Start-ups: Saraf Foods raises Rs 300 mn, FourKites secures $35 mn, and more

A weekly round-up of things that happened in start-up space

Saraf Foods raises Rs 300 mn from IFU, previous investors

Vadodara-based Saraf Foods has raised Rs 300 million in its second round of funding, led by Danish investment fund IFU and pervious investors — DSG Consumer Partners, PEDORIA and Saraf family. The company is a supplier of frozen dried fruits, vegetables and herbs. The fund will used for individual quick freezing, adding capacity to freeze drying and diversifying into air drying. Saraf Foods aims to garner over 200 per cent growth in revenues to Rs 1 billion by 2020 from Rs 300 million in 2017. In 2013, Saraf Foods had raised Rs 100 million from investors led by DSG Consumer Partners and also a term loan from State Bank of India.

Porter to merge with Mahindra’s SmartShift

Truck rental start-up Porter will merge with SmartShift,  Mahindra & Mahindra’s on-demand logistics platform connecting cargo owners and transporters, the two firms said in a joint statement. The M&M Group will invest Rs 650 million in the merged entity which will retain both brands to serve respective customers.

Udaan gets $50 mn from Lightspeed, Yuri Milner  

B2B online marketplace Udaan has raised $50 million in the Series-B roundfrom Lightspeed US in participation with Lightspeed Venture Partners India and funds associated with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. The start-up will use the fresh fund to add new sellers and buyers, expand its logistics network, hire engineers and sales executives, and launch services, including lending.

THB raises $2.1 million from Blume, others  

Clinical research and data analytics start-up THB has raised $2.1 million in a round led by early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures and health care-focused VC firm Healthquad. Fireside Ventures, Apoorva Patni and Arpan Sheth, partner at Bain & Company, also invested.

Logistics start-up FourKites secures $35 mn from VC firm

FourKites, a logistics technology start-up that operates out of India and the US, has raised $35 million in a Series B round led by Silicon Valley-based VC firm August Capital. US-headquartered Bain Capital Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners also participated in the round. FourKites will use the money to expand to other geographies and for developing more products. FourKites engineering and technology teams are based in Chennai, while its sales team works out of the US.  

Agricx Lab raises $500,000 from Ankur Capital

Agricx Lab, an agritech start-up that uses smartphone imaging to assess the quality of agricultural produce, has raised $500,000 led by India-focussed venture capital fund Ankur Capital. 

IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) also invested in the company. The agritech start-up has developed a mobile app that uses computer vision and artificial intelligence on images to yield objective, accurate and faster quality assessment of agri-produce. Agricx Lab was started to create a quick, accurate, portable and easy-to-use quality assessment tool for agricultural produce.