The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (17th April -21st April)


The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (17th April -21st April)
The Indian startup ecosystem is a rapidly growing hub for entrepreneurship and innovation, with a thriving ecosystem of startups and investors with diverse experiences across many different industries. However, not everyone can establish a successful business, and not all investors are interested in Indian businesses. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the Indian startup ecosystem in-depth to take full advantage of its potential.
Indian businesses are already developing and earning recognition on a global scale for their excellent working business concepts. In terms of new launches and acquisitions, this week we saw L’Oréal, one of the largest cosmetic brands in the world, says it is investing an undisclosed amount  in consumer focussed venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners and EcoSoul Home said it has swept up Series A funding of $10 million (around Rs 82 crore) from global venture capital firm &Tricog Health said it has raised $8.5 million in a funding round, dubbed Series B2, from Omron Health Care and Sony Innovation Fund.
This week here are the top 5 startups that have successfully secured funding in the millions dollar funds.
L'Oéral 
L’Oréal, one of the largest cosmetic brands in the world, says it is investing an undisclosed amount in consumer focussed venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners. L’Oréal said that the investment in DSG’s fourth fund would be strategic in nature and that it would invest in beauty and personal care startups across India and Southeast Asia. The VC firm’s fourth fund will reportedly be around $125 million in size.
DSG has invested in companies such as Indian tea and cafe chain startup Chai Point, dairy firm Epigamia, and juice maker Raw Pressery, among others. The investment was made through L’Oréal’s corporate venture capital fund, BOLD. The fund had earlier invested in Fireside Ventures, another consumer-focussed investment fund from India, which has invested in Mamaearth, Boat and Slurrp Farm, among others.
EcoSoul
India and US-based eco-friendly products maker EcoSoul Home said it has swept up Series A funding of $10 million (around Rs 82 crore) from global venture capital firm Accel and investment office Singh Capital Partners.The fresh infusion is going to be deployed for launching new products, expansion and scaling up tech and data stacks.
Founded by Rahul Singh and Arvind Ganesan in 2020, EcoSoul Home is a category-leading startup in the eco-friendly home essentials products space. It claims that it maintains an active sales and operational presence in countries like the US, India, China and Vietnam, offering more than 100 products globally.
Fintech
London-based fintech platform Tide is aiming to get 10 lakh small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on-board in India by December, 2024. Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform, has welcomed more than 50,000 SMEs since its entry in India in December 2022, a company statement said.
With the quick platform adoption and the market potential in India, Tide is confident that 10 lakh SMEs will sign up for its platform and benefit from its digital business banking suite by the end of the year 2024.Tide also traversed 2.25 lakh app downloads on Google Play Store in March, since its launch, the statement added.
SwitchOn
Abee Research Labs Pvt Ltd, which runs artificial intelligence-based platform SwitchOn, has secured Series A funding of $4.2 million (around Rs 34.4 crore) led by a Singapore-based fund. Existing backers Pi Ventures and Axilor Ventures, with Chennai Angels’ Anuj Bihani and Laxmi Narayan, and others, also took part in the round.
The Bengaluru-based firm will use the fresh funds for research and development, hiring and expanding its geographical footprints both across India and overseas as well.
Tricog
Heart centred healthtech startup Tricog Health said it has raised $8.5 million in a funding round, dubbed Series B2, from Omron Health Care and Sony Innovation Fund, among other investors. The round also saw participation by returning investors The University of Tokyo Edge Capital, Inventus Partners and SG Innovate. The Series B2 round marks an overall raise of $30 million for the Bengaluru-based startup.
What the funds are to be used for “With this round, we are committed to expanding our reach to Asia and Africa and our footprint in the US healthcare market. Furthermore, our strategic partnerships will allow us, for the first time, to address the needs of heart patients at home,” said founder and CEO Charit Bhograj.