Image by kalhh from Pixabay
The Tech Panda takes a look at recent funding events in the tech ecosystem, seeking to know where the cash is flowing.
Gocarin Industries Pvt. Ltd., a startup in the agri-tech sector, secured INR49 lakh in funding from KIIT Technology Business Incubator (TBI) under the prestigious BIRAC Leap programme.
The funding comes as a part of the central government’s initiative to support innovative startups and bolster the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. BIRAC Leap, an initiative under the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), aims to accelerate startups with potential for high impact and scalability.
Dr. Ramanuj Panda, a Founder and CEO of Gocarin Industries, said, “We are honored to receive this support from KIIT TBI and BIRAC. This funding will be instrumental in driving our mission to revolutionize the agricultural industry by empowering farmers with cutting-edge technology solutions. The validation from such esteemed institutions is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication.”
“We believe in the vision and potential of Gocarin Industries. Their commitment to leveraging technology to solve real-world problems in agriculture aligns perfectly with the objectives of the BIRAC Leap programme,” said Dr. Mrutyunjay Suar, CEO KIIT TBI, DG (R&D) KIIT University, Chairman BCKIC.
The funding will be used to scale operations, enhance product development, and expand the company’s market presence, further solidifying Gocarin Industries’ position as a leader in the agri-tech industry.
Felicity Games, a casual game developer and publisher, secured a $700K pre-seed funding from DeVC, Visceral Capital and marquee angel investors including Kunal Shah of CRED, former Nazara CEO, Manish Agarwal, Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy of Swiggy and Sameer Pittalwala, Head of Gaming, Google Cloud (APAC) among others.
The company will use the funds towards testing 10 more such games by March 2025. The company aims to scale revenue by 10x by the end of this year.
Anurag Choudhary, Founder & CEO of Felicity Games. “Given our cost and skill advantages, Felicity Games is well placed to build a multi-million dollar casual gaming business from India for the world.”
“Felicity has a unique vision to mobilise the growing ecosystem of Indie developers with the capability of producing high-quality game prototypes at a fraction of the cost. Felicity combines an objective approach to commercial testing with iterations on non-conventional channels to drive risk-adjusted growth for new IPs, unlocking developer friendly publishing for the indie ecosystem” says founding member Divyanshi Chowdhary from DeVC, a leading pre-seed fund in the Indian tech ecosystem.
Gujarat-based plastic waste recycling company Ricron Panels has raised a Series A round led by Boon Sustainable Technologies. The round also saw participation from Harsh Mohunta, Managing Director of Classic Display Systems, Dinesh Babbar, Ex President at Infra.Market, Boutique investment bank Veromint Advisors, Venkatesh Srinivasan, Ex Partner EY GDS, Renuka Sharma, Architecht and Kaushik Rajan, founder of Stoicus Legal. Veromint Advisors acted as the sole financial advisor and Kaushik Rajan, founder at Stoicus Legal, was the legal advisor for Ricron Panels for this transaction.
The funds raised in the current round will be utilized to bolster marketing and distribution efforts to expand Ricron’s presence in the Indian market, further amplifying its environmental and economic impact.
Rahul Chaudhary, Director and Co- Founder, Ricron Panel says, “Waste management is emerging as a major concern across the nations worldwide as we continue to develop and urbanize. India is one such country which is constantly developing along with its growing population and consumerism causing rapid increase in plastic intake. To mitigate this formidable plastic wastage, Ricron was established to back waste management and offer a promising solution. With our state of art technology, today we are manufacturing responsible building materials by recycling 5000 tons of plastic per year and in the next 2 years, we plan to recycle 24000 tons per year.”
Bharat Jaisinghani, Boon Sustainability, says, “Over the years plastic usage across sectors has been on rise and so has been the after-usage waste which is not only exhausting the dumping space but also causing environmental hazards. Ricron with its innovative technology enables waste plastic to convert into sustainable products. At Boon Sustainability, we aim to extend strategic support to Ricron and scale this sustainable business worldwide.”
Frendy, a tech-enabled small format grocery chain addressing daily shopping needs of tier 3 and beyond cities, has raised Rs 2 Cr as working capital credit from UC Inclusive Credit (UCIC), an NBFC arm of Unitus Capital. The capital will be deployed to fund its central inventory needs to feed its network of Frendy Marts & Micro Kiranas in Tier 3+ towns of Gujarat.
