Start-Ups

Home solution startup Wakefit raised $28 million in investment  The new fund will be used for omnichannel expansion goals Wakefit, the startup that provides sleep and home solutions, has secured Rs 200 crore ($28 million) in a fundraising round led by US-based SIG, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Verlinvest. Wakefit intends to use the additional capital to finance its omni-channel expansion goals, as well as to strengthen its supply chain, technology development, and marketing. The company also aims to enter the home interiors market. The startup…

Unnati Agri, a fintech-driven agriculture service platform, has secured Rs 60 crore (about $8 million) in a Series A round-headed by Incofin Investment Management, NabVentures, and Orios.  According to the Noida-based startup, the new funds will be used to expand its uStore network and technological infrastructure. The platform is also considering expanding geographically to Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and future development into Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra. Unnati, founded by Amit Sinha, former COO of Paytm Mall, brings together everything from pre-harvest advice to post-harvest services to working…

Zomato announced three significant strategic investments on Wednesday. Deepinder Goyal’s company will invest around $175 million in Magicpin, Curefit, and Shiprocket. Magicpin is an offline discovery and reward network and, has received $60 million in its Series D round, with Zomato investing $50 million for a 16 percent stake. Existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, also participated in the round. Magicpin’s valuation has now increased to a little over $312 million worth of this round. It’s worth noting that Magicpin has previously added Zomato co-founder and CEO Goyal to its board…

PhonePe is expanding its lead in the unified payments interface (UPI) ecosystem. In October, the company increased its market share, while its archrival Google Pay saw a minor decrease. According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe recorded 1937.57 million transactions worth Rs 3,65,845.39 crore in October, compared to 1451.93 million transactions worth Rs 2,87,491.46 crore for Google Pay. In terms of volume, UPI recorded 4.21 billion (421 crores) transactions worth Rs 7,71,444.98 crore in October. PhonePe’s market share increased marginally to 45.92 percent in…

Good Glamm Group, the parent company of direct-to-consumer beauty brand MyGlamm, has raised $150 million in a Series D round led by Prosus Ventures (previously Naspers), Warburg Pincus, Alteria Capital, and existing investors L’Occitane, Bessemer Venture Partners, Amazon, Ascent Capital, and the Mankekar Family Office. With a $1.2 billion valuation, the company claims to be India’s first direct-to-consumer beauty and personal care company to achieve unicorn status. This is the 35th startup overall, and the second D2C brand after Licious, to reach unicorn status in 2021. In just eight months,…

Freshworks has launched a $500 million share sale for its senior-level leadership, workers, and other shareholders, making it one of the largest cashouts by an Indian startup this year. The company has filed a re-offer prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in order to begin selling 13,555,142 shares of Class A common stock. Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubhootham would sell approximately 2.4 million shares worth $92.7 million as part of the liquidity event. Jose Morales, the company’s chief revenue officer, and Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy, the company’s chief product officer, will…

Byju’s, India’s most valued privately held startup, has received $1.2 billion in a term loan from the international market. According to sources familiar with the matter, the edtech business, valued at $18 billion, had originally expected to raise $700 million, but the round was increased in size. According to the sources, the company has taken advantage of the interest rate arbitrage available in worldwide markets, which has resulted in record low rates. Byju’s raised financing at Libor + 550 basis points, which is significantly cheaper than what is available in…

Brightchamps, an edtech startup that offers online courses in programming, artificial intelligence, design thinking, and financial literacy to children aged 6 to 16, has raised $63 million in total funding since its launch last August and is now valued at nearly $500 million, according to founder and CEO Ravi Bhushan. Premji Invest, the investment group of Wipro founder Azim Premji, has led a new $51 million round of fundraising, with participation from edtech investor GSV Ventures, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital, and Singapore-based venture fund Beenext. GSV Ventures, located…

Parking is a major issue in India, especially in big cities. The process of finding a parking space is a genuine pain in the neck no matter where you are going, whether it is an office, a job, or a shopping mall. The present chasm between parking and mobility stakeholders wastes people’s time, fuel, and energy on parking issues. Rasik Pansare and Chirag Jain developed and launched Get My Parking (GMP), an end-to-end IoT-based platform for smart parking, three years ago to bridge this gap and operate as a digital…