Here is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today including funding, merger, acquisition, fund launch etc. Read a brief description about all of them:1. Bengaluru-based AI and virtual reality startup Absentia VR has secured $1.2 million (Rs 8 Cr) in its Pre-Series A round of funding from Exfinity Venture Partners, T.V Mohandas Pai, Deepak Ghaisas, Girish Paranjpe,and V. Balakrishnan. The startup will use the raised funding to build its new offering, Norah AI, an artificial-intelligence powered engine that creates 360 degree panoramic content from 2D videos or images. Absentia was founded in June 2015 by three third-year dropouts from BITS Pilani Goa Campus, Shubham Mishra, Vrushali Prasade, and Harikrishna Valiyath.
2. Bengaluru-based augmented reality startup Whodat has raised $600K (about Rs 3.86 Cr) in its latest round of funding from early-stage Venture Fund, Ideaspring Capital. Launched in 2013 by Kaushik Das and Sriram Ganesh, the startup caters to both B2B and B2C customers and is building a proprietary hybrid SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) system that will allow it to create visualisations for indoor environments.
3. Cab-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc’s vice president of global vehicle programmes Sherif Marakby has left the company, reported VCCircle. Marakby who joined Uber in April last year, played a crucial role in developing the firm’s self-driving car programme. Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer at online furniture seller Urban Ladder, is likely to join Uber as marketing head for India.
4. Flipkart-backed GPS navigation and location-based services provider MapmyIndia, which is operated by New Delhi-based CE Info Systems Pvt. Ltd, has acquired Bengaluru-based VIDTEQ for an undisclosed amount, as reported by VCCircle. VIDTEQ, which is run by VidTeq (I) Pvt. Ltd, was founded by Chandra Thimmannagari and Navada Muraleedhara in May 2008. VIDTEQ’s VideoMap technology allows users to view the video clip of a route between two locations within a city. The company claims to have ‘video mapped’ more than 20 cities in India.
5. Online baby products store Hopscotch, owned by Hit The Mark Inc., is in advanced talks to raise about $20 million in a Series D funding round from a clutch of new and existing investors, reported LiveMint. Hopscotch, founded by Harvard Business School alumni Rahul Anand and Lisa Kennedy in November 2011, has received commitment from new investor IIFL Seed Ventures Fund, a unit of IIFL Holdings Ltd, the two people said on condition of anonymity.
6. Taxi aggregator Sun telematics is in talks with investors to raise $2 million (about Rs 13 crore) by the middle of this year to expand its network base, reported ET. Launched in 2013, the Bengaluru-based company raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round of funding last year to enhance product infrastructure and technology, and expand its footprint across India. The company has received interest from VC firms in US.
7. Early-stage venture capital firm 50K Ventures is planning to invest $1 million (about 6.5 crore) in startups from emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain, internet of things (IoT) and robotics. It plans to invest $50,000-100,000 in each of the 10-15 startups it finalises.
8. Medwell Ventures, a provider of home healthcare services has raised $21 million in Series B round of funding led by Mahindra Partners.This round of funding also saw investments from existing investors, Eight Roads Ventures and US based F-Prime Capital Partners, along with early angel investors and founders. Medwell which runs Nightingales brand of home healthcare services such as stroke management, congestive heart failure, Alzheimers care and other ailments. Till date the company has raised $35 million in funding in multiple rounds.
9. AI startup Innefu Labs raises $2 mn from IndiaNivesh, Cyber-security solutions provider. The Delhi-based company will invest the funds in product and technology development, team expansion and overseas launches. Founded in 2011 by Tarun Wig and Abhishek Sharma, Innefu claims to have built on artificial intelligence technology to provide cyber security solutions pertaining to biometrics authentication and multi-factor authentication, besides data analysis to predict and prevent virtual threats.
10. India got its first Industrial robot, BRABO so user-friendly that anyone without any previous robotics experience can effectively operate it. A majority of Indian MSMEs are yet to realize the advantages of using industrial robots. BRABO—short for “Bravo Robot”—has been priced between Rs5 lakh and Rs7 lakh and can even be bought on equated monthly instalments, or EMIs. BRABO comes in two variants that can handle payloads of 2kg and 10kg, respectively.
11. Leaf, claimed to be the world’s best-selling all-electric vehicle by manufacturer Nissan, is likely to set foot in India. Pilot run for the Leaf, which has sold nearly 250,000 units globally so far, is scheduled for later this year in India. This run will help the Japanese auto maker in testing the car on Indian roads.Nissan is likely to initially seek incentives to provide the product at competitive prices and bolster demand. Once sales improve, the company may explore assembling the car or sourcing parts locally.
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Sujata is an engineering graduate and has done her Post Graduation in Human Resource Management. She has a deep interest in startups & technology.
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