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Food Delivery Giant Swiggy Raises $1 Billion from Naspers

20Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Food Delivery Giant Swiggy Raises $1 Billion from Naspers

India’s largest food delivery company Swiggy has reportedly raised an amount of $1 billion in a fresh funding round. The round was led by existing backer, South African media giant Naspers. Along with this, the new investors that participated in the round included China’s Tencent and hedge funds Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management. With this new round, the valuation of the five-year-old Bengaluru-based startup has increased to $3.3 billion. The company has seen its valuation swell by close to 5 times this year. It was valued at $1.3 billion in June this year and $700 million in February. The recent round also includes a secondary share sale by some of Swiggy’s early investors. Along with further pushing into the food delivery business, the company will also use the funds...

20Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Diptab owned LetsTransport Secures Rs 100 crore in Series B Funding

Diptab, the owner of trucking logistics company LetsTransport has secured funds amounting to Rs 100 crore ($14.2 million) in Series B funding. This round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments and a Japanese-origin investor. Fosun RZ Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, participated in the round earlier this year. It has been reported that the developments pegged the valuation of the company, which provides intra-city logistics services, at $80-100 million. “We will use the proceeds to move into newer segments such as pharmaceuticals, consumer durables and cement, among others… We will also expand our presence to 20 more towns and cities, up from our current seven, by 2020,” Singh stated. Founded by IIT K...

19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Moglix Secures $23 million in a Fresh Funding Round

MogliLabs, which owns and operates B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix, has raised $23 million (about Rs 164.57 crore) in a fresh round of funding, which was led by marquee venture capital firm Accel Partners US and existing investor International Finance Corp (IFC). The latest round of funding comes about 15 months after the Singapore and Noida-based company, which also counts Accel India, Jungle Ventures, IFC and former WhatsApp senior executive Neeraj Arora among its list of backers, closed its $12 million Series B equity financing round in July last year. “Today, the manufacturing sector is $300 billion in size, and has the potential to reach $1 trillion by 2025. However, the adoption of technology is less than 1% currently…We foresee immense pot...

D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm

18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm

D.light, a distributed solar provider has reportedly raised $41 million in equity financing. This round was led by an Africa-focused investment advisory firm that specializes in the energy sector known as Consortium Inspired Evolution. Consortium partners include the Dutch Development Bank FMO, and also the government-sponsored investment funds Swedfund and Norfund. This latest funding which enables expansion of the company’s solar and Pay-Go consumer finance business in Africa has brought the total amount of equity and debt that the company has raised in the past two years to over $100 million. The funding round also enabled some of the company’s earliest investors to achieve an exit. “We are thrilled to have Inspired Evolution as the newest fun...

Byju’s Secures $540 Million for Global Expansion

17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Byju’s Secures $540 Million for Global Expansion

Education technology platform Byju’s has raised $540 million funding round led by South Africa's Naspers Ventures as it looks to fuel its global expansion plan, according to a company statement. The transaction is expected to value the company at around $3.6-3.7 billion, making it one of the top five most valued internet companies in India. The round also saw participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and private equity firm General Atlantic, as ET had reported earlier this month. The round will give the company a pre-money valuation of around $3.2 billion to the company. A small part of the $540 million round is also expected to be used for a secondary share purchase, mostly by General Atlantic. The development ma...

17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Drivezy to Raise $60 Million in Series C Funding Round

Sharing economy-focused startup Drivezy is close to finalising a $60 million funding round (about Rs 432 crore), as it looks to double down on its vehicle sharing platform, particularly its two-wheeler segment. The Bengaluru-based on-demand startup, which announced i.ts $20 million Series B round last month, expects to close the latest round by end-January, and which is likely to value the three-year-old company about $400 million, a four-fold jump from its November valuation. Drivezy currently counts Das Capital, the investment firm founded by Japanese serial entrepreneur and investor Shinji Kimura, Bain Capital, the multi-asset alternative investment firm co-founded by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, European investment firm Accent Equity...

