Weekly funding roundup: Strong venture capital activity and three new unicorns

Month of August began on a positive note for Indian startup ecosystem with more than USD 1 billion investment in its very first week. The positive momentum continued for the second consecutive week with around two dozen firms raising over USD 1.3 billion by Friday evening. The week also witnessed edtech platforms Eruditus and upGrad and crypto exchange firm CoinDCX entering the coveted unicorn club.  Here is the weekly funding round of Indian startups for second week of August:




Mumbai-based VC Equanimity Investments on Friday announced that it has invested an undisclosed amount of funding in Mumbai-based content economy focused start-up Thinkly in an early stage round. Thinkly helps independent writers, thinkers, journalists, and other content-creators to monetise their content via subscriptions.

Unacademy on Friday said Dragoneer Investment Group and tech entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia together invested USD 10 million as part of the edtech platform’s recent USD 440 funding round.

VerSe Innovation, which owns platforms like Dailyhunt and Josh, on Thursday said it has raised and signed definitive agreements for over USD 450 million (about Rs 3,341.1 crore) funding from Siguler Guff, Baillie Gifford, affiliates of Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II and others.

Hash, India’s first D2C millennial cigarette brand, announced today that it has raised close to US 3.5 mn (INR 25 crores) in recently concluded angel round.

CoinDCX, an exchange platform of private cryptocurrencies, on Tuesday announced a USD 90 million fundraise which values the company at over USD 1.1 billion, even as RBI’s concerns on private cryptocurrencies continue.

Pet care brand Heads Up For Tails on Thursday said it has raised USD 37 million (about Rs 277 crore) in funding led by Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital India.

Edtech platform Eruditus has become the latest startup to join the coveted unicorn club. The Mumbai-based executive education platform has raised $650 million as a part of its latest Series E funding round led by venture capital firm Accel US and Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund II.

Fintech platform Grip Invest on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 21 crore (USD 3 million) in funding, led by Venture Highway and Endiya Partners.

Credgenics, a debt resolution, and legal automation platform, on Tuesday, said it has received USD 25 million (about Rs 186 crore) in funding from Westbridge Capital, Tanglin Venture Partners, and Accel Partners.

Construction industry software-focused start-up Doxel on Wednesday announced a USD 40 million fund raise in a round led by New York-based private equity fund Insight Partners.

Logistics tech startup Pickrr on Wednesday said it has raised USD 12 million (around Rs 85 crore) in a funding round led by IIFL, Amicus Capital and Ananta Capital.

Cloud software start-up Neuron7 on Tuesday said it has raised seed investment of USD 4.2 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Battery Ventures.

Advanced battery-tech start-up, Log 9 Materials on Monday said it has raised USD 8.5 million (around Rs 63 crore) in a funding round led by Amara Raja Batteries.

Ping, a conversational community commerce app, on Wednesday said it has raised USD 3.5 million (about Rs 26 crore) in seed funding from Elevation Capital.

Leading online education platform Upgrad has raised its third external funding of USD 25 million from the IIFL Group, helping the re/up-skilling company join the unicorn club with a valuation of USD 1.2 billion.

Crypto asset management platform Mudrex has raised USD 2.5 million (over Rs 18 crore) in a funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

EdTech startup Whiz League, led by the Stanford and Babson Alumni duo, Natasha Jain and Sonia Agarwal Bajaj in partnership with Guru Randhawa raises a $300K (INR 2.2 crores) seed fund.

Everstage, a Delaware and Chennai-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) start-up, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding led by 3one4 Capital. The round also saw participation of several prominent angels including Prasanna Sankar, co-founder of Rippling among others.

Location-based analytics firm Locale.ai on Thursday said it raised $1.3 million in a seed round from Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures) and San Francisco-based Better Capital.

The Bangalore-based EdTech startup FlashPrep on Tuesday said it has raised USD 5,00,000 in a Pre-Seed Round led by Venture Highway

Mumbai-based community-driven edtech platform BlueLearn on Tuesday, August 10, raised $450,000 in a pre-seed round led by the US-based Lightspeed with participation from 100X. VC, Titan Capital, 2am VC and other angel investors.

Digital freight management platform Wiz Freight has raised USD 3.5 million (about Rs 26 crore) in seed funding led by Axilor. The company offers door-to-door multimodal logistics solutions to its customers.

Investors

Early-stage venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners on Wednesday announced the closing of its second fund at USD 225 million (about Rs 1,675.5 crore) that will be deployed towards 25-30 new investments in seed and series A rounds of technology companies.