The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (9th September - 13th September)
The Indian startup ecosystem has set a new record by bagging another round of funding in a few sectors like Artificial intelligence, Software Development, Wealth management, FMCG, & Spiritual-tech 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 Pre-Seed to Seed to Pre-Series A to Series B.
Sector: Artificial intelligence
Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Startup: Zivy
Established Year: 2023
Funding News: AI-driven Startup Zivy lifts $1.2 million in Pre-seed Funding
Zivy, an artificial intelligence tool for focusing workplace messages and tasks, has brought $1.2 million up in a pre-seed funding round.
Investors: Blume Adventures, Paradigm Shift Capital, iSeed, Everywhere Ventures, Indian Silicon Valley, and Marsshot Ventures.
The funding round likewise saw interest from angel financial backers like Ashwin Bhatnagar, Anand Balaji, Razorpay’s Co-founder Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar and Kunal Shah.
The financial returns will be dispensed towards its product improvement and extending its Research and development group, Zivy said in an official statement.
Co-founded by Prashanth YV and Vivek Karna, Zivy plans to construct a customized copilot for chiefs and leads that assists them with remaining coordinated and deal with their work all the more successfully. The stage gets rid of the issues of steady flood of warnings that can be a critical channel on efficiency. It imagines that the way to building high-performing groups lies in making supervisors more useful.
Sector: Software Development
Funding Round: Seed round
Startup: Crackle Technologies
Established Year: 2023
Funding News: Crackle Technologies grabs $1.7 million to revolutionize Adtech with AI-Powered Solutions
Singapore-based Crackle Technologies has raised a $1.7M pre-seed round to build AI based products to help publishers maximize their adtech earnings.
Investors: We Founder Circle, AC Ventures, Impetus Technologies, Sunicon Ventures, Global DeVC and Misfits Capital. Importantly, founders of prominent publishers like Ludo King.
The funding will be deployed to build globally scalable products to transform programmatic advertising for publishers and developers across gaming, apps, news, and OTTs (by addressing key pain points including low fill rates, ad viewability and eCPMs).
Commenting on the investment, Neeraj Tyagi, Founder & CEO, WFC stated, “Publisher business models are challenged due to factors including ad blockers, privacy regulations, and the dominance of major tech platforms. Crackle’s proprietary tech addresses these challenges head-on, helping publishers scale monetization and build sustainable business.”
Jaivir, Co-Founder, Crackle, expressed his gratitude towards the investors for their trust and support, he added, “this funding will be instrumental in advancing our mission to maximize publisher revenue and fuel a thriving ecosystem of diverse content to keep the internet relevant and useful for all.”
Sector: Wealth management
Funding Round: Seed Funding
Startup: Centricity
Established Year: 2022
Funding News: Wealth management Platform Centricity bags $20 million in Seed Funding round
A cost effective and transparent wealthtech startup, Centricity has secured $20 million in a seed funding round
Investors: Lightspeed, Paramark VC, Burman Family Office, Shantanu Agarwal as well as angel investors Ritesh Agarwal, Vishal Dhupar and MS Dhoni Family Office.
In September 2022, the B2B2C platform located in Gurugram raised $4 million during its pre-seed round. Recent reports suggest that Centricity has obtained additional funding at a valuation of $125 million - an increase of over six times from the previous value of $20 million recorded during the initial investment phase.
The company intends to increase its tech development team from 75 employees to more than 150, with a special focus on generative AI-powered modules as well as insurtech and broking-tech platforms.
Centricity was established by Manu Awasthy to provide plug-and-play options for those seeking a transition from employee to entrepreneur (E2E). The platform enables financial advisors with seamless access and transaction capabilities within various financial products, all while simplifying comprehension of complex portfolios.
Centricity announced a two-pronged plan aimed at considerably improving efficiencies for independent financial product distributors (FPDs) and single-family offices (SFOs).
Sector: FMCG
Funded Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: Mitra
Established Year: 2022
Funding News: FMCG D2C Startup 'Mitra' mops-up 
11 crore in Pre-Series A
11 crore in Pre-Series A
FMCG direct-to-customer startup Mitra has brought 11 crore up in its Pre-Series A round.
11 crore up in its Pre-Series A round.
Investors: Bestvantage Investments, with support from a Dubai-based strategic family headed by Mr. Surya, Arjun Vaidya ( Founder - V3 Ventures and ex-Dr Vaidya), Ashok, Ajay Kumar, ex-COO of Pizza Hut.
The financial returns will empower Mitra to reinforce its production network further, examine export opportunities in European export sectors, and partake in essential government tenders, including NAFED and Bharat Aata.
In its first year, Mitra posted 14 crore in deals and the organization professes to have fabricated a conveyance network of more than 300 distributors and more than 15,000 retailers, with tasks across 14 key areas.
14 crore in deals and the organization professes to have fabricated a conveyance network of more than 300 distributors and more than 15,000 retailers, with tasks across 14 key areas.
Expressing to this remarkable funding achievement, Abhishek Kaushik, Founder of Mitra says, "The strategic investment of the Dubai-based family office signals a turning point for us, not only in expanding overseas markets but also helping us in the next leap of Growth. We are now eyeing to increase the production capacity with new categories and international growth along with the domestic market. We are grateful to our investors for their confidence and support as we embark on this exciting growth trajectory.
Similarly, Raman Sharma, CEO and Founder of Bestvantage Investments, adds, "We are proud to be part of Mitra's success story and are confident that the company will continue to achieve incredible growth. Together with our partners, we look forward to propelling Mitra to new heights, Let’s Make it Big Together".
Sector: Spirtual-tech
Funding Round: Series B
Startup: AppsForBharat
Established Year: 2020
Funding News: Devotional App AppsForBharat mops up $18 million in Series B Funding round
The parent company of the devotional app Sri Mandir, AppsForBharat, has declared fundraising of $18 million.
Investors: Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum. The round also included contributions from Susquehanna Asia VC, and existing investors Elevation Capital, Peak XV, and Mirae Asset VC.
In the company's press release, it expressed that, the fresh proceeds will be used to expand the Sri Mandir app, expand their technology stack for temples, added five new regional languages, and scale operations in India and international markets such as the US, UK, and Canada.
With this newly raised funding, the Bengaluru-based startup has raised nearly $32 million, including $10 million in Series A funding in September 2021 and $4 million in a Seed round in August 2021. The company’s Regulatory filings showed that Fundamentum invested 73.5 crore or $8.8 million, while Elevation and Peak XV contributed 19.3 crore or $6.4 million and 13.8 crore or $1.65 million, respectively. Mirae Asset, WEH Ventures, and Sai Global India provided the remaining funds.
73.5 crore or $8.8 million, while Elevation and Peak XV contributed 19.3 crore or $6.4 million and 13.8 crore or $1.65 million, respectively. Mirae Asset, WEH Ventures, and Sai Global India provided the remaining funds.
Since its inception in 2021, Sri Mandir has attracted over 30 million downloads. In the past year, more than 500,000 devotees have completed 2.7 million pujas and offerings through the app.
