Funding round | Business Upturn

Altigreen Propulsion explores $85 million funding round, targets production expansion

Viditha Ganji — Mon, 29 May 2023 17:33:25 +0000

Altigreen Propulsion Labs Pvt Ltd., an Indian electric cargo vehicle manufacturer backed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, is reportedly considering raising approximately seven billion rupees ($85 million) in a new funding round. The funds will be utilized to enhance production capacity and invest in new vehicle models, according to sources familiar with the matter. Altigreen is aiming for a valuation of around $350 million in this funding round, with the possibility of existing investors selling their shares.

While the discussions are still in the early stages, Altigreen’s Chief Executive Officer, Amitabh Saran, confirmed that the company is actively fundraising and aims to conclude the process by July. Founded in 2013, Altigreen specializes in designing and manufacturing electric cargo three-wheelers, boasting an annual production capacity of 55,000 vehicles.

In its previous series A funding round last year, Altigreen raised approximately three billion rupees, with Sixth Sense Ventures leading the investment. Notably, Reliance New Energy Ltd., Xponentia Capital Partners, Momentum Venture Capital, and Accurant International also participated in the funding.

Altigreen’s strategic vision aligns with the growing demand for sustainable transportation solutions in India. With Mukesh Ambani’s support and a solid investor base, the company aims to leverage the latest funding to bolster its production capabilities and introduce innovative electric vehicle models. The funds will play a crucial role in scaling up operations and meeting the rising market demand for eco-friendly cargo vehicles.

Altigreen’s commitment to environmentally conscious mobility solutions has positioned it as a key player in India’s electric vehicle sector. As the country continues to prioritize sustainable transportation, Altigreen’s expertise and advanced technologies enable it to capitalize on the evolving market dynamics.

The potential success of Altigreen’s fundraising efforts will not only contribute to the company’s growth trajectory but also drive the adoption of electric vehicles and promote a greener future in India. With a focus on expanding production capacity and investing in new models, Altigreen is poised to play a significant role in India’s ongoing transition towards sustainable and efficient transportation solutions.

Fintech startup Niro raises $11 million in Series A funding round

Viditha Ganji — Mon, 29 May 2023 16:46:20 +0000

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Niro has successfully raised $11 million in a Series A funding round, marking a significant milestone in the company’s growth. The funding round, which combined equity and debt, saw participation from a group of investors, including Elevar Equity, GMO Venture Partners, Rebright Partners, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance VC, and others. This latest injection of capital follows Niro’s previous seed funding round in October 2021, where it raised $3.5 million led by Elevar Equity.

Founded in 2021 by Aditya Kumar and Sankalp Mathur, Niro operates as a consumer lending platform that enables e-commerce platforms to provide credit options to their customers. The startup has already partnered with prominent online platforms such as Snapdeal, Quikr, and Housing.com, facilitating loan disbursements totaling over Rs 300 crore across 200 cities since its launch.

With the latest funding, Niro aims to expand its partner network, enhance its product offerings, strengthen its risk analytics capabilities, and invest in technological advancements. The company is targeting a growth trajectory that would elevate its current annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $4 million to $12 million.

Aditya Kumar, Founder and CEO of Niro, expressed confidence in the company’s profitability, stating that although they are currently profitable at a unit level, full profitability is expected to be achieved within the next 18-20 months. Kumar also revealed plans to increase the number of partners to 25 within the next 12-15 months, further expanding Niro’s reach and impact.

Niro’s success can be attributed to its innovative approach in facilitating credit access for consumers, particularly in the e-commerce sector. By collaborating with established online platforms, the startup bridges the gap between consumers and credit options, enabling them to make purchases and fulfill their needs conveniently.

The fintech industry in India has witnessed substantial growth in recent years, with startups like Niro playing a crucial role in driving financial inclusion and expanding access to credit. As the company continues to scale its operations, it is expected to contribute significantly to the development of India’s digital economy and financial landscape.

