The Tech Panda takes a look at recent funding events in the ecosystem, seeking to know where the cash is flowing.
Startup: Fabrication Bazar
Sector: Manufacturing & engineering
Amount: INR 7 crore
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
Manufacturing and engineering company Fabrication Bazar has raised over Rs. 7 Cr in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds raised will be utilized towards expanding the team, technology enhancement, and scaling the operations to the export market.
Ankur Mittal, Co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures, says, “Fabrication Bazar is working to make the sector organized and cutting down on the customer’s obstacles post covid in terms of cost and delivery with their innovative technology. This unique platform, which aims to serve end customers and streamline the sector in every possible way, has already grown 165% in FY 22 with a confirmed order booking 0f Rs 130 Cr for FY 23. Such high-quality standards and impeccable solutions have led IPV to invest in the company and support them in their future endeavors”.
“We are empowering micro and small steel fabricators by driving the demand from large, process-driven corporates. The journey is challenging & turbulent. In IPV, we found not only an early investor but a partner and a guide to bring more clarity towards the critical path,” says Dwaipayan Dutta, Founder, and CEO, of Fabrication Bazar.
Startup: Languify
Sector: SaaS
Amount: US$ 180,000
Led by: Titan Capital
Languify, a B2B SaaS startup has raised $180,000 in a seed round led by Titan Capital, VC arm of Rohit Bansal & Kunal Bahl, Smile group led by Manish & Ramit Arora, Goel family fund led Hitesh Bindal, Pawan & Vishwas Goel, Alsisar Impact led by Anuj Sharma, CIIE led by Chintan Bakshi, Sethu Raman, CEO at Bewise, Anand Lakra, Partner at JS, Mridula Chettri, CEO of Inmovidutech. Additionally, Sourabh Chourasia, and Arjun Mallya, also participated in the round.
The capital will be further used to build the company’s core team, for product development and growth realizing the 1.5 M USD of LOIs generated.
Lokap Sahu, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Languify said, “We are grateful for the trust our investors has shown in Languify & the team. With the funds received, we are looking forward to expand our team and scale our technology to the best. We are also looking forward to establishing early tractions, revenues and scaling the product.”
Bipin Shah, Partner – Titan Capital, adds, “With this investment, we hope to help Languify scale their solution for students and professionals across India that are struggling with language and self-confidence. Languify is going to be a very important tool in helping the youth and setting them on par with everyone else worldwide.”
Startup: Exponent Energy
Sector: EV
Amount: US$ 13 million
Led by: Lightspeed
Exponent Energy, a startup simplifying energy for EVs, recently has raised $13 million in a series A funding round led by Lightspeed, with all existing institutional investors such as YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC also participating. The amount raised will be utilised to scale up the e^pump network to 100 location points per city, starting with Bengaluru; streamline e^pack production; and deliver more Exponent enabled EVs.
Harsha Kumar, Partner, Lightspeed said, “The need for enhancing EV battery performance, sustainability and most of all access and affordability has never been more pressing and so we are delighted to partner with Exponent to simplify energy for EVs. This team, with their drive and innovation, has made rapid EV battery charging possible in just 15 minutes. We are confident that the technology is a real breakthrough, allowing EVs to become ubiquitous.”
Arun Vinayak, Co-founder & CEO, Exponent Energy, said, “We’ve really enjoyed thinking aloud with the Lightspeed team in all conversations leading up to the investment. We believe we have a great partner in them as we simplify energy for EVs – for an all-electric future.
“Our technology already delivers a seamless charging experience, and with our vehicle partnership in place, we’ll scale-up our production and network presence to 100 e^pump location points per city to deliver freedom and flexibility to our customers. This funding now allows us to execute even faster and make 15-min rapid charging the new normal.”
Startup: Organic Kitchen
Sector: F&B
Amount: US$ 1 million
Led by: Angel Investors
Organic Kitchen, a firm that offers certified, authentic, and organic products directly sourced from the farms in a transparent and traceable way, has recently acquired Seed Funding of USD 1 million. The company has raised the latest round of funding from a host of prominent angel investors, including Siddharth Chaudhary,Abhishek Dhaka, and Nitin Sahjwani.
Organic Kitchen would utilize the funds to build technology, develop the consumer and farmer app, and expand its range of products to over 250+ certified organic fruits, vegetables, and groceries. The company will deploy supply chain strategies for organic food products through this latest funding by developing farmer clusters and dronas in four agro-climatic regions: Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Nawalgarh (Rajasthan), Palla (Delhi), and Sundana (Haryana). These regions would not just enable authentication for the incoming supply but also act as a marketing tool for the backend. Through these centers, the company wants to create farmer profiles, train farmers in organic farming, and buy from farmers at the farm gate.
