Poshn, Gyan Live, and 50Fin Raise Early-Stage Funding The Indian startups listed below have disclosed their initial fundraising rounds.

Foodtech Startup Poshn Raises USD 4 Mn from Prime Ventures Partner and Zephyr Peacock

Food-tech startup Poshn announced that it has raised USD 4 million in equity and USD 2 million in debt in a pre-series A round led by Prime Venture Partners and Zephyr Peacock India.

In 2022, the startup raised USD 4 million in equity in a seed round with Prime Venture Partner and Zephyr Peacock. Additionally, it has partnered with banks and NBFCs for its debt requirements. Some notable names include ICICI Bank, Alteria Capital, UCIC, Northern Arc, Blacksoil, and Capsave.

Poshn plans to use the fresh funds to further build its innovative stack of solutions that address the gaps in the system. Besides, it will use the funds to expand the business to global markets with imports/exports in profitable categories to Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Shashank Singh, Co-founder of Poshn, said, "With the trust of investing partners and an infusion of fresh equity, we aggressively integrate forward and backward in the chain and open foreign/export markets over the next 12 months while growing profitably."

Founded in 2020 by Bhuvensh Gupta and Shashank Singh, Poshn is a full-stack food-tech supply chain company taking an integrated approach to solving effectiveness and efficiency in the entire food value chain in phases that include food processing units, wholesale buyers, institutions, general trade, and retailers.

Since its inception, the startup claims that it has established a presence in more than 16 states in India.

Prime Venture Partners added," Poshn has led by being a supply-first company and has meaningfully solved for the B2B food value chain. The company has always been bottom-line focused with a remarkable ROCE and wants to continue expanding that further by going deeper into the supply chain while also pursuing some full-stack vertical integrations. We believe Poshn will be a category-defining company in the coming years."

Government Exam Prep Platform Gyan Live Raises Strategic Investment from Classplus

Classplus, India's B2B edtech platform, announced a strategic investment in Gyan Live, an educational platform dedicated to state-level government exam preparation in Gujarat. Classplus has previously invested in the government exam preparation platform, Testbook.

With this undisclosed amount, Gyan Live plans to expand its offerings to include central government and school exam preparation in regional languages. This strategic funding will also enable Gyan Live to leverage Classplus' technology, enhancing the learning experience of their students and boosting their reach.

"Over the last few years, Gyan Live has solidified its position in the government exam preparation category in Gujarat, and this partnership allows us to broaden our impact and make our learning solutions available to more and more students in India," said Taral Patel, Co-founder of Gyan Live. "Classplus' expertise in digital learning and cutting-edge tech will be invaluable as we continue to scale and improve our existing offerings."

Founded in 2019 by Taral Patel, Mahesh Ahjoliya, and Chetan Patel, Gyan Live provides live classes, recorded lectures, comprehensive study materials, and test series to support students in their exam preparation journey through its app.

Fintech Startup 50Fin Secures USD 550K from Arali Ventures and Nitin Gupta

Fintech startup 50Fin announced that it has raised USD 550,000 in its latest funding round spearheaded by Arali Ventures and Nitin Gupta.

Prior to this, in July of last year, it had raised INR 4.25 crore (USD 500K) in a pre-seed funding round headed by 100X.VC, Keynote Capital, and Arun Venkatachalam.

The platform aims to deploy the raised funds to fuel its expansion plans and technological advancements. The firm also looks to expand distribution and scale its infrastructure offerings to NBFCs.

ArunRaghavan, Managing Partner at Arali Ventures, said, "We are very happy to partner with 50Fin on their journey as they build out the tech rails for lending against securities (LAS) and MFs. MF ownership penetration in India has increased significantly over the past few years; however, the ability to leverage this asset is limited to a few HNI individuals today. We believe that this is a large market waiting to happen and believe that the team at 50Fin will go a long way in democratising access to this product for the millions of MF holders in India."

Co-founded in 2022 by Aditya Srinivas Prasad and Darpan Samir Tanna, 50Fin offers instant loans against mutual funds and shares to customers.

The startup claims that it has streamlined the entire loan process, completing everything from sign-up to loan approval in just 7 minutes and without the need for physical documents and CIBIL checks.

Aditya Srinivas Prasad, CEO, 50Fin, said, "Over the last year, our distribution capacity has gone up 6X, and our products are now generating value across investor classes. We have also launched our B2B vertical, which allows banks and NBFCs to digitise LAS for the clients while completely automating the entire operation of the product. We remain committed to being the leading full-stack LAS provider in the market and are on track to reach profitability in the next 12–16 months."

By forming key alliances with major players in the market like Fi Money and Bajaj Capital, 50Fin is able to provide LAS solutions to a wide range of customers.