FUNDING | Pixr8 News

Sindhuja raises $8.7m from Nordic fund, Carpediem Capital

12May By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Sindhuja raises $8.7m from Nordic fund, Carpediem Capital

Sindhuja Microcredit, which provides credit to rural women entrepreneurs, has raised USD 8.7 million series B funding from the Norway-based Nordic Microfinance Initiative and Carpediem Capital. The microlender had also raised USD 4 million from Carpediem Capital in March 2019 in the series A round, the company said in a statement on Monday. The two-year-old Sindhuja has provided loans to over 84,000 self-employed rural women across five Indian northern states. It has a loan-book of over Rs 170 crore as of March. "This funding will be used to scale up operations and provide the much-needed credit to our customers, who are rural women entrepreneurs, whose lives have been badly hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the company said. Launched 11 years ago, the NMI is a reputed intern...

Shiprocket raises USD 13 mn in Series C Round

11May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Shiprocket raises USD 13 mn in Series C Round

Tech based logistics aggregator Shiprocket raises USD 13 million (about Rs 100 crore) in Series C funding round. The funding was led by Tribe Capital LLC and Innoven Capital and it also saw participation from existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments. The latest round of Shiprocket's will make its total funding to USD 26 million. "The investment will be used to fuel Shiprocket's aggressive product development roadmap which includes hiring top talent across data science and engineering domains. The funds will also be focused on the company's new initiatives including its international expansions," it added. As part of the agreement, Arjun Sethi from Tribe Capital LLC will join Shiprocket's board of directors. "The boom in D2C (Direct to Consumer) brands and social se...

Vernacular.ai secures $5.1 mn led by Exfinity Ventures

8May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Vernacular.ai secures $5.1 mn led by Exfinity Ventures

Vernacular.ai has raised USD 5.1 million (about Rs 38.7 crore) in funding, led by Exfinity Ventures and IAN Fund, Kalaari Capital. AngelList, LetsVenture, also participated in the series A round, a statement said. The fresh capital will be used to fund the company's global expansion into Southeast Asia and the US and towards R&D to further enhance its proprietary AI-based voice automation platform, it added. "As we evolve our voice AI platform and continue to expand our customer-base in new markets, we are happy to see the increased investor confidence in our model. This Series A round will be used to fund the company's expansion outside India and to drive innovation through rigorous R&D across multiple verticals of our business," Vernacular.ai co-founder and CEO Sourabh...

6May By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Satellite making platform gets $10 mn funding from Next Capital

Pune-based VestaSpace Technology on Wednesday said it has received USD 10 million (about Rs 75.8 crore) in funding from US-based investment and advisory firm Next Capital LLC. Founded in 2018 by Arun Kumar Sureban, VestaSpace Technology specializes in making small satellite platforms for commercial and scientific applications. "The massive financial support will enable VestaSpace Technology expand the reach of its innovative solutions across India and the world. The company estimates to achieve a 300 per cent growth rate post the funding," a statement said. "Our association with Next Capital LLC began with my stay in the US for a project and has culminated into a promising financial deal that was cracked in April. This deal is going to be a great financial booster for VestaSpace ...

Jellyfish Raises $12 Million Led by Accel, Wing Venture Capital

5May By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Jellyfish Raises $12 Million Led by Accel, Wing Venture Capital

BOSTON, May 5, 2020-- Jellyfish, the Engineering Management Platform, raises over $12 million from investors including Accel and Wing Venture Capital. The company has experienced tremendous growth following a worldwide movement to remote work. Revenues have grown over 90% already, and the company is on pace to triple its customer base in 2020. This continued momentum speaks to a significant market need for engineering leaders to have better visibility, drive strategic alignment, and improve performance as more organizations move to remote and distributed workplaces. Jellyfish is the brainchild of Andrew Lau, David Gourley, and Phil Braden, former engineering and product leaders who faced the challenges of managing growing teams and aligning their work with the strategic di...

Singapore logistics firm Ninja Van raises $279 million

5May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Singapore logistics firm Ninja Van raises $279 million

SINGAPORE, 5th May 2020- Singapore based eCommerce logistic startup Ninja Van raises $279 million in funding from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital and ride-hailing firm Grab. Existing investor Europe’s GeoPost alongside two sovereign wealth funds have also participated in this round. Other investors include Monk’s Hill Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures Growth Fund. The company so far has raised a total of $400 million. Launched in 2014 with operations in Singapore and Malaysia, the company has also expanded into countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company provides services to e-commerce firms like Alibaba’s Lazada, Indonesia’s Tokopedia, and Sea Ltd’s Shopee. Ninja Van will use this funding to invest in the b2b sector while...

