What Did You Miss This Week in the Indian Start-up Ecosystem? The week saw a string of acquisitions, fund raises that have finally put an end to the dull spell surrounding the community
By Bhavya Kaushal •
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The last week did not pass by without any action for the Indian start-up ecosystem. Moreover, the week saw a string of acquisitions, fund raises that have finally put an end to the dull spell surrounding the community.
Here is everything from the action-packed week:
Dunzo Ventures into a New Space
While logistics is the flavour of the season, startups are leaving no stone unturned to venture into new spaces and expand. The latest to join the bandwagon is on-demand delivery start-up Dunzo, which has launched a new B2B logistics service for retailers and small business owners called Checkout with Dunzo. The logistics support which Dunzo has sought through this move will open up the possibility to tie-up with any store which has an online presence through its website or app.
China's Bet on the Indian Video Market
To say that India's video market is large is an understatement. In today's time, video platforms are a booming industry especially in the Indian subcontinent and every international or domestic enterprise seems to be eager in leveraging from the popularity of these platforms. The latest country to put heavy bets on India's video market is none other than China. In the latest development post, the ban of TikTok, e-commerce giant Alibaba has reportedly pumped $100 million dollars in Vmate, a social video platform with the single-minded aim to expand its ranks in the Indian market.
Mergers and Acquisitions
In mergers and acquisitions this week, Info Edge (India) Ltd, which is the parent company of hiring giant, Naukri.com, announced that it will acquire Highorbit Careers in an all-cash deal worth INR 80.82 Cr.
Agritech start-up, DeHaat, acquired Vezamart, a platform which builds farm management solutions for farmers.
Retail startup Printo acquired printing marketplace Inkmonk for an undisclosed amount.
Gurugram-based health test enabler Healthians acquired Mumbai-based Wow Web Solutions Private Limited.
Funding Report
This week saw numerous start-ups raising funding. In terms of number, this week has been better than the other weeks. The spell of stagnation was got broken that had been looming over the Indian start-up ecosystem for a long time.
It has been a while ever since India got a unicorn. The list of current unicorns might be small in India's case but the list of start-ups which can turn unicorns in the coming months and years is long and a total antithesis to the former.
Reports are rife, soon-to-be unicorn Lenskart is looking to raise $350 million from SoftBank Vision fund and whereas, PhonePe, which is dreaming even bigger is looking to raise $1 billion dollars from its marquee investors like Tencent and Tiger Global.
During the week, the largest quantum of funding was raised by beer brand Bira91. It raised $20 million in a bridge funding round. GlowRoad raised $11.5 million in a Series B funding, FreshToHome raised $11million Series A funding round. Among the smaller rounds of funding Airblack raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round, Clairco raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding, Agara Labs raised $2.5 million in pre-Series A funding round.
