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Deal Street: Indian Startups Raised Nearly Rs 800 Crore Last Week

Your weekly dose of startups deals.

(Source: BloombergQuint)
(Source: BloombergQuint)

Fund raising by Indian startups rose almost three-fold last week compared to the week ended-June 30. Ten startups together raised $117 million (roughly Rs 800 crore) in angel, seed or venture capital funding across sectors such as automobile, ride-sharing, industrial goods.

Amazon Pumps In $52.6 Million In Indian Wholesale Arm

Amazon Inc. fulfillment centre in Hemel Hampstead, U.K. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)
Amazon Inc. fulfillment centre in Hemel Hampstead, U.K. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

Amazon India's wholesale business received $52.6 million (Rs 341 crore) in fresh funding from Singapore-based Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt. Ltd, documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed.

The wholesale entity had last received $15 million in December 2016.

The wholesale arm, which was launched in 2013, runs AmazonBusiness.in, a business-to-business selling platform for small offices, entrepreneurs, department stores, kirana stores, drugstores, clinics, hospitals, hotels, and restaurants. It runs on a pilot phase in Bengaluru and Mengaluru.

Also Read: Amazon Invests Another Rs 1,680 Crore In India Unit

Droom Raises $20 Million

Automobiles marketplace Droom raised $20 million in a funding round led by Hong Kong-based Integrated Asset Management Asia Ltd. Existing investors Digital Garage, Lightbox, Beenext and Beenos Partners too participated, the firm said in a statement.

The funds will be used to bolster its technology platform and drive higher adoption of various tools and services on Droom.

Founded in 2014, Droom is an online marketplace to buy and sell cars and two-wheelers. In the last few years, it has branched into services like fair value calculator, roadside assistance and auto loans in a bid to increase revenue.

Epigamia Raises $13.5 Million From Verlinvest



Rohan Mirchandani, Co-foudner of Epigamia (Photographer: Nishant Sharma/BloombergQuint)
Rohan Mirchandani, Co-foudner of Epigamia (Photographer: Nishant Sharma/BloombergQuint)

Drums Food International, the parent company of Epigamia Greek yogurt, raised $13.5 million (around Rs 90 crore) in Series B funding led by existing investors Verlinvest, a Belgium-based consumer focused private fund and DSG Consumer Partners (DSGCP), an early stage venture capital firm, Rohan Mirchandani, co-founder of Epigamia told BloombergQuint.

The round also saw participation from a venture debt provider InnoVen Capital.

The company plans to use the proceeds to launch new flavours and set up a new facility near Bengaluru, Mirchandani added. A part of the investment will also go into brand-building.

Founded in 2008, Mumbai-based Drums Food manufactures the Epigamia brand of Greek yogurt and the Hokey Pokey brand of premium ice cream.

Moglix Raises $12 Million In Series B Funding

Noida-based online business-to-business (B2B) industrial goods marketplace Moglix raised $12 million (around Rs 77 crore) in Series B funding from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, and Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund Rocketship.

Existing investors Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures, Venture Highway and former Twitter and Google executive Shailesh Rao also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.

Moglix will use the funds to strengthen its technology infrastructure and expand operations. It is currently present in Delhi-NCR, Pune and Chennai, and plans to launch services in another three cities.

Uber Injects $7.9 Million Into Indian Operations

The Uber app displayed on an iPhone (Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg)
The Uber app displayed on an iPhone (Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg)

San Francisco-headquartered cab-aggregator Uber infused $7.9 million (Rs 51.64 crore) into its Indian arms in May, documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs reveal.

Mumbai-based Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd received $6.9 million (Rs 45.2 crore) while Delhi-based Uber India Technology Pvt. Ltd got $991,000 (Rs 6.42 crore). The funds came from Uber’s Netherlands-based subsidiaries, Uber Holdings International BV & Uber International BV (for Uber India Systems) and Besitz Holding BV & Mieten BV (for Uber India Technology).

Jumbotail Bags $8.5 Million From Kalaari Capital

Online wholesale marketplace for groceries, Jumbotail, raised $8.5 million (around Rs 56 crore) in a funding round led by venture capital firm Kalaari Capital. Nexus Venture Partners also participated.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company will use the new funds to enhance technology and its operational capabilities, Nexus said in a statement.

Others

Reliance Capital made an investment of $1 million (around Rs 7 Cr) in Bengaluru-based alternative digital lending startup Billionloans. The seed funding round was routed through its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Corporate Advisory Services Ltd., the company said.

Bengaluru-based digital media video startup Clip App raised $1 million (around Rs 6.6 crores) in seed funding from India Quotient and Chinese investment firm ShunweiCapital, the firm said in a statement. The startup will utilise the money to enhance features for the video-only app.

Bengaluru-based financial advisory startup Upwardly raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding. The investment was led by Sreeram Iyer of ANZ Bank, Suvo Sarkar of Emirates NBD, and Anita Gupta of Emirates NBD and Likemind Ventures. Upwardly aims to expand its offering and grow its 10-member team, the company said.

Bengaluru-based cloud computing startup Minjar raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a round led by Blume Ventures. The round also saw participation from early-stage funds Contrarian Capital and Emergent Ventures, the company statement said.