A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.
INTERESTING STARTUPS
SeekNShop (2017, Hyderabad), machine learning enabled natural language search solution provider. Founder is ex-SmartPrice, CA Technologies, Amazon, Microsoft and is an alumnus of Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology. Local comparables are Unbxd (2010, Bangalore, $14.5M) and That Needle (2013, Chandigarh). Global comparables are Twiggle(2013, Tel Aviv, $33M) and Mindori (2015, Palo Alto).
INDIA INTERESTING NEWS
ONN Bikes (2015, Bangalore), on demand bike rental portal, raises $690k in pre-Series A round of funding from Z Nation Lab, JITO Angels and Venture Catalysts. Link
Rapido (2015, Bangalore), mobile bike taxi services provider, raises $329k in funding from Skycatcher Fund and Thompson Taraz Managers. Link
Homelane (2014, Bangalore), furniture maker and interior design solutions provider, acquires Capricoast (2014, Bangalore), online modular furniture solution provider, for $13.8M. Link
CCAvenue (2001, Mumbai), provider of merchant account, credit card processing & payment gateway, launches BillAvenue, an interoperable digital bill payments platform. Link
MasterCard (1966, NY), financial services provider, partners with Mswipe (2009, Mumbai), mobile-based POS payment solution provider, to set up card units in 30 minutes. Link
Paragon Partners, Mumbai based venture capital firm, raises its maiden private equity fund, at $120M. Link
Unicorn India Ventures, Mumbai based venture capital firm, raises its maiden venture fund, at $92.2M. Link
GLOBAL ROUNDUP
aCommerce (2013, Bangkok), ecommerce enabling suite provider, raises $65M in Series B round of funding led by Emerald Media. Link
TransferMate (2008, Chicago), international money transfer service provider, raises $35.4M in Series B round of funding from Allied Irish Banks. Link
Scalyr (2011, Portola Valley), log management SaaS provider, raises $20M in Series A round of funding led by Shasta Ventures with participation from previous investors Bloomberg Beta, Susa Ventures and Heroic Ventures. Link
Pixvana (2015, Seattle), cloud platform for AR/VR video processing, raises $14M in Series A round of funding led by Vulcan Capital, with participation from Raine Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Cisco Investments, Heart Ventures and Madrona Venture Group. Link
AISense (2016, Mountain View), machine learning based voice transcription solution provider, raises $10M in Series A round of funding led by Horizons Ventures with participation from Tim Draper’s Draper Associates and Draper Dragon Fund, David Cheriton, and Bridgewater Associates, among others. Link
Myndshft Direct (1978, Des Monies), provider of fulfillment services and technology solutions for ecommerce, acquires Order Simplicity (2016, Fort Myers), order management system provider, for an undisclosed amount. Link