The Tech Panda takes a look at recent funding events in the tech ecosystem, seeking to know where the cash is flowing.
PropsAMC, the asset management services and data intelligence arm of Square Yards, said it has raised INR 100 Cr+ AUM for its first Grade A commercial project in Hyderabad in a record time of three months. The project is Square Yards’ maiden venture into the fractional product category, with an average investment participation of INR 40 lakhs from a pool of over 250 investors totalling to 100,000+ square feet.
“We are excited by the response we have received in just three months since the launch of our fractional investment platform last year. This INR 100 Cr+ AUM milestone is testament to the unbridled faith reposed by investors on our platform and will play a significant role in establishing ourselves as a trusted investment partner for both clients and developers. Our prime focus is to help investors earn lucrative returns through rental income and capital appreciation of the property. We plan to reach AUM of INR 1000 Cr within the next six months by building a gamut of assets across tier 1 cities, while focusing on properties that offer better periodic yields and exit returns,” said Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards.
The Hyderabad commercial property will provide investors with 8% gross returns on their investment and a targeted XIRR of 14-15%, post fees and pre-tax. Amid the digital transformation of the commercial real estate sector, investing in commercial assets through fractional ownership is slowly becoming the next big thing for people looking to build stable wealth. It has opened the commercial real estate market for middle-class investors who want to enjoy high-yielding assets alongside HNIs.
“The fractional ownership market in India is at a very nascent stage and have 4-5 players collectively today, having approx. INR 1200Cr asset under management (AUM). Presently most players are only investing in commercial yielding asset. We see this market growing at 10x within 3 years with an average return of 14-15% XIRR (post fees, pre-tax) and would also start fractional offering in industrial assets, schools, student housing, hospitals, land etc. beyond just commercial assets,” said Anand Moorthy, CBO, Asset Management Services and Data Intelligence, Square Yards.
IoT Communications & Data Analytics Startup Probus Smart Things focused on Smart grid applications has raised $3 million from Unicorn India Ventures and Family Office from the US. The round also saw participation from existing investors. Funds raised will be used for strengthening product R&D, expanding the team and grow GTM partnerships with ecosystem partners.
Anand Singh, Co-founder CEO, Probus Smart Things, says, “Probus has been at the forefront of digitization of the last mile electricity distribution grid. With the GoI mandate of 270 million smart meters deployment by 2026 to reduce the $40 billion annual losses that India is incurring in the last mile power distribution segment, Probus’s deep-tech in massive scale communications network and data analytics will be of immense value in achieving this goal. This is just the beginning of the automation that we are seeing in the energy sector. As more assets like EV, storage and renewables get deployed, IoT automation and private communication networks would become a must by all utilities and private players operating in the space.”
In the last 12 months, Probus has demonstrated 8X revenue growth and has achieved profitability at PAT level. The Company has currently deployed over half a million smart meters products in 4 geographies and doubled the team size. In addition to expanding further in India, Probus will also be looking to launch operations in MENA and SEA over the next 12 – 18 months.
Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, – “At Unicorn, our belief has always been to identify disruptive business ideas from sectors which may not necessarily enjoy the limelight whether it is CyberSec or InsuranceTech or power and utility. We back startups that have the potential to be the market leaders in their sector and back them with conviction. Probus is a company in which we have led the round for the 3rd time. We truly believe that the power sector and last mile distribution is a sector waiting to be disrupted and Probus’ IOT platform and smart meters are helping some of the largest utility companies adapt a technology-led approach to monitor their assets better.”
Yellow, a startup founded by alumni of Wharton and Stanford universities, raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed funding round from Gruhas. The LegalTech startup, founded in September 2021 by Niranjan Vemulkar and Nikhil Varghese aims to provide a secure and cost-effective digital estate planning solution for all Indians to protect and preserve their legacies & plan for their future.
“Protecting and providing for loved ones is a fundamental human instinct, yet many individuals struggle to secure their family’s future due to a lack of knowledge and resources. To address this issue, Yellow has developed a groundbreaking digital Will-making solution that is accessible not just to those with expensive lawyers and wealth management firms, but to everyone. With the vision of making a Will a necessity for every household in India, Yellow is the first Indian-made digital Will-making and Estate planning app that empowers all Indians to plan for their family’s future.” said Niranjan Vemulkar, Co-Founder & CEO of Yellow.
“Given the lack of awareness of the necessity of Wills and Estate Planning, its perceived complexity, and misunderstanding of the Indian Legal system among Indian masses, Yellow provides a unique digital solution that can disrupt a market that has historically been fragmented and unreachable to the masses. We are delighted to invest in Yellow, and back its exceptional founders Niranjan and Nikhil as they make estate planning services more accessible and affordable,” said Abhijeet Pai from Gruhas.
