The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (23-30 July)


The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (23-30 July)

The Indian tech startup sage is amplifying with each passing day. Very recently, the parliament was informed that “As of 14th July 2021, there are 53 unicorns currently in India, with a tentative valuation of 1.4 lakh crore. As of 14th July 2021, more than 5.7 lakh jobs have been reported by more than 50,000 startups." The numbers are astounding and inspiring to say the least.

With startups raising tremendous funding and VCs launching India focused funds, this week brought along major news stories. Infact on 27thJuly, within a day Indian startups raised more than $250 million. The country also got a new unicorn, Droom. This week we followed startups such as Mamaearth, Goat brand labs, Mohalla tech, Blaize, Bharathpe and many others as they raised capital. Wrap up the week with the startupcity weekly overview about Indian Startups raising funds.

The week started with one of the most valued new-age D2C brands in the country, Mamaearth raising $50 million in a funding round led by Belgian investment fund Sofina, valuing the direct-to-consumer (D2C) personal care brand at $730 million.

Existing investor Sequoia Capital joined the round, while early investors Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners, Sharp Ventures, and Titan Capital sold some stakes in a secondary transaction, according to the company.

Next, Goat Brand Labs, a Thrasio-style venture led by former Flipkart executive Rishi Vasudev, has closed a $36 million funding round, including a debt component, in the midst of a rush of capital into such startups this year.

Tiger Global, based in New York, led the financing, which also included Flipkart Ventures, Mayfield, Nordstar Capital, and Better Capital. This round was also attended by prominent angel investors such as Sujeet Kumar of Udaan, Virender Gupta of DailyHunt, and RanjanPai of Manipal Group.Beauty Brand MyGlamm raises INR 335 crore led by Accel.

Goat Brand has raised $18 million in equity capital and the rest is in debt. RameswarMisra, who previously founded the clothing company Turmswear, has joined Vasudev as a cofounder in this venture.

On Tuesday, Bangalore based MohallaTech, the parent company of Moj and ShareChat, raised $145 million in a Series F round extension. The investment, valued at $2.88 billion, was led by Singapore state investor Temasek and Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), with participation from Mirae-Naver Asia Growth fund.

Mohalla Tech, which was founded in 2015, has now raised over $911 million in seven rounds of funding. Moj, a short video platform, was launched in July 2020, shortly after ByteDance'sTikTok app was banned in India.

Moj and ShareChat, which have a combined user base of 340 million, hope to create a cohesive AI-powered content ecosystem to meet India's growing digital needs.

Traveltech firmIxigoraised $53 million from a Singapore sovereign wealth fund (GIC).Ixigo anticipates a valuation of around $800 million for the IPOs, which are expected to be issued in the fourth quarter of the year, with the goal of raising Rs 1200-1500 crore through IPOsGIC is investing through its new public markets fund, which was established to invest in Indian equities and support IPO-bound companies.

On the same day MyGlamm, an Amazon-backed direct-to-consumer (DTC) Indian beauty brand, raised an additional 355 crore in a Series C funding round led by Accel, bringing the total amount raised to 530 crore ($71.21 million). This figure includes the 175 crore raised earlier this year from Ascent Capital, Amazon, and Wipro.

It is believed that the 175 crore is valued at 2,000crore, which is three times the previous valuation of $ 100 million, which is approximately 745 crore.

AI computing innovator revolutionizing edge and automotive computing solutions,Blaize announced a $71 million Series D round led by Franklin Templeton, a new investor, and existing investor Temasek on Wednesday. This round was also attended by DENSO and other new and returning investors.

With this funding, the company intends to rapidly expand its Hyderabad, India operations over the next 12 - 18 months in order to accelerate the product roadmap and scale the business.

Blaize successfully released and established a multi-year pipeline for the first generation Blaize AI edge computing hardware and software products in 2020, with customer opportunities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia.

BharatPe secures a $350 million fund, Tiger Global invests $100 million, and exiting investors such as Amplo, Insight Partners, Beenext, Sequoia Capital, and Steadview Capital, among others, participate.

Tiger Global Management is also eager to lead a $350 million round investment in BharatPe, which would increase the fintech startup's valuation to more than $2 billion, making it India's latest unicorn.

Tiger Global will invest $100 million alongside existing investors such as Amplo, Beenext, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Steadview Capital. Despite this, the discussion is at a “advanced” stage, and the investment round is expected to begin soon.

An online marketplace for automobiles, is the latest Indian startup to achieve the coveted unicorn status. Droom, based in Gurgaon, announced that it is raising up to $200 million in a pre-IPO growth funding round. The new investment, a portion of which has already been secured, values the seven-year-old startup at $1.2 billion, up from approximately $500 million in October of this year.

Droom is the 17th Indian startup to become a unicorn, as prominent investors increase their bets in the world's second largest internet market.

Funds launched

An Ahmedabad-based financial services firm, Monarch Networth Capital, will soon launch its Rs 250 crore category III AIF fund and aRs 100 crore startup fund, which it will seek to raise from high networth individuals or HNIs, according to a senior company official. In the current fiscal year, it will also apply for a mutual fund licence.

While the Cat III fund will only invest in publicly traded companies, the startup fund will invest in emerging technology companies with an initial cheque size of Rs 5 crore.

Monarch Networth Capital Limited and its subsidiaries in India provide financial services to corporate, institutional, and retail clients. It operates in four segments: broking, wealth management, non-banking finance, and merchant banking.

Kalaari Capital launched its CXXO programme to promote women entrepreneurship in the country by making it easier for female founder CEOs to access capital, community, and coaching. Kalaari Capital has set aside USD 10 million (approximately Rs 74.3 crore) per year to invest in startups with female founders as key decision-makers, ideally in Chief Executive Officer roles.

Each year, the programme will produce a cohort of 8-10 female founder-CEOs with the ambition to make a significant impact, according to Kalaari Managing Director Vani Kola in a virtual briefing. The programme will provide the cohort with seed and series A funding (ranging from USD 500,000 to USD 5 million), as well as subsequent access to growth funding and resources

Crypto news

The global platform for building wealth with crypto, Vauld, announced it received an investment of $25 million USD in Series A funding, led by Valar Ventures. Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital, Gumi Cryptos, Robert Leshner, Cadenza Capital, and others also participated in the round.

The funding will be used to support the company’s international growth and licensing as well as expand its retail crypto banking and investing platform.

Cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinDCX is in talks to close a new financing round of $100-120 million (Rs 743-892 crore) from investors led by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group.

Existing investors Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures will also participate in the round, which is expected to value the company at more than $1 billion, according to these sources, making it the first crypto exchange to join India's growing unicorn club. A unicorn is a privately held company with a valuation of more than $1 billion.