This week witnessed various funding rounds from a lot of well-known companies and also from well-known backers. Companies like Oyo, Shohoz etc raised funds for different purposes and secured valuable amount of funds. The largest amount of funds were raised by Indian ride-hailing firm Oyo after which the company’s valuation has reached around $5 billion and thus, the company crossed a milestone.
Here we have the summary of the top five funding activities of the week.
1. SHOHOZ
Bangladesh-based ride-hailing and ticketing platform Shohoz has reportedly secured funds amounting to $15 million in pre-series B financing round. This funding round was led by Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures.
The other backers that participated in this round included Linear VC, 500 Startups and Singaporean angel investor Koh Boon Hwee.
The funds so raised by the company are being planned to be used in the expansion of its services as well as to fight against rival Pathao. Also, it will use a part of the fresh capital for customer acquisition and retention and expand into other on-demand services.
2. OYO
Indian hospitality chain Oyo Hotels which is soaring high with success these days has planned to secured funds amounting to $1 billion for the purpose of expansion into China and other global regions. This round is expected to be led by existing investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The existing investors have currently put in $800 million, with commitments for another $200 million. About $600 million of the total will be deployed into China where Oyo had forayed just 10 months back.
This particular funding round will value the startup at around $5 billion. The hotel chain was founded by a 24-year-old college dropout named Ritesh Agarwal. In the past two years, Oyo has expanded beyond India into China, Malaysia, Nepal and Britain.
3. STANZA LIVING
Student housing startup Stanza Living has reportedly raised funds amounting to Rs 73 crore (over $10 million) in a funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India.
This funding round also saw participation by existing investors Matrix Partners and Accel. With this fundraising, the total capital raised by Stanza Living has reached Rs 86 crore as of now.
With these funds, the startup is planning to strengthen its technology engine, beef up its core leadership team as also establish its network of operations across multiple markets. The company is looking to increase volumes heavily with a growth target five times more, at between 10,000-20,000 beds in the next 8 months as the curtains close on the ongoing academic year.
4. LICIOUS
Licious, a seafood and meat brand has reportedly secured funds amounting to $25 million (over Rs 180 crore) in its latest investment round. This funding round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments and Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
The particular round also saw participation from backers such as UCLA and existing investors Mayfield India, 3one4 Capital, Sistema Asia Fund and InnoVen Capital.
The funds so raised by the company will be used in the expansion of its footprint and expand operations to Mumbai and Pune too. At present, the company is present across Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad only. A large part of the capital raised will be also be used to widen this product category as also strengthen the supply chain.
5. STRIPE
US fintech startup Stripe has reportedly raised funds amounting to $245 million in a financing round. The funding round has valued the company at $20.25 billion, a dramatic surge from its most recent $9.2 billion valuation in 2016.
The funding round was led by billionaire investor Chase Coleman’s hedge fund Tiger Global Management, and also saw participation from DST Global and Sequoia.
The funds raised through this round are being planned to be used to fuel growth in key overseas markets such as Southeast Asia and India, where it plans to tap into the growth of the e-commerce industry to expand its payments products.