Lending infratech and asset collateralization API FinTech company Finsire’ announced that it has raised $1.3M in seed funding from Strategic Investors.
The round saw participation from iSeed, Spark Capital, Devx, 1947 Rise, Adept ventures, Portal Angel Investors, Purple Matters, DeVC India, Lets Ventures, Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, Co-Founders of Razorpay and Mars Shot Ventures, Co- founder of M2P Fintech, MadhuR, Prabhu R and Muthu A, Lalit Keshre, CEO Groww, Maninder G, CSO, OYO, Justin Caldbeck, Co-Founder Binary Capital, Abhinav Sinha, COO & CPO, OYO, Mr. Mohan K, Co-Founder & CEO, IppoPay, Pratekk Agarwal from Growthcap Ventures, Abhishek Goyal, Tracxn, Founder, Abhishek Rungta, Founder, Indus Net Tech, Rahul Mathur, Founder,Verak, Meet Semlani, Co-founder,Tartan, Amit Goel, Founder, Medici.
Shreyans Nahar, CEO and Co-founder of Finsire, said, “Excited to build the Digitized secured infrastructure for India. Once in a lifetime opportunity for us; Indian households hold over 14 trillion dollars in assets, and global households’ assets are over 400 trillion dollars. Today these assets are extremely hard to pledge. The idea is to allow the asset holder to do what they wish to do with these assets.”
Shiva Singh Sangwan, Founder, 1947Rise commented, “Finsire is building the secured credit Infrastructure for India by collateralizing the vast majority of the assets available in the country. Digitizing these is a long game. I am super excited that Shreyans decided to move back to India to build Finsire from India.”
LifeSigns iMS (a brand by LS Devices Pvt. Ltd.), a Chennai-based health-tech startup that is developing a digital wireless patient monitoring solution platform for ambulatory, inpatient, and home care settings, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round.
The round witnessed participation from investors, including Dr. SP Ganesan, a well-known Pathologist from Chennai with 40+ years of experience. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the iMS platform and for India wide expansion.
“The new fund entering the system will allow us to work more on technology and Human Resource to enhance the user experience, bring more efficiency in clinical data delivery, lower infrastructure spend, bring down cost of healthcare benefitting the patient and providers,” says Hari Subramaniam, Founder & Director, LS Devices Pvt. Ltd.
“The global medical and wellness industry is a $1.5 trillion market growing steadily at 5-10% annually, with the Indian market contributing to it at an exponentially increasing rate. Our investment in LS Devices Pvt Ltd. reflects our confidence that Remote Patient Monitoring Technology is now accessible to all, and that improving patient care is our top priority. LifeSigns’ rapid growth rate over the last 12 months is recognition, and expanding from in-hospital care to home care and ambulance monitoring is the first step towards improving patient safety and outcomes. With the government enacting new policies and laying out a road map for healthtech firms, we are assured that this association will bear fruit for the masses” added Dr. SP Ganesan.
Deep-Tech and defence technology startup Optimized Electrotech, has raised INR 200 Million in a Pre-Series B round for its expansion. The equity round was led by the Rajiv Dadlani Group and also saw participation from Equanimity Investments and reputed Family Offices and HNI investors. Venture Catalysts strengthened their position with further investment in this round. Earlier investors include GVFL and Dholakia Ventures.
The funds will be used to design state-of-the-art Intelligent Long Range Surveillance systems, product innovations, and also help in further business development in Aerospace and Defence sectors with a market potential of over $7.3 Billion.
“Innovation is our backbone. A world where the boundaries are being blurred every-day, surveillance becomes key to a nation’s defence. Conventional surveillance has been limited to post-facto analysis with human operators spending time and efforts in threat discovery. Our Intelligent Surveillance platforms bridge this gap, by providing real-time, actionable Intelligence to our security forces.” says Sandeep Shah, Co-Founder, Managing Director, Optimized Electrotech.
“Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat inspires our investment strategy. We anticipate an aggressive influx of defence technology builders in India following the government’s support, which is much needed given the current geopolitical conditions around our neighbours. Optimized Electrotech has immense potential to be a market leader in surveillance technology. Sandeep and Team, have a strong pedigree and rich experience and have built a strong foundation in their niche space. We are very excited to partner as long-term investors, and support them in their journey.” – said Rajiv Dadlani, from Rajiv Dadlani Group.
peAR, one of the first startups in Asia-Pacific to make an augmented-reality based in-restaurant ordering app, has raised Rs 4.2 crore in a Pre-series A led by 1crowd and Chennai Angels and co-Led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). The funds raised will be utilized to scale the company’s current suite of solutions across geographies and to address more restaurant challenges as well as building a suite of integrated restaurant-tech solutions.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, IPV says, “Post covid, the Horeca sector has been adopting tech on the front end to further refine the dining experience of the customers. From QR-coded menus to digital payments integration is now a norm across restaurants. However, the first POC is when shortlisting the order. Many customers are often left surprised at the food they order because a standard menu can’t show the quantity, plating, and overall look and feel of the dish. peAR has understood this gap well and using their tech, they are addressing both the front end and the back end making their app more useful for restaurant owners. 3D image projection helps customers understand their order better before placing it and it also helps restaurants gather a deep understanding of their customers’ profile and their preferences. We have seen the adoption of peAR’s tech rising steadily and decided to back the company in this round also.”
