Start-Ups

DealShare, a newly-minted unicorn, has raised $45 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in a series E funding round, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. With this, the company has now raised $393 million in total funding. The funds will be used to expand the social e-commerce company, hire new employees, and develop new products. DealShare had previously raised $165 million from Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital, Unilever Ventures, and existing investors, Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global, in the first close of its Series E fundraise in…

BYJU’S has decided to open 500 physical tuition centres in 200 cities by 2022, highlighting the blended learning ambitions of the world’s most valuable online tutoring startup. The BYJU’S Tuition Centre, which is aimed at students in grades four through ten, was announced on Tuesday. It combines offline and online learning experiences. “BYJU’S Tuition Centres address the needs of a large segment of parents and students who want a physical element in addition to online teaching support,” said Mrinal Mohit, chief operating officer at BYJU’S. “With positive feedback from the…

Edtech unicorn Lead School announced a $3 million Esop ( employee stock options plan) liquidation programme for its employees which comes on the back of it recent funding round which catapulted it into the unicorn club of companies valued at $1 billion or more. Esops have been distributed to 20% of the Mumbai-based firm’s employees. It has previously given performance Esops to reward employees for their efforts. Sumeet Mehta, cofounder & CEO, Lead, said in a statement, “ I’m delighted that we are in a position to offer significant wealth…

HealthySure, a Mumbai-based insurtech startup, announced today that it has raised $1.2 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Gurugram-based angel investment firm Inflection Point Ventures. We Founder Circle, Dexter Angels, Campus Fund, HEM Angels, and other private investors also participated in the round. HealthySure is an employee welfare platform that targets SMEs to make insurance and healthcare affordable and accessible to the Indian workforce and their families. It was founded in April 2021 by IIM-B alumnus Anuj Parekh and ISB alumnus Sanil Basutkar. With curate health and…

Gurgaon-based Bitespeed, a SaaS company that provides e-commerce brands with chat-based commerce services, announced today that it has raised $1.9 million (roughly Rs 14.3 crore) in a Seed round led by Sequoia India Surge. A Seed financing round was also attended by First Cheque, Whiteboard Capital, and angel investors, including CRED founder Kunal Shah and Teachable founder Ankur Nagpal. Prior to this round, the Gurgaon-based firm had raised $275,000 from Whiteboard Capital in December 2020. BiteSpeed, founded in June 2019 by Vinayak Aggarwal, enables customer retargeting and retention via WhatsApp…

Sumeru Ventures led a $50 million (Rs 375 crore) Series-C funding round for healthtech startup Goqii. According to the company, the round included a mix of equity, including preference shares, and debt investments. The funds will be used to improve Goqii’s current products, which include a wearable fitness tracker, an app, a health store, as well as real-time coaching and insurance services, according to the company. The funds will also be used to expand in areas such as insurance, digital therapeutics, and international markets. Modality (Digality), a UK primary health…

Glance is a software company that creates personalised content for smartphone lock screens using artificial intelligence. The company announced today that it will raise $200 million (roughly Rs 1,507 crore) in a new financing round to accelerate growth in Asia and expand into key global markets such as the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, will lead the new Series D round. The deal is conditional on customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals being met. Glance will be integrated into Jio Platforms’ revolutionary…

LetsVenture, an early-stage investment platform, has a new logo and tagline: LetsVenture Together. According to a company press release, the upgraded platform for angel investors includes features and an enhanced design that allows investors to access live deals, top syndicates, upcoming pitching sessions, and product updates. In the next 12 months, the company intends to develop and launch new products for the investor and startup communities. LetsVenture has a portfolio worth over $4 billion and includes well-known startups such as Dukaan, Khatabook, Sugar Cosmetics, and Melorra, to name a few….

PlanetSpark, a K-12 player in the communication skills learning category, is looking to hire 10,000+ English teachers in 2022. On the platform, the company already has over 2,100 teachers. The company raised $13.5 million in a Series-B round led by Prime Venture Partners and entrepreneurs like Binny Bansal, Deep Kalra, Dr. Ashish Gupta, Gokul Rajaram, and Shirish Nandkarni in December of last year. The company intends to aggressively capture market share in the $82-billion global communication skills market with the new round of funding. The newly recruited 10,000 teachers will…