Thursday, March 28

FUNDING

Startup Funding News: Get the latest news on startup funding, small business funding, investor management and many more about funding on Pixr8.

Online Furniture Rental Company Furlenco Raises 200 Crores
FUNDING

Online Furniture Rental Company Furlenco Raises 200 Crores

Online furniture rental company Furlenco today said it has raised Rs 200 crore (USD 30 million) in funding through a mix of equity and debt. The fresh round of funding includes USD 15 million of equity and USD 15 million of debt, according to Ajith Mohan Karimpana, Founder and CEO of Furlenco. The equity portion of the investment is led by Lightbox along with Axis Capital (no relation to Axis Bank), a Hong Kong based VC fund and a clutch of prominent high networth individuals or HNIs, the company said in a statement. The debt was raised from banks, NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Company), HNIs and Indian family offices. "The funds raised will be used for expansion to newer categories, product ranges and more cities in the next one year," it added. In March 2015, Furlen...
Venture Capital Firm Next Orbit Ventures Received Commitment of $750 Million From UAE Investors
FUNDING

Venture Capital Firm Next Orbit Ventures Received Commitment of $750 Million From UAE Investors

Venture capital firm Next Orbit Ventures (NOV) has received commitment from UAE-based investors, including DP World, Emmar and Etisalat, for its over USD 750 million or Rs 5,000 crore fund. The company plans to invest the proceeds of the over Rs 5,000 crore (USD 750 million) fund in digital, analog and solar fabrication (fabs) projects along with semiconductor design, electronics, led and solar products to feed those fabs, a statement said today. "The investors from UAE International Investors Council which includes 18 UAE entities like Mubadala, DP World, Etisalat, Emmar, among others have shown keen interest in investing in this fund and the project," company's founder and Managing Partner Ajay Jalan said. Nearly 49 per cent of the commitment towards the fund is expected from the C...
Bollywood Actor Boman Irani Invested in Rooter a Sports Based Social Platform
FUNDING

Bollywood Actor Boman Irani Invested in Rooter a Sports Based Social Platform

Rooter, the world's first social platform that connects sports fans and engages them during live sporting events, has announced the successful completion of a part of its angel investment round. Enabled by Kwan Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the round was led by renowned Bollywood star Boman Irani and saw participation from Dhruv Chitgopekar and Prantik Dasgupta. The funds secured will be used to strengthen the technology team at Rooter as well as to create strategic partnerships with various sports platforms, teams, fan clubs and associations. Offering a chance for sports fans to connect with one another across real and virtual worlds, mobile-based platform that helps users engage with others sharing their passion. With its focus on smart technology, Rooter takes sporting interaction...
Good Parents Raises $2M Seed Funding to Reimagine the Way Parents and Care Providers Approach Children’s Health and Wellness
FUNDING

Good Parents Raises $2M Seed Funding to Reimagine the Way Parents and Care Providers Approach Children’s Health and Wellness

Hong Kong – Good Parents Inc., a one-year-old startup focused on children’s health and wellness, today announced a $2 million seed investment round. The latest seed round was led by senior partners at Jungle Ventures with participation from Fireside Ventures, Bio Sensors International, Gaja Ventures and several marquee angel investors across Asia and the U.S. Good Parents is on a mission to improve child development and growth metrics by creating a new ecosystem that engages parents, health insurance companies, corporate benefit programs and schools. Its first product line is the Kiddo, the world's first health and wellness wearable for children aged 4-10 years. The Kiddo tracks key biometrics for children and provides real time health, wellbeing, stress and development insights to a mo...
B2B Marketplace For Leather Products ShoeKonnect Raises Funding From IAN
FUNDING

B2B Marketplace For Leather Products ShoeKonnect Raises Funding From IAN

ShoeKonnect is a B2B commerce mobile application designed specifically to cater to the needs of the footwear industry. It has raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from Indian Angel Network. The round of investment was led by Sahil Kejriwal on behalf of IAN. He will be joining the company board to monitor the team. Siddharth Vij, CEO & co-founder of ShoeKonnect said, “We understand that there lies a huge gap among producers and buyers in the market. A gap that restricts the manufacturers from increasing their customer base and sales volumes and retailers from getting better variety and quality of products. With ShoeKonnect, we aim to bridge this existing gap by simplifying and enhancing trade possibilities for these players in different industries.” The company is a produ...
Indian Parenting Website “Kidsstoppress.com” Raises Undisclosed Angel Funding
FUNDING