Dharmin Vora, Founder, peAR says, “Our association with IPV has been wonderful from the beginning. They have backed us time and again & this just shows their approach to back their start-ups. Their guidance & CXO members helps us create a wide pool of people whom we can connect with and learn from. They have also done a fantastic job on keeping the members active & involved in every manner. Their immense support & efforts stands out amongst all investors.”
Contract execution SaaS platform Doqfy has raised Rs 7.5 crore in a Pre Series A round. The Round has been led by Turbostart and Pentathlon VC. Other investors who participated in the round are Lead Angels, SilverNeedle VC, LetsVenture, Angel.co led by Archana Priyadarshini. Funds raised to be used for tech enhancements of the platform and business growth through building partnerships.
Aditya Padranki, Founder, Doqfy, says, “Compliances are one of major cost heads for companies and the costs go up as the companies grow in size. Another aspect is the complex nature of the compliances. There have been instances where companies are not even aware if they are in breach because for far too long compliances have been managed in a manual way with very little tech intervention. We see this as a large untapped opportunity. Our platform, which has undergone changes as we incorporated feedback from our customers and mentors, is now a full stack offering helping companies stay compliant and easing the burden of it to facilitate smooth business operations.”
Ganesh Raju, Founder, Turbostart, says, “We first came across Doqfy’s application for the first cohort of Turbostart in 2019. Given our background, we were acutely aware of the excessive amount of time, money and resources expended on legal compliance. Doqfy’s proposition stood out immediately amongst the other applicants. At Turbostart, our mission is to be enablers first and financiers next. Two years on, it has been extremely fulfilling to work closely with their team and witness the impact we’ve had on Doqfy’s journey. We’re thrilled to celebrate this milestone with them and look forward to being part of their continued growth and success.”
Doqfy has been profitable since the last 12 months clocking an ARR of Rs 6 crore. The Company works with marquee customers like HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Axis Bank, DBS Bank, Xiaomi, Swiggy, Meesho, Unacademy and JLL, Colliers. The Company currently has a team strength of nearly 40 people.
PeProp.Money, a platform that integrates all real estate services for developers, consultants, and investors, has announced that it has secured undisclosed seed funding from India Accelerator.
The funding will be used to further enhance the technology, attract new markets and customers while continuing to provide unparalleled service to the existing partners.
Divaker Bhalla, Founder, PeProp.Money, said, “From our inception, we have been dedicated to providing exceptional value to the real-estate sector through our AI and big data-based applications. With over 10,000 satisfied partners, we have listed more than 1200 crore of exclusive inventory on our platform from reputable builders.”
Abhay Chawla, Founding Partner and COO, India Accelerator, added, “As we continue to expand our co-working spaces, we are actively seeking ventures that can bring added value to our business. The partnership with PeProp.Money is an ideal fit, as their platform seamlessly complements our business offerings. We are excited about this association and are optimistic that our investment in PeProp.Money will yield significant business growth and value in the years to come.”
Some of the other investors in PeProp.money include Aditya Mallik,CEO-Higher Education, Veranda learning, Avatar Monga, Independent Director, Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment(FACE).
Fashinza, an AI-driven B2B marketplace for global fashion supply chains, secured $30 million working capital funding from Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group. The funding will fuel Fashinza’s ongoing transition into a global business with significant operations in the USA, Gulf, and Europe.
“Fashinza is transforming the global fashion supply chain. Their performance since inception, the strength of their founding team, and their existing global network of manufacturers and customers gave us enough confidence in their ability to scale this business and sustain in the medium- to long-term,” remarked Navas Ebin, Managing Director of APAC for Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group.
“As we focus on expanding our presence in international markets, including the USA, we are excited to partner with Liquidity Group to support our growth and to bring our innovative manufacturing solutions to a global audience,” said Abhishek Sharma, Co-Founder and COO of Fashinza. “With their flexible cross-border financing solutions and extensive knowledge of navigating international markets, we are confident that we can successfully penetrate new markets and provide our manufacturing solutions to key clients worldwide. At the same time, we remain committed to delivering exceptional service to our key customers in the USA and beyond, as we continue to revolutionize the fashion manufacturing industry,” Abhishek Sharma added.
Fashinza will use the capital to meet its growing international working capital requirements.
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