Monday, November 18

FUNDING

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

American Giant MasterCard Invested An Undisclosed Amount In RazorPay
FUNDING

American Giant MasterCard Invested An Undisclosed Amount In RazorPay

American payments and financial services company MasterCard has invested an undisclosed amount in Razorpay, an online payment gateway solution for small and medium enterprises and platforms. This marks the second equity-based investment done by MasterCard. Bengaluru-based Razorpay, which works with online product and technology businesses such as cloud telephony company Knowlarity and lifestyle ecommerce portal Nykaa, will be part of a six-month long MasterCard Start Path programme for startups targeted at technology development. "The association with MasterCard opens up the network of banks it works with. As our product focuses on reducing the failure rate of transaction, this will help us bring down the number of hops," said Harshil Mathur, cofounder of Razorpay to the source ...
Travel Application Instago Raises $500K in Angel Funding
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Travel Application Instago Raises $500K in Angel Funding

Instago, an intra-city travel application  that helps it's users to compare prices and book the cheapest mode of transport across different categories has raised $500K from multiple investors including angel investor Ramit Sethi of Strongbox Ventures. (more…)
Social Media Startup Sagoon Plans to Raise USD 1.8 mn By Diluting 10 pc Stake
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Social Media Startup Sagoon Plans to Raise USD 1.8 mn By Diluting 10 pc Stake

Indian social media startup Sagoon plans to raise USD 1.8 million by diluting about 10 per cent stake in the company. "We are raising maximum of USD 1.8 million at a valuation of USD 15 million. Per share selling price is USD 3.75," Sagoon founder Govinda Giri said. Started in 2014, Sagoon offers a social commerce platform for users worldwide and plans to launch an equity crowd-funding initiative with the help of Bankroll.     "The amount of capital raised will be used to expand the platforms user base, enhance product infrastructure and develop and launch a mobile app," Giri said. Sagoon also plans to introduce its social smart card later this year which rewards users for interacting with the sites features. Users will receive a free smart card when they...
VelvetCase.com Secures Second Round of Funding From TV Mohandas Pai & Others
FUNDING

VelvetCase.com Secures Second Round of Funding From TV Mohandas Pai & Others

VelvetCase.com has announced its placement in the second round of funding from marquee investors like Unicorn Ventures Fund, which has now made six investments across diverse sectors, along with participation from well-known angel investors T.V. Mohandas Pai and S. Somasegar via the LetsVenture and Chennai Angels. VelvetCase will be infusing the freshly raised funds in technology, marketing and seller acquisition. The online destination for jewellery has grown over 300 percent year on year (YoY) with a unique cost-effective business model-no inventory, rich customer service, higher value product sales. "While access is great, we know that consumers also need to be assured about the quality of the jewellery that they are buying from an independent designer in Jaipur. We have built ou...
SAIF Partners Invests $1 Million in Online Counselling Platform YourDOST
FUNDING

SAIF Partners Invests $1 Million in Online Counselling Platform YourDOST

Venture capital firm SAIF Partners today announced that it has invested USD 1 million (around Rs 6.8 crore) in a pre-series A funding deal in online counselling platform YourDOST. "SAIF Partners has invested USD 1 million into the Bengaluru-based venture which offers online counselling and emotional wellness support to users to bolster their mental health," Saif Partner said in a statement. YourDOST has raised a total of USD 1.2 million in the round with the repeat participation of seven angel investors- Venk Krishnan (NuVentures), SubbaraoTelidevara (NuVentures), PhanindraSama (Redbus), Aprameya (Taxi4Sure), Paula Mariwala (Seedfund), Vibhu Garg (Unicommerce), Gaurav Bhalotia (Flipkart). "YourDOST will strategically allocate the funds raised to rope in senior professionals from t...
Mahindra Group Invested in US Based Scoot Networks
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Mahindra Group Invested in US Based Scoot Networks

Mahindra Partners, an entity of USD 900 million Mahindra groups private equity arm, today announced closing of a new round of funding in Scoot Networks, an urban mobility solutions provider based in San Francisco. With this deal, Mahindra Partners has now joined other investors including Vision Ridge Capital. This financing round closes simultaneously with Scoots significant network expansion supported by a brand new fleet of 500 Mahindra GenZe electric scooters, Mahindra Group said in a statement. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said, the partnership will provide a sustainable solution to the growing challenges associated with urban commuting like parking, congestion and pollution. "The GenZe 2.0 is designed to intelligently address these challenges by offering relevant and...
Lendingkart Raises 205 Cr in Series B
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Lendingkart Raises 205 Cr in Series B

