The Venture Intelligence Blog

AppDra Software Solutions Pvt Ltd , a Bangalore and US-based app development start-up, has raised $1.5 million in Series A financing via Becovillage, a crowd-funding platform. Co-founded by Raghavendra Prasad and Narendra Yallabandi, AppDra designs and engineers a range of mobile solutions varying through an enterprise cloud solution for iPad, a game for Android, or anapp for iOS. In the web domain, the company has an array of solutions across designing, developing and engineering Internet Apps, websites. It also offers SEO services, aligned to specific businesses.  Source: Fortune   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

SocialCops , a data and analytics startup, has secured a seed funding of $320K from 500 Startups, Rajan Anandan, Manoj Menon and others. It leverages the power of technology, mobile and social community to enable better decision making, backed by high quality data sourced from the grassroots. SocialCops has successfully completed a pilot with Municipal Corporation of Delhi and is now in talks with the Government of Karnataka and other bodies. The current round of funding will help SocialCops to focus and scale quickly.  Source: Yourstory Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partners have invested $2 million (about Rs 12 crore) in Mumbai-based SaaS and big data analytics venture Peel-Works. Proceeds from the Series A round of funding will be used by the company, which is also backed by the Indian Angel Network, to further build its product and analytics platform, strengthen its management team and enter international markets. The company expects to have a presence in the US and South East Asia geographies in the next six to 12 months.  Founded in 2010 by Sachin Chhabra, who was earlier with Hindustan Unilever, Peel-Works counts companies such as Tata Sky among its clientele. It had earlier raised about $1 million from IAN in 2011. The company has built a SaaS based salesforce transformation and analytics platform that provides presence and performance management capabilities for companies with large extended sales force. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data an...

Bangalore-based IT services Wipro, has set up a venture capital fund that will look at investing in early-to-middle stage technology start-ups globally. The initiative is being driven by Chief Strategy Officer Rishad Premji. The company has set aside an initial corpus of $100 million (around Rs 600 crore) for the fund which has started exploring investment opportunities in start-up companies which focus on niche technologies such as data, open source and industrial internet, among others.  Source: Business Standard   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Hyderabad-based renewable energy services start-up Fourth Partner Energy (4PEL) has raised a series-A funding of Rs 3 crore from the Chennai Angels. The start-up, co-founded by Vivek Subramanian, who earlier co-founded PE firm Avigo Capital, focuses on solar power. It provides end-to-end solar energy services, both technological and financial, to its clients and manages decentralised solar power assets across India. The company has over 300 solar installations across India, with companies such as Indian Oil, EY and ICICI bank. The company hopes to raise Rs 18-30 crore in the next two years and is looking to target the B2B segment.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions...

Omidyar Network, promoted by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, has invested in start-up news and commentary website Scroll.in. The investment was made into Scroll India’s US-based parent, Scroll Media Inc. Scroll was launched less than a year ago and has inked a contract recently with US business blog Quartz (QZ) to launch an India edition. Khaitan & Co . advised Omidyar Network on the transaction. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Delhi-based mobile travel marketplace SeekSherpa has raised seed investment from a group of angels associated with early-stage accelerator VentureNursery. The company will use the funding to expand operations and for hiring. SeekSherpa was part of the January batch of VentureNursery. The angel investors in the company include Patni scions Amit and Arihant, Everest Flavours founder Anand Ladsariya, Fame Cinemas founder Shravan Shroff and former Starcom MediaVest Group honcho Ravi Kiran.  Founded by former Google executive Dhruv Raj Gupta and AT Kearney analyst Sukhmani Singh, SeekSherpa is a mobile application that links travellers with locals who create unique and tailor-made experiences that tourists can book. The company allows locals in top Indian cities and tourist locations to become a “Sherpa” on the app. The app already has about 500 Sherpas from eight cities and 100 experiences like Delhi momo trail and shopping through Chandini Chowk. The app is free for the travell...

A new incubator set up by entrepreneurs in the biotechnology sector has invested in software product company Lucep, which is looking to enter the healthcare segment; Coimbatore-based SKL Medtech, which is developing a fabric that absorbs X-rays; and drug discovery company Bugworks. The accelerator will take equity anywhere between 1-10 % in the companies and will incubate them for 12-18 months. The accelerator has tied up global life sciences tools provider Esco Group and will work with it on an equity-sharing basis. It will take on eight-10 companies a year, on a rolling basis, working on areas like medical devices, diagnostics, medical textiles and digital health. Bangalore-based Evoma, will provide office space for the startups.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to vie...