Abhijit Ray, Managing Director, UC Inclusive Credit, says, “UCIC provides loans to companies which are led by strong founders and supported by reputed investors – these companies are addressing large market needs through innovative products and services. Frendy, promoted by visionary and highly experienced founders, has been catering to the needs of micro and small entrepreneurial ventures in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities of India and hence UCIC is proud to partner with Frendy’s team.”
Sameer Gandotra, Founder & CEO, Frendy, says, “As we aim to scale our business 4x, we intend to raise equity and expand our credit lines. Having a lending partner in UCIC adds additional operational & financial discipline which is always good for early stage startups. We have achieved close to 40 annual turns of inventory at our Central Warehouse as we use our proprietary tech enabled Auto Replenishment System (ARS) to restock out Marts & serve the Micro Kiranas. Such high inventory turns allows us to finance our Central inventory with a credit facility. UCIC has a deep understanding of MSMEs and startups operating in the Bharat sector which makes them a perfect partner for Frendy as we enter our growth phase.”
BluSmart, India and South Asia’s first and largest vertically integrated EV RideHailing service and EV Charging Infrastructure network, today announced the successful completion of Pre-Series B funding round securing $24 million (INR 200 Crores) in investment. The fundraise saw participation from new investors comprising notable names, including responsAbility Investments AG (a leading impact asset manager), Sumant Sinha (iconic global leader in the Renewable Energy sector); MS Dhoni Family Office (Cricket icon and former Indian Captain); existing investors and BluSmart founders who all share the company’s vision of ‘Decarbonizing Mobility at Scale’. ? The latest funding round will support BluSmart in expanding its operations and building real EV charging infrastructure & assets in the mega cities of India.
Punit Goyal, Co-Founder, BluSmart, said, “BluSmart is building an integrated energy-infrastructure, mobility and technology company to take the full advantage of the EV revolution. Our latest fundraise of $24 million is an important step in our journey to scale the eMobility fleet and EV Charging Infrastructure.”
Sameer Tirkar, Head of Climate Infrastructure Investments APAC at responsAbility Investments AG, said, “We are happy to continue our partnership with BluSmart through our second round of funding. BluSmart has been able to lead the way in building from the grounds up an entire EV ecosystem to disrupt the conventional modes of commute without compromising on reliability and convenience. We believe in their vision and capabilities in creating positive environmental and social impact by reducing carbon emissions in urban transportation.”
Sumant Sinha, founder of India’s leading decarbonisation solutions company, and an iconic global leader in the Renewable Energy sector, commented, “The future of mobility is electric, and eMobility is a crucial step in making the shift to cleaner, emissions-free transportation. India’s growing economy and favourable policies provide ample impetus to this transition. I am excited to partner with BluSmart in their growth journey.”
MyPickup, urban transit services provider and an IPV Ideaschool startup has raised INR 1.5 Crore in Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds will be allocated for development of scheduling algorithms, brand building, and optimization of operations management. MyPickup is a subscription based electric auto-rickshaw service provider, with a mission to offer zero cancellations and zero surge pricing.
Ankur Mittal, Co- Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Urban cities in India share challenges like pollution, high commuting costs, frequent cancellations, and expensive transportation for school children. Recognizing these issues, MyPickup offers solutions with real-time tracking for parents, EV vehicles to combat pollution, and zero-cancellation and zero-surge pricing policies. They also plan to develop an automated matching algorithm, install safety features like cameras and SOS systems, offer on-demand services through ONDC platforms, and release an exclusive app for drivers. These initiatives build trust and position MyPickup as a promising startup addressing urban problems.”
Abhijeet Dattatraya Jagtap, Founder & CEO, MyPickup, says, “As city-dwellers in India face mounting stress from congestion and pollution, MyPickup is dedicated to alleviating these challenges. By offering shared, reliable, and electric commute solutions for officegoers and school children, we are committed to scaling our impact in reducing urban congestion and emissions. Our mission is to provide sustainable mobility options that not only improve daily commutes but also contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment for all.”
Devnagri, a Gen-AI company that personalizes business communication for non-English speakers raised an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series A Round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Funds will be allocated to marketing, sales, technology scaling, R&D, infrastructure and administrative expenses.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “In India, where more than 700 languages are spoken, translating it is a challenging task from the perspective of accuracy, context, and cultural nuances. These issues impact communication, business expansion, and user experience. Devnagri addresses these problems by leveraging AI-powered human translation. The platform ensures precise translations, context-awareness, and localization, enabling seamless communication across diverse Indian languages.”
