Fractal AI turns with $360 million funding
Fractal, an Artificial Intelligence startup based in New York,
has raised $360 million from TPG Capital, a global private investment firm.
The transaction is a mix of primary investment and secondary share purchase from funds advised by Apax Partners. The British private equity firm will remain a majority shareholder in the company, according to a senior executive. While additional terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, industry sources said the investment has pegged Fractal’s valuation at more than $1 billion—making it a unicorn.
The deal is likely to close in the first quarter of 2022. The company is on track to go public in the next couple of years, Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder and group chief executive officer at Fractal, told The Economic Times.
The latest fundraising will see TPG’s Puneet Bhatia and Vivek Mohan join Fractal’s board of directors. All current directors including Gavin Patterson, Rohan Haldea, Shashank Singh, and Gulu Mirchandani will continue to serve on the company’s board.
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OpenSea valued at $13.3 billion in new round
OpenSea, one of the most talked about blockchain startups in Silicon Valley,
has raised $300 million in new venture capital, making it the latest company to cash in on a rush to fund cryptocurrency startups.
The new round of funding, led by investment firms Paradigm and Coatue Management, brings the startup’s valuation to a staggering $13.3 billion just four years after it was founded.
OpenSea previously raised more than $100 million from a host of investors, including investment firm Andreessen Horowitz and actor Ashton Kutcher, according to data provided by the company.
Reliance Retail picks up 25.8% stake in Dunzo
Reliance Retail said it has
led a $240 million funding round in quick commerce firm Dunzo and will now own 25.8% stake in the Bengaluru-based startup, marking the oil-to-technology conglomerate’s entry into the ultra-fast commerce sector.
Post this deal, Reliance Retail is now the largest shareholder in Dunzo.
Kabeer Biswas, cofounder and chief executive of Dunzo, told ET that partnering with the largest retailer in the country will give it a ‘massive leg-up’ against competitors and that both the companies are looking to collaborate on the supply chain side.
Dunzo will use the new capital to take its quick commerce business Dunzo Daily to 15 cities this year and power it through its dark stores. It will run two core businesses—the consumer delivery service for grocery and essentials and a business-to-business (B2B) vertical where it offers its delivery fleet to businesses. About 15,000 local merchants use it every month, he said.
The Reliance-Dunzo deal has more than doubled the valuation of the Bengaluru-based firm to $775 million, up from about $300 million. Existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital also participated in this round, which saw Reliance bring in the bulk of the cash at $200 million.
ETtechUdaan closes $200 million debt financing
Business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce startup Udaan
has closed a $200 million debt financing round by issuing convertible notes to primarily five new investors, according to an internal company note from chief financial officer Aditya Pande.
The names of the investors were not disclosed in the note. People aware of the matter said Tor Investment, Arena Investors and M&G Investments were among the new investors.
For Udaan, which has said it
intends to go public in the next 18-24 months, the move to pick up debt financing through convertible notes comes across as being significant. These investors will have the option to flip their notes into equity, potentially before the IPO.
iD Fresh Food raises nearly $70 million
Asia’s leading PE firm NewQuest Capital Partners, along with the existing investor, PremjiInvest,
invested Rs 507 crore (nearly $70 million) in iD Fresh Food—India’s leading fresh food startup.
Early investor Helion Ventures has made an exit with a 10X return, stated the company. Kotak Mahindra Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the company and Helion.
The new fundraise will be used to strengthen its market leadership in the fresh foods business, foster product innovation, build capacities and expand its presence across key markets in India, the UAE, and the US, according to a company statement. As part of its global expansion plans, the company plans to extend its presence to Singapore, Malaysia and other markets in the near future.
Avataar raises $45 million
Avataar, a leading AI and computer vision platform focused on spatial visual discovery,
has raised $45 million in its Series B round led by Tiger Global, in which existing investor Sequoia Capital India also participated.
This is one of the largest fundraising rounds in the applied 3D and artificial reality space, the company said. Avataar’s platform acts as an ‘inside engine’ powering multiple user experience shifts to interactive life-size Web 3.0, also known as the Metaverse.
Other key deals
Digital payments startup focused on business-to-business payments, Rupifi
has raised $25 million as a part of its first round of institutional funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Tiger Global. Existing Investors Quona Capital and Ankur Capital also participated in the round, along with Silicon Valley-based early-stage investor, Better Capital.
The Bombay Shaving Company, which has positioned itself away from a men’s grooming firm to a hair removal brand,
has raised Rs 160 crore (around $22 million) in a Series C funding round led by Malabar Investments, a hedge fund based in India. Patni Advisors, Singularity AMC, and others also participated in the fundraising. It has also paved the way for exits and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) sales worth Rs 45 crore for some of its employees and early investors, the company said in a statement.
