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Deal Street: Urban Clap And Lendingkart Go The Debt Funding Way  

Your weekly dose of startup deals.

(Source: BloombergQuint)
(Source: BloombergQuint)

India’s startup ecosystem has been abuzz lately with the blue-eyed boys of the industry raising fresh funds. The country’s largest online retailer Flipkart bagged $1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings, eBay Inc and Microsoft Corp in India’s biggest ever startup funding round. Ola, the largest ride-hailing startup, mopped up $350 million in fresh funding, of which $250 million came from Japanese investor SoftBank.

The smaller players, however, were not so lucky as 11 companies together managed to raise $39 million from angel investors and venture capitalists. The week prior had seen the same number of companies raising around $70.2 million.

Of the 11, two startups raised debt funding.

UrbanClap Raised $3 Million In Debt Funding From Trifecta Capital

Standing - Varun Khaitan, ( L-R)  Raghav Chandra & Abhiraj Bhal, UrbanClap Founders. Source: UrbanClap 
Standing - Varun Khaitan, ( L-R) Raghav Chandra & Abhiraj Bhal, UrbanClap Founders. Source: UrbanClap 

Gurugram-based home services startup UrbanClap raised $3 million (around Rs 20 crore) in debt funding from Trifecta Capital, documents filed with the Registrar of Companies show.

Founded in 2014, the startup connects its users with home services professionals such as plumbers, interior designers, home cleaners and others. It serves around 6,000 customers every day and is present in nine cities.

It had last raised $25 million in Series B funding led by existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners. It also counts Ratan Tata, Saif Partners, Accel Partners, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal as its investors. The startup had seen losses mount to nearly Rs 60 crore in the last financial year.

Lendingkart Raises $4.6 Million From Anicut Capital

Team Lendingkart. (Source: Lendingkart)
Team Lendingkart. (Source: Lendingkart)

Online financing platform for small and medium enterprises, Lendingkart, mopped up $4.6 million (Rs 30 crore) through non-convertible debentures from Anicut Capital to ramp up its lending operations, the company said in a media statement.

The Gurugram-based startup said it will use part of the funds to strengthen the operations of Lendingkart Finance Ltd, its non-banking finance arm.

Last year, the company raised $32 million in Series B funding from Bertelsmann India Investment and others through a mix of of debt and equity.

NinjaCart Raises $5.5 Million Led By Accel, Nilekani’s Trust

NinjaCart processing center. (Source: NinjaCart)
NinjaCart processing center. (Source: NinjaCart)

Bengaluru-based business-to-business agri-marketing platform NinjaCart raised $5.5 million (around Rs 37 crore) in a round led by Accel Partners and Infosys co-Founder Nandan Nilekani’s NRJN Trust, Thirukumaran Nagarajan. Japanese investor Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures and M&S Partners also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.

Ninjacart said it will use fresh funds to expand its team and invest in supply chain automation, technology and data science.

Founded in May 2015 as an on-demand grocery delivery service, the startup later pivoted to a business-to-business agri-marketing platform. It now connects 1,000 farmers with 500 end retailers such as grocery stores, supermarkets and restaurants and plans to expand its reach to 2,000 businesses.

“The team’s strong technology-first thinking enables the fruits and vegetables supply chain to be extremely cost efficient, thus improving farmer earnings and living standards,” Nilekani said in the statement.

Logistics Startup Emiza Supply Chain Services Raises $4.5 Million

Supply chain management and logistics startup Emiza Inc. raised $4.5 million (around Rs 30 crore) in a funding round led by U.S.-based venture capital firm Mayfield. Existing investors Nishant Rao, global chief operating officer at Freshdesk and chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India, and Dileep Nath, managing director at Aaroha Pte. Ltd, also participated, the company said in a statement.

Mumbai-based Emiza, founded in 2015, provides logistics services in small cities and towns and offers clients an integrated warehousing platform.

The funds will be used to expand to other geographies, ramp up hiring and enhance technology, the statement added.

HackerEarth Bags $4.5 Million

California- and Bangalore-based startup HackerEarth raised $4.5 million (around Rs 30 crores) in Series A funding led by DHI Group Inc. Existing investor Prime Venture Partners and a clutch of new investors including Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage and BizReach also took part in this round, the startup said in a statement.

The startup which provides online skill evaluation and talent management services, plans to use the money to strengthen its product team and expand overseas.

HackerEarth currently has two products: Recruit, and Sprint. Recruit helps companies evaluate candidates; and Sprint, a platform launched in 2015 to help companies manage hackathons, has now metamorphosed into an innovation management platform for businesses.

The company counts Honeywell, Pitney Bowes, Wipro, Walmart Labs and Intuit among its 350-odd clients.

Lingerie E-tailer Clovia Raises $4 Million

Lingerie retailer Clovia raised $4 million (around Rs 27 crore) from Singularity Ventures and Ravi Dhariwal, former chief executive officer of publishing house Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, the company said in a statement.

The Noida-based firm will use the funds for marketing and promotion, technology development and expansion of sales channels.

Founded in 2013, the startup sells its own line of lingerie through its online platform and partner retail stores. It had last raised $4.7 million from IvyCap Ventures in June 2015.

Other Deals

Deal Street: Urban Clap And Lendingkart Go The Debt Funding Way  

Gurugram-based holiday planning startup WeAreHolidays secured $7.5 million (around Rs 50 crore) in Series B funding led by Urrshila Kerkar, founder and promoter of Cox & Kings, for a 50 percent stake in the company, Hindu Business Line reported.

Delhi-based software-as-a-service startup (SaaS), Squad raised $2.1 million (around Rs 13.9 crore) in fresh funding led by Blume Ventures, the company said in a statement. The round also saw participation from Contrarian Capital, 91springboard, Emergent Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Anthill Ventures, Axilor Ventures, angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Shamik Sharma.

Bengaluru-based online lending platform for SMEs Capital Float raised $2.3 million (around Rs 15.3 crore) through NCDs from Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, the company said in a statement.

Bengaluru- and California-based SaaS platform for SMEs, Omnify secured $150,000 (around Rs 96 lakh) from Rajan Anandan, Southeast Asia and India vice president of Google, Shoogloo Group chief executive LD Sharma and Airwoot’s Founder and CEO Saurabh Arora. The round also saw participation from a few investors through the LetsVenture’s platform, it said in a statement.

Bengaluru-based, Kiji Foods, which markets health drinks under the brand Fit-o-Slim raised an angel round of $470,000 (around Rs 3 crore) from HealthcareMagic co-founders, Kunal Sinha and Shekhar Sahu, it said in a statement.