WayCool Foods closes $117-million funding round
Agritech startup WayCool Foods r
acked up $117 million in an ongoing Series D funding round that saw the participation of new and existing investors, including LightRock, LightBox, FMO, Lightsmith, World Bank’s International Finance Corp., Redwood Equity Partners and Gawa Capital.
The company had in October raised $13 million as part of the latest fundraise. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate and leverage deep tech and automation to enhance its efficiency multifold.
Lead School becomes third unicorn of 2022
Edtech firm Lead School
raised $100 million from investors led by GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital, doubling its valuation in less than a year to $1.1 billion.
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The Mumbai-based company, which provides tech-enabled solutions to schools with a focus on digital learning through an online or hybrid model (of physical and digital) of classrooms, had raised $30 million in April last year.
The financing round makes Lead School the third startup to enter India’s unicorn club in 2022, after direct-to-consumer brand Mamaearth and Fractal, an artificial intelligence firm. It is also the sixth Indian edtech company to reach unicorn status. Unicorns are privately held startups with a valuation of $1 billion and above.
Refyne raises $82 million
Refyne, a platform which helps employees draw their salaries on demand,
raised $82 million in new funding led by New York-based investment firm Tiger Global.
The financing saw participation from existing investors, including QED Investors, partners of DST Global, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital, and RTP Global. Digital Horizon is a new investor which has come on board, the company said.
The startup looks to use the fresh capital for scaling, expanding into different geographies, developing more products, spreading awareness about the product, and hiring more people to add to its current 85 employees.
FPL Technologies raises funds at $750 million valuation
Credit-based fintech, FPL Technologies, which operates credit score platform OneScore and issues credit cards OneCard,
raised $75 million as a part of its fresh Series C fundraise, at a post-money valuation of $750 million.
The round was led by existing investors – QED Investors, Janchor Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners and Hummingbird Ventures. The company now plans to use the proceeds from the fresh raise to double its team strength, hire across marketing and engineering functions, scale its existing line of products as well as look at geographic expansion.
ETtechTheMathCompany gets $50 million
TheMathCompany, a data analytics and engineering firm,
raised $50 million in a funding round led by Brighton Park Capital. Existing investor Arihant Patni participated in the fundraising.
The investment will accelerate the startup’s expansion in the United States and European Union, as well as enhance Co.dx, a proprietary platform that helps businesses across multiple industries solve key problems through low code, custom business applications.
Jeff Machlin, partner at Brighton Park, will join TheMathCompany’s board.
Recykal raises $22 million funding
Waste-commerce solutions provider Recykal
raised $22 million in funding by investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley India.
The company works with several of the world’s largest consumer brands to assist them in implementing sustainability solutions in India and has also launched India’s first B2B marketplace for waste that connects participants across the waste value chain.
Flipkart group acquires Yaantra
Flipkart group
has bought out Yaantra, an electronics refurbishment platform, to strengthen its recommerce business and improve after-sale offerings for its customers in the smartphones segment.
The acquisition is expected to be in the range of $40-50 million, in what is cash-cum-stock deal, according to sources aware of the matter. There are some additional rewards which will come forth for the management based on the fulfilment of milestones over a period of time.
With the acquisition of Yaantra, Flipkart said it will give the company greater access to affordable refurbished smartphones.
Rupeek picks up $34 million in fresh round
Gold loans provider Rupeek
raised $34 million in a fresh round of funding led by Lightbox. Existing investors including GGV and Bertelsmann also participated in the funding. The company is now valued at $634 million, said a person aware of the talks. Rupeek said it would use the funds to scale further and invest in new products.
The company touched an annual disbursement run rate of $1 billion in December.
Other key deals
Electric commercial vehicle startup EVage
raised $28 million (over Rs 205 crore) from US-based venture capital firm RedBlue Capital. The funding will allow EVage to complete its factory outside of Delhi in FY 2022-23 and scale up production
Lahori, a direct-to-consumer beverage maker,
received $15 million investment from Belgium-based consumer-focused investor Verlinvest in exchange for a minority stake. It did not disclose how much stake Verlinvest has picked. The Punjab-based company will use the Series A funds to double down on its brand’s growth through offline and online expansion and will also enhance the national presence of the brand in retail chains.
