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Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [25 Oct- 30 Oct]

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This week 48 Indian startups raised funding, of which 41 received a total of $1185 million or $1.18 billion. Acko raised the highest funding of about $255 million, followed by Groww which raised $251 million.

Meanwhile, the funding of seven of the total funded startups remained undisclosed.

Below is the summary of deals closed this week

Growth/late-stage deals

Acko: Digital insurance provider Acko has raised $255 million in a new round led by General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity. The round also saw participation from CPPIB, Lightspeed Growth and existing investors Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures. 

Groww: Millennials-focused investment app Groww has raised $251 million as part of its Series E financing round led by Iconiq Growth, at a valuation of $3 billion.

DeHaat: DeHaat, an online marketplace for farm services and products, has scooped up $115 million in what appears to be the largest funding round for an agritech startup in India. The company’s Series D round was led by Belgium based investment firm Sofina and Lightrock India. 

Porter: On-demand logistics company Porter has raised Rs 750 crore or $100 million in its Series E funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Vitruvian Partners, with participation from existing investors — Sequoia Capital India and Lightrock India.

Techmint: SaaS-based edtech startup Teachmint has scooped up $78 million in its Series B round led by Rocketship.vc and Vulcan Capital. New investors Goodwater Capital, Epiq Capital, and existing investors Learn Capital, CM Ventures, Lightspeed India, and Better Capital also participated in the round.

Funding

Clear: Fintech startup Clear (formerly ClearTax) has raised $75 million in its Series C round led by Kora Capital. Fintech giant Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing investors also participated in the round.

Purplle: Women-focused online beauty and grooming marketplace Purplle has scooped up $75 million in its Series E round led by private equity firm Kedaara Capital. 

Fi: Neobanking startup Fi (formerly epiFi) has raised around $50 million in what appears to be a Series B round led by B Capital. This is the second fundraise for the Bengaluru-based startup in 2021. In June, it had raised a $12 million Series A round.

LoveLocal: Hyperlocal e-commerce startup LoveLocal (formerly m.Paani) has raised $18 million in its pre-Series B round led by Vulcan Capital. Flat Capital and Alumni Ventures Group and Commerce Ventures have also joined the new round.

Stellapps: Internet of Things (IoT) firm operating in the dairy supply chain, Stellapps has raised $18 million in a Series C funding round led by Nutreco, a Dutch animal nutrition and aquaculture company. 

BharatPe: Fintech startup BharatPe, has raised Rs 100 crores or $14 million in debt from MAS Financial Services Private Limited (MAS Financial), a non-banking financial company. This is the eighth round of debt fundraising for the company in 2021.

Gramophone: Agritech startup Gramophone has raised $10 million in its Series B round led by Z3Partners. Existing backers Info Edge, Asha Impact, Siana Capital along with new investors have also participated in the round.

Vakilsearch: Legaltech startup Vakilsearch raises $10 million in a new round led by InCorp India. Through this transaction, Kalaari Capital is also exiting its investment.

Healofy: Healofy, a femtech startup, has announced that it has raised Rs 48 crore ($6.5 million) from Celesta Capital and existing investor, Omidyar Network India, among others.

Early-stage deals

Zolve: Zolve, the neobank startup that helps immigrants in the US to access financial services, has raised Rs 300 crore ($40 million) in a Series A round of funding.

Instoried: Instoried, an AI-led content intelligence platform, has raised $8 million in a new round led by Pritt Investment Partners and 9Unicorns. Mumbai Angels, Venture Catalysts Angel Fund SOSV and a few HNIs have also joined the round.

Storia: Storia Foods, a food and beverages brand, has raised $6 million in a Series A round of funding from Sixth Sense Ventures.

O4S: O4S, an IoT SaaS startup, has raised $6 million in its Series A round led by Think Investments with participation from existing investor Venture Highway.

Wiggles.in: D2C petcare brand Wiggles has raised $5.5 million in a new round led by Anthill Ventures. Panthera Peak Ventures along with several new and existing investors such as Varun Alagh, Nikhil Bhandarkar and Nachiket Deshpande have also participated.

E42: E42, a no-code AI platform, has raised $5.4 million in its Series A round led by Pavestone Ventures.

R for Rabbit: R for Rabbit, a D2C baby products brand, has raised Rs 40 Cr or $5.3 million in a new round led by Xponentia Capital Partners.

