Deal Street: Sachin Tendulkar-Backed Celebrity Fashion Startup Raises Debt Funding

Fundraising by Indian startups was muted last week as six companies together raised Rs 180 crores in angel seed or venture capital. That compares to Rs 1,000 crore raised by startups in the week prior.

Venture debt fund Alteria Capital led the funding pack. The fund, touted to be the largest venture debt provider in India, made two investments from their maiden Rs 1,000 crore fund.

Insight Venture Partners Backs Cloud Billing Solution Provider

Chennai-based cloud billing solutions provider Chargebee raised Rs 117 crore ($18 million) in a Series C funding round led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners, the company said in a statement. Existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management also participated in this round.

The company will use the capital to develop product, sales, marketing, and expand into newer markets and segments.

Founded in 2011, the firm offers a payment gateway-agnostic subscription billing solution, complementing gateways like Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, Adyen and others.

The supports over 7,000 customers in 53 countries, according to information on its website.

Universal Sportsbiz Raises Rs 30 Crore From Alteria Capital

Sachin Tendulkar-backed celebrity fashion firm Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd. raised Rs 30 crore ($4.6 million) in venture debt funding from Alteria Capital, the fund’s Managing Partner Vinod Murali said.

The funds will be used to meet the working capital requirement and also expand into new markets, and for various marketing activities, he added.

The fresh infusion comes just after five months after USPL raised Rs 100 crore ($15 million) from its existing investor Accel Partners. Following the previous funding round, USPL’s valuation had crossed $100 million (Rs 650 crore).

Founded in 2012 by former national-level badminton player Anjana Reddy, USPL started as an e-tailing platform, and later begun sourcing and selling sports memorabilia. It later matured into an omni-channel fashion brand platform and has multiple partnerships with famous sports and movie personalities to co-create apparel brands.

It owns brands such as Wrong and Imara endorsed by cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Shraddha Kapoor respectively. The company also sells celebrity fashion accessories and merchandise of iconic players like Sachin Tendulkar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal, among others on online platform Collectabillia.

Raw Meat E-Tailer Zappfresh Raises Rs 20 Crore

Raw meat e-tailer Zappfresh raised Rs 20 crore ($3 million) in a fresh round of funding led by Amit Burman, vice-chairman of consumer goods major Dabur India Ltd. SIDBI Venture Capital also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.

The Gurugram-based Zappfresh will use the money to grow its supply chain, expand to other cities, and to expand workforce. “This investment will aid our back-end support along with expansion in newer markets after having laid a strong foundation in Delhi-NCR,”Deepanshu Manchanda, chief executive officer of Zappfresh said in a statement.

Founded in 2015, the firm procures fresh meat such as chicken and mutton from farms and delivers it to the customer. It also sells associated ready-to-eat products such as ham, sausages and salami.

The company had last raised an undisclosed amount from two angel investors in August 2016.

Ready-To-Cook Food Startup Fingerlix Raises Debt Funding

Ready-to-cook food startup Fingerlix raised Rs 8.5 crore ($1.3 million) in debt funding from venture debt firm Alteria Capital Advisors. The investment comes from Alteria’s maiden fund, which received regulatory nod in October and marked its first close earlier this month at Rs 356 crore.

Fingerlix will use the funds to increase production capacity, expand product suite and grow in newer markets.

Founded in 2015, Fingerlix provides ready-to-cook products such as batters, mixes, curries, dals, parathas and fully ready accompaniments. The company also lets clients customise dishes to their taste.

Others

Homegrown handset maker Micromax invested an undisclosed amount in app aggregator One Labs, a company statement said.

Noida-based peer-to-peer lending startup i2iFunding raised Rs 5 crore ($768,000) led by SucSEED Venture Partners, Manish Poddar, a serial entrepreneur and investor, and a group of angel investors.