Nakul Kundra, Co-Founder, Devnagri, says, “Communication is for the Receiver” Hence, Law of Attraction will only work when business communicates well with their audiences. As part of the vision, we are focussed on our approach of creating a layer of Hyper Local communication to enable the businesses to communicate with their customers in their language. Taking a step forward, we are moving towards offering the enterprises and Government departments with a private cloud infrastructure, to maintain their ownership on their content and by keeping the LLMs/SLMs trained with every usage by the customer. “Privatisation of Business Communication” is the need of an hour.”
ToyStack.ai, a deployment platform that enables developers and technology teams to deploy their code to the cloud, has raised USD $325K in pre-seed funding from angel investors including D. Devaraj, founder of SDU LLP Chartered Accountants and Asit Shetty, Founder, Aveda Ventures. The funds will be used for product development, talent acquisition, sales, and marketing.
Toystack has experienced rapid adoption in the Software Development community and within a few months of operations, has users from over 100 countries and over 14,000 successful deployments to their cloud.
D. Devaraj, Founder of SDU LLP Chartered Accountants, said, “Toystack is a pure technology play which has the scalable potential to tap into customers not only in India, but globally. With increased digitization and the advent of AI, more businesses will necessarily move to the cloud, and Toystack is providing an innovative and simple solution for automating the cloud journey. I find the founders passionate about their vision and I am excited to support their journey.”
Torun Mathias, Co-Founder of ToyStack, said, “The pre-seed round is a validation of our product, my talented tech co-founders and the rapid progress we have made in just a matter of months. Our mission at ToyStack was to create an automated infrastructure toolchain that can simplify the cloud deployment process for developers and companies. This investment further bolsters our mission and will help us in our next phase of product development and customer growth.”
Nected, a next-generation low-code, no-code platform, has secured $1.5 million in seed funding led by Binny Bansal’s Three State Ventures. The round saw participation from prominent investors, including Endurance Capital, Relentless VC, Climber Capital, Lykke Capital, and Forward Slash Capital. Additionally, 15+ founders and CXOs participated in the round, including Nitin Gupta from PayU, Pallav Pandey from Uolo and Knowlarity, Archit Gupta from Clear, Tonmoy Shingal from Mettl, Ravi Bhushan from BrightCHAMPS, Akshay Saxena from Avanti Fellows, Puneet Kumar from Supr Daily (acquired by Swiggy), and Prashant Kumar from Unbxd.
“Nected.ai is redefining how software is developed,” said Prabhat Gupta, Co-founder of Nected. “Our platform fosters collaboration between technical and non-technical teams, enabling them to achieve their goals faster. This innovative approach breaks down barriers and allows businesses to unlock the full potential of their data and technology to drive impactful results.”
Mukul Bhati, Co-founder of Nected, added, “We envision a future where technology is a catalyst for growth and innovation, not a bottleneck. Nected.ai is dedicated to creating a seamless development experience that empowers organisations to iterate faster, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the curve. Our platform is not just a tool; it’s a transformative force in the software development landscape.”
This seed funding will be used to enhance product usability, simplify integration with various technologies, and scale operations to meet the growing demands of Nected’s user base, particularly on the international front. Additionally, Nected plans to invest in research and development to integrate AI-powered features into their existing building blocks, further streamlining the creation and iteration of data-driven workflows.
Bloq Quantum, an AI quantum software startup has raised INR 1.3 Crore in Pre Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures. This investment is part of IPV’s strategy, to build ecosystem for startups to succeed by providing Tech support in terms of credits to Top 100 shortlisted startups. The funds will be used for product development and team expansion. This capital infusion will stimulate innovation in quantum algorithms, improve platform functionalities, and expedite growth.
Mitesh Shah, Co- Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Understanding quantum technology and its intricate algorithms is daunting and applying it effectively in business is even more challenging. By bringing a platform where beginners and experts alike can work on quantum algorithms with a user-friendly low-code interface, Bloq Quantum’s USP brings satisfaction and business to its customers. At IPV, we believe not only in Sreekuttan’s capabilities but also in the entire team behind Bloq Quantum’s remarkable journey.”
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