Pokemon Go Creator Niantic Raises $200 Million

15Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Pokemon Go Creator Niantic Raises $200 Million

Pokémon Go creator Niantic is raising a $200 million Series C at a valuation of $3.9 billion according to a report from Katie Roof at the WSJ. The round is expected to be led by IVP with participation from Samsung and aXiomatic Gaming. The recent raise would bring the company’s total funding to $425 million. Niantic’s last round was raised at a $3 billion valuation. The gaming startup which has invested significantly in augmented reality technologies is also behind titles such as its recently updated Ingress title and an upcoming Harry Potter mobile game. The company was founded as a startup within Google in 2010 and was spun out as its own entity in 2015, releasing its hit title Pokémon Go the next year. The company is currently working on its next big augmente...

Chinese Startup LemonBox Raises $2 Million for Business Growth

14Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Chinese Startup LemonBox Raises $2 Million for Business Growth

A Chinese e-commerce startup called LemonBox that imports vitamins and health products from the US has reportedly raised funds amounting to $2 million in a funding round led by Y Combinator. The funds have been basically raised to develop its business. The company has pulled in the new capital also from 10 other investors includingPartech, Tekton Ventures, Cathexis Ventures, Scrum Ventures and 122 WestVentures. The company was started when co-founder and CEO Derek Weng, a former employee at Walmart in the U.S, saw an opportunity to organize the common practice of bringing health products back in China. The service is primarily a WeChat app which taps into China’s ubiquitous messaging platform. LemonBox said it hopes to work with health and fitness-related services in the future...

Agri-tech Startup Ninjacart Secures Rs 250 Crore

13Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Agri-tech Startup Ninjacart Secures Rs 250 Crore

Agri-tech startup Ninjacart has raised Rs 250 crore in a series B round of funding. This round was led by Accel US and Syngenta Ventures which is dedicated to invest in the agriculture sector. Others like Korean investment company Neoplux, Jo Hirao, founder of ZIGExN, HR Capital and Trifecta Capital. Along with the new set of investors the company said that its existing ones like Nandan Nilekani, Accel India, Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round. The RainMaker Group was the financial advisor to Ninjacart for this funding round. Ninjacart which is in the business of supplying fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers to urban retailers intends to use the funds to enter new cities like Mumbai and Delhi and expand its di...

Edtech Major Byju’s Secures an Amount of $400 million

12Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Edtech Major Byju’s Secures an Amount of $400 million

The popular edtech platform Byju’s has raised funds amounting to $400 million in a financing round led by Naspers Ventures and CPPIB. Naspers is a venture arm of South African media giant best known for its early bet on China's Tencent. On the other hand, CPPIB is a new investor. A private equity firm GeneralAtlantic, which has also picked up some secondary shares in the company. These funds have amounting raised to fuel its global expansion plan of the company. The transaction is expected to value the company at around $3.6 billion which would make it the fifth most valued private internet company in India after Flipkart ($22billion), Paytm ($16 billion), Oyo ($5 billion) and Ola ($4 billion). Byju’s is in the advanced stages of expanding to Englis...

ROPOSO Raises $10 mn from Tiger Global, Bertelsmann India Investments

12Dec By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

ROPOSO Raises $10 mn from Tiger Global, Bertelsmann India Investments

Short-video platform ROPOSO Tuesday said it has secured USD 10 million in funding, led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Bertelsmann India Investments (BII). The company aims to leverage the capital infusion toward product technology, talent acquisition, and further expanding its 25 million-member community, ROPOSO said in a statement. ROPOSO has raised USD 31 million till date. We are growing at a phenomenal pace with our personalisation engine that caters to different types of audiences simultaneously... (We have) a monthly active user base of 7.5 million. At this rate, we are set to grow exponentially in the coming six months," Roposo CEO and co-founder Mayank Bhangadia said. Roposo has extensive plans to enter the micro markets of India, and build up resourc...

11Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

London based OweMe Raises $1 Million in Seed Funding

London based OweMe which is a startup that helps companies move money efficiently through their supply chain has reportedly raised an amount of $1 million in Seed funding.This round was led by pi Ventures. The company basically increases profitability by removing supply chain costs using provenance and disintermediation for banks, large corporate buyers and suppliers. The company is planning to use the funds raised in strengthening the product and the team. OweMe is a blockchain based platform enabling provenance of money in deep supply chains. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Nishant Singh, CEO, and Nisha Singh, COO, who have expertise in the banking and fintech space. “Finance is viewed as a single entities’ issue for ages. Oper...