Uniphore gets $400 million at $2.5 billion valuation
Uniphore, a startup which is into conversational automation,
raised $400 million in a funding round led by foreign fund NEA, March Capital and other existing investors along with new entities, at a valuation of $2.5 billion.
With this round, the Chennai-headquartered Uniphore’s total funding has touched $610 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion.
The company, cofounded by Umesh Sachdev, who is also the chief executive, said this is its largest to date and will be used to extend its technology and market leadership with advancements in voice AI, computer vision and tonal emotion, apart from expanding its operations to North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
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ElasticRun raises $330 mn led by SoftBank, Prosus Ventures, Goldman Sachs
Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform ElasticRun
closed a $330 million funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Chimera and Innoven Capital as well as long-term investor Prosus Ventures also participated in the round.
The company has tripled its valuation from $400 million to $1.5 billion after the funding round, cofounder and CEO Sandeep Deshmukh said.
ElasticRun will use the funds to expand more into rural areas and increase the kirana (corner store) customer base from 500,000 to one million stores in the next 12 months, Deshmukh said.
ETtechPine Labs raises $150 million from Alpha Wave
IPO-bound Pine Labs
raised $150 million in a mix of primary and secondary funding from Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge), at a valuation of over $5 billion, according to multiple people in the know.
The digital payments and financial service provider has already received the first tranche of $75 million from Alpha Wave, show regulatory filings filed by the company in Singapore. This was reported first by Dealstreet Asia.
The current funding also includes a secondary raise in the range of $50 million to $75 million, sources familiar with the deal details said.
Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau confirmed the development on Friday morning, stating that the funding has come on account of the company building an omni-channel strategy.
Lummo raises $80 million funding from Jeff Bezos, others
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
participated in an $80 million funding round in Lummo, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that helps small companies get online, much like Shopify. Based in Jakarta and Bengaluru, Lummo was formerly known as BukuKas.
The extended funding, done through Bezos’ personal investment firm – Bezos Expedition, comes a month after the company said it raised $80 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India.
The new funds will help the company expand its talent base in India, where it is looking to more than triple its tech and product workforce.
Goqii raises $50 million
Healthtech startup Goqii
raised $50 million (Rs 375 crore) in its Series-C funding round led by Sumeru Ventures. The round comprised a mix of equity including preference share and debt investment.
Goqii will use the proceeds to strengthen its current offerings that include a wearable fitness tracker, an app, health store as well as real-time coaching and insurance services, the company said. It will also use the funds to expand in insurance, digital therapeutics and international markets.
Dealshare raises $45 million from ADIA
Social commerce platform DealShare
raised $45 million from the wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), as part of a larger funding round.
Other investors in the $210 million round, which it first announced on January 28, include Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital, Unilever Ventures, and Alpha Wave Global.
DealShare is now valued at over $1.7 billion. It will use the funds to strengthen technology, product innovations, and hiring.
Other key deals
â– Agrim, a business to business (B2B) platform for agri-inputs,
raised $10 million in a funding round led by Kalaari Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors Omnivore, India Quotient, and Accion Venture Labs. Axis Bank also joined the round as part of its Bharat Banking initiative.
â– Ace Green Recycling, a battery recycling technology company,
raised over $7 million in a funding round led by Circulate Capital. Climate Angels also participated in the round along with angel investors. The startup has raised about $10 million to date, including this round.
â– Bullieverse, an open-world metaverse platform
raised $4 million from investors led by Web3 venture funds to help build an arcade of play-to-earn games. This funding supports Bullieverse’s aim to establish an open metaverse platform owned by Web3 enthusiasts, creators, and a growing community of gamers.
