Page 3 - Startup Funding

ICAI aims to facilitate $200 mn funding through startup event in June

Chartered accountants' apex body ICAI on Thursday said it aims to facilitate funds worth over USD 200 million to startups through an event scheduled to be held in Bengaluru from June 27 to 29. It will organise the second edition of the Startup Sphere, and more than 10,000 people from the startup ecosystem are expected to participate in the event, according to a release. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said the first edition of the event last year saw an estimated USD 100 million commitment of funding from 60 pitches presented to 75 investors. "The Startup Sphere 2024 is scheduled from 27th to 29th June 2024. We are expecting to arrange more than USD 200 million in funding this year. More than 10,000 people are expected to participate in this three-day event that aims to connect entrepreneurs and investors, wherein startups can share their ideas and get investments," ICAI President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal said. The event will be supported by the Department for .

Indian startup funding declines 3.1% to $2.3 billion in Q1 CY2024

The country saw the creation of two unicorns - companies valued at over $1 billion - during the quarter, namely Ola Krutrim and fintech Software as a Service (SaaS) firm Perfios

AI-powered equity research platform PineGap.ai raises $2.5 million

PineGap.ai, an AI-powered equity research platform, on Thursday said it has raised USD 2.5 million (about Rs 20.88 crore) in a funding round led by US-based investors SVQuad and Inventus Capital. The seed funding round also saw participation from DeVC and Silicon Valley serial entrepreneurs like Mohit Aron, Founder of Cohesity/Nutanix, Vetri Vellore, Founder of Ally.io, and Mohan Kumar, Managing Partner of Avataar Ventures, alongside Wall Street executives. The funds will be utilised to boost product development efforts and strengthen its engineering team. The company, co-founded by IIT-BHU graduates Deepak Sharma (CEO) and Ankit Varmani (CBO), aims to empower equity research analysts working in hedge funds, mutual funds, and investment banks by providing them with an advanced AI-powered platform to interpret data and derive insights from public company filings, a statement said. The platform is powered by Pine-LLM, PineGap's proprietary deep reasoning technology. According to the

Garden of Joy raises Rs 84 lakh in seed round led by Inflection Point

Landscaping startup will use the money to expand in six cities in South India, develop technology

Atoms 3.0: Accel's 6-mnth pre-seed accelerator program, unveils 8 startups

The cohort receives up to $500,000 in funding, access to perks worth more than $5 mn from venture capital firm Accel's network partners, personalised mentorship

Jumbotail raises Rs 151 crore in series C3 equity round led by Artal Asia

Jumbotail is building AI-driven technologies to drive higher customer wallet share. The firm is leveraging its deep sourcing capabilities across FMCGs and staples and its kirana supply chain

KITES Senior Care raises Rs 45 crore from Ranjan Pai's family office fund

Pai recently invested $168 million (Rs 1,400 crore) in edtech firm Byju's test-prep subsidiary AESL and was in discussion to invest about $350 million in Byju's in both equity and debt

abCoffee raises $3.4 mn in funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners

Specialty coffee company says financing will help it expand supply chain

Bihar govt, SIDBI join hands to collaborate on enhancing startup ecosystem

The Bihar government and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have signed an MoU in a bid to boost the startup ecosystem in the eastern state, officials said. The initiative is aimed at creating a conducive environment for startups and transforming Bihar into a startup hub, a SIDBI release said. "The Bihar Startup Fund Trust (BSFT) and SIDBI entered into an MoU to administer the Rs 50-crore Bihar Startup Scale-up Financing Fund' (BSSFF), it said. The BSFT is the nodal agency constituted by the Industries Department for implementation of the Bihar Startup Policy. Under the policy, the state government has set up the BSFT with an initial corpus of Rs 500 crore. Out of this, BSSFF has been established with an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore for scale-up funding support to startups, the release said.

