delivery of patient care, thereby enabling improved alignment with SDG Target 3.8 and Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC)".
Sector: Fintech
Funding Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: Skydo
Established Year: 2022
Funding News: Cross Border fintech Platform Skydo attracts $5 million in its pre-Series A Funding round
Cross border payments platform Skydo, which is catering to enterprises, MSMEs, and freelancers, has bagged $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round
Investors: Elevation Capital
The Co-founder and CEO of Skydo, Srivatsan Sridhar noted, "This investment will help us to acquire payment licenses across geographies, expand internationally, and enable customers to send and receive business payments across multiple countries."
The company was established by Srivatsan Sridhar and Movin Jain. Sridhar, previously headed a business operations at Ola, and Jain,was the former head of payments product at PhonePe, joined forces to create a tech-driven platform that offers real-time tracking of cross-border payments. The startup's tech-driven platform enables real-time tracking of cross-border payments.
It is noteworthy that, the platform supports a variety of payment methods which includes payment links, cards, and bank transfers, and offer tools like a savings calculator to help freelancers and exporters uncover hidden costs associated with foreign transactions.
Sector: Deeptech
Funding Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: EyeROV
Established Year: 2016
Funding News: Marine-focused Deeptech Startup 'EyeROV' secures $1.2 million in Pre-Series A
In a pre-Series A round led by Unicorn India Ventures, the deep-tech startup EyeROV that specializes in marine robotics, raised 
10 crore, or approximately $1.2 million.
10 crore, or approximately $1.2 million.
Investors: Unicorn India Ventures
The Kochi-based company claims to have launched an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and commercial underwater drones/ROVs that offer solutions in both India and the MENA region.
Also EyeROV produces solutions for inspection in infrastructure and teaming up with defense Research and development labs and forces through the Innovations for Defense Excellence - IDEX drive to foster maritime ISR - Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solutions.
Johns T Mathai, CEO, EyeROV states, “With this funding, EyeROV will be able to scale up its sales, R&D, and operations much faster. We have developed unique, differentiated solutions for underwater infrastructure inspections that have been successfully validated in the Indian market and are now ready for global expansion. Unicorn India has supported similar hardware/robotics companies in the past, and we believe this partnership will be highly beneficial.”
Similarly expressing to the significant investment, Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures notes, “Marine robotics is a highly complex subject and developing a drone to inspect underwater infrastructure requires unmanned tech built with precision. Unicorn India has a strong DNA of a deep tech investor as we understand the tech both hardware and software aspect. As we have a strong track record of bringing out highly innovative companies from sectors that are still emerging or relatively new, we believe EyeROV’s products and solutions have a global application.”
Sector: Wealth & Asset management
Funded Round: Series B
Startup: Neo
Established Year: 2021
Funding News: Wealth & Asset management Startup 'Neo' nets 400 crore in Series B
400 crore in Series B
Neo, a wealth and asset management company has raised 400 crore or $48 million in Series B funding round. The freshly raised funding will be utilized to grow Neo’s wealth and asset management division and upgrade support for its resource the executives business, the organization said in a public statement.
400 crore or $48 million in Series B funding round. The freshly raised funding will be utilized to grow Neo’s wealth and asset management division and upgrade support for its resource the executives business, the organization said in a public statement.
Investors: MUFG Bank, New York-based Euclidean Capital LLC, Peak XV Partners
With this, Neo has raised around 1, 000 crore ($120 million) in value capital including a $35 million round from Peak XV in October last year. Recently, the organization raised the main tranche of this funding round worth $26.5 million.
1, 000 crore ($120 million) in value capital including a $35 million round from Peak XV in October last year. Recently, the organization raised the main tranche of this funding round worth $26.5 million.
Mumbai-based Neo gives advisory and yield-based investment solutions for high and super high total assets people including ingenious family workplaces. Centering in the area of credit and genuine resources, the stage has likewise launched tailor made funding’s that give capital solutions for organizations giving risk managed financial returns for financial backers.
Neo group claims that it oversees almost 35, 000 crore in wealth management resources and over 6, 000 crore in alternative asset management.
35, 000 crore in wealth management resources and over 6, 000 crore in alternative asset management.
The three-year-old firm revealed a 9 times development in its income to 65 crore in the financial year finishing March 2023 (FY23). Essentially, it accomplished such development with a minimal loss of 3.6 crore during FY23. The company has not released its FY24 financial results yet.
65 crore in the financial year finishing March 2023 (FY23). Essentially, it accomplished such development with a minimal loss of 3.6 crore during FY23. The company has not released its FY24 financial results yet.
Sector: Hospitality
Funding Round: Series G
Startup: Oyo
Established Year: 2012
Funding News: Hospitality major Oyo secures $175 million in its Series G Funding round
Oyo, a company that focuses on hospitality, has secured 1,457 crore (about $175 million). The company's valuation stands at $2.38 billion, and according to the aforementioned report, this valuation has not altered following the completion of the new tranche.
1,457 crore (about $175 million). The company's valuation stands at $2.38 billion, and according to the aforementioned report, this valuation has not altered following the completion of the new tranche.
Investors: InCred Wealth, Patient Capital, J&A Partners, Family office of Mankind Pharma promoters, ASK Financial Holdings
Ritesh Agarwal, the Founder of Oyo announced in May, that the firm had reported its first ever net profit amounting to 100 crore in FY24. In comparison with FY22 which brought in a revenue from operations worth 4,871 crore; during FY23 it increased by 14.3% reaching up to 5,464 crore while reducing losses by approximately one-third (33.7%) resulting in an overall loss value of only 1,287 crore within this date range period covered .
100 crore in FY24. In comparison with FY22 which brought in a revenue from operations worth 4,871 crore; during FY23 it increased by 14.3% reaching up to 5,464 crore while reducing losses by approximately one-third (33.7%) resulting in an overall loss value of only 1,287 crore within this date range period covered .
Oyo is a Gurugram based company, which has postponed its intention to become publicly traded for the time being. After encountering unfavorable conditions, it withdrew its draft papers (DRHP) for a second time in May. The firm intends to submit new IPO papers after completing a significant funding round that is set to conclude following the most recent fundraising effort.
