Start-Ups

Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd, the electric vehicle arm of Ola Cabs’ parent company ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, has raised $200 million, or nearly 1,500 crore, in a funding round led by Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, and others, the company said in a statement on Monday. VCCircle reported in October that Ola Electric was in the final stages of raising $200 million as part of a new round of funding that could value the company at more than $5 billion. The latest round of funding for Ola…

Ninjacart, an agritech startup, recently announced a $145 million strategic round led by existing investors Walmart and Flipkart. Ninjacart did not disclose any additional transaction details, such as round break up or valuation, aside from future plans. Walmart and Flipkart each contributed $72.5 million to the Series D round. This was Flipkart and its controlling entity Walmart’s third joint investment in the Bengaluru-based startup. Ninjacart chose the new funds at a $815 million post-money valuation. This represents a significant increase in the company’s valuation, which was approximately $502 million in…

The Good Glamm Group acquired a majority stake in Organic Harvest, an organic beauty and personal care brand. According to a source with knowledge of the development, the transaction values Organic Harvest’s enterprise at Rs 275-Rs 280 crore. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by Good Glamm, a direct-to-consumer beauty and personal care brand. According to the source, Organic Harvest is valued at around 4-4.5 times its annualised revenue run rate. According to a senior company executive, Good Glamm will invest an additional Rs 75 crore in…

Trainn, a Chennai-based B2B SaaS startup, has raised $700,000 in a seed round led by Speciale Invest. Arka Venture Labs, angel investors such as Chargebee’s founders, Shan Krishnasamy, CTO of Freshworks, and Abhishek Goyal, Co-founder of Tracxn, among others, participated in the funding round. The funds will be used to expand the company’s team, fuel go-to-market programmes, and accelerate product development. Trainn’s mission is to assist SaaS businesses in driving meaningful ROI, increasing adoption and customer retention through customer education, and lowering support costs and costly in-person training. While previously…

VAAN Electric Moto Pvt Ltd, an Indian lifestyle e-mobility startup, has launched its electric bicycle-Urbansport in the country. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Electronics, and Information Technology, launched the Van Electric Moto brand in India on Friday at a virtually held event in Kochi. The e-bike is available in two variants: Urbansport and Urbansport Pro, priced at Rs 59,999 and Rs 69,999, respectively, and will first be sold in Kochi before expanding to other high-potential markets such as Goa, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Delhi. The…

Razorpay, a payment gateway provider for online transactions, is in initial talks to acquire a majority stake in cellular point-of-sale machine supplier Ezetap Cell Options Pvt. Ltd, according to two people familiar with the situation. However, the financial details of the transaction could not be ascertained immediately. Byas Nambisan, chief executive officer of Ezetap, confirmed his company is in talks with numerous buyers, primarily global and native strategics, as well as renowned enterprise capital funds, to raise approximately $60 million (447 crore) in funding. He also stated that Unitus Capital…

Indian startups raised a record $24.1 billion in 2021, a two-fold increase over pre-Covid levels, with $6 billion raised through public markets through 11 startup IPOs, according to a new Nasscom report released on Friday, The Indian tech startup ecosystem is expanding steadily, with over 2250 new startups expected in 2021, 600 more than in 2020. India, which has 70 unicorns, added a record number of new unicorns (42) in 2021 across 18 sectors, ranking third after the United States and China, with a total valuation of newly-added unicorns of…

Agrowave, a Gurgaon-based agritech startup that is building a Farm2Business supply chain, has raised $2 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Aroa Ventures and Ritesh Agarwal’s family office. Anu Meena, an IIT Delhi alumni, founded Agrowave in 2017 with the goal of developing solutions for farmers who struggle to sell their produce at farm gates. The startup’s goal is to create 40,000 mobile touchpoints at farm gates in order to buy directly from farmers and sell to businesses. Its B2B mobile application allows retailers, restaurants, caterers, and…