Niro’s funding success reflects investor confidence in the startup’s business model, as well as the potential for growth and impact in the fintech sector. The company’s strategic plans to leverage the raised capital for expansion and technology enhancement demonstrate a clear vision for the future.

The fintech sector in India is poised for further advancements, and Niro’s continued growth and success will serve as a testament to the country’s thriving startup ecosystem and its ability to foster innovation in the financial services industry.

As Niro embarks on its next phase of growth, industry observers and consumers alike will be keen to see how the company utilizes its newfound resources to drive financial inclusion, improve credit access, and shape the future of consumer lending in India.

Investment platform Univest raises $1.5 M in Seed Funding Round

Sakshi Vats — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 14:35:33 +0000

Univest, the AI-driven investment platform, raised USD 1.5 million in a seed round of funding that was led by the US-based Trinity Media group and included business titans McKinsey, Reliance Industries, Tata AIA, Raheja Group, OYO, and Envision Learning from Canada, as well as previous backers who had confidence in the platform.

Pranit Arora, Avneet Dhamija, and Vikash Agrawal founded Univest six months ago. The company helps users identify profitable opportunities in their portfolios based on their investment style. Users of Univest Elite, which offers fixed-high return, low-risk investment plans, can earn up to 12% returns annually and utilise this information to make wise investing choices.

With over 300,000 investors already putting their trust in Univest and having portfolios worth at least 700 crores, the platform has one of the strongest retention rates in the wealth management industry.

Co-founder and CEO of Univest Pranit Arora commented on the fundraising, saying, “The new funds raised will be utilised to strengthen our financial product distribution business and scale up the right talent. Univest has partnered with Faircent to introduce their inaugural low-risk, high-yield investment products on the platform”.

President and CEO of Trinity Media Group, Gurjot Batra, commented on the situation,“I am excited about the platform’s use of cutting-edge AI technology to provide personalised recommendations to help investors exit bad investments and capitalise on high-yield opportunities. We see Univest as a valuable tool for maximising return on investment and avoiding missed opportunities for the retail investors globally. I have high hopes for Univest’s future growth and am thrilled to be a part of their journey”.

Fair Trust Plans to raise $2 million through Private Seed Round

United News of India (UNI) — Wed, 04 May 2022 08:26:09 +0000

Kolkata, May 4: The Fair Trust, an ecosystem building a new-age financial platform, on Wednesday announced the launch of the presale of The Fair Trust Token (TFT) through a Private Seed Round. The opportunity will be open for private investors and early TFT community members till the end of May 2022. Investors who wish to join The Fair Trust community can go to The Fair Trust website and make the investment. The company aims to raise $2 million through this round. The Fair Trust aims to provide liquidity to its community members and distribute the rewards to those investing in the projects. The goal of The Fair Trust is to build a financial platform that gives profit back to its stakeholders by providing them passive income and helping them secure their future.

Investors who participate in the Private Seed Round have the choice to either sell some or all of their tokens on the BSC exchange or stake TFT in the Fair Investment to earn passive income in the form of daily returns, monthly bonuses, and guaranteed quarterly dividends. They also have the option to deposit TFT in The Fair Loan vaults, the world’s first interest paying loan, and get an instant BUSD loan of 50% of the TFT value and in addition, earn interest on the TFT deposited.

With the funds collected through the Private Seed Round, the platform aims to build a treasury backed by the community to fund the next generations of revolutionary blockchain projects spanning across various sectors including New-Age Banking, Artist Launchpad, Real Estate, Digital Marketplace, & Gaming to name a few. These projects will be used to give back to the stakeholders in the form of rewards. And will help to fund The Fair Investment and The Fair Loan.

