Weekly Funding Roundup; Unicorn Club Entrants and IPO-ready startups

The past week has been excellent for Fintech and InsurTech startups. As a new financial year unfolds, we are a year after the pandemic led lockdown had shut down much business, run them into losses. The economic revival has looked difficult, yet the series of funding in the past week looks like a good sign for the Indian startup ecosystem as the financial year 2021-22 begins.

Key Deals

Policybazaar

Policybazaar raised $75 million led by Falcon Edge Capital for expanding its UAE business. Falcon Edge also runs an Abu Dhabi government-sponsored fund called Alpha Wave Incubation. Policybazaar is expected to list at a valuation of about $4 billion later this year.

Five Star Finance

Five Star Finance has raised US$234 million (INR17 billion) from a consortium of leading global and Indian investment firms. The round was led by existing investors Sequoia Capital India. It also saw the participation from Norwest Venture Partners, as well as new investors, led by KKR with participation from TVS Capital. The investment values the company at US$1.4 billion (INR103 billion).

Annapurna

Microfinance institution Annapurna Finance raised $30 million led by US-based impact investor Nuveen. Nuveen is an arm of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA).

Leap Finance

Leap Finance has also raised $17 million from Jungle Ventures and existing backer Sequoia India. The startup is looking to make studying abroad easier with dollar-denominated loans among other things.

Heathplix

Healthtech startup Healthplix raised $13.5 million in a Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners India. Healthplix provides a software platform for doctors to schedule appointments, prescribe medicines and also engage with patients.

Eunimart

AI-powered Ecommerce enabler Eunimart today announced that it has raised its Pre Series A round of $700K from LetsVenture. 9Unicorns, Loyal VC and Supply Chain Labs also participated in the round. Further, the fundraising has taken the total funding to $2.2MN to date.

Easebuzz

Easebuzz, a B2B focused API driven full-stack payments solution has secured a $4 million funding as part of its seed round led by 8i ventures, Varanium capital and Guild Capital. Former Citrus Pay founders Amrish Rau and Jitendra Gupta also participated as investors in this round. Vertices Partners further represented Easebuzz as their legal advisors for the transaction.

Ozivia

Plant-based nutrition brand Ozivia has raised $12 million in a Series B round from Eight Roads Ventures. Flourish Ventures, a spun off from Omidyar Network also participated in the round.

Brainwired

Agritech start-up Brainwired, which aims to revolutionise dairy farming, has raised an undisclosed amount in its bridge funding round from Agility Venture Partners. Top angel investors Dhianu Das and Nandi Mehta, Mumbai Angels and Agility Venture Partners also participated in this valuation round. The funding round valued the tech start-up at Rs 5 crore.

Socialswag

Socialswag is a fan engagement startup launched by Indian actors Akshay Kumar and Rana Daggubati. It has announced a fundraise of close to $1 Mn in its seed funding round, reported Inc42. Several family offices participated in this round advised by Credence Family Office, a multi-family investment office and advisory. The latter also works with several high net-worth families in India and overseas.

Chingari

Homegrown short-form video app, Chingari, on Thursday said that it has raised close to $13 million in a funding round led by mobile entertainment company OnMobile. Other investors who participated in this round include Republic Labs US, Astarc Ventures, White Star Capital, Rajat Sharma of India TV, JPIN Venture Catalysts Ltd, ProfitBoard Ventures, and Raghunandan G., co-founder, Taxiforsure, and also large family office funds from the UK.

Stashfin

FinTech startup, StashFin has raised $40 million in a Series B equity round led by a clutch of global investors including Altara Ventures and Uncorrelated Ventures. Integrated Capital, Kravis Investment Partners, Saison Capital and Tencent Cloud Europe BV, as well as existing investors Alto Partners, Snow Leopard Ventures and Positive Moves, also participated in the funding round.

CareerLabs

CareerLabs, a Profile Building Platform for college students and working professionals, has secured $2.2 Million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its platform, including a new product. Rocket Internet's VC fund - Global Founders Capital invested in the Bengaluru-based startup’s Pre-Series A round. It also saw participation from Toshan Tamhane, Chief Digital Officer, UPL, Ajit Isaac, Founder Chairman of QuessCorp, Rohit Kale, MD, Spencer Stuart, Professors of ISB, Ghanshyam Dass- Former MD- the Asia Pacific & Middle East, Nasdaq and Abhishek Nag, Director of Business Development -India and South Asia, Netflix and other angel investors.