The Tech Panda takes a look at recent funding events in the ecosystem, seeking to know where the cash is flowing.
Startup: Homexchange
Sector: Proptech
Amount: Undisclosed
Led by: HDFC Capital, Oberoi Realty and Anarock Group
Homexchange, India’s first instant home sale and upgrade proptech platform announced it has raised funds from HDFC Capital, Oberoi Realty and Anarock Group, taking the total funds being raised to $4 million.
Homexchange plans to use the funds being raised to expand its geographic presence, strengthen developer partnerships, hire talent, and further build out its technology platform.
Jesal Sanghvi, Co-Founder & CEO, Homexchange said, “We welcome HDFC Capital – their participation is a validation of the problem we are trying to solve and the opportunity ahead of us. Their unparalleled industry perspective and access is invaluable. Selling a home to buy a new one is stressful, uncertain, and takes months. Our vision is to simplify it and provide a quick, transparent, and seamless experience through our technology platform.”
In his comments, Vipul Roongta, MD & CEO, HDFC Capital, said, “We are very happy to invest and partner with Homexchange as they are uniquely placed in solving a key problem in the fragmented residential real estate market by leveraging their deep domain, product, and technology expertise. HDFC Capital’s investment in Homexchange is through its HDFC Affordable Real Estate and Technology Program (H@ART) program that seeks to mentor, partner & invest in real estate technology companies bringing efficiency, transparency, and trust in the real estate ecosystem”.
Startup: ShoutO
Sector: Fashion discovery
Amount: US$1.6 million
Led by: Saama Capital
Fashion discovery platform Shouto.app, co-founded by former Myntra, AJIO and Amazon executives Maruthy Ramgandhi, Abhishekk Handa and Ayyappan Lakshmanan, has formally launched its operations. The Company has raised $1.6 million in a Pre Seed round led by Saama. Other investors who participated include Whiteboard Capital, Google veteran and former head of search Amit Singhal, Arjun Vaidya (Founder, Dr. Vaidyas) along with 25 D2C founder angels.
The funds will be invested in product development, creator acquisition and engagement, and building a strong founding team of engineers and creator success managers.
Ash Lilani, Managing Partner, Saama, says, “We are seeing social and creator focused shopping startups gain a lot of traction in other markets, especially the US. ShoutO’s focus is to have an amalgamation of both these approaches to be able to build a top fashion destination for young Indians. Their talented leadership team, ambitious vision, and unique partnerships with top fashion brands provide a strong foundation toward succeeding in this mission of redefining how fashion discovery works in India.”
Startup: WonderLend Hubs
Sector: Fintech
Amount: US$1.6 million
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
WonderLend Hubs, a NoCode PaaS solutions provider has raised USD 1.6 million in a Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds will be utilized for completing its platform as a service transformation, strengthening sales & marketing, and building a delivery excellence framework to be able to grow the business at scale.
Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, IPV says, “We see Wonderlend Hubs as a unique opportunity that is larger than the sum of its parts. Whilst its LPaaS and ICM PaaS solutions are large, exciting independent opportunities, the synergy in their target segments presents huge cross-sell potential that they are well-positioned to tap.
“Even on a boot-strapped basis, they have already demonstrated market validation of all 3 dimensions through what they have achieved thus far. Their platform and delivery capabilities have already helped them to cater to clients in India and overseas, which clearly indicates their potential to grow at scale. It is commendable that they have already become a preferred provider for the insurance industry. IPV aims to further enhance its growth trajectory and help them penetrate untapped potential markets”.
Startup: Aerem
Sector: Solar financing
Amount: US$2.5 million
Led by: Blume Ventures
Solar financing platform Aerem has raised $2.5million in pre-Series A funding led by Blume Ventures. Aerem is pioneering a full-stack solution with a vision to build India’s first asset finance and quality platform for solar.
The capital raised will be used for growing the loan book, building out the tech platform that would enable end to end digital and seamless interaction with various stakeholders and to hire teams including leadership in technology, product, finance, and operations.
Ashish Fafadia, Partner, Blume Ventures, added, “We are impressed with Anand’s vision and Aerem’s platform approach that includes credit. Their full stack solution provides end to end engagement and is ahead of the market by 1-2 years. Solar is in a sweet spot where macro (top down) and micro (bottom up) factors are incredibly aligned. This is extremely rare for any sector. India has targeted 280 GW of solar capacity and 50% of its energy requirement from clean energy by 2030.”
Startup: The Designer’s Class
Sector: e-learning
Amount: US$ 1 million
Led by: Shivtej Investment Advisory Pvt. Ltd
The Designer’s Class, a holistic e-learning platform focusing on varied design verticals, has raised a Series-A funding of US$ 1 million from a set of angel investors led by Shivtej Investment Advisory Pvt. Ltd, represented by Pratik Bafna, and investor Anupam Lunavat. This round of funding will enable the e-learning design venture to strengthen its immersive learning technology infrastructure, enhance its online course portfolio, add more languages on its platform and execute its mission of democratising design education in its entirety.
Pratik Bafna, one of the investors, said, “The Designer’s Class is in a rapid growth spurt and is adding almost 100 students every day. Also, cash burn is minimal, and we are happy to invest in such financially well managed start-ups, with the right mix of the 4 P’s.”
Anupam Lunavat, one of the other investors remarked, “By democratizing design education, The Designer’s Class is contributing towards building skilled manpower in all design verticals. Quality manpower will help India build design products with world class specs and compete globally.”
Startup: Hudle
Sector: Sports Tech
Amount: US$1 million
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
Delhi based Sports Tech Startup Hudle has raised USD 1 Million as part of their ongoing Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investors Survam Partners and Indian Angel Network. The funds raised will be utilized to fuel growth in existing and new geographies, strengthen the business and tech team, marketing, and new additions to the product suite.
Vinay Bansal, Founder & CEO, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Sports should become an integral part of our lives. Being physically active keeps us fit mentally too. We all know this mantra but are unable to imbibe it due to the limited access to sports infrastructure. Hudle is bridging the gap by enabling users to discover & book various sports venues, events and pursue their favourite sport as a hobby or as a fitness activity. At IPV, we believe in backing purpose driven companies who are dedicated to building a sustainable business and fill an existing market gap. We aim to strengthen the company’s expansion plan and help them to scale their corporate services vertical.”
Suhail Narain, Founder & CEO, Hudle says, “Our vision is to change this trend and make millions of Indians fitter through sport. We strongly believe in scaling up through collaboration and bringing together all the stakeholders. and are thrilled to welcome IPV on board.”
