Weekly Funding Roundup – India
Sixth Sense Ventures invests in fragrance brand Phool.co
Fragrance brand Phool.co has raised $8 million in a series A round from domestic consumer-focussed venture fund, Sixth Sense Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investors, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt and IAN fund.
“With this fundraise, Phool plans to scale operations, explore the untapped domestic and global growth opportunities and build India’s largest fragrance brand. Furthermore, it also will be rapidly scaling the R&D efforts to make animal leather obsolete with its trademark Fleather, a vegan alternative to animal leather,” the company said in a statement.
PlayVerse raises seed funding of $1.5M from Japan’s Akatsuki Inc
Technology-enabled entertainment company PlayVerse has raised $1.5 million as seed funding from Japanese gaming company Akatsuki Inc. The platform will be focusing on its mission of providing an enriching experience to the end consumers of the country. With an aim of increasing cross-border collaborations between India and Japan, PlayVerse looks to maximise the monetisation potential of popular Japanese IPs and brands in India.
Also read: Weekly Funding Updates – Asia (Mar 25 – Apr 01)
EnKash raises $20 million from Ascent Capital, Baring India and White Ventures
EnKash, a spends management platform and corporate cards company, has raised $20 million as a part of its Series B round that was led by Ascent Capital with participation from Baring India and Singapore-based White Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investors, Mayfield India and Axilor Ventures.
According to Hemant Vishnoi, cofounder, EnKash, the startup intends to use the fresh capital to further expand its offerings and introduce innovative offerings around banking-as-a-service, scaling up its ‘plug and play’ cards issuance stack, and expand its geographical reach internationally.
IndiQube raises USD 30 million to help finance the next phase of expansion
India’s preferred flexible workspace provider IndiQube has raised $30 million to help finance the next phase of expansion.
The funding round saw participation from IndiQube’s promoters, investment firm WestBridge Capital and angel investor Ashish Gupta. Out of $30 million, IndiQube’s promoters themselves have infused $17 mn.
Over the next two years, IndiQube plan to more than double our pan-India footprint to more than 10 million square feet, venture into 15+ tier II cities and further ramp up technology integration, creating a consistent experience for the clients.
Jimmy’s Cocktails Raises Funding To Take Omnichannel Approach For Expansion
Gurugram-based F&B startup Jimmy’s Cocktails has raised $1.8 Mn (INR 14 Cr) in Pre-Series A funding round led by Roots Ventures.
The round saw participation from 7Square Ventures, Ship Rocket’s Vishesh Khurana, Mama Earth’s Varun Alagh and existing investors including HDFC’s Keki Mistry, T&T Motors’ Vidur Talwar, CLSA’s Anirudh Somani, among others.
Jimmy’s Cocktails will use fresh capital to expand its business in India and abroad. It will further infuse money in brand awareness and launch new SKUs. The startup plans to expand via an omnichannel approach with on-premise, QSRs, CSD touchpoints.
Online Freight Logistics Startup Cogoport Raises ₹40 Crore Via Accel Partners
Mumbai-based online freight logistics startup Cogoport has raised about Rs. 40 crore in Series A funding round from private equity investor Accel Partners, reported Times of India. Although, the startup has not disclosed the amount however according to different media outlets the amount is close to ₹40-₹50 crore.
The fund raised will enable Cogoport to invest in developing new products and fuel business growth by expanding globally and increase its footprint in domestic market.
Bombay Play Secures $7 Mn To Ramp Up Game Offerings
Bombay Play will use the fresh capital to scale its existing hypersocial game offerings, supporting upcoming projects while also devoting a sum towards innovation in the segment. Bombay Play claims to have grown 3X year-on-year (YoY) since its inception. Bombay Play has created various games including Dice Merge Puzzle, Card Party, and Daily Word Puzzle. Bombay Play presently monetises its games via advertisements and in-app purchases. Mobile-first gaming community startup Turnip and Delhi NCR-based gaming startup Zupee also raised money in January this year.
Robotics Startup CynLr Raises $4.5 Mn To Enter The US Market
Bengaluru-based robotics startup CynLr has raised $4.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Speciale Invest and growX Ventures.
The round also saw participation from investors including Anicut Capital, Infoedge, Java Capital, Venture Catalysts and Arali Ventures. Angel investors including Srivats Ram (MD, Wheels India), Shriram Vijayaraghavan (president, Wheels India), Arvind Vasu (former Asia Head, ABB Technology Ventures), Nalin Advani (former CEO, Asia Pacific, GreyOrange Robotics) and Jayaram Pillai (former MD – India, Russia, Arabia, NI).
With the current round, CynLr claims to have raised a total funding of $5.25 Mn to date.
The robotics startup plans to enter the US market, scale its team and also, build capacity to address the current pipeline of customers and deliver 100 robots annually.
