AbleCredit, Maxvolt Energy, Skippi, and Inspeq AI Raise Early-Stage Funding The startups listed below have disclosed investment rounds.

AbleCredit Bags USD 1.25 Mn in Seed Round Led by Merak Ventures

AI credit underwriting company AbleCredit has announced the raising of USD 1.25 million (INR 10 crore) in its seed round led by Merak Ventures. Helios Holdings (Suraj Nalin) and Venture Catalysts also participated in the financing.

The raised funding will enable the Bengaluru-based startup to scale its AI operations, along with business growth and expansion.

Founded in 2023 by Utkarsh Apoorva, Harshad Saykhedkar, Ashwini Prabhu, and Anubhab Bandyopadhyay, the startup is developing generative AI models with voice, vision, and language capabilities that function like an AI assistant to the credit team and can generate credit reports on a case to case basis while adhering to the credit policy and guidelines.

Utkarsh Apoorva, Co-founder and CEO of AbleCredit, said, "Emerging economies are facing a significant credit gap in the MSME sector, leading to unemployment and economic barriers. At AbleCredit, our AI system leverages voice, vision, and language capabilities to extend credit analysis into traditionally overlooked sectors. This approach enables us to serve a wide range of industries by analysing alternative data sources to produce comprehensive credit assessments."

Maxvolt Energy Raises USD 1.5 Mn from Angel Investors

Lithium battery manufacturer and supplier Maxvolt Energy has raised USD 1.5 million in funding from multiple angel investors.

This raised capital infusion will support Maxvolt Energy's ambitious plans to advance sustainable energy solutions and strengthen its market position by introducing fast-charging lithium-ion batteries soon.

Satendra Shukla, Chief Business Officer of Maxvolt Energy, said, "This investment will accelerate our research and development efforts, enhance the production capacity, and expand our market reach, enabling us to significantly impact reducing carbon footprints through sustainable practices and innovative technology."

Established in 2019, Maxvolt Energy manufactures and supplies lithium battery packs for electric vehicles (EVs), energy storage systems, and medical device batteries.

Shukla emphasised that, as a purpose-driven organisation, Maxvolt is dedicated to providing eco-friendly energy solutions through its cutting-edge lithium-based batteries.

"We are developing a fast-charging solution that will significantly reduce customers' charging times. In the prototype development phase, the company aims to launch the final product in phases by the end of 2024 after thorough R&D. In the first phase, we will reduce the charging time to 2 hours and 1 hour in the subsequent phase," he added.

The Noida-based platform states that it registered revenue of INR 48.60 crore in the last fiscal year with a 100% CAGR.

Skippi Raises INR 10 Cr in Pre-Series A Led by Hyderabad Angel Network and Venture Catalysts

Ice pop brand Skippi has announced the raising of INR 10 crore in a pre-series A round led by Hyderabad Angel Network (HAN) and Venture Catalysts (VCATs).

The round also saw participation from Soonicorn Ventures, HEM Securities, and several angel investors. Skippi is in discussions to secure an additional INR 7 crore in the coming weeks.

The capital will be primarily allocated to brand building and marketing initiatives, with a focus on enhancing working capital, driving new product development, and hiring key leadership personnel for the next phase of growth.

Ravi Kabra, CEO and Co-Founder of Skippi, said, "With this money, we will focus on building our brand, creating new products, and bringing in great talent to our leadership team."

Launched in 2021 by Ravi and Anuja Kabra, Skippi's ice pops are available in over 20,000 outlets and major online platforms, including Zepto, Swiggy Insta, Cred, Amazon, Skippi.in, and Big Basket.

The Hyderabad-based platform bagged investments from Shark Tank India Season 1 from all six sharks—Aman Gupta, Ashneer Grover, Anupam Mittal, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, and Piyush Bansal—who collectively invested INR 1.2 crore for an 18% equity stake.

Pradeep Dhobale, Vice Chairman and Lead Investor, Hyderabad Angels, said, "Skippi has demonstrated that there are vacant spaces available for startups in FMCG Foods, even though the category is dominated by large multinationals and domestic players."

Inspeq AI Bags INR 9.1 Cr in Pre-Series A Led by Sure Valley Ventures

Responsible AI development platform provider Inspeq AI announced that it has raised USD 1.1 million (approx INR 9.13 crore) in a pre-Series-A round led by Sure Valley Ventures, with participation from Delta Partners.

Other investors in the round include Plug and Play and several marquee angel investors, including Gaurav Singh Kushwaha (Founder and CEO of BlueStone), Prateek Dixit (Founder of Pocket FM), Rick Kelly (Former MD of Meta Ireland), Cyril Treacy (Former VP of Salesforce), and other tech executives.

The platform plans to use this investment to expand its product development team and extend its marketing and sales operations in India, Ireland, and the UK.

"This investment will greatly accelerate Inspeq AI's growth trajectory as we work towards advancing AI safety and performance on a global scale," said Apoorva Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of Inspeq AI. "Winning the backing of such marquee investors also moves us closer to realising Inspeq AI's mission to become the global leader in safe and reliable AI."

Founded in 2023 in Dublin, Ireland, by Apoorva Kumar and Ramanujam Macharla Vijayakumar, Inspeq AI has built an enterprise-ready LLM Ops platform to help developers evaluate and improve their enterprise AI applications.

The company's platform promises to make Gen AI app development up to 4X faster. The platform also promises to cut down on development costs by up to 70%.

Ramanujam Macharla Vijayakumar, Co-founder and CTO of Inspeq AI, stated, "We have built an enterprise-grade platform that integrates seamlessly with existing data tools, prioritising data security with cutting-edge research, and is helping companies reduce their manual verification tasks, achieving accurate output at scale."