4May By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Stash Raises $80 Million funding from LendingTree

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 4th, 2020-- LendingTree, a leading online financial services marketplace has made a strategic investment in one of the fastest-growing banking and investing services in the US known as Stash. The investment from LendingTree is part of Stash's Series F funding, which includes funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. as well as Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, Greenspring Associates, Union Square Ventures, and other investors. Since its launch in 2015, Stash has helped over 4.5 million Americans take control of their finances, avoid fees, and achieve their financial goals. Stash offers all-in-one subscriptions that prioritize affordability, accessibility, education and simplicity, and include personal investment accounts, Traditional and Roth...

Fitness startup Fittr raises USD 2 mn from Surge

28Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Fitness startup Fittr raises USD 2 mn from Surge

Fitness startup Fittr has raised USD 2 million from Sequoia Capital India's Surge programme. The company will deploy the pre-series A funds for hiring, technology, and overseas expansion, Fittr Co-founder Jitendra Chouksey said. Surge is the rapid scale-up programme for early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia. Founded in January 2016, Fittr (formerly SQUATS Fitness) provides free access to diet and training tools, live fitness sessions with experts, Q&A with coaches, and connects users to a community of fitness experts and enthusiasts. With over 8.5 lakh members, the company said it been profitable since inception, achieving a cumulative revenue of USD 13 million. Fittr is focussing on markets like North America, Indonesia, India, and Singapore, Chouksey said. ...

26Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Beverage Platform Bira91 raises $30 mn funding

Bira 91 a craft beer brand has raised $30 million in an equity funding round led by its existing investors, Sequoia India and Belgium-based investment firm Sofina. The funding round also saw participation from Mumbai based consumer-focused venture capital fund, Sixth Sense Ventures, Korean private equity fund Neoplux, and certain family offices, the company said in a statement. The company will use the latest funds to further expand its India footprint and consolidate its leadership position in the premium beer market in India. Last year, the company established two new beer plants, one each in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. With the launch of Boom, its latest mass-market beer brand, the company achieved a market share close to 3% of the overall beer market, along with a presence ...

26Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Edtech startup GUVI raises $786k in Pre-series A funding

GUVI, a startup incubated by IIT Madras and CIIE.CO-IIM Ahmedabad has raised $786k in its Pre-series A round of funding from Education Catalyst Fund, an education-focused venture capital fund managed by CBA Capital. CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad. An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges. "We will use the capital raised in this round to scale up operations, introduce newer courses in more vernacular languages and expand our geographical presence for our blended (offline+online) learning program ''Zen class''," S.P. Balamurugan, Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said in a statement. "During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of pe...

Agricultural Commodities Platform Bijak raises USD 12 million

25Apr By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Agricultural Commodities Platform Bijak raises USD 12 million

New Delhi, Apr 25th, 2020: Bijak, a B2B platform for agricultural commodities has raised USD 12 million (Rs 91 crore) from investors including RTP Global to enhance its technology team and roll out new features. In the Series-A round, led by RTP Global, the company said that its existing investors Omnivore, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, and Better Capital also participated. Bijak previously raised a USD 2.5 million Seed round in December 2019 from Omnivore, Omidyar Network India, Surge, and Better Capital. Gurugram-based Bijak is a platform that gives agricultural commodity buyers and sellers better prices, increased working capital, and optimised logistics. It aims to bring accountability and transparency into the agricultural value chain through a buy...

20Apr By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Beauty Startup Nature’s Tattva raised $150K funding

Delhi based beauty startup Nature’s Tattva, gets $150,000 Singer Sukhbir Singh and Rakhee Singhal (Co-Founder, Startup Buddy). Others in this round include Mr. Dhianu Das of Alfa Ventures. Other angel investors include Mr. Bharat Sheth and Mr. Ajay Mahendru. Nature’s Tattva is India’s first Do-It-Yourself Beauty brand, which aims to revolutionize the way beauty products are consumed. Supported by combination of tech, content and high-quality products, Nature’s Tattva is entering the Fresh, Customized and Natural beauty space. Megha Wadhwa, Co-founder of Nature’s Tattva says, “We are looking to solve three pressing problems in the beauty space, a. No product is 100% natural; b. Products are not fresh; c. Even if products are 100% natural, they have a small shelf life.” Karn...