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Consumer Internet Industry
1) Chumbak founded by Shubhra Chadda: Bengaluru-based design-led lifestyle brand Chumbak raised $13.1 million funding from mid-market private equity firm, Gaja Capital, along with existing backers Matrix Partners India and Seedfund. Narayan Ramachandran, the Operating Partner at Gaja Capital, also joined the funding round in Chumbak.
2) Befikr founded by Chirajay Sharma, Mayank Sharma and Sumit Srivastava: Delhi NCR-based hyperlocal services provider befikr secured $2 million in Series A funding round from undisclosed investors. The freshly raised funding will be used towards the expansion of befikr’s services in Delhi-NCR and Pune region. The funding will further help the company to reinforce its current technology infrastructure and also be employed for brand building.
3) ERA: Venture Catalysts assisted an investment of $38.77K in the startup idea pitched by ERA, the winning team on the recently-concluded Droom.in MTV Dropout. Era offers integrated identity management platform, providing its users a safe and secure way to share their identities with the world. By building an ecosystem of real identities, by using Era organizations would be able to consistently and effortlessly authenticate users without an expensive & cumbersome KYC process, be it at a physical location or an online portal. The startup will use the funds to hire technologists, build underlying technology, and explore strategic partnerships.
Technology Industry
4) Uniphore Software Systems founded by Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev: Chennai-based IT startup Uniphore Software Systems closed its series B round of funding from the Executive Chairman of Cisco and the newly made US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), John Chambers, in his personal capacity and the existing investor IDG Ventures.
5) Raybaby founded by Aardra Kannan Ambili, Ranjana Nair and Sanchi Poovaya: Hyderabad-based artificial intelligence startup Raybaby secured $1 million funding from Anthill Ventures. Raybaby, promoted by three Bengaluru-based women entrepreneurs and registered in the US, was supported by Johnson & Johnson in the product development stage and recently teamed up with US retailer Target for marketing its products.
Food & Beverage Industry
6) HolaChef founded by Anil Gelra and Saurabh Saxena: Mumbai-based food delivery startup Holachef raised a fresh fund through a mix of equity and debt from Rajasthan-based software publishing and consultancy firm IPI Technolab Pvt. Ltd. and Innoven Capital, the venture debt arm of Singapore Government’s sovereign fund Temasek.
Agritech Industry
7) KrishiHub founded by Bhoopendra Kumar and Jyotiska Khasnabish: UP-based agritech startup KrishiHub secured an undisclosed seed funding from IIT Kanpur INVENT accelerator and Villgro Innovation Fund along with a few angel investors and HNIs. With this round of funding, KrishiHub plans to expand its operations aggressively across Delhi-NCR, add more businesses to its customer portfolio and increase its farmer base in more states.
Sports Industry
8) Smaaash founded by Shripal Morakhia: Sachin Tendulkar backed virtual reality gaming and entertainment company Smaaash raised $3.8 million from Mumbai-based consumer-centric VC firm, Sixth Sense Ventures. With the fresh funding, Smaaash is aiming to strengthen its physical presence in domestic as well as international markets. A portion of the financing will also be spent on making its augmented reality technology ready for the booming online gaming market.
9) Passion Gaming founded by Bobby Garg: Passion Gaming, which owns and operates online gaming startup RummyPassion secured $3.75 million funding in an all-cash deal from UK-based Stride Gaming. As part of the deal, the online gaming company has divested 51% stake in itself to Stride Gaming. The funding will allow Passion Gaming to achieve faster growth and will be used to strengthen its marketing, technology and customer service teams.
10) Nazara Technologies founded by Nitish Mittersain: Mobile gaming company Nazara Technologies raised $51 million in a funding round from IIFL Special Opportunities Fund.
Hospitality Industry
11) Stanza Living founded by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia: New Delhi-based student accommodation platform Stanza Living raised $2 million in funding from investment firms Matrix Partners and California-headquartered Accel Partners. The startup will be using the fresh capital to expand its presence in new cities and further develop its technology platform. A portion of the funding will also be spent on talent acquisition.
Fitness Industry
12) MobieFit founded by Gul Panag: Mobile fitness startup Mobiefit raised $1.35 million in a Pre-Series A funding round from NB Ventures and existing investor, MediAssist India. The investment follows the startup’s Seed round of $1 million in December 2015.
Logistics Industry
13) FR8 founded by Vasanth Immanuel and Jayendran Panneerselvam: Chennai-based B2B logistics startup FR8 secured $971K from agritech-focussed VC firm Omnivore Partners. The funding will be utilized to ramp up its operations and technology. It will also be used for the company’s expansion in other Indian cities.
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