AICRA hosts India First tech startup cocnclave & awards on 17th & 18th of February

The All India Council for Robotics and Automation will host the Delhi chapter of its prestigious India First Tech startup conclave and awards on 17th & 18th of February 2022. The event will feature several exhibitors,  interactive sessions on tech startup topics, as well as an award ceremony honouring and recognising innovative startup ecosystem enablers in various categories. The event is being hosted by AICRA with support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It will address the key aspects of the startup ecosystem through interactive sessions with the…

GrowthSchool, a Community-led learning platform, raises $5M in a Seed round

GrowthSchool, a community-led live learning platform based in Bengaluru, announced today that it has raised $5 million (Rs 37.5 crore) in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Owl Ventures. Over 80 angel investors participated in the round, including Kunal Shah (CRED), Nikhil Kamath (Zerodha), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO), Tanmay Bhat (YouTuber), and some international angels such as Austen Allred (founder Lamda school), Shaan Puri, and Eric Siu (Singlegrain). GrowthSchool’s community-led cohort programs bridge the gap between industry requirements and existing academic curricula. According to the statement, the…

ShopKirana raises $38 Mn in Series C; valuation crosses $150 Mn

ShopKirana, a B2B e-commerce platform, has raised $38 million in its Series C round from new and existing investors. Major investors in this round include Oman India, Info Edge, and Sixth Sense Ventures, as well as Trifecta, Incubate Fund, Akatsuki, Ajanta LLP, Gunosy Capital, and others. The new funds come nearly 30 months after the Indore-based company raised its last round of $10 million in August 2019. According to regulatory filings, the company has approved the allotment of 44 equity shares and 42,404 Series C preference shares at an issue…

Vyapar, a business accounting platform, raises $30M in a Series B round

Bengaluru-based Vyapar, an online business accounting platform, has raised $30 million (roughly Rs 224 crore) in a Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital and existing investors IndiaMart and India Quotient. Fortytwo.vc also participated in the round. Previously, the startup raised $5 million in a Series A round led by India Quotient and IndiaMart in September 2019. Vyapar has raised more than $35 million in funding to date, after completing the current round. Vyapar assists small businesses in generating bills and GST invoices, managing transactions, making informed inventory purchases,…

As fintech Cred diversifies, it is betting on video commerce and group buying

Cred, founded by Kunal Shah, is expanding into video commerce and group buying as part of its ecommerce offering under Cred Store, according to people familiar with the development. The Bengaluru-based unicorn, which is currently valued at $4.01 billion, has begun product work on these new offerings and is expected to launch the features later this year, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity. According to an internal seller communication sent by Cred earlier this week, its team is “working on building…

INDIA FIRST Tech startup conclave and awards: What to expect from the country’s biggest startup event

INDIA FIRST tech startup conclave & awards 2022 is upon us. The world’s biggest tech startup event organized by the All India Council for robotics and automation is going to be held on the 17th and 18th of February 2022 in New Delhi. The event is expected to feature some of the big names in the next industry along with several tech startups that breathe in innovation. This is going to be a celebration of the tech startup ecosystem. Here is a glimpse of what we expect to see at…

iPhone users can now pause voice message recording on WhatsApp, get new focus mode

WhatsApp has finally rolled out the ability to pause and resume voice messages while recording, following several tests and trials. The feature is currently only available to iOS users. WhatsApp previously introduced the voice message preview feature, which allows users to listen to their voice messages before sending them to contacts. Aside from the voice message feature, iOS 15 includes a new Focus Mode for users. WhatsApp is gradually introducing new features. In the coming weeks, it will be made available to all users. On iOS, the new pause and…

Raise Financial Services raises $22 million in Series A

Raise Financial Services, a fintech platform, announced on January 25 that it had raised $22 million in a Series A funding round. BEENEXT and its existing investor Mirae Asset Venture Investments led the round. 3one4 Capital, Rocketship.vc, and angel investors such as Meesho co-founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, neobanking platform Jupiter founder Jitendra Gupta, and Sandeep Tandon of Whiteboard Capital also participated in the round. Raise Financial Services was founded in January 2021 by former Paytm Money CEO Pravin Jadhav…

Reevoy raises $4 million in seed round led by 9Unicorns, VCAT

Reevoy, a B2B cross-border trade startup, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by 9Unicorns and VCAT. Better Capital, Earlsfield Capital Partners, Kunal Shah, Anupam Mittal, Ketan Patel, and Hanumantha Kumar also participated in the round, the company announced on January 25. The funds will be used to further develop Reevoy’s supply-chain technology and embedded finance capabilities. Ankur Khetan, co-founder of Reevoy said, “In today’s world, where ordering a Rs 50 coffee on an app gives us hundreds of restaurants to choose from and shows us minute-by-minute visibility on…

D2C Enablement SaaS Platform Contlo raises $800K in pre-seed round

Newark-based Contlo, an AI-powered Customer Data and Marketing Platform for Ecommerce and Direct-to-Consumer brands, announced today that it has raised $800,000 (Rs 5.98 crore) in a new funding round led by Better Capital, Titan Capital, and other prominent angels. Contlo assists ecommerce stores and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in increasing sales, driving customer loyalty, and retaining customers through omnichannel customer engagement methods such as email, text, push, Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, and even physical direct mail. The SaaS startup, which is used by 500+ ecommerce and D2C brands worldwide, was founded by…