The Tech Panda takes a look at recent funding events in the ecosystem, seeking to know where the cash is flowing.
Startup: Vijya Fintech
Sector: Fintech
Amount: US$ 1 million
Led by: Multiple large strategic investors
Surat-based Vijya Fintech Pvt Ltd, which owns Mercury (one of India’s finest cloud-based full-stack fully integrated multi-asset execution and reporting wealth management platforms), has raised US$ 1 million in its Angel Round. This round of investment, led by multiple large strategic investors, saw participation from BP Wealth, Narola Infotech Solutions LLP, Sagar Investments, GK Globas and other large strategic investors, making it amongst one of the largest fundraises in recent times in B2B Wealth Management for providing software and platform business.
Aakash Bansal – Co-founder & CEO -of Vijya Fintech Pvt Ltd, said, “In these extraordinary times, we are confident of the growth ahead of the entire financial ecosystem and all financial intermediaries led by technology. The Angel Round was well-timed with our beta launch of Mercury, and it strengthens our efforts in technology and operations in our endeavour to connect the disconnected financial ecosystem. And we are deeply grateful to all our strategic investors who have shown tremendous confidence, faith and trust in our vision and mission for building Mercury.”
Hardik Doshi – New Board Member – of Vijya Fintech Pvt Ltd, further added, “We are firm believers and investors in the Indian growth story. With rapid economic growth and increasing financial literacy among the masses, we foresee a large increase in the number of active investors in India across asset classes. The Mercury – Distribution Operating System is perfectly placed to harness this trend while simplifying operations for investors and financial advisors through their B2B2C SaaS model. Its growth potential is limitless since it is powered by a highly experienced and efficient management team. I will closely monitor and aid the rise of Mercury with a seat on the board of directors.”
Furthermore, there are approximately 94.8 million Demat accounts and around 34.9 million mutual fund investors currently in India. This growth story has definitely unlocked great potential for Mercury, which is constantly bridging the gaps in the disconnected financial ecosystem.
Startup: BeatO
Sector: Healthtech
Amount: US$33 million
Led by: Lightrock
BeatO, a comprehensive digital care platform for controlling and reversing Diabetes, founded by Gautam Chopra, Yash Sehgal and Kunal Kinalekar, has raised $33 Million in Series B funding led by Lightrock with participation from HealthQuad, Flipkart and existing investors.
Gautam Chopra, Co-Founder & CEO – BeatO said, “With our digital first solution, BeatO is well positioned to lay the new standards of how care will be delivered in the future to millions of Indians. We are pleased to have a fantastic set of partners joining us on the journey who deeply resonate with our vision and bring solid capabilities to help us achieve our goal.”
Tejasvi Ravi, who leads healthcare investments at Lightrock added, “BeatO is on an ambitious mission to re-design how diabetes is cared for in India. They are a world-class team that have demonstrated the ability to deliver consistent, high-quality and empathetic care resulting in clinical outcomes that are outstanding.”
The fresh funds will be utilized to expand BeatO’s diabetes care programs pan-India, invest in strengthening their leadership team and to further invest in BeatO’s product and technology. BeatO will also continue to build the evidence base for its care programs, setting the standard of care globally for diabetes. BeatO aims to serve over 10 million patients by 2025, becoming India’s largest Diabetes Care Company.
The Company’s existing marquee investors include Orios Venture Partners, Leo Capital, W Health Ventures, Blume Ventures and others.
Startup: InPrime FinServ
Sector: FinTech
Amount: US$1.45 million
Led by: InfoEdge Ventures, Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC
Bangalore based tech enabled financial services startup InPrime has raised $1.45 Mn in seed money from InfoEdge Ventures, Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and other marquee investors. As a new entrant into the financial sector, InPrime will strategically focus on the emerging financial needs of the prime layer of customers within informal segment. The firm plans to channelize this fundraise to ramp up hiring, conclude product development and initiate the process to apply for an NBFC license from the Reserve Bank of India.
