AgroStar Secured $70 Million in its Series D Financing Round

 

AgroStar Startup Funding News

The omnichannel agricultural market for advisory services and trade AgroStar has secured $70 million in its Series D financing round led by Evolvence, Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise, and CDC.

The new round came after 33 months for AgroStar. Bertelsmann India had led a $27 million Series C round within the Pune-based company in March of 2019. The new money will be used to expand business and product offerings and hire and enhance multichannel strategies, stated the company in the press release.

It was launched in 2013 as a missed-call knowledge program for agriculturalists. AgroStar has evolved into an all-stack platform for farmers and offers farm advisory services and agri inputs using a combination of offline and online channels. AgroStar has more than 1,000 offline touchpoints in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as other regions.

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AgroStar plans to install at least 5,000 touchpoints like this over the coming years. According to its website, its Android-only application has more than 5 million downloads, where farmers share their knowledge and can purchase authentic agricultural inputs. The company's offerings have been limited to content and commerce up to the present time, but it's expected to start lending shortly.

Although the company has yet to announce financial results for FY21, its operating earnings jumped by 80% to 153.69 million in FY20, which was just 85.56 crore for FY19. In terms of revenues, the losses increased by 78% to 93.81 million in FY20, up from the 52.82 million in its previous budget period (FY19).

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It is among the largest rounds of funding for Agritech startups in India. The month of October was when Patna, along with Gurugram-based DeHaat, were able to secure 115 million in the Series D round, which was the largest amount ever raised by an Indian agricultural tech startup in one time.

Tiger Global, which Ninjacart backs, also received a sum of $90m during its series C round. However, Waycool has launched an additional round and is expected to raise more existing and new investors. Entrackr reported exclusive news of this on the 13th of October. AgroStar is competing with Unnati, Gramophone, DeHaat and other companies. Unnati also has raised the sum of $8.5 million from Incofin Investment Management, NabVentures and Orios.

Zepto on Its Way to Raise $250 Million

Zepto Startup Funding News

Zepto, a 10-minute delivery service for groceries, Zepto has attracted a lot of attention from both investors. While customers are impressed by its speedy delivery service, huge American tech investors are optimistic about the company's prospects for the future.

Zepto is a Mumbai-based company that has plans to raise over $250 million in a fresh round, as per three sources who are aware of the deal.

One anonymous person familiar with the details of the deal told us that Zepto had already committed about $125 million, half of the round size is in conversation to raise another $125 million from existing and new investors.

Entrackr has complete information on 11 November that Zepto is seeking to raise over 100 million dollars in a new capital round, with a valuation in the range of 500 million.

According to the sources, the talks are past the early stage, as the conditions of the agreement are being worked out. With the addition of funds, the value is expected to rise. "The company will be valued at about $1 billion (post-money) after this round," according to a person who also asked to remain anonymous.

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Entrackr couldn't identify the names of investors who could be part of the round. Y Combinator, Glade Brook Capital, Nexus, Global Founders Capital are its current supporters. Zepto recently raised $60 million with a value of $250 million. The queries addressed at Zepto or Y Combinator didn't elicit immediate responses.

Zepto will become one of the fastest startups to reach unicorn status if the deal is approved. The marketplace roll-up system Mensa Brands recently became a unicorn within six months from its beginning. Professional network platform Apna also achieved the feat within 21 months.

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Zepto allows online grocery orders and can deliver the groceries within 10 minutes to some locations in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi (NCR). According to the company's website, the service will soon be available in Kolkata along with Pune.

CRED is Looking to Acquire Happay

Cred Startup Acquisition News

Kunal Shah's CRED appears to be aggressively buying businesses -- a tactic it has stayed away from during 2 years following the company's inception. CRED is currently at the point of purchasing Happay, the expense management firm.

Both companies were in discussions over the last couple of months and the conditions of the deal are now in place, according to