In this episode of India Tech - Weekly Deals Roundup, India Tech saw 33 companies including Byju's, Leap Finance etc raised over $365 million from investors such as Asmaan Ventures, Mirae Asset, Owl Ventures, Sequoia Capital India among others.
Welcome to India Tech Deals Roundup by Tracxn. This is your weekly update on Funding Rounds and Exits in India for the week ending 12th September 2021.
Tech companies in India raised around $365 million of funding across 33 funding rounds during this week, up by nearly 14% from last calendar year's weekly average.
In a major funding round, India’s leading EdTech startup Byju’s raised $150 million in a Series H funding round led by Asmaan Ventures, with participation from Mirae Asset and ARK Ncore. Byju’s provides an online learning platform for K-12 students that helps them prepare for competitive exams like NEET, CAT, UPSC, and learn school curriculum courses. It also offers online courses and tablet-based classes with multi-test and assessment solutions, personal feedback, and in-depth analysis. Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, it has raised $4.38 billion and made 17 acquisitions to date.
Another Bangalore-based EdTech startup Leap Finance raised $55 million in a Series C funding round from Owl Ventures, Harvard Management Company, Sequoia Capital India, and Jungle Ventures. Leap Finance provides an online marketplace for international education loans to Indian students. It has also expanded its offerings by providing a test preparation app to help students prepare for internships.
Bangalore-based home interior startup Homelane, raised $50 million in a Series E funding round led by IIFL AMC, Oman India Joint Investment Fund, and Stride Ventures with participation from Pidilite, Evolvence, NuVentures, Sequoia Capital, and Accel. It allows users to interact with the designers in-store and online to collaboratively finalize the design & get quotes. It also allows users to visualize the design in 3D. Founded in 2014 by IIM Bangalore and IIT Madras alumni, Homelane has raised $125 million to date.
Another EdTech-startup CollegeDekho, an online college discovery platform, raised $26.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Winter Capital Partners, E T S Strategic Capital and Calega with participation from Man Capital and Rajeev Chaba. Founded in 2015 by ISB alumni, CollegeDekho enables users to search for colleges based on degrees, states, and streams like engineering, medical, science, arts, agriculture, law, and more. It has raised $38.5 million so far.
Delhi-based Foodtech startup Vahdam Teas raised $23.6 million in a Series D funding round led by IIFL AMC with participation from Sixth Sense Ventures, Urmin Group, White Whale Ventures, and Kris Gopalkrishnan’s family office. Vahdam Teas is an internet-first brand of organic tea products like tea bags, green tea, loose tea leaves, and others. It also provides related products like teacups, bottles, mugs, tumblers, and others.
Bangalore-based Fintech startup Nova has raised $9.68 million in a Series A funding round led by Sai Global with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Multiply Ventures, AL Trust, Nilkhil Chopra, and others. Nova provides an online marketplace for employers to find health insurance benefits for employees. Founded in 2020 by IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi alumni, it has raised $10.7 million to date from Better Capital, Titan Capital, and others.
Mumbai-based online social commerce platform, Coutloot raised $8 million in a Series A funding round led by Ameba Capital with participation from SOSV, 9Unicorns, Astarc Ventures, and Venture Catalysts. It provides an online marketplace offering multi-category products like apparel & accessories, electronics, beauty products, stationery, toys, home care products, and more. It allows sellers to share their product catalog on various social media platforms where buyers can chat and bargain on any product. Founded in 2016, it has raised $41.5 million in total from Artha Ventures, Venture Catalysts, JadeValue Fintech, and others.
Another Bangalore-based startup WeRize raised $8 million in a Series A funding round from Orios Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital, Picus Capital, and Kalaari Capital. WeRize provides a full-stack financial services platform. Its tech-based distribution model is focused on small towns in India where private banks, insurers, and mutual funds do not operate due to the high-cost branch-based distribution model. Founded in 2019 by ex-LendingKart executives, it has raised $10 million to date.
The sixth Bangalore-based startup to get funded this week, Voxelgrids raised $5 million in a Series A funding round from Zoho. Voxelgrids provides next-generation MRI scanners to healthcare facilities. The scanners can operate even in remote locations such as small villages. The equipment also includes a proprietary software package for imaging purposes. Founded in 2017, Voxelgrids plans to have multiple full-fledged clinical sites by the end of next year.
Mumbai-based crowdfunding platform Impact Guru raised $4.75 million in a Series B funding round from Sony and Healthquad. Impact Guru is a donation-based crowdfunding platform for social causes. It allows users to create fundraising campaigns, share campaigns through social media platforms, and accept donations. Founded in 2021 by ex-BCG employee, it has raised $12.3 million to date from RB Investments, Shorooq Investments, Venture Catalysts, Apollo HomeCare, and others.
This is all from the funding updates, moving on to the exits. India Tech observed 3 exits during the week of September 12th 2021 compared to 5 last week.
Decacorn Edtech startup Byju’s acquired the online exam preparation platform GradeUp. After the acquisition, GradeUp will be rebranded as Byju’s Exam Prep. Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree and has acquired 7 startups in 2021 including Great Learning, GradeUp, Toppr, Aakash Education, and others. Founded in 2015 by IIM Calcutta alumni, GradeUp has raised $16.7 million from Times Internet, TLabs, and others.
Converged messaging and multiple identities solutions provider, Movius acquired Intentico, provider of an AI-based chatbot building solution for customer interactions. Intentico also provides ‘botlytics’ that generate actionable insights and dashboards to businesses across industries. Intentico was founded in 2017 by NIT Tiruchirappalli alumni.
This is all for today. See you next week.