Organic Kitchen will utilise the funds to ensure offline customer acquisition and cluster formation at the society level to optimise last-mile delivery costs. It believes that implementing digital marketing initiatives will enable it to acquire customers through specific hero products and allow customers to order across categories.
Krishnank Atrey, Executive Director and Co-founder of Organic Kitchen, said, “With the support of our investors, we are excited to move forward with our plans for transforming conventional kitchens into organic kitchens and promoting organic food consumption culture across Indian households.”
Sidharth Chaudhary, Angel Investor of Organic Kitchen, said, “The demand for organic produce is massive these days, and the Organic Kitchen is on the right path to deliver authentic organic products straight from the farms to customers’ doorsteps. I’m impressed with the team’s noble concept of implementing organic farming methods and their initiatives for rightly complementing the farmers’ efforts and overall well-being. I look forward to investing in Organic Kitchen throughout its future journey and supporting them financially as they progress towards this remarkable impact-driven journey.”
Startup: Super4
Sector: Fantasy gaming
Amount: INR 10 crore
Led by: Indian Investors
Super4, “India ka apna gaming app” one of the emerging players in the fantasy gaming sector has announced its entry into the market with an initial seed funding of INR 10 Cr. Witnessing the growth of fantasy gaming in India and the growth of customer interest in the sector, Super4 comes with a fresh approach to transition the fantasy gaming world for cricket fans across India.
With the backing of INR 10 crore from Indian Investors, Super4 intends to expand and strengthen its team across multiple verticals and kickstart its venture into the fantasy gaming market.
Rohit Bansal, Founder & Director, Super4,on the launch of the application said, “We are excited to launch Super4, a first-of-its-kind fantasy sports platform which is easy to use, yet has an exciting game-play that leverages a gamer’s skill to give fantasy sports fanatics the ultimate thrill of competing in real-time against one another and to have an understanding of cricket as a whole through reading pitch conditions and the effect of the overall environment on the game and its predictions. We thank our stakeholders and well-wishers for their continuous support and trust in us.”
Startup: Webnyay
Sector: Online dispute resolution & grievance redressal
Amount: Undisclosed
Led by: Inflection Point Ventures
Indian online dispute resolution and grievance redressal platform, Webnyay raised an undisclosed amount, in its Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from SucSEED Indovation Fund. The funds raised will be utilized towards scaling up the products, building AI, machine learning, and NLP capabilities, strengthening the security of the platform, and enhancing the capability for resolving disputes in open networks like the Account Aggregator, ONDC, and OCEN networks. Additionally, Webnyay will develop a go-to-market strategy.
Vinay Bansal, Founder, and CEO, of Inflection Point Ventures, says, “Tech startups in the last decade have demonstrated how technology can be used to solve real problems from cab-hailing to grocery delivery within minutes. Judiciary in India too leveraged tech from the start of the pandemic to deliver justice. The comfort and trust to use tech-enabled platforms for Dispute Resolution remain an untapped market largely because of obvious challenges. Webnyay is making a bold move in this segment as a pioneering legal tech platform built in India that has global relevance in Grievance Redressal and Dispute Resolution. As a believer in backing great companies with great founders, Webnyay delivers on this parameter for IPV.”
Startup: Magma
Sector: B2B manufacturing & supply chain for building materials
Amount: US$ 515,000
Led by: WEH Ventures
Cross border B2B manufacturing and supply chain enablement platform for building materials Magma has raised pre-seed funding of $515k funding led by WEH Ventures with participation from All in Capital, PointOne Capital, Angelist India and marquee angels including Revant Bhate (Man Matters), Subin Mitra and Pratik Tiwari (Groyyo), Pawan Gupta and Abhishek Sharma (Fashinza) and more.
The funding will be used to scale the team across manufacturing clusters in India and invest in product and technology.
Rohit Krishna, Partner at WEH Ventures, said, “We believe that manufacturing is going to be a key driver in the next leg of growth for India, and the China plus one policy is acting as an accelerant to this trend. We understand that each industry within the SME manufacturing sector is unique and the key is to find the strong wedge to keep the supply-side engaged and happy. On that note, Neal has been one of the most agile founders we have ever met; every week he not only brings new insights to the table on what the industry needs but he also turns those ideas into a product and deploys it incredibly quickly.”
