Exclusive: Miko raises $29 Mn in a new round led by IIFL

Miko, a child companion robot company, has raised $29 million in a Series B round from 30 investors. This is the second round for the Mumbai-based startup this year which raised $6.7 million led by IvyCap Ventures in April.

Miko has passed a special resolution to allot 15,948 preference shares and 270 equity shares to 30 investors at an issue price of Rs 1,31,688.81 per share to raise Rs 213.6 crore or nearly $29 million, regulatory filings show. 

IIFL invested the largest amount of $6 million in the company followed by Chiratae, IvyCap Ventures and YourNest Ventures which put in $4 million, $3 million and $2.1 million, respectively.

The round also saw significant participation of individuals such as Nidhi Arora who invested $2.6 million whereas Ria Chopra Juneja and Chanakya Juneja pumped in $2.1 million each. Oyo founder Ritesh Aggarwal has also invested a little over $1 million in the company.

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Miko has raised the fresh funds at a post-money valuation of Rs 650 crore or $87 million. Following the allotment of fresh shares, promoters’ holding has been diluted from 27.66% to 18.61%.

Six-year-old Miko creates emotionally intelligent robots which leverage artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) in developing its flagship robot brand: Miko. After the success of its first generation of Miko, the company launched an advanced version of the robot which uses voice-recognition technology to see, hear, sense, express, talk, and recognize faces.

The company also allows child-focused content partners and developers to port their content on Miko and make it available to families on subscription.

Launched by Sneh R Vaswani, Prashant V Iyengar and Chintan S Raikar, Miko claims to ship its product in more than 140 countries. During the last fundraise, it said that the company’s revenue surged by 50% in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The company now expects revenue growth of 500% in the ongoing calendar year.

With the fresh fundraise, Miko has so far raised over $52 million across equity and debt rounds. The company competes with Indian peers including PlayShifu, Skillmatics and several others in global markets.

Update: On Thursday, Miko announced that it raised $28 million in a Series B round.