Photo credit: Pixabay.
One of India’s most popular investors funds a wearables startup. A company he funded earlier this year snags millions in funding. Those and other startups make our list of funded businesses today.
FitKids
Photo credit: Pixabay.
Bangalore-headquartered education firm FitKids has acquired hands-on science and tech education provider ThinkLabs in an all-cash deal.
Incorporated in 2010, FitKids offers products for sports, creative movement, STEM subjects, and career counseling for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. It is present in 46 cities and aims to increase that number to 100, including more second and third tier cities into the mix. By the end of the year, it will also launch a product using artificial intelligence and natural language processing.
The acquisition adds 100 schools to FitKids’ existing 160.
Founded by Dev Roy, FitKids operates under DiscoverEd. ThinkLabs, which operates under the brand name Eureka, was founded by Gagan Goyal and was incubated at SINE-IIT Bombay.
Neurosynaptic
Photo credit: Day Donaldson.
Bangalore-based telemedicine startup Neurosynaptic has raised an undisclosed amount in series A funding from healtcare-focused venture fund Healthquad, Indian Angel Network (IAN), and Axilor Ventures. Healthquad and IAN will join the company’s board.
Neurosynaptic earlier received funding from e-Zest Solutions, a global digital engineering company that develops healthcare products.
Established in 2002 by Sameer Subhash Sawarkar and Rajeev Kumar, Neurosynaptic specializes in rural and semi-urban healthcare via telemedicine. Its services include screening, primary diagnosis, triaging, and point of care diagnostics. It also has an electronic medical records service.
The startup is building a telemedicine solution model and a software-as-a-service model for hospitals, clinics, NGOs, and others.
Azuro
Real estate management startup Azuro has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from White Unicorn Ventures, Kae Capital, and Mumbai Angels.
The funds will be put toward expanding its operations across Mumbai as well as the company’s technology.
Founded by five IIT Bombay alumni – Ayush Agrawal, Altaf Ahmad, Sudhanshu Mishra, Vishal Chauthmal, and Sushant Kumar – the startup seeks to lessen the number of people involved (brokers, contractors, etc.) in finding a place to stay.
Moglix
Rahul Garg, founder of Moglix. Photo credit: Moglix.
Moglix, which sells industrial and home products to other businesses, has bagged US$4.2 million in series A funding led by Accel Partners. Jungle Ventures and SeedPlus also participated.
As part of the deal, Jungle Ventures’ founding and managing partner Anurag Srivastava has joined the company’s board.
Accel and Jungle Ventures also participated in Moglix’s pre-series A round in October last year. Tata Sons’ chairman emeritus and serial investor Ratan Tata invested in the startup in February this year.
Founded in August 2015 by Rahul Garg, the startup caters to over 100 enterprises and over 20,000 smaller businesses. It recently launched in Pune and wants to expand further across India’s major industrial cities. The company partners with manufacturers in India, China, and other Asian countries.
GOQii
Photo credit: Jungle Ventures.
Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in wearables startup GoQii.
The company, headquartered in California with offices in Mumbai and Shenzhen, also raisedUS$13.4 million in series A funding in November last year.
Founded by Vishal Gondal, the business also aims to improve lives by helping with personal coaching and elements of social philanthropy.
Innerchef
Photo credit: André Luís.
Gurgaon-based foodtech startup Innerchef has raised US$2.5 million in a round led by Mistletoe Japan. Existing investors also participated along with M&S Fund Singapore
Founded last year by Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal, and Bal DiGhent, the startup offers meals that are ready to eat or ready to cook. It has a presence in seven Indian cities and deals out 100,000 meals per month. It also has a platform to help cooks sell their desserts, with an aim of enabling 10,000 female entrepreneurs to sell through the startup in the next five years.
Indian Gifts Portal
Online gifting marketplace Indian Gifts Portal has brought in US$2 million in its latest round of funding from the family office of Naveen Arya, as well as Tarun Joshi. Tarun is the India director of 3i, a private equity firm based in the UK.
The investment will go toward developing machine learning technology for the startup’s website, as well as building the senior management team.
Indian Gifts Portal has offices in Mumbai and Noida, and it opened its Bangalore office last year. It has warehouses in Lucknow, Jaipur, Mumbai, and Los Angeles. The startup provides gifts in 190 product categories, ranging from food to toys.
Converted from Indian rupees. US$1 = INR 66.61
