The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (20th May - 24th May)
The Indian startup ecosystem has set a new record by bagging another round of funding in a few sectors like Artificial Intelligence, Home Décor, Nanotechnology, Loan lending & Luxury Clothing marking another win for the startupreneurs by raising funds and updating the growth probability and standardizing the products and services. The week went by successfully witnessing funds in every stage of funding from Seed Funding to Pre-Series A to Series A to Institutional Funding.
Sector: Artificial intelligence
Funding Round: Seed Round
Startup: UnifyApps
Established Year: 2023
Funding News: Software Integration startup UnifyApps bags $11 million in seed round funding
San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, UnifyApps has secured $11 million in seed funding to develop a cohesive integration platform, enabling enterprises to expedite the creation of customized applications, streamline workflow automations, and synchronize data seamlessly across various applications in real-time.
Investor: Elevation Capital
The startup is aiming to expand their platform in order to support 5,000 applications, advance the capabilities of generative AI and build large language model-powered agents.
The startup UnifyApps was co-founded by Pavitar Singh (CEO), Sumeet Nandal (COO), Abhishek Kurana (CPO), Rachit Mittal (CTO), Abhinav Singi (VP Engineering), Rahul Anishetty (VP Engineering), Kavish Manubolu (VP Engineering), and Shivam Satrawal (VP Product Management).
According to the CEO of UnifyApps, Pavitar Singh, the increasing popularity of SaaS applications has resulted in the creation of isolated groups within organizations, each using their own tools that are not interconnected with the rest of the organization. UnifyApps aims to address this issue by simplifying and making integration more accessible, ultimately improving the experiences of both customers and employees.
Sector: Home Decor
Funded Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: Vaaree
Established Year: 2022
Funding News: Home-Furnishing Startup Vaaree lifts $2.5 million in Pre-Series A
Vaaree, Home Furnishing & Décor Startup has raised 
20.78 crore ($2.5 million) in a Pre-Series A round.
20.78 crore ($2.5 million) in a Pre-Series A round.
Investors: Capier Investment & Peak XV’s Surge Ventures
Vaaree has raised around $7 million to date including a $4 million seed cash directed by Peak XV’s Surge Ventures & with the cooperation of Vistra, Better Capital, Capier Investments, and All in Capital in September last year.
Established in 2022 by Garima Luthra, Pranav Arora, and Varun Vohra, Vaaree takes care of home stylistic theme across classifications including furnishing, kitchen, stylistic theme, shower, & home garden.
Vaaree was a piece of the eighth cohort of Flood’s gas pedal program & it likewise raised assets from heavenly messengers like Kunal Shah, Arjun Vaidya, Vineeta Singh, Ghazal Alagh, Varun Dua, Manish Dugar, Anjali Bansal, Suhail Sameer, & Ruchi Deepak, among others.
In its first financial year (FY23), Vaaree’s income from operations was recorded at 1.91 crore while the loss of the firm remained at 3.5 crore in a similar period.
1.91 crore while the loss of the firm remained at 3.5 crore in a similar period.
The organization is yet to record its financial outcomes for FY24. Livspace, HomeLane and Furlenco are the first rate supported new companies in the home style space.
Sector: Nanotechnology
Funding Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: NoPo Nanotechnologies
Established Year: 2019
Funding News: Bengaluru-based NoPo Nanotechnologies upraises $3 million in Pre-Series A
The startup which acts as the cross border e-commerce platform for consumer goods called BEYOBO has secured a funding of 6.7 crore in pre-Series A2 round.
6.7 crore in pre-Series A2 round.
Investors: Axilor’s Micelio Fund, Inflexor Ventures, Aureolis, Spectrum Impact, and angel investors.
The implantation of capital will be used to increase creation, upgrade designing capacities, and execute an exhaustive worldwide go-to-showcase methodology.
Established by Dr. Gadhadar Reddy & Kelley Bradley, NoPo Nanotechnologies has created exclusive innovation for delivering excellent Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes - SWCNTs.
This cutting-edge material can be used for a wide range of things, like increasing the energy density of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) & supporting quantum computing research in semiconductors.
NoPo Nanotechnologies stands apart as the main Indian organization and one of only a handful of exceptional universally to deliver SWCNTs utilizing a proprietary patented method. Over the course of the past five years, this material has been consistently produced by the company, which is now concentrating on increasing its capacity to meet the rising demand in deep-tech from customers all over the world.
Sector: Loan lending
Funding Round: Series A
Startup: Varthana
Established Year: 2013
Funding News: Varthana nets 27 crore Fund from Omidyar Network in Series A
27 crore Fund from Omidyar Network in Series A
Varthana, a Bengaluru-based NBFC – Non-Bank Financial Company has efficiently elevated 27 crore in a Series A funding round
27 crore in a Series A funding round
Investors: Omidyar Network alongside already existed investors including LGT Venture Philanthropy & Elevar Equity.
Established by Brajesh Mishra & Steve Hardgrave in the year 2013, Bengaluru-based Varthana offers affordable loans to low-cost educational news & private schools. These loans are gradually utilized to enhance the quality of schools & augment the capacity.
Regarding this fundraise, Steve Hardgrave, Founder & CEO at Varthana says, “We are honored to serve the incredible women and men who provide affordable, quality education to India’s low- and middle-income families. Our goal is to support these education entrepreneurs as they continue to grow their institutions”.
Expressing on the company’s growth, he further adds, “While we are extremely satisfied with our rapid growth, we are even more excited about the strong foundation we have laid in regard to systems and management. This will pave the way for much bigger things”.Sector: Software development
Sector: Luxury Clothing
Funding Round: Institutional Funding
Startup: Rare Rabbit
Established Year: 2011
Funding News: Rare Rabbit closes 500 crore worth funding round led by A91 Partners
500 crore worth funding round led by A91 Partners
NoPo Nanotechnologies, a pioneering nanotechnology startup, raised $3 million in a successful Pre-Series A funding round.
Investors: A91 Partners, Ravi Modi, Founder - Vedant Fashions, Nikhil Kamath - Co-Founder, Zerodha.
According to the people aware about the funding deals, the total transaction will see around 250 crore in crucial capital receive to the company with the rest of the capital being a secondary share sale by the husband-wife two-some Akshika & Manish Poddar
250 crore in crucial capital receive to the company with the rest of the capital being a secondary share sale by the husband-wife two-some Akshika & Manish Poddar
After the funding round, the valuation of Rare Rabbit stood at 2,200 crore. Till now, the startup is self-funded & emerging as a key player among the competitive landscape of D2C brands.
2,200 crore. Till now, the startup is self-funded & emerging as a key player among the competitive landscape of D2C brands.
One of the investor from the round said, “Many premium brands have crossed the Rs 1,000-2,000 crore revenue mark as apparel premiumisation proceeds at a rapid pace … In a year like FY24, when growth has been slower for many brands, the premium segment has grown at a fast clip”.
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