It was a blockbuster week for funding. All doubts and worries of the funding drought were dispelled. Over 11 startups received seed, pre-series A, Series A, Series B and tranche rounds of funding. Not only did the startups open up about the capital they had received, funds like the Indian Angel Network announced their global fund worth Rs 350 crore. This surely implies that seed and early stage capital is available to startups who need it.
The Chinese Uber–Didi Chuxing went on to raise $5.5 billion, which will have its own set of interesting implications for the cab aggregator. One interesting fact about the funding that happened this week was that a Jaipur-based learning platform raised foreign capital.
The following startups received funding in the week that was. The list is in a chronological order:
-
POPxo raises $3.1 million Series A funding led by IDG and Kalaari
The week began with POPxo, the digital community platform for women, raising a Series A funding of $3.1 million. The round was led by IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. The funding also saw participation from GREE Ventures Japan, the Philippines-based Summit Media, Gurpreet Singh, and Atul Goel. A platform that boasts of over nine million members, POPxo was founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom.
This is POPxo’s third round of funding. In November 2014, POPxo had raised Rs 3 crore from Rajan Anandan, CaratLane’s Mithun Sancheti (via Chennai Angels), and others. It also raised an additional $2 million from IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital in November 2015.
-
Ronnie Screwvala to launch Rs 100cr UpGrad Online Education Scholarship Fund
While content platforms raised funding from VC firms, Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder UpGrad and also the Founder of the fund Unilazer Ventures, announced Asia’s first online scholarship fund with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore. The aim is to get Rs 400 crore in the next three to four years. Having invested Rs 10 crore himself, he will raise the rest from other like-minded individuals, corporates committed to building this ecosystem of tomorrow, as well as from CSR funding.
-
Faasos raises funding of $6.4 million from Sequoia Capital and Lightbox
Dispelling the myth that foodtech is dead, Faasos, the Pune-based on-demand food delivery startup, has raised $6.4 million as an extension of its previous Series C funding. The tranche round saw participation from Lightbox Ventures II, Sequoia Capital India, RuNet South Asia, Lightbox Expansion Fund, and RB Investments. The first tranche of this round was raised in December 2015, according to a report in The Economic Times. The total amount of funding raised by the company till date stands at $64.6 million.
-
Dutch startup Flytxt ropes in Rs 70cr from SAP co-founder’s family office
The Netherlands-based data analytics software company Flytxt raised Rs 70 crore from Germany-based DAH Beteiligungs GmbH, a holding company owned by the family of Dietmar Hopp, Co-founder of enterprise software behemoth SAP. According to the press statement issued, the company plans to invest the new…