Start-Ups

Headout, a company that helps travellers find and book tours, activities, events, and other local experiences, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Glade Brook Capital, bringing its total funding to $42 million. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs, and 500 Startups, as well as a slew of startup CEOs and operators, including Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, Postman CTO Ankit Sobti, and Pratilipi CEO Ranjeet Pratap Singh, took part in the round. In September of last year, the startup raised $12 million in funding led by…

ElectiVa, a startup aiming to become India’s leading electric vehicle charging provider, plans to install one lakh charging stations across the country over the next three years. According to Sumit Dhanuka, the founder of the New Delhi-based startup, the goal is to have an ElectriVa charging point every 20 kilometres. ElectriVa recently won a contract in Delhi to install and operate 100 electric vehicle charging stations. Another 150, according to Dhanuka, are in the works. “We are going to install an electric charging point at every three km in Delhi…

GupShup, a startup that helps businesses interact with customers through various mediums, has acquired Knowlarity Communications. According to the company, the acquisition complements Gupshup’s industry-leading Conversational Messaging suite and establishes Gupshup as a leader in voice and video communications. In 2009, Ambarish Gupta and Pallav Pandey co-founded the company. Over 6,000 customers in 65 countries use Knowlarity’s cloud telephony, contact centre automation, AI-powered voice assistants, and speech analytics solutions. The business operates in the voice-based Conversational Engagement market, which is expected to transform contact centres, IVR systems, and smart voice…

Zomato, Temasek, and LightRock led a $185 million funding round for Shiprocket. While the company was valued at over $930 million and narrowly missed unicorn status, it scaled quickly in FY21, with a healthy increase in profits after taxes (PAT). According to its annual filings, Shiprocket’s operating revenue increased by 122 percent to Rs 358.01 crore in FY21 from Rs 161.19 crore the previous fiscal year. Its sole source of revenue has been the sale of logistic services. Providing essentially delivery management services to its core user base of SMEs…

App for daily gold savings, Jar has raised $32 million in a Series A round led by Tiger Global, with Rocketship.vc, Third Prime, Stonks, Force Ventures, and existing investors Arkam Ventures and WEH also participating. Victor Jacobsson, the founder of Klarna, Suleman Ali of Ali Capital, Shamir Karkal, the founder of Sila Money, Byron Ling of Cannan Partners, Joel John of Ledger Prime, and Italic founder Jeremy Cai are among the angel investors who participated in the round. The Series A funding comes on the heels of a $4.5 million…