The Fair Trust will kick start with three projects. The first project, The Fair Game will be the world’s first gaming platform. Where opponents can wager NFTs from various blockchains over skill-based games. The second project, The Fair Fund, is a platform. Where high worth value NFTs will be tokenized into smaller parts. To make it more affordable for individual investors. And build the largest tokenized NFT exchange. Lastly, The Fair Studio, is an NFT Launchpad for artists from various genres. Physical and digital art, photography, music, and videography. Micky P., Co-founder & CTO, The Fair Trust, said. “We are thrilled to announce the launch of our Presale. Through Private Seed Round. Pre-sale is a very crucial step for every startup. As it helps to bootstrap the vision of the founding team and make it a reality.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is one of the fastest-growing areas within the crypto space and is here to stay. Keeping stakeholders at the center. We are working towards building a new-age financial platform that gives profit back to its stakeholders. With the funds collected through the Private Seed Round. We will be building a highly inclusive community of new-age investors. Who wish to be a part of revolutionary blockchain projects and benefit from it”.

OYO to target $9 billion valuation in IPO: Report

Malvika Choudhary — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:21:45 +0000

The Indian multinational OTA- OYO’s will be among the biggest IPOs since Paytm’s. In its preliminary filing, the company said it planned to raise Rs 8,430 crores after preliminary conversations with investors.

In January 2022, more than 500 current and former employees of OYO, bought over 3 crore shares in the company. The total value of these shares can be approximated to about INR 330 crores, as per the last valuation of OYO of $9.6 bn.

The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed startup is speculated to get the appraisal to move on with the offering this week or next after filing prior documents last year. A formal roadshow will begin after regulatory approval and determine final pricing.

Oyo is extending its paid-up share capital base where equity and preference share got a split of 1:10. Furthermore, the equity shareholders have a bonus of 3999 shares and preference shareholders have been given a conversion ratio of 1:4000 for equity shares which changed from 1:1.

It was speculated that the startup has examined to offer a discount of approx 15% on the $10 billion proffered by bankers during early discussions. The valuation Oyo is targeting would be lower than the $12 billion initially reported in local media last year and probably lower than the $10 billion level the startup hit in 2019.

Reliance Retail picks 25% stake in Dunzo with an investment of ₹200 million

Malvika Choudhary — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 12:11:55 +0000

Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail arm bought 25.8% shares in an on-demand delivery start-up, Dunzo for 200 milion dollars in the latest round of funding today. The Bengaluru based company raised a total of $240 M in the round led by Reliance Retail with participation from Lightbox, Light rock, 3L Capital and Alteria.

In addition to the funding, Reliance and dunzo will also enter into certain business partnerships. Dunzo will enable hyperlocal logistics for retail stores operated by Reliance Retail, further adding to Reliance retail omnichannel capabilities. Dunzo will also facilitate last-mile deliveries for the Jio marts merchant network.

“Through our partnership with Dunzo, we will be able to provide increased convenience to Reliance Retail’s consumers and differentiated customer experience through the rapid delivery of products from Reliance Retail stores,” says Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures.

Kabeer Biswas, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder, Dunzo, said, “With this investment from Reliance Retail, we will have a long-term partner with whom we can accelerate growth and redefine how Indians shop for their daily and weekly essentials.”

It is highly anticipated that the trading is done to overcome the competition from the competitors like Swiggy and other delivery platforms and emerge as country largest quick commence in the country.

Dunzo is an Indian company that provides delivery services in 8 Indian cities namely- Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The company also operates a Bike Taxi service in Gurugram. It is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. In 2017, it was backed by Google.

Good Glamm Group turns unicorn after amassing $150 million through funding

Cheryll Jain — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 16:02:34 +0000

The Good Glamm Group — parent company to direct-to-consumer beauty brand MyGlamm — has entered the ranks of unicorn startups in India after it reached a total valuation of $1.2 billion owing to the latest round of funding headed by private equity investors Prosus Ventures (Naspers) and Warburg Pincus.

In the Series D round of funding, the group entity, comprised of three brands — MyGlamm, digital media platform POPxo and online parenting startup BabyChakra, amassed $150 million with participation from existing investors L’Occitane, Bessemer Venture Partners, Amazon, Ascent Capital and the Mankekar Family Office. Venture debt fund Alteria Capital also joined the fundraising round.