Spyre PropTech Venture rolls out the first phase of Rs 400 crore fund

The maiden fund is set to invest in early and growth stage companies with ticket sizes ranging from Rs 2-8 crore in early stages and Rs 15-40 crore in growth stage series A and B rounds

Pure EV raises $8 mn from consortium of investors in latest funding round

Electric two-wheeler firm Pure EV on Monday said it has raised USD 8 million (around Rs 66 crore) from a consortium of investors. The funding was led by Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd, Hindustan Times Media Ventures, alongside Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt Ltd, existing investors and high net-worth individuals, Pure EV said in a statement. The Hyderabad-based company said it is currently in the final stage of concluding its Series A1 funding round, amounting to USD 25 million with the participation of a foreign institutional investor. Concurrently, ongoing discussions are taking place with potential investors from Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore for Series A2 funding, targeting an infusion of USD 15 million, it added. "We will be rapidly expanding our pan-India sales network from 140 to 300 dealers in the next six months," Pure EV Co-Founder & CEO Rohit Vadera stated. The company sells a range of electric motorcycles and scooters and has already sold over 70,000 units.

AI sales platform Kanlet raises $400,000 in pre-seed funding led by Suvan

Company that provides data and insights for B2B sales will use the financing for product development, marketing

Startup funding in India fell 62% to six-year-low in 2023: PrivateCircle

The funding deal volume fell by a sharper 72% in 2023 to 1,444 deals as compared to 5,114 deals in 2022

Musk's AI startup secures $500 million toward $1 billion funding goal

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, has secured $500 million in commitments from investors toward a $1 billion goal, according to people with knowledge of the talks

Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal raises $30 million for new AI startup

The funding was led Khosla Ventures, which was an early backer for Open AI, as well as Index Ventures and First Round Capital

SalarySe secures $5.25 million in seed funding from Peak XV Surge, Pravega

The company has plans to develop a tech stack for the credit-on-UPI (Unified Payments Interface) product and drive its adoption in the country with the latest round of funding

Venture debt gains ground in Indian startups amid equity fund raising dip

Though demand for venture debt is rising, players are becoming more cautious. Many hope that 2024 will offer good opportunities

Startups hope for strong growth in 2024 after unicorns, funds fall in 2023

Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around USD 8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent. Indian startups are estimated to have laid off over 15,000 employees in 2023. Startups with sustainable business models as well as the well-capitalised ones are expected to weather the current turmoil. And the horizon in 2024 is expected to be "exciting" as well as "challenging". Venture capital firm Lightspeed, which has invested in firms like BYJU'S, Magicpin and OYO, said a high cycle or a low cycle of two years does not really impact the ..

Escrowpay raises $6 million in fresh funding from existing investors

Escrowpay, which offers digital escrow platforms, has raised USD 6 million in fresh funding from existing investors. The latest funding is through the series-A round and is part of the ongoing round targeting USD 15 million. The company recently secured the first digital escrow regulatory fintech authorization from the IFSCA in the Gift City. Currently it serves over 3,000 clients, including SMEs, unicorns, listed enterprises, and emerging digital-first businesses. Escrowpay has processed transactions exceeding Rs 15,000 crore. The fresh capital injection will be strategically utilized to accelerate its initiatives, support key growth areas, and foster innovation within the payments ecosystem, its MD Ashwin Chawwla said in a statement on Wednesday.

EV financing startup RevFin raises Rs 115 cr in Series B funding round

EV financing digital platform RevFin on Tuesday said it has raised USD 14 million (Rs 115 crore) in Series B funding round. Omidyar Network led the round with a USD 5 million investment, joined by the Asian Development Bank, Companion Capital Ltd, and existing investors Green Frontiers Capital and LC Nueva, the company said in a statement. With this funding, Revfin's total capital raised through debt and equity stands at Rs 625 crore, it said. Angel investors such as Dhiiraj Jain (Redcliffe Labs), Anuraag Jaipuria, Ruchi Rans Jaipuria, Rishi Kajaria, Let's Venture Angel Fund, Harash Jain, and others supported this journey, Revfin said. "This funding will empower us to further enhance the EV ecosystem and contribute to the growth of all types of electric vehicles in India. Our unwavering commitment to revolutionise digital lending remains strong, and we look forward to the opportunities ahead," Revfin Founder and CEO Sameer Aggarwal said. The latest capital infusion represents Revf