Newnex round of startups funded

3 October 2023

Electric motorcycle startup Raptee has secured $3 million in a pre-Series A all-equity funding round, with deep-tech VC fund Bluehill Capital taking the lead. The round also witnessed the participation of notable individuals including Eugene Mayne, Founder and CEO of Tristar Global (UAE); Lakshmi Narayanan, former CEO of Cognizant; Ramesh Kannan, Managing Director of Kaynes Technology; Chandu Nair, Director of Shankara Building Products, as well as other high-net-worth individuals from India and the UAE.

ReCircle, a prominent clean-tech innovator specializing in resource recovery, has recently concluded its pre-Series A funding round. This funding round was spearheaded by Flipkart Ventures, 3i Partners, Acumen Fund Inc, and a group of High Net Worth Individual (HNI) investors.

EvolveX, an early-stage program established by We Founder Circle, has made an investment in NIKOL EV, a startup focused on electric vehicle charging stations in India. This Pre-Seed funding round attracted participation from investors such as Vikas Aggarwal, Neeraj Tyagi, and Bhawna Bhatnagar. NIKOL EV intends to utilize this funding to bolster its team and establish a robust backend support system, facilitating the scaling of its business operations.

Legaltech SaaS platform Legistify has successfully concluded its $4 million Series A funding round. This round received participation from existing investors such as Indiamart, Titan VC, and GSF, in addition to new investors including US-based Cathexis Ventures, Justin Hamilton, and Japan-based Enrission Group.

B2B SaaS company Data Sutram has raised $3 million in its latest funding round, with Bharat Fund leading the investment. The round also included participation from Singularity Growth Fund, IIFL, YAN, White Venture, and other existing investors. Data Sutram intends to use the funds to enhance its product portfolio and drive growth within the BFSI sector.

Streetz Hyperlocal, a high-end fashion and gifts marketplace, is in the process of raising $1.1 million in a seed round at a valuation of $5.88 million. The primary purpose of this capital injection is to support the expansion of its operations into the Delhi-NCR region and bring product management in-house. It's worth noting that the company had previously raised Rs 1 crore at a valuation of $2 million in a pre-seed round.

Autocracy Machinery, a manufacturer of trenching, turf, and construction machinery, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Venture Catalysts. The funding round also saw participation from various investors, including Nikhil and Bharat Jaisinghani (Executive Directors, Polycab India Limited), Meghna Agarwal (CEO, IndiQube), Abhishek Rungta (Partner, Seeders), Srikanth Iyengar (CEO, Workforce Development, upGrad), and Abhishek Modi (Managing Partner, Shiva Engg, VP-South Asia chapter, Stanford Seed Network), among others, including HEM Angels, VC Grid, and S Four Capital. The funds will be used to expand Autocracy's domestic and global distribution operations, invest in research and development, and establish a state-of-the-art industrial unit to enhance production capabilities.

Edtech startup AltUni, operated by InsideIIM, has secured $500,000 in funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and a group of angel investors. The funding round was led by IAN, with participation from Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO of Grant Thornton Bharat LLP, as well as several other angel investors, including Ganesh Balakrishnan, Harsh Parikh, Narayan Babu, Supreet Singh, Ashvin George, Prashant Mohanraj, Shreyans Mehta, Amit Monteiro, Raghav Joshi, Mainak Shome, Bhoopesh Jain, and Sandeep Bhadresa, among others.

Ambulance service provider Dial4242 has secured Rs 1 crore in a seed funding round to expand its ambulance fleet and reach. The funding round was led by investors G Vamshi Raju, Managing Director at Visista Insurance Broking, along with support from Starfish Ventures and other angel investors based in Hyderabad.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) petcare brand Belly Rubs has raised Rs 1.5 crore in pre-seed funding from an angel investor. The funding will be utilized to enhance its ecommerce presence, launch a range of cat products, introduce new dog products such as winter clothing and treats, and roll out a new website.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty and personal care company Pilgrim has secured $20 million in Series B funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. Existing investors Fireside Ventures and the Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office also participated in the round. Pilgrim has now raised a total of Rs 48 crore (approximately $6 million) across various funding rounds, including angel, Series A, and bridge rounds. Notably, its investors include founding teams from companies like Boat, NoBroker, and Bewakoof.com.

Consumer fintech company Bright Money has concluded a funding round, which appears to be a Series B, raising a total of $62 million. The funding includes $50 million in debt financing from Encina Lender Finance and $12 million in equity investment led by Alpha Wave, Hummingbird, and Peak XV Partners. The Bengaluru and San Francisco-based startup continues to strengthen its position in the fintech space with this capital injection.

Doceree, a network of physician-only platforms for programmatic messaging, has secured $35 million in a Series B funding round led by Creaegis. Existing investors Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital also participated in the round. This comes after the company raised $11 million in its Series A round in April the previous year. The additional funding will support Doceree's efforts to accelerate product development, enhance technologies, expand globally, and grow its team.

Bengaluru-based Oorja, a company that assists automotive companies in designing better batteries, has raised $1.5 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by Micelio Fund, India's first venture capital fund dedicated to promoting sustainable innovation in the clean mobility ecosystem. It was co-led by Capital-A and also saw participation from investors such as Java Capital, Anicut Capital, and Lead Angels.

Third Wave Coffee, a specialty coffee and food brand with investment from Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, has secured $35 million in its Series C funding round. The round was led by Creaegis, a private equity firm, with participation from Westbridge Capital and Udaan's Sujeet Kumar. This funding round has valued the Bengaluru-based startup at $150 million. Third Wave Coffee plans to utilize the funds to support global expansion, enhance its supply chain, and invest in technology.

MentorKart has successfully secured $250,000 in funding, with Realtime (RTAF) and TiE Angels (India) taking the lead in this round. The company aims to revolutionize skilling and job-readiness with this financial support.

Figr, an AI-focused product design startup, has raised $250,000 in its pre-seed round from Antler India. The funds will be utilized to expand its engineering team and further develop its product to address various aspects of the design process. Figr also plans to invest in training powerful and versatile generative design models.

QuriousBit, a puzzle gaming studio, has secured $2 million in its seed funding round, with Lumikai Fund as the lead investor and General Catalyst joining in. This funding will enable the establishment of QuriousBit, a casual mobile gaming studio, and the development of innovative puzzle games.

Nat Habit, a direct-to-consumer personal care brand, has successfully raised $4 million in a Series A funding round. This round was led by Fireside Ventures and also included participation from existing investors such as Surge Ventures (Sequoia), Whiteboard Capital, and founders and CEOs of consumer-facing brands like Spencer’s Retail, Snapdeal, Paperboat, Epigamia, and Yogabar.