Start-Ups

Mukunda Foods, a food robots business, has raised $5 million in a funding round led by Zomato, bringing its post-money valuation to $30 million. Ncubate Capital, Singapore Angel Network, and Indian Angel Network have all previously invested in the brand. In total, it has raised roughly $8 million, including the most recent round. The funds will be used to expand the company’s reach into quick-service restaurants, cloud kitchens, and fine-dining establishments. Mukunda Foods is a food robotics firm founded in 2012 by Eshwar K Vikas and Sudeep Sabat. It develops…

Rajesh Jain, 54, a pioneer of India’s internet business, is preparing his second startup, Netcore Cloud Pvt., for an initial public offering within the next year. “We’ve had initial conversations with half-a-dozen bankers and the formal process will start in the next couple of months,” Jain said over a Zoom call discussing the acquisition and the IPO. “We are targeting an IPO within the next nine to 12 months.” Netcore, based in Mumbai, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that specialises in providing organisations with client communication and engagement solutions. It…

Praan, a deep-tech startup, has raised an unknown sum in a new round of funding from global investors Aera VC, Climate Angels, and Sequoia Scouts. The round was also attended by Cool Climate Collective, film director Roshan Abbas, and angel investor Akshat Rajan. Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Nipun Sahni (Apollo Global Management), and Paula Mariwala are among the Climate Angels (Seedfund Advisors). Global angel investors from Tesla, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and other companies are part of the Cool Climate Collective. Praan’s India team will be expanded, manufacturing will be accelerated,…

Oxyzo Financial Services, a Gurugram-based technology-enabled smart finance solution provider, announced today that it has raised $200 million in a Series A fundraising round at a $1 billion valuation, making it the country’s latest unicorn business. Alpha Wave led the fresh financing round, which was also joined by Tiger Global, Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and Creation Investments. It’s worth noting that this is Oxyzo’s first external capital round, as the company began as OfBusiness Group’s financing platform before being spun off into its own company. Oxyzo was founded in…

Struct Finance, a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol company, has raised $3.9 million in a Seed investment round to develop tools that would enable the ecosystem to design, compose, and invest in decentralised structured products. Antler, Arcanum Capital, Assymetries Technologies, Avalaunch, AVentures Dao, Bison Fund, Bixin Ventures, Blizzard Fund, Double Peak, FBG Capital, Finality Capital Partners, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Keychain Capital, Lancer Capital, Lucidblue, MC Ventures, QCP Capital, SCC Investments, Spark Digital, Wintermute, Woodstock, Zokyo, and 0xVentures led the new round With this round of funding, Struct Finance says it will…

Zocket, a Bangalore-based marketing software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, announced today that it has raised $3 million in a funding round led by Kalaari Capital, with Kettleborough VC and angel investor Jasminder Singh Gulati also participating (Founder of NowFloats). Zocket, which was founded in 2021 by Karthik Venkateswaran, Nandha Kumar Ravi, Sundar Natesan, and Mukund Srivathsan, claims to enable businesses launch digital ads in under 30 seconds. Their 150-variable unique tech stack generates the optimal ad copy, graphic design, and platform for any SMB. According to the company, the algorithm creates a…

Aquaconnect, a Chennai-based aquaculture business, has raised $8 million (about Rs 60 crore) in a venture debt financing round headed by Gurugram-based Trifecta Capital. Previously, in July 2021, the business raised $4 million in a pre-Series A investment from Japan-based Rebright Partners, Flourish Ventures, AgFunder, 6G Capital, and current investors Omnivore and HATCH. Aquaconnect is a full-stack platform that offers data-driven farm advisory solutions and marketplace solutions to Shrimp and Fish farmers. It was founded in 2017 by IIT Kanpur alumnus Rajamanohar. Through technology solutions, the platform works with fish…