Property portal RoomnHouse has raised funding of close to Rs. 1 crore from Euphoria Ventures through a bridge round to expand its operations. Angel funded by Euphoria Ventures CEO Ashish Patel, RoomnHouse.com, launched in 2012, allows property owners to list their accommodations with the site, and travellers get the option of private accommodation ranging from apartments to villas. The portal is targeting a revenue of Rs 6 crore this financial year. The company expects to raise additional funding of Rs. 10 crore in January 2015.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Bangalore-based online furniture store Urban Ladder has raised $21 million (INR 120 crore) in a round led by Hong Kong-based Steadview Capital with participation from existing investors SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital. The firm will use the funds to expand its presence from seven cities to about 25 over the next one year.  Founded by IIT and IIM graduates Ashish Goel and Rajeev Srivatsa two years ago, Urban Ladder had so far raised $6 million through two rounds of funding. Besides expanding across multiple cities, it is launching adjacent categories like lighting, floor and wall solutions.  Source: Times of India   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

News in Shorts, a mobile app firm that gives out top news stories in 60-word bite-sized portions, has raised seed investment from Times Internet and a group of entrepreneurs, including Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. The funding will be used mainly to expand its content and technology teams. Launched last September, the Delhi-based company was part of the fourth batch of Times Internet's accelerator TLabs. Aimed at time-starved users, News in Shorts curates top stories and provides a short summary of each news item. The app has now clocked up over 30,000 users. Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Cardback , creator of an Android app that provides notifications to users about offers on their credit and debit cards on mobiles, has raised INR 1 crore ($170,000) via LetsVenture, an online platform that connects startups with angels. Rajan Anandan, Sunil Kalra, Rishi Shrivastava have led the round along with Alok Mittal (of Canaan Partners), Naval Bir Kumar (VP of IDFC), Soumitra Sharma (ex-IDG Ventures), and Nitin Aggarwal (Founder of Yebhi.com).  Following the round, Rishi Shrivastava joined the company’s board. The startup will use the fund for product enhancement, user traction, expansion to more cities and geographies.  Source: Yourstory.com   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transact...

Zostel, a backpacker hostel chain for young travellers, has received an angel funding of INR 5 crore from Malaysia-based angel investor Presha Paragash.IIM Calcutta graduate Paavan Nanda founded Zostel in August 2013 along with six other friends with an initial capital of Rs. 20 lakh. Zostel is looking to create the European backpacking experience in India but with a local flavour. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

US-based Social VC firm venture dairy has invested in agricultural services firm Akshayakalpa which is setting up a dairy cluster of 300 organic dairy farms in Karnataka. The investment is the first by venture dairy in India.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Grabhouse, a Mumbai-based online roommate search engine which helps people find compatible roommates, has raised $500k from India Quotient. The start-up offers an online platform for tenants to contact owners directly without involving real estate agents. The funds will be used to bridge the gap between availability of houses and online demand from seekers.  Grabhouse was a part of India Quotient’s bootcamp last year. Earlier in January this year, it raised a seed funding from India Quotient and MV Krishnan, Vice President, Deutsche Bank.  Source: Yourstory.com   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Dayananda Sagar Institutions will set up a one-stop plug and play incubator in South Bangalore for startups in the electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) space. The institution is throwing open 4 lakh square feet of built-up area to incubate new ventures and has invested Rs 35-40 crore to set up the infrastructure. Formulate IP, a Bangalore-based patenting office has already come on board, as a number of publications and patents are expected from the set-up.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Cloud-based HR software company Greytip Software has raised funding from Blume Ventures to accelerate growth in the domestic cloud HR and payroll automation space. Founded in 1994, Greytip enables over 2500 clients across India, Malaysia, UAE and Oman to manage more than 5,00,000 employee records on a daily basis. Greytip has presence in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Dubai. Its SaaS application, GreytHR, is being used by companies spread across 60 cities in India and across industry segments. Source: ibcnews.in   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

MCap Fund, founded by Baring India partner N.Subramaniam, has in invested INR 3 Cr in Omkar Clean Energy Services, a Chennai-based provider of Operation & Maintenance services for Renewable Energy, especially wind. The transaction was closed in March 2014. From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: MCap unit Summit FVCI has been issued 3770 equity shares and 299623 CCPS. Post conversion of CCPS, the investor will be capable of exercising voting rights in the company to an extent of 80%. MCap's N. Subramaniam and Abhilash Lal have joined the company's board. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.