The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (20th Nov-25th Nov)


The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (20th Nov-25th Nov)

Running a startup is no walk in the park, it is a herculean task. An early stage of the startup is when a small amount of people handle innumerable amount of tasks until they raise connections and funds. Despite the difficulties it poses, it does not discourage the minds of the young Indian founders from seeking greatness.

This week on our startup compilation we have Fresh From Farm which is catering to the health conscious consumers to meet their nutritional requirements in the most organic fashion and Ultraviolette which is gearing up to release their futuristic electric motorcycle which is certain to be a game changer in the EV market and many more mentioned below have raised funds to elevate their startups.

Fresh From Farm

Food-agri startup Fresh From Farm has raised over Rs 3 crore in seed funding led by Inflection Point Ventures. Fresh From Farm is a demand-and data-based aggregation ecosystem that recognises retailer demand trends and buys the precise amount from farmers.

Growing and acquiring fresh produce, Fresh From Farm distributes it through an omnichannel online and physical presence while establishing a brand strategy. The funds raised will assist the company in team building, inventory management, capital expenditure, research & development, and branding.

“The customers are increasingly getting aware about what they eat, where is it sourced from and its nutritional value. The farmers and retailers deal with the supply chain challenges resulting in millions of tonnes of perishables getting wasted every year. We liked Fresh From Farm’s approach of leveraging tech to solve the challenges that directly impact the three key stakeholders of the fruit and vegetables ecosystem," said Vinay Bansal, founder & chief executive of Inflection Point Ventures. Bansal said he liked the tech and platform with predictive qualities prompted his firm to invest in the company.

RapidBox

RapidBox, a direct-to-consumer startup active in footwear, sports, and fashion category announced, that it raised $4.5 million in a series A funding round. The latest funding round was led by SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (“SIG”), Tanglin Venture Partners, India Quotient and investment banking analyst Ananya Goenka.

RapidBox has an in-house manufacturing line, and uses high-quality and high-gauge vegan leather to ensure the footwear ages well. “As a young brand, we see a lot of room for growth as we cater to growing footwear and fashion needs of consumers who are aspirational and early achievers. RapidBox was launched to close the market gap in the footwear industry with a focus on uplifting product quality and consumer experience,” Arun Paliwal, co-founder of RapidBox, said.

ProcMart

B2B procurement marketplace ProcMart has raised $10 million in series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. In order to secure these funds, Sequitur Advocates provided ProcMart with legal counsel while keeping in mind the company's growth strategy. The latest round of funding will be deployed towards international expansion, strengthening vendor partnerships and upgrading technological and warehousing capabilities.

Founded in 2015 by Anish Popli, a first-generation entrepreneur and an IIM Lucknow and NIT-Trichy Alumnus with experience in procurement and project management from BHEL and Energo Engineering; ProcMart is an enterprise-focused MRO aggregator with a tech-enabled digital platform. Within a few years, it has been able to onboard, retain and deepen business with tier-1 global MNCs and domestic enterprises such as Colgate, Mondelez, Harman, Dana, Vedanta while expanding, across industry verticals, and product categories.

Popli stated, “With consistent growth and profitability over the past few years, ProcMart has emerged as a strong player providing an end-to-end digital ecosystem for indirect procurement to leading MNCs and domestic enterprises. This financing will be crucial to increasing our geographic reach, forming effective vendor alliances, and improving our technological and warehousing capabilities. Sixth Sense has a strong track record of partnering with B2B enablers and helping them scale leveraging their ecosystem connects.”

Clean Electric

Clean Electric, a Madhya Pradesh-based energy storage solutions start-up, received investment from Climate Angles and also raised $2.2 million in a seed round led by Kalaari Capital, a Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm.

With this funding, the company plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Pune to produce 5,000 battery packs per month, according to the official press release. “The firm also plans to use the funds to expand its R&D, sales, and operations teams, and for developing new products around faster charging, renewable energy storage, and battery swapping,” it said.

The release added that the round also saw participation from LV Fund, 7Square Ventures, and CIIE Regional Innovation Foundation. Climate Angels is SEBI Category-1 Angel AIF that invests only in early-stage pollution reduction and climate tech start-ups.

Ultraviolette

Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd expanded its ongoing Series D round led by Qualcomm Ventures and Lingotto. According to sources, the company raised $24 million in the expanded round, taking the total funding in Series D to $34 million to date. The investments will be deployed towards ramping up the company's presence in India, subsequent expansion in international markets as well as strengthening the brand's technological capabilities and prowess.

"As we countdown to the commercial launch of the F77 in India, this investment is a testament to the fact that we have been able to create a distinct identity for Ultraviolette and the F77 and build aspiration for the product across global audiences," said Narayan Subramaniam, Co-Founder and CEO, Ultraviolette.

With an industry leading Indian driving condition (IDC) range of 307 kms on a single charge, the Ultraviolette F77 will be commercially launched on November 24. The company opened its pre-orders on October 23 and will roll out the product in a phased manner, with the first batch of motorcycles being delivered in the city of Bengaluru. Established in 2016, Ultraviolette Automotive is developing India's first ecosystem of high-performance electric vehicles and future-ready energy infrastructure.