In this episode of India Tech - Weekly Deals Roundup: India Tech saw 27 companies including Mobile Premier League, Pine Labs etc raised over $419 million from investors such as Legatum, Sequoia Capital, Telstra Ventures, and Invesco 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 19th September 2021.
Tech companies in India raised around $419 million of funding across 27 funding rounds during this week.
In a major funding round Bangalore-based eSports and skill gaming platform, Mobile Premier League raised $150 million in a Series E funding round and joined the Unicorn club at the valuation of $2.3 billion. The funding round was led by Legatum with participation from Sequoia Capital, Telstra Ventures, Founders Circle Capital, and others. Mobile Premier League connects game publishers with players on Mobile Premier League’s app platform. Currently, players from India, Indonesia, and the U.S. can participate in eSports gaming tournaments. Founded in 2018 by BITS Pilani and IIT Kanpur alumni, Mobile Premier League has acquired GamingMonk and Crevise Technology.
Noida-based Fintech startup, Pine Labs raised $100 million in a Series E funding round from Invesco. Pine Labs provides POS terminals for businesses and merchants. Pine Labs’ products include hardware and software-based payment terminals, point-of-sale financing, working capital loans, and others. Founded in 1998 by IIM Bangalore and IIT Delhi alumni, Pine Labs has raised $1.39 billion till now.
Bangalore-based HRTech startup, Apna raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Maverick Ventures, GSV Ventures, and Owl Ventures. Apna provides an online blue-collar jobs platform that allows job seekers to create profiles by mentioning skills, education, and experience. Apna has jobs across 70+ categories like carpenters, painters, tele-callers, field sales agents, delivery personnel, and others. Founded in 2019 by Stanford Business School alumni, Apna has raised $194 million to date.
Another Bangalore-based HRTech startup, Betterplace raised $24 million in a Series C funding round led by CX Partners and Jungle Ventures with participation from CDC Group, 3one4 Capital, Unitus Ventures, Capria, Potential Ventures, and Pivot. Betterplace has developed a blue-collar workforce management platform providing complete background verification solutions such as personal, address, previous employment, educational, and criminal records, for multiple industries. Founded in 2015 by Kellogg School of Management alumni, Betterplace has raised $41.3 million till date.
Delhi-based EdTech startup, Eupheus raised $10 million in a Series C funding round led by Aspada Investments. Eupheus provides an online learning platform for schools. Eupheus provides curriculum, ebooks, practice materials, assessments, and tools, for courses like English, Maths, and others. Founded in 2017, Eupheus has raised $20.6 million so far.
Third Bangalore-based HRTech startup to get funded this week, Vahan raised $8.15 million in a Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Pioneer Fund, Spike Ventures, Airtel, and others. Vahan offers an AI-based online blue-collar jobs platform. Vahan also offers an AI-based bot on the instant messaging platform WhatsApp for recruitment and caters to other business functions such as support, training, communications, and reporting. Founded in 2016 by Stanford University and Columbia University alumni, Vahan is backed by Y Combinator, Spike Ventures, and others.
Pune-based Agritech startup, BharatAgri raised $6.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Omnivore Partners with participation from India Quotient and 021 Capital. BharatAgri provides an AI-based mobile app for personalized farm management services to farmers for multiple crops across pulses, grains, fruits, and vegetables. BharatAgri’s services are available on a subscription basis which also includes soil testing services and a chat option with crop experts. Founded in 2017 by IIT Madras alumni, BharatAgri has raised $9.66 million from Uber, AngelList, Better Capital, and others.
Mumbai-based eCommerce startup, Anar Technologies raised $6.2 million in a seed funding round led by Accel and Elevation Capital with participation from First Cheque, Utsav Somani, Ranjeet Pratap Singh, and, others. Anar Technologies provides a B2B networking app for retailers, resellers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers in India. Anar Technologies offers a chat-based platform where users can buy and sell products online. Founded in 2019 by BITS Pilani alumni, Anar Technologies has raised funding from Titan Capital, First Cheque, Rohit Bansal, and others.
Mumbai-based Fintech startup, LivQuik raised $4 million in a Series A funding round from M2P. LivQuik provides a payments gateway solution to businesses. LivQuik’s product includes QuikWallet that enables businesses to accept online payments via credit/debit cards, bank transfers, & wallets, virtual & physical prepaid cards for expenses, and others. Founded in 2012, LivQuik has raised $6.1 million to date from Snow Leopard Ventures and M2P.
This is all from the funding updates, moving on to the exits. India Tech observed 3 exits during the week of September 19th 2021.
In a major acquisition, India’s leading Healthtech startup Pharmeasy acquired Aknamed, a supply chain management solution for hospitals. Founded in 2018 by BITS Pilani alumni, Aknamed provides cloud-based materials management software for hospitals. Aknamed allows hospitals to monitor and optimise their consumption of inventory using machine learning-based tools. In the past, Aknamed has raised $20.6 million from Stride Ventures, Anicut Capital, LGT Lightstone, and others.
Mumbai-based EdTech startup GeNextStudents was acquired by Navneet Publications. GeNextStudents provides hybrid tutoring and a digital content platform. GeNextStudents provides online study material tutorials, e-books, audio-video content, practice questions and sample papers. GeNextStudents allows parents to search for home tutors based on their location and subject, and book a demo session. Founded in 2011, GeNextStudents has raised $2.55 million in funding from Daulat Singh Solanki, Nirmal Singh, Sat Industries, and others.
This is all for today. See you next week.