Deal Street: Binny Bansal Bets On Foodtech, AI-Based Fintech Startup Gets U.S Backer

Five Indian startups raised $22.4 million in angel, seed and venture capital funding last week across sectors such as fintech and wellness, among others. Bengaluru-based startups led the funding pack.

CrediWatch, a financial technology firm, raised $3.2 million (around Rs 23 crore) in a growth funding round led by Artis Labs, a venture capital firm based in California, and Abstract Ventures, a San Francisco-based seed investor. The fresh fundraising takes the total amount raised by Crediwatch so far to about $5 million.

The funds will primarily be used to improve research and development, hire talent and scale up business, Meghna Suryakumar, founder and chief executive officer of Crediwatch, told BloombergQuint in an interview.

The Bengaluru-based startup is building artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to help the financial services industry in India reduce credit risk. It aims to provide lenders, businesses with actionable credit intelligence on private entities to boost lending, Suryakumar said, adding that at present, financial institutions drive bulk of the business of the firm. The firm also aims to improve its business by catering to more enterprises as well as legal and private equity firms.

Stuart Peterson, general partner at Artis, said the company is addressing the gaps in the digital lending space. The firm, he said, is positioned to leverage the failure of conventional credit rating and underwriting methods through their technology.

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Mobikon, a technology platform for restaurants to manage their customer engagements, marketing and analytics, raised $12.5 million (Rs 88 crore) in a growth funding round led by Flipkart’s Co-Founder Binny Bansal.

The funds will be used to expand presence in existing markets, enter into new markets and boost market share, the company said in a statement. The startup, launched in 2012, operates in five countries with more than 6,000 restaurants on its platform.

“We will also invest heavily in our tech stack, including data science team and integration frame work,” Samir Khadepaun, founder at Mobikon, said in the statement.

Fashion rental and styling platform Stage3 raised $2 million (Rs 14.18 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures.

The Delhi-based startup aims to use the proceeds to enhance its brand and technological infrastructure, according to its statement. A part of investment will also be used to expand offline footprint and collaborate with celebrities, influencers and designers, it said.

“We want to help our customers to be on top of today’s fashion game without having to worry about high pricing, seasonality or storage woes,” Stage3’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sabena Puri said in the statement.

Founded in 2016, the startup aims to make fashion affordable, sustainable and more accessible to Indian consumers. The company has more than 100 designers and fashion enthusiasts, and a network of 25 celebrity stylists, 50 celebrities and over 150 bloggers and influencers on its platform, according to the statement.

• Bengaluru-based hygiene and wellness brand, Pee Safe, raised around $4.2 million (Rs 30 crore) in a growth round led by Alkemi Growth Capital, a health and wellness focused fund, the company said in a statement. The funds will be used for strengthening R&D, product development and expanding distribution, it said.
• Credenc, an education loan startup, raised $2.5 million (Rs 17.8 crore) in a seed funding round led by impact investor Omidyar Network India. Venture capital firms Emphasis Ventures, Better Capital, and the IIM-Kozhikode Alumni Fund also participated, according to a company statement.