Indian startups are experiencing a capital inflow despite the commentary of an investment slowdown amid weak global economic cues. The last few months have seen Indian startups see increased investments.
Around 27 startups got a total of $800 million in funding over the week, while last week around 24 startups got $657 million.
Top Deals of The Week
Cross-border payments startup PayGlocal raises $12 million from Tiger Global, Sequoia
Payment solutions startup PayGlocal has raised $12 million in a new round of funding co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India. BeeNext and angel investors like Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Citrus Pay and Jupiter founder Jitendra Gupta, and Cred’s founder Kunal Shah also participated in the round.
The startup will use the funds raised in this round to scale its business and launch new payment solutions.
Vahak loads up $14 million Series A funding round
Goods worth billions are transported across India’s roads every day and driving this supply chain is road transport marketplace company Vahak. The company announced its $14 million Series A fundraise as it scales operations with a sharp focus on supplier well-being and sustainability. Nexus Venture Partners led the funding round with participation from Fundamental, iSeed Ventures, Leo Capital, RTP Global and Titan Capital. Vahak has now raised a total of $20.3 million since its first round in March 2020.
The funding will be used for user-base expansion, building a tech infrastructure by incorporating AI, ML, Big Data, and providing additional value-added services. Vahak aims to create an all-encompassing ecosystem for truck suppliers and become the go-to digital solution for them.
Also read: Weekly Funding Update – India (June 11 – June 17)
Indian proptech firm Settlin raises $1 million in pre-Series A
Settlin, a proptech firm based in India has raised $1 million in its pre-Series A funding round to expand its services within Bengaluru.
Settlin manages the buying and selling of houses including property listing, negotiation, and deal closing. It claims it 4x its growth in the last two quarters and currently facilitates over 5,000 buyers, with 1200 inspections monthly. Powerhouse Ventures, Rajesh Sawhney founded-GSF Fund, Murugavel Janakiraman, and Dinesh Agrawal among others participated in the round.
FinBox lands $15Mn for its B2B digital credit infrastructure stack, Flipkart, Aditya Birla group participate
Finbox, a fintech that provides B2B digital credit infrastructure to consumer fintech platforms, has announced a new $15Mn fundraise. The round was led by A91 Partners with participation from Aditya Birla Ventures and Flipkart Ventures. Existing investors Arali Ventures also participated in the round.
Primarily, Finbox will use this fresh capital for expansion into South East Asia and doubling its team.
Fintech Startup Castler raises $1 million in funding from Zerodha’s arm Rainmatter
Global escrow banking solution provider Castler has raised $1 million from Zerodha’s venture capital arm Rainmatter, with participation from Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, Faad Network and LetsVenture. Castler will use the funds to further expand its domestic & cross-border escrow product portfolio, and is expected to go live with 10 more banks. The startup also plans to grow its business by 10x over the next year.
Biotech startup Immuneel Therapeutics raises $15M in Series A round
Bengaluru-based biotech startup Immuneel Therapeutics has announced raising $15 million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, True North Fund VI LLP, and F-Prime Capital. Other investors also participated in the round.
The company said that the capital will help it to advance its development pipeline and scale. The company also announced that it has initiated patient dosing as part of phase II trials of its Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) to target blood cancer under the name IMAGINE at Narayana Hrudyalaya in Bengaluru.
LeadSquared raises $153M at $1B valuation to streamline companies’ sales efforts
LeadSquared, a new-age SaaS platform, emerged as a unicorn after raising fresh funds to the tune of $153 million (around ₹1,194 crore) on Tuesday in a Series C round from WestBridge Capital.
LeadSquared plans to utilise the fresh capital for funding product development, expanding operations, doubling headcount, and inorganic expansion. LeadSquared CEO and founder Nilesh Patel said, “With this financing, we will double down on growth investments in India and North America, start building in APAC and EMEA, add new offerings to our product portfolio, and fund acquisitions. To support our growth, we plan to double our headcount in the next 18 months.
EV charging infra startup Statiq fetches $25.7 mn in Series A
Electric vehicle charging network startup Statiq has raised $25.7 million (over ₹200 crore) in a funding round led by Shell Ventures. The firm aims to use the Series A funding to primarily invest in product engineering and network infrastructure, it said in a statement. The statement further said that the Series A investment will aid in accelerating efforts to scale and realize value from contract portfolio.
“Securing the first closing of our Series A ensures delivering on value-enhancing growth options already secured by Statiq, as we set out to build India’s leading EV charging services company,” Akshit Bansal, co-founder and chief executive officer of Statiq said.
India’s B2B marketplace startup ReshaMandi raises $15 million in funding
ReshaMandi, an India-based marketplace focusing on silk products has raised $15 million in its new funding round backed by Creation Investments, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Sandeep Singhal, and Stride Ventures among others.
The fund will be used to support its expansion and growth plans, the firm claims. ReshaMandi offers crop advisory using Internet of Things (IoT) devices to silk farmers, designs inputs for weavers and connects them to mills and retailers. It last raised $30 million in its Series A funding round in October 2021.