The round was led by Info Edge Ventures and also saw participation from Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and other angels . Some of the notable angel investors are senior industry leaders like Samit Ghosh (Founder and former MD, Ujjivan SFB), Pritesh Gupta (Managing partner, MyAsiaVC), Shashank Kumar (Co-founder, DeHaat), Satish Perala (Co-founder, Cybrilla), Amit Mantri & Savi Jain (Co-founders, 2point2 capital).
Chinmaya Sharma, Partner, InfoEdge Ventures said, “It is our strong conviction that lending is an execution play. There have been few changes to this business in the 3000-odd years it has existed for. Winners still tend to ‘differentiate’ themselves largely on their execution. Rajat, Sneh and Manish were leading collections, credit and a substantial proportion of the entire book at one of the most successful small finance banks in the country. When a founding team like this comes together, you have to back their ability to execute.”
Rajat Singh, Co-founder & CEO, InPrime Finserv said, “We are thankful to InfoEdge Ventures, Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and all our angel investors for supporting us in this journey of taking forward the baton of financial inclusion in India.”
Startup: Automovill
Sector: Full-stack mobility
Amount: INR 2.15 crore
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
Full-stack mobility solution provider Automovill has raised Rs 2.15 crore in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Following a hybrid & flexible business model, Automovill has the 3rd largest presence across India, while catering to 0.15Mn+ customers, Automovill has enhanced its technology offerings to strengthen and organize the auto after-service and maintenance industry.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Our interest in the company comes from the fact that it is a hugely untapped market with only a few organized players, and we are confident that with the disruptive and tech-enabled strategy of Automovill, we will see them growing faster than its peers at pan India level.”
Mridu Mahendra Das, Co-Founder & CEO, Automovill says, “The team has quickly picked up our business model and presented a very comprehensive analysis and data collection for Automovill. It reflected the perfect impression of Automovill. Everything was done in no time and hence the overwhelming response from the investors in IPV.”
Startup: Dhiway
Sector: Blockchain
Amount: US$1 million
Led by: Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund & SUNiCON Ventures
Dhiway, a blockchain startup raised USD 1,000,000 in a pre-seed round led by Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund, Sunicon Ventures and existing shareholders.
“The equity we have raised will address market expansion and continuous strengthening of the product road map. As India’s first Enterprise Blockchain infrastructure, we are currently working with large institutions in the areas of governance infrastructure and allied commercial applications while we continue to scale our business at a rapid pace targeting new domains and use cases,” said Pradeep K P, Co-Founder and CEO of Dhiway Networks.
“We were glad to lead the round for Dhiway. In today’s world, “Data is Gold”, and each of us needs to have control over our data; with that broader premise in mind, Dhiway is our Maiden Investment from SUNiCON Ventures. The company has demonstrated a great piece of technology which can be implemented globally; The founding team is passionate about bringing a revolution in the data storage and verification space using their own layer 1 Blockchain CORD,” said Saloni Jain – Founder and Managing Partner SUNiCON Ventures.
“We are excited at the large opportunity targeted by Dhiway in various multi-stakeholder value-chains across use cases & industries. We are looking forward to Dhiway leading the evolution of emerging Enterprise SaaS business models in the Web 3.0 world” said Vatsal Bavishi, Investment Director, Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund.
Startup: Thoughtfocus
Sector: IT
Amount: Undisclosed
Led by: H.I.G. Capital
ThoughtFocus, Inc. a global provider of digital services and technology enabled digital operations for the financial services, manufacturing, and higher education sectors is pleased to announce that H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”) has made a strategic growth investment in the Company.
H.I.G. is a leading global alternative investment firm with $52 billion of equity capital under management. The growth investment is designed to help accelerate ThoughtFocus’ expansion into a global leader in digital services both organically and through acquisitions.
The Founders, Suman Atreya, Rajiv Goyal and Shylesh Krishnan, expressed their excitement on this partnership with H.I.G in a statement, “This investment from H.I.G. Capital was carefully chosen to align with the future vision of the company. It comes at an opportune time when we have committed ourselves and our clients to ‘A Better Future Faster.’ The Company has ambitious plans for growth and this partnership with H.I.G. sets us on that accelerated path to becoming a leading global digital services provider.”
