Start-Ups

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…

Stride Ventures led a $9 million (Rs 67 crore) debt financing round for Mumbai-based toothsi, an at-home smile makeover brand. Previously, in August of last year, the startup raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Eight Roads Ventures. toothsi is an online direct-to-consumer (D2C) aligner platform that offers customers clear aligners as an alternative to conventional braces. It was founded in 2018 by Dr. Arpi Mehta, Dr. Pravin Shetty, Dr. Manjul Jain, and Dr. Anirudh Kale. The startup claims to have designed over 65,000 smile makeover plans…

Early-stage venture capital pi Ventures has announced the first closing of its second fund, which will invest in 20-25 startups over the next three years, for a total of 300 crore ($40 million). The fund II will be launched in March 2021, with a base corpus of 565 crore ($75 million) and a green shoe target of 750 crore ($100 million). Manish Singhal, founding partner at pi Ventures, told Business Insider that the investment firm hopes to announce the second close by mid-2022. Several high net worth individuals (HNIs) and…

The government is taking significant steps to boost the country’s startup ecosystem, including resolving the angel tax issue, simplifying tax procedures, and allowing for self-certification, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. He also stated that the government is working to reduce the compliance burden in order to promote ease of doing business. Startups should leverage modern technologies for local and global markets, he said while speaking at the launch of NASSCOM’s Annual Technology Startup Report. “We are trying to take significant steps to boost the startup ecosystem….

Pluckk, a fresh produce foodtech startup based in Mumbai, announced today that it has raised $5 million (Rs 37 crore) in seed funding to build the team and expand its presence in key metro cities. The new round was led by Exponentia Ventures, a fund focused on emerging business ideas in both the B2C and B2B space. Pratik Gupta’s startup, which launched in 2021, aims to build India’s first digital commerce business to meet the growing demand for lifestyle-oriented fresh produce. Pluckk is interested in the ‘farm-to-table’ concept. The startup’s…

VerSe Innovation, the parent company of vernacular news aggregator Dailyhunt and the creator of short video entertainment app Josh, has raised Rs 207.7 crore (approximately $28 million) from The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. In August of last year, the Bengaluru-based company raised $450 million in a Series I round led by Siguler Guff, Baillie Gifford, and Carlyle Asia Partners. To date, the company has raised approximately $678 million, including the current tranche. According to regulatory filings, Vesre Innovation has approved the allotment of 10 equity shares and 50,148 Series…

Bijak, an agritech startup, has raised Rs 144.2 crore (nearly $20 million) in Series B funding from new and existing investors. The new funds come after a more than 20-month wait for the Gurgaon-based startup. Surge Ventures, a subsidiary of Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network, and others invested $12 million in Bijak’s Series A round in April 2020. Bijak has approved the distribution of 393 equity shares and 2350 Series B preference shares in order to raise Rs 144.2 crore (approximately $20 million) from five investors. Bertelsmann led the investment…

Platform for Buy Now and Pay Later In 2021, ZestMoney saw a 300 percent increase in transactions, driven primarily by young borrowers. According to the firm’s report, borrowers in tier-1 and tier-2 cities borrowed to buy fashion, lifestyle, and electronics, as well as to spend on online education courses to improve their skills. While the majority of customers (median) were between the ages of 23 and 26, BNPL emerged as the preferred option for people of all ages, with the youngest customer being 18 and the oldest being 66. The…

La Renon Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company backed by Sequoia Capital and A91 Partners, has acquired a 51 percent stake in Enaltec Labs. The transaction values Enaltec at Rs 180-200 crore post-money. “This is a structured deal where—based on Enaltec’s performance between October 2021 and September 2022, and after achieving about 15-18% Ebitda—the conversion of stake will be ascertained..,” La Renon’s Chief Financial Officer Amit Jain said. La Renon will end up with a higher stake than 51% if Enaltec fails to achieve those business targets, he said. “This is entirely…