Start-Ups

Ninety One, a sustainable mobility brand, has raised 225 crore (or roughly $30 million) in its latest Series A funding, the company announced on Wednesday. A91 Partners LLP invested approximately 160 crore in the round, with participating investors including Fireside Ventures, Avaana Capital, and Tital Capital investing an additional 65 crore. With this funding round, AlphaVector (India) Pvt. Ltd.’s Ninety One is now valued at 1,000 crore (or roughly $132 million). According to the company, the proceeds of the current funding round will be used to invest in manufacturing facilities…

According to a report released on Wednesday, India has surpassed the United Kingdom to take third place in the list of countries that are home to such enterprises valued at more than $1 billion each, after adding 33 ‘unicorns’ in a single year. Last year, India ranked fourth in terms of the number of unicorns. According to data compiled by the Hurun Research Institute, the United States and its northern neighbour China, which rank first and second, are far ahead. The United States added 254 unicorns, bringing the total to…

Chiratae Ventures (Formerly IDG Ventures) and Lenskart Vision Fund led a $4 million pre-Series A round for Adloid, an AR building platform. Prashant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMyTrip, as well as Seeders and 100x Entrepreneur, have also joined the latest round. Adloid is renaming to Metadome in this round, a metaverse that will give no-code infrastructure to creators and marketers for the virtual world. Metadome, founded by Shorya Mahajan, Prashant Sinha, and Kanav Singla, delivers augmented reality installations in the automotive, home-decor, cosmetics and accessories, and consumer electronics industries. To build…

Unbox Robotics, a robotech startup, has acquired $7 million in a Series-A fundraising round led by 3one4 Capital and followed by Sixth Sense Ventures and Redstart Labs. The round was also attended by the company’s founders Pramod Ghadge and Shahid Memon, as well as previous investors SOSV, Arali Ventures, WEH Ventures, BEENEXT, Force Ventures, Dr Vijay Kedia, Aditya Singh Pavitar Singh, and a few more. The money will be used to expand the staff across departments, meet worldwide client demand, conduct R&D, and expand into new geographies. Unbox Robotics, which…

Tyke, a Mumbai-based fintech startup, has received pre-seed investment of $1.5 million from 9Unicorns, Better Capital, Ratio Ventures, and Venture Catalysts. Jitendra Gupta, Sweta and Amrish Rau, Varun Mittal, Sandeep Aggarwal, Navin Surya, and Ajay Rajan were among the angels that took part in the round. Tyke, which will be launched in the middle of 2021, will use software to enable entrepreneurs to transact and complete their fundraises digitally and instantly. “Our vision is to make private investing instant and accessible. We plan to use the funding to build distinguished…

Monster.com, a Quess company and online talent platform, has raised 137.5 crore in a round led by Akash Bhanshali (Volrado Venture Partners) and Mohandas Pai (Meridian Investments), with Quess participating. Following the funding round, the company is valued at around $100 million. The current close is at 112.5 crore, with an option to increase the round to 137.5 crore built in. The funds raised will be used to increase investments in product development and marketing in India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East markets. The investment, according to the company,…

Niti Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is launching a local language innovation programme to provide ecosystem services to innovators who do not speak English. It aims to provide learning materials in local languages, access to global markets, and funding for non-English speaking startups and innovators. The first leg, in collaboration with IIT Delhi, will begin on December 22 and will focus on design thinking and entrepreneurship. It is divided into three phases, the first of which is focused on training, while the other two will assist innovators in growing and…