The startup segment in India continues to move forward  as investors continue to seek the next game-changer. This year we saw 21 startups attain the famed unicorn status and many more are soon to accompany them. With global attention on the growing Indian startup ecosystem, investments are sure to follow in all domains.

This week we saw some startups gain massive momentum, such as Bangalore based khatabook which changed the way merchants record their transactions, have ramped up their financial services business, and Globalfair which is simplifying business interactions, has raised $20 million in series A funding. Here are the compilations of startups which made notable progress this week.

Khatabook

Fintech and accounting startup Khatabook is looking to scale up its financial services business. To this end, the startup is doubling down on digital lending, while seeking to widen the subscriber base for its paid software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering.

The company is looking to turn profitable in the next 18-20 months. Currently, Khatabook clocks gross revenues of Rs 70 crore on an annualised basis.

“Our journey has been focussed on growth and we wanted to reach as many users as possible,” Ravish Naresh, cofounder and CEO of Khatabook, said. “Post raising our last round we have been mostly focussing on scaling one or more of our revenue pipes.”

Khatabook last raised $100 million in a funding round led by Tribe Capital and Moore Capital Ventures in August 2021. As per an earlier report, the Silicon Valley-based Tribe Capital will continue to invest in commerce enablement startups.

Mother Sparsh

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) baby and mother care brand Mother Sparsh is looking to raise about Rs 100 crore in series B funding, with ITC Ltd already infusing Rs 13.5 crore.

In a media release, Mother Sparsh said it plans to enhance its portfolio significantly in baby skincare and mother-oriented segment. The funding announcement comes close on the heels of the brand’s foray into the diaper segment, which constitutes a major chunk of the baby care market.

The firm said the objective behind the Series B funding round is to enhance R&D and foster innovation in the critical baby and mom care segment alongside sustained product portfolio diversification.

Revfin

Electric vehicle financing digital platform Revfin said it has raised USD 10 million (over Rs 80 crore) in a Series A round of funding. The funding round was led by Green Frontier Capital (GFC), a VC fund focusing specifically on climate investments; LC Nueva Investment Partners, a partnership between Singapore's Lighthouse Canton and Nueva Capital, and existing investors.

Further, the company said the fresh funds would also be used to diversify into electric two-wheelers for last-mile deliveries and electric four-wheelers for mid-mile cargo delivery and ride-share taxis. "What we want to do is from 14 states, we want to get to 25 states in the next six months and also to get to at least 10 states where we have a high market share of around 20 per cent," Revfin Founder and CEO Sameer Aggarwal said.

Beepkart

Online two-wheeler marketplace Beepkart said it has raised $9 million in a funding round led by Vertex Ventures South East Asia & India. The round also saw participation from existing investors Stellaris Venture Partners and Chiratae Ventures, which had led the company’s $3 million seed round in September 2021. Beepkart said that the money will be used to scale up the business, customer experience, internal products and systems, as well as branding and operations.

A large part of the population does not have access to personal mobility options or has to spend excessively on increasingly costly new vehicles. Used 2-wheelers are therefore the best entry point into personal mobility, the company claims.

Globalfair

Globalfair, a technology-first B2B building material supplier, has raised $20 million in series A funding, in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with existing investors India Quotient and Saama Capital participating.

The Gurugram-based startup, founded by IIT alumni Shaily Garg and Ashish Chandra in 2020, has operations in 36 of the 50 states in the USA and supplies building material for projects across India and Vietnam.

The company says its technology allows the buyer to start interacting with the traditional process, from building cost estimates to architectural plans and real-time GPS-enabled tracking of the material. Construction material is a $1.4 trillion market globally, while in India, it is almost a $70 billion market.

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