Online loan platform Lendingkart Group today said it has raised Rs 205 crore (USD 32 million) in second round of funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments. The fresh round of funding also saw participation from Darrin Capital Management and existing investors - Mayfield India, Saama Capital and India Quotient, it added. With this, the company has raised Rs 260 crore (USD 41 million) till date. "With Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) onboard, we look forward to leveraging its deep understanding of global financial products as well as Internet businesses," Lendingkart Group co-founder and CEO Harshvardhan Lunia said in a statement. Of the Rs 205 crore funding, about Rs 128 crore (USD 20 million) was raised as equity and about Rs 77 crore (USD 12 million) as debt in the second round or...
SIDBI Ramps Up Start-up Funding Operations
FUNDING

SIDBI Ramps Up Start-up Funding Operations

With the Centre approving Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has ramped up its start-up funding operations to boost the sector. "SIDBI has ramped up the start-up funding operations to boost Start-up India initiative with the launch of funds like unique India Aspiration Fund and Fund of Funds operations," SIDBI Chairman and Managing Director Kshatrapati Shivaji said. The lender has so far supported 95 funds, including 11 regional funds, with an aggregate commitment of Rs 2,576 crore. "The Cabinets approval for establishing FFS will help enhance the scale of operations under its Fund of Funds activities with a deeper engagement with startup ecosystem and boost ambitious Startup India initiative. "SIDBI would be using its...
Logistics Management Software Provider FarEye Raises $3.5 Million
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Logistics Management Software Provider FarEye Raises $3.5 Million

FarEye, a logistics management software provider, today said it has raised USD 3.5 million (Rs 20 crore) from SAIF Partners. The series A funding will be used for business expansion to other territories, FarEye said in a statement. There is a strong road-map of product enhancement for next 12 months and new features will be added regularly, it added. The company plans to integrate with IoT platforms and drones to enable automated delivery. "We are profitable B2B startup and believe in organic growth. Plagued by operational inefficiencies and high costs, the USD 60,000 billion logistics industry provides a huge opportunity to FarEye. We are here to streamline logistics in all industry verticals," FarEye co-founder Kushal Nahata said. Established in 2013 by Kushal Naha...
Payments App Circle Raises $60 million, Open Office in China
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Payments App Circle Raises $60 million, Open Office in China

U.S.-based payments app Circle has raised $60 million from Chinese investors and launched a company in China, as it seeks to expand in the world's second-largest economy. The latest funding comes from existing investor and Beijing-based tech investment fund IDG Capital Partners, as well as Chinese firms including Baidu, CICC Alpha and Everbright Investments, Circle's co-founder Jeremy Allaire said. "We're not aiming to compete with the domestic market as that would be a suicide mission given the strength of local players like Alipay and WeChat, but we can connect Chinese consumers with the euro zone and dollar markets," Allaire said. Circle's China unit operates as a separate locally incorporated company and has not yet launched a product, pending a deal with a local banking partner a...
Cleartax Raises 80 Cr From SAIF Partners
FUNDING

Cleartax Raises 80 Cr From SAIF Partners

ClearTax , an online tax returns filing platform has raised another $12 million (Rs 80 crore) from SAIF Partners. The new round of funding will use to launch a slew of consumer-focused tax-saving products, including mutual funds and other equity-linked saving schemes. Also as part of the deal , managing partner at SAIF, has joined the board of ClearTax's "A typical agent is very bias. To solve for this, our products will be data driven, and completely transparent, to the extent that we will publish our commissions on the site itself," co-founder and CEO Archit Gupta said. "We are very excited to partner with Archit and team as they translate their market leadership in tax filing space to become one of the largest fintech platforms in India.", Ravi Adusumalli said. ClearTax which opera...
Mark Zuckerberg’s Philanthropy Venture Invested $24 million in Andela
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Mark Zuckerberg’s Philanthropy Venture Invested $24 million in Andela

Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropy venture has made its first major investment, leading a funding round in a startup that trains and recruits software developers in Africa. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, created by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, led a $24 million Series B funding in Andela, the startup said on Thursday. Alphabet Inc's GV, previously known as Google Ventures, was also part of the funding round. Andela selects the top 1 percent of tech talent from Africa, trains them and places them in engineering organizations. The startup, which has nearly 200 engineers currently employed by its Nigeria and Kenya offices, will use the funds to expand to a third African country by the end of 2016. "We live in a world where talent is evenly distr...