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Electric Scooter Maker Ather Energy Eyeing to Raise Funds for Development

27Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Electric Scooter Maker Ather Energy Eyeing to Raise Funds for Development

Ather Energy is reportedly planning to raise an amount of Rs 200 crore - Rs 300 crore over the next year to expand to new markets and further its product development plans. Ather Energy had launched two scooters, Ather 450 and Ather 340, in June this year and had begun deliveries of Ather 450 in Bengaluru in September this year. This launch came nearly two years after it was first unveiled in February 2016. "We are looking at around 5-6 months to deliver our first production lot that will about around 2,000 vehicles" Ather Energy chief executive Tarun Mehta had stated. While both the scooters featured similar hardware at launch, Mehta had said they will be making a few hardware changes to differentiate the offerings in due course of time. Th...

DesignCafe Secures Rs 200 crore from WestBridge Capital

24Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

DesignCafe Secures Rs 200 crore from WestBridge Capital

Online interior design platform DesignCafe has raised funds amounting to Rs 200-crore equity-financing round. This round was led by home-grown private equity firm WestBridge Capital. The transaction marks a rare venture capital-style investment by WestBridge which has so far largely preferred to place public market-focused bets. Funds from the investment will be used by DesignCafe to expand its footprints in the country. The financing round also saw participation from existing investor Fireside Ventures, the early-stage, consumer-focused venture set up by former Helion Venture Advisors Partners’ managing director Kanwaljit Singh. Boutique investment bank Sprout Capital acted as the exclusive advisor to the deal. “We are very pleased to have WestBridge, o...

22Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Top 5 Funding of the Week (17th Dec – 22nd Dec)

Funding is a very important part of a business and when an entrepreneur starts a business, the major source of expenditure for him is the funding he receives. This week, we saw the food delivery giant raising a huge amount of funds. So, let's dig into the details and have a look on the top five funding activities of the week. Swiggy 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...

CherryHome Secures $5.2 Million from GSR Ventures

22Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

CherryHome Secures $5.2 Million from GSR Ventures

CherryHome, the home AI security system created by startup Cherry Labs, has raised $5.2 million in a fresh funding round. This round was led by GSR Ventures to drive the technology’s use for in-home senior care. CherryHome uses its proprietary computer vision algorithms to interpret camera data into virtual “skeletons”. These are used by the AI to understand and analyze home events and people’s behaviors, such as how someone might develop a limp over time, for instance. The startup competes with Safely You, which sends alerts in response to very obvious falls, Nest and Lighthouse, which tend to only offer very basic AI over its imaging, Amazon’s Ring, which only offers outdoor security. With CherryHome, all information is processed locally so the video doesn’t leave the hous...

Venture debt firm Alteria Capital Backs Portea Medical

21Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Venture debt firm Alteria Capital Backs Portea Medical

Health Vista India, which owns and operates home healthcare service provider Portea Medical has raised funds amounting to Rs 25 crore in a funding round. This round was led by venture debt firm Alteria Capital.The development has come days after Bengaluru-based Portea stated that it had introduced specialised and critical care services, including critical care at home, respiratory services, sleep apnea care, palliative care, cancer support services, post-trauma care, specialised rehab services and end-of-life care.“They (Alteria Capital) are quick to understand the needs of the business and are long-term partners. Venture debt is a great alternative source of capital for high-growth businesses like Portea,” Meena Ganesh, chief executive officer of Po...

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...