Anuradha Arun, CFO at ThoughtFocus, commented “This investment is a significant milestone in ThoughtFocus’ journey to becoming a globally recognized brand in the technology industry.”
Startup: Remedo
Sector: HealthTech
Amount: Undisclosed
Led by: SucSEED Indovation Fund
Remedo has secured an undisclosed amount in fund raise from Hyderabad headquartered SucSEED Indovation Fund and other investors, Whiteboard capital, Titan capital, Suashish family office and angel investors such as Shashvat Nakrani (BharatPe), Krishnan Menon (Lummo) and Varun Sadana (Supertails) as part of its Growth investment round.
Dr. Ruchir, the Founder and CEO of Remedo said, “The funding we raised funding from SucSEED Indovation Fund and other established Investors will help us increase our reach and further develop our product of ering.”
Speaking on why they have invested Vikrant Varshney Co-Founder & Managing Partner of SucSEED Indovation Fund, said, “According to the Inc42 Report, The Indian telemedicine market was valued at $1 billion in 2020 and is expected to become $5.4 billion by 2025 with 31% CAGR. Professional home care has become the large-scale alternative to hospitalization for both COVID and non-COVID patients, a sector that has grown exponentially over the last year. Remedo clocked GMV of INR 4.5 crore from 90K+ SucSEED Indovation Fund – Funding Alert for Remedo – Media Release – Nov 1,2022 clinics on the platform, 75K+ patients with 65K+ medical records added on the app. Remedo wants to become “Shopify for Doctors” to build their personal brand and we feel connected with their vision.”
Startup: Optiwise.ai
Sector: Marketplace optimization
Amount: US$1.3 million
Led by: StartupXseed Ventures
Headquartered in Newark, California Optiwise.ai, Inc (“Optiwise”), a leading marketplace optimization platform, has raised $1.3 million led by StartupXseed Ventures.
With the new funds coming in, Optiwise.ai will continue to invest in the product, build a world-class team, and expand their current customer base beyond North America to other emerging eCommerce regions globally.
“I’m excited to have StartupXseed as an investment partner on our journey to grow Optiwise.ai. This investment, along with the success of our customers, further validates our product-market fit strategy and further propels our vision of helping our customers optimize their revenue across marketplaces, said Deepak Goyal, Co-Founder and CEO of Optiwise.ai”.
Rahul Shah, Co-Founder and CTO, Optiwise.ai said, “We have been investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to develop cutting-edge products to provide an exceptional customer experience, and this investment will accelerate our path to adding more advanced capabilities into our product”.
Regarding the investment, Ravi Thakur, Co-founding Partner at StartupXseed Ventures, commented, “We felt intrigued after understanding the kind of potential e-commerce holds, the rate at which it is expected to grow and how the marketing works using technology as an integral part of the business model. The Founding team understands the space well, and we feel that the team is capable enough to look at scaling the business at a fast pace”.
Startup: Mocero Health
Sector: Healthtech
Amount: Undisclosed
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
Healthtech company Mocero Health has raised Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). Mocero Health is one of India’s fastest-growing health-tech platform that assists hospitals in going omnichannel and expanding their services beyond physical catchment areas. The funds raised will be used for product development and to widen its sales channel through which Mocero will build a digital health platform with seamless data and service interchange.
Madhukar Bhardwaj, VP, Business Development & Investments at Inflection Point Ventures, says, “In the last 2 years, the health tech sector has seen an accelerated growth curve. Traditional healthcare infrastructure giants have also understood the need to be tech savvy to meet the growing healthcare demands. However, the large Tier 2 & Tier 3 healthcare facilities still lag from the rest of the world in smart digital adoption. This need for transparency and better patient management is driving micro themes within the sector. Mocero is positioned rightly as the founding team understands the medical and the tech pieces to offer a relevant solution for an ever-expanding healthcare market in India.”