Start-Ups

MetaMap (formerly Mati), a US-based fintech startup, announced on Tuesday that it has raised Rs 530 crore in Series B funding led by Tribe Capital, with participation from Craft Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX), Titan Capital, and prominent angel investors. The new capital brings the company’s total funding to Rs 630 crore, and it will be used to invest in product development and further its international expansion as it pursues its mission of enabling billions of people to gain access to online services and experience upward mobility. The world continues to…

Jupiter, a neobanking platform owned and operated by Amica Financial Technologies Pvt Ltd, has raised $86 million as part of its Series C funding round co-led by Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital India, valued at $711 million, according to a company statement. According to the company, the funding round was participated in by US-based venture fund QED Investors as well as existing investor Matrix Partners India. The funds will be used to improve the company’s technology platform, with the goal of onboarding 2 million users by December 2022. It…

Teachmint, an education infrastructure startup, announced the acquisition of Airlearn, a video engagement platform for education businesses, in a cash-and-stock deal on Wednesday to expand its developer offerings. Teachmint said in a statement that this deal strengthens its Teachstack developer offering, which enables edtech companies around the world to build cutting-edge classroom solutions for their users. This follows Teachmint’s acquisitions of course-selling platform Teachmore and the India team of Singapore-based Teachee. Teachmint CEO and cofounder Mihir Gupta said, “We are thrilled to have the entire Airlearn team join the Teachmint family. Teachstack…

After Mamaearth and GlobalBees joined the list in the final days of 2021, India now has 81 unicorn startups. Both companies, which operate in the ecommerce space, have raised capital valued at more than $1 billion. On December 29, GlobalBees announced that it had raised $111.5 million in a round led by Premji Invest. New investor Steadview Capital, as well as existing investors SoftBank and FirstCry, participated in the round. The company is worth $1.1 billion. The business is based on the Thras.io model, which is a New York-based e-commerce…

The business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing services marketplace Zetwerk Manufacturing Business Pvt Ltd has raised approximately $210 million as part of its Series F funding round led by US-based Greenoaks Capital. According to the regulatory filing, Greenoaks Capital alone invested 543.8 crore ($72.5 million) in the funding round. The funding round was attended by ICONIQ Strategic Partners, D1 Capital Partners, Steadview Capital Mauritius, Avenir Zetwerk Investors, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others. The fundraise values Zetwerk at $2.68 billion, according to VCCircle estimates. Lightspeed Venture Partners’ stake in Zetwerk has increased to…

Ripplr, a Bengaluru-based tech-enabled distribution and logistics ecosystem platform, has raised $12 million in a Pre-Series B funding round comprised of both equity and debt. Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation and Stride Ventures also participated in the round. 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund, and Chand Family Office – Yukti were among the existing investors. Earlier this year, the company raised $3 million. Ripplr provides a technology platform for large consumer brand authorised dealers to track business metrics, finance options, analytics, and operational support. While there are numerous players in…

Mamaearth, a baby and mother care brand, has raised nearly $80 million in a new round led by Sequoia at a unicorn valuation. This is the Bengaluru-based startup’s second round in 2021. It had raised $50 million in a round led by Sofina in July, at a valuation of $730 million. According to regulatory filings, MamaEarth has approved the allotment of 1,741 Series F preference shares at an issue price of Rs 33,85,049 in order to raise Rs 589.3 crore ($79.5 million). Sequoia led the round with a Rs 311.8…

SoftBank-backed GlobalBees Brands Pvt Ltd, a Thrasio-style direct-to-consumer (D2C) venture that aggregates and invests in e-commerce brands, announced on Wednesday that it had raised $111.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Premji Invest at a unicorn valuation. Unicorns are private companies that have a market capitalization of $1 billion or more. The funding round was led by Steadview Capital, with participation from existing investors SoftBank and e-commerce baby products company FirstCry, according to the company. GlobalBees is now valued at $1.1 billion, making it the 44th Indian…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Tuesday that India has emerged as the world’s second largest startup hub, thanks in large part to students from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The Prime Minister during the 54th convocation ceremony of IIT Kanpur said, “In this 75th year of independence, we have over 75 unicorns, over 50,000 start-ups. Of these, 10,000 have come only in the last 6 months. India has emerged to be the second biggest startup hub in the world, and this feat has been achieved majorly with the help…

Awais Ahmad, co-founder of the Indian geospatial technology startup Pixxel, is excited for the New Year. His startup is finally set to launch the first of its planned low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, after multiple delays due to operational issues and a variety of other factors. Similarly, GalaxEye, another startup developing its own satellite constellation, has stated that the first member of its 15-satellite constellation will be launched in early 2023. Back on the ground, the geospatial survey company Genesys International recently announced a plan to create high resolution 3D maps…