Cloudphysician: Cloudphysician, a healthcare and technology solutions provider, has raised $4 million in its pre-Series A round led by Elevar Equity.

BASIC Home Loan: BASIC Home Loan, a fintech startup, has raised $3.5 million in its Series A round led by Venture Catalysts (VCats) and Gruhas Proptech.

Siply: Siply, a micro-savings platform, has raised $3.2 million in its pre-Series A round led by LetsVenture, AngelList India and Founder Room Circle.

Hypto: Hypto, a tech infrastructure platform focused on deconstructing financial products for developers, has raised $3 million in its seed round led by Stellaris Venture Partners.

Dresma: Dresma, an AI/ML powered SaaS visual content platform, has raised $3 million in its seed round led by SVQuad. Inventus Capital Partners and Thinkuvate have also participated in the new round.

OSlash: Enterprise software startup OSlash has raised $2.5 million in a seed round of funding led by Accel Partners along with participation from angel investors.

Hyy.pe: Social platform for NFT communities Hyy.pe raised $2 million in its latest funding round led by Elevation Capital. The Bengaluru-based startup had earlier raised $1.5 million from Electric Capital.

Zenduty: Zenduty, a B2B SaaS incident management platform, has raised Rs 14 crore or $1.9 million in its pre-Series A round led by Deep Technology and SaaS VC StartupXseed Ventures.

Stoa School: Online business school Stoa has secured $1.5 million (around Rs 11 crore) from founders of Zerodha, CRED, Udemy, Myntra, Redbus, and Zivame. 

Koovers: B2B automobile spares startup Koovers has raised $1.5 million led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), JPIN-VCats and Venture Catalysts.

Virohan: Healthcare edtech startup Virohan has raised additional $1.3 million in a bridge round from its existing backers such as Keiretsu Forum, Priya Shah, Better Capital, Vikas Gambhir and Joydeep Battacharya.

SupplyNote: SupplyNote, a SaaS startup focused on helping F&B businesses, has raised $1.2 million in its pre-Series A round led by Venture Catalysts.

CHUPPS: CHUPPS, a direct-to-consumer sustainable footwear brand, on Wednesday raised $1.1 million in pre-Series A round from Venture Catalysts and other lead investors such as Gunavanth Vaid from 4G Capital, and Kaushal Vora from Genesis Packaging. 

The Indus Valley: The Indus Valley, a D2C kitchenware startup, has raised $1.1 million in a new round led by Rukam Capital, DSG Consumer Partners and The Chennai Angels. The round also saw participation from Lead Angel Network and Calega Family Office Investors Group.

Vanity Wagon: Vanity Wagon, a clean beauty marketplace, has raised Rs 5.5 crore or $0.73 million in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). Venture Catalysts, Lotus Herbals along with its existing backer Agility Ventures have also joined the round.

BankSathi: Delhi-based fintech startup Banksathi Technologies Pvt Ltd on Monday announced that it has raised Rs 4 Crore or $0.53 million in funding from Hem Angels and reputed entrepreneurs including Dinesh Godara, Anuj Ahuja and Aditya, and Rajendra Lora.

Spottabl: Spottabl, a SaaS-enabled full-stack hiring platform, has raised Rs 3.5 crore or $0.46 million in its seed round. The round saw participation from Paradigm Shift VC, LetsVenture, Binny Bansal and others.

SportZchain: SportZchain, India’s first blockchain-based fan engagement platform to connect fans and sports teams, has recently closed Pre-Seed funding of $0.4 million. 

Wobb: Wobb, an influencer marketing automation platform, has raised Rs 2.1 crore or $0.27 million in its pre-seed round led by Titan Capital led by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal (Snapdeal founders) and Point One Capital.

Language Curry: Edtech startup Language Curry has raised $600K or $0.6 million from LetsVenture, IAN, Varsha Rao, CEO, Nurx and former head of global operations AirBnB, and Rebalance. 

Undisclosed deals

Wallmantra, Shumee, Strobes, AiRTH, ZINI, The State Plate and Collective Artists Network did not disclose their financial details.

Acquisitions this week

Infinity Learn, an edtech startup acquired Teacherr, a Hyderabad-based company for an undisclosed amount.

BetterPlace has acquired OLX People and Waah Jobs for an undisclosed amount.

Thrasio-style e-commerce startup, Evenflow has acquired Rusabl, a three-year-old e-commerce digital-first brand for an undisclosed amount.

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