Indian Parenting Website “Kidsstoppress.com” Raises Undisclosed Angel Funding

Mumbai-based  parenting startup Kidsstoppress has raised an undisclosed funding amount from angel investors. Founder chief executive of IIFL Wealth Karan Bhagat also participated in the investment. The company was founded by Mansi Zaveri in 2012. Currently, it offers its services across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Mansi Zaveri, founder, KidsStopPress, said, “The parenting and baby care segment in India is a very large opportunity and is worth close to $25 billion. At the same time, it is also fragmented and very local in terms of language, culture and geography. At Kidsstoppress.com, we have built the groundwork to address this large opportunity across segments including content and market place." KidsStopPress produces both proprietary and secondary con...
Saudi Arabia, SoftBank Plan $100 Billion Tech Fund
FUNDING

Saudi Arabia, SoftBank Plan $100 Billion Tech Fund

Saudi Arabia and Japan's SoftBank Group said they will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, aiming to create one of the world's largest private equity funds. The plan is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries. SoftBank's founder and chairman Masayoshi Son, who has built his company into a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth from a $50,000 start-up, has been seeking to expand in new areas. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia's top sovereign wealth fund, is set to be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next ...
Bengaluru Based IndianMoney.com Raises Funding From Media Conglomerate BCCL
FUNDING

Bengaluru Based IndianMoney.com Raises Funding From Media Conglomerate BCCL

IndianMoney.com, India's largest financial education company promoted by Suvision Holdings Pvt Ltd has raised fresh round of funding from media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). Commenting on the investment Mr. C S Sudheer, Founder & CEO of IndianMoney.com quoted, "Investment of BCCL is catalytic to make inroads into the unchartered territory. It strengthens our consumer base led by the 360-degree presence of BCCL across the media spectrum. This association will add new wings to the ambition of IndianMoney.com to make India a financially literate country." The company plans to utilize these funds to enhance its reach and acquire new consumers, and launch new personal finance education series to become synonymous with financial education for common man in India. ...
KKR Backed Emerald Media Invests $50mn in Video Platform YuppTV
FUNDING

KKR Backed Emerald Media Invests $50mn in Video Platform YuppTV

Emerald Media, a Pan-Asian platform established by leading global investment firm KKR for investing in the media and entertainment sector today announced that it has acquired a significant minority stake in YuppTV for US$50mn. YuppTV is one of the world’s leading over-the-top (OTT) video platforms for South Asian content offering live TV, catch-up TV and movies on-demand in 14 languages across the globe. The growth capital will help company to further its global footprint, expand its content library through original productions and acquisitions, and rapidly grow its paid subscriber base. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, YuppTV is a leading Internet Pay TV platform for South Asians, reaching more than 400 million households across the world. It also have more than 5 million monthly ...
Machine-learning Platform for Healthcare DocSynk Closes $1 Million Seed Funding
FUNDING

Machine-learning Platform for Healthcare DocSynk Closes $1 Million Seed Funding

DocSynk's new machine-learning platform uses data science to put people in control of their healthcare, driving productivity and reducing costs for employers, insurers, and doctors. Finding doctors, scheduling appointments, keeping on top of insurance, and complying with wellness and treatment plans are challenges we all have to face. It's a lot to keep track of. DocSynk is working to make it all much easier with a smarter, simpler app that uses the latest in machine learning and data science to deal with the complexity. Today, the company announced that it closed a $1 million seed funding round led by Hyderabad-based Naya Ventures. "DocSynk's mission of bringing transformation in patient engagement is sorely needed in US healthcare. Organizations of every size are looking for DocSyn...
Facebook Has Invested $250M in VR “Oculus” To Make it More Social
FUNDING

Facebook Has Invested $250M in VR “Oculus” To Make it More Social

Zuckerberg said his company has invested $250 million to back developers building new games and other virtual-reality programs for Oculus, and is vowing to double that amount. The investment will make virtual reality more social as the industry gets more crowded. Facebook's Oculus division is hoping to distinguish its offerings from other leading tech companies whose selling their VR products. At an event on Thursday, the company announced a long-awaited shipping date - Dec. 6 - for its Oculus Touch hand controllers. In a two-hour presentation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, donned one of those headsets for an onstage demonstration in which he visited Mars, played virtual cards with two other people, then made a video call to his wife while standing in a digital simulation ...
Pune Based Muhurtmaza Raises Funding From HNI investor
FUNDING

Pune Based Muhurtmaza Raises Funding From HNI investor

Pune based Muhurtmaza, an online puja booking service has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from a US based HNI investor. Muhurtmaza currently operates in Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad among a few other cities, and will focus on increasing consumer awareness and strengthening its supply chain over the next few months using this funding round. As per the company they are the first company in this space to have received funding so far. On Muhurtmaza customers can book a priest online, depending on specific rituals and samagri required to conduct the ritual. Sowale told Pixr8 "We currently have 300 pandits on our platform and the plan is to scale this up to 600 by January". According to various estimates, this market segment is pegged at about $30bn and is almost entirely uno...