Deal Street: Indian Startups Raised Nearly $1 Billion Last Week
Your weekly dose of startup deals.
Six Indian startups raised about $900 million—the most in a week this year—in angel, seed or venture capital funding. The funding, led by Gurugram-based OYO, were made across sectors such hospitality, pharmacy, meat and fresh products and news media.
OYO Raises $1 Billion For Overseas Expansion
Hotel chain OYO enters the unicorn club by raising $1 billion as it looks to expand into China and other global regions.
Gurugram-based OYO raised $800 million in fresh funding from existing investors, including SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, the company said in a statement. Investors committed to put in another $200 million, it said.
The round values the startup at about $5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. OYO, however, declined to comment.
Online Drug Delivery Platform PharmEasy Raises $50 Million
Online drug delivery platform PharmEasy raised $50 million (about Rs 363 crore) from Eight Roads Ventures India.
F-Prime Capital, the venture capital arm of Fidelity Investments, venture fund Fundamentum Advisors, San Francisco-based hedge fund Think Investments and existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners also participated in the round, according to a statement by Avendus, an advisor for the transaction.
PharmEasy aims to use the capital to augment its tech capabilities, expand consumer base and diversify its offerings, the statement said.
The $50-million investment was in addition to $30 million the company had secured earlier this year from Bessemer and other investors, according to people familiar with the development.
Founded in 2015, the online health care and pharma aggregator connects patients with to local pharmacies and diagnostics centres. The company competes with the likes of 1mg and NetMeds.
Online Meat Seller Licious Raises $25 Million
Licious, the Bengaluru-based online meat and fish ordering startup, raised $25 million (Rs 181 crore) in a growth round led by investment firm Bertelsmann India Investments and Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
U.S.-based UCLA Investment Company and existing investors Mayfield India, 3one4 Capital, and Sistema Asia Fund also participated in the fundraise, the company said in a statement. InnoVen Capital said it provided $1.6 million (Rs 12 crore) in venture debt.
The company said it will use the funds to expand its operations to new cities and to strengthen the supply chain. Licious is present in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It is now planning to enter Mumbai and Pune by this year-end.
“These funds will help us in deepening and widening our market presence and enable us to offer new products and services,” Co-Founders Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta said in a statement.
Founded in 2015, Licious procures, stores and processes fresh meat produce and delivers it.
Others
- Stanza Living, a Delhi-based student accommodation platform, raised $10 million (Rs 73 crore) in a fresh round led by global venture capital firm Sequoia India. Existing investors, including Matrix Partners India and venture capital firm Accel Partners, also participated, the company said in a statement.
- Sensehawk Technologies, an infrastructure intelligence platform, raised $2 million (Rs 13.6 crore) from venture capital and growth equity investment firm SAIF Partners. Angel investors, too, participated in the round, Sensehawk said in a statement.
- Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd. invested nearly $3 million (Rs 20 crore) in a news video app, Editorji, started by veteran journalist and former NDTV Chief Executive Vikram Chandra, VCCircle reported.