Last week in startups - India
Last week, nine startups raised $205.39 Mn funding and one startup acquisition took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)
The largest funding round was raised by Gurugram-based online grocery startup Grofers. It raised a $200 Mn in Series F round led by SoftBank Vision Fund. The company also raised capital from existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital as well as new investor KTB.
Grofers is looking to utilise the funding to expand into new markets, build out its supply chain, improve warehousing infrastructure and expand its private label portfolio.
Mumbai-based fashion retail startup Disrupt raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding from Fynd cofounders Harsh Shah and Farooq Adam Anil Gelra and Mumbai-based VC firm First Cheque. The funds will be used to further invest in strategic collaborations, research and development, executive appointments, talent acquisition and offline retail expansion. Further, the funds will also be utilised for expanding its sales and marketing efforts.
Patna-based agritech startup DeHaat secured $2.84 Mn from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital. DeHaat plans to use the funds for piloting of financial services, such as credit and insurance, for existing farmers on its platform.
Epigamia: Mumbai-based food startup Drums Food International, parent company of Epigamia, raised an undisclosed amount from Deepika Padukone, Verlinvest, Danone Manifesto Ventures, and DSG Consumer Partners. With the investment the company aims to ramp up distribution to 50K outlets in more than 25 cities.
New Delhi-based content startup GIFkaro raised $250K in angel funding from Pranay Gupta and Dr Ekika Singh. GIFkaro said it plans to expand its product portfolio with the new funding.
Moving on to acquisitions:
New York-based game publisher and studio Rockstar Games acquired Bengaluru-based game development studio Dhruva Interactive for an undisclosed amount. The company’s existing client projects will continue the same but the team will now operate as part of Rockstar India.
What else caught our eyes?
She Loves Tech, is entering India this year in a partnership with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). KSUM will be organising the competition in India and is inviting applications from women-centric startups to participate in the global challenge.
In a bid to support growing agritech ecosystem, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched INR 700 Cr ($99.6 Mn) venture capital fund. The fund will make equity investments in agriculture and rural-focussed startups. The fund has a proposed corpus of INR 500 Cr ($71.1 Mn) with an option to retain over-subscription of INR 200 Cr ($28.4 Mn) also known as the greenshoe option.
MobiKwik Grows 100% In FY19, Announces INR 184.6 Cr Revenue
The company's exit revenue grew 3.5x in March 2019
Gurugram-headquartered digital financial services platform MobiKwik has said that it earned revenues of INR 184.6 Cr in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. The company has continued to post over 100% growth in its revenue for the last three years.
According to reports the digital payment industry is expected to reach $1 Tn by 2023.
However According to the ‘Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2018, last year saw a sharp decline of 51.6% in the amount invested in fintech startups as compared to 2017, which is an indication of saturation in the Indian fintech sector, where licensing is going to be a decisive factor for VC investments in startups.