Of the cumulative fresh funds raised during the round, $140 million was raised as primary capital. Meanwhile, $10 million was raised through a secondary share sale which led to the partial exit of Chiratae Ventures from the company. Several other high net worth individuals have also exited the company following the secondary sale, MyGlamm’s founder Darpan Sanghvi revealed.

The startup is aiming to utilise the fresh influx of funds for sustaining value engines for its brands, Sanghvi stated. It will also invest in expanding its product offering, promoting data science and technology research, increasing offline development, and financing the company’s working capital requirements.

Moreover, a part of the funds will be employed to enhance the content production capabilities and digital influence of the startup’s various digital brands including POPxo, Plixxo, BabyChakra and ScoopWhoop. The group will also continue to make investments in more beauty and personal care brands.

The Glamm Group is now the first beauty commerce brand this year to enter the esteemed unicorn startup club, becoming the 35th domestic company to attain unicorn status in 2021.

Intra-city logistics provider Porter raises ₹750 crores in the latest funding round

Cheryll Jain — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 13:16:47 +0000

Tech-based intra-city logistics provider Porter hit Rs. 3,750 crore (approx. $500 million) in valuation following the latest round of funding during which the company managed to raise Rs.750 crores, Porter announced on Monday, October 25.

In the series E round of funding led by Tiger Global Management and Vitruvian Partners, the company saw participation from existing investors with existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Lightrock India. Meanwhile, IndigoEdge acted as the exclusive advisor to Porter during the funding round.

With the fresh funds, the company will look towards expanding operations across the top 35 cities in India, acquiring new talent and establishing and strengthening its position in the on-demand logistics market. Porter has continuously recorded a triple-digit annual growth since its inception in 2014 and is currently operational in 13 cities in India with more than 5 million customers and 200,000 drivers on board.

Porter offers an intra-city logistics service and has launched an on-demand marketplace for LCVs and bikes. It is also becoming a key contender in packers and movers services.

The company has reported that its tech-based marketplace helps drivers earn 30 per cent more and also offers a lower waiting time to customers, factors that sets it apart from other competitors. Moreover, Porter is also one of the only logistics models that are 100 per cent asset-light and have a negative working capital cycle.

Commenting on the development, Porter’s Chief Executive Officer Pranav Goel stated that keeping in mind the current economic scenario, the successful funding round comes as a testament to the execution of the company’s entire team. He also expressed excitement to have onboard the two Global funds leading the company’s latest funding round.

Online investment startup Groww crosses $3 billion in valuation

Cheryll Jain — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 05:32:49 +0000

Bangalore-based online investment platform Groww announced on Monday, October 25 that it has crossed $3 billion in valuation after raising $251 million in its latest round of funding. The milestone comes just six months after the startup had entered the coveted Unicorn club when it crossed $1 billion in total valuation in April.

In a Series E round of funding led by US-based investment firm ICONIQ Growth, the startup tripled its valuation. Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners participated in the new financing round.

With the raised funds, Groww is aiming to further its reach in the under-penetrated markets in India along with building its team and investing in tech infrastructure. The company will also invest in spreading awareness on financial matters.

“We will look at adding government bonds and other fixed-income products. We are also launching derivatives. Plus, there is a lot to build for our mutual funds vertical itself,” stated Groww’s Co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre on the company’s plans to diversify its offerings with the fresh funds.

Groww has been steadily expanding to become a key player in the online investment market in India. More than 200 million people in India use digital payment methods, but the market for online investment platforms is small, with only around 30 million currently investing in mutual funds and stocks in the country.

The startup had over 15 million registered users earlier this year, two-thirds of whom were first-time investors. For its platform, Groww is looking to build a userbase of amateur investors from small cities and towns and make investing in stocks and mutual funds more accessible.

Groww was valued at $250 million in September last year. But in its last Series D round of funding led by Tiger Global in April, the company had raised $38 million which helped to propel the startup to unicorn status. Groww has now raised over $390 million to date through various rounds of funding and continues to expand its operations as it was approved for the acquisition of the mutual fund arm of the Indiabulls Group for Rs.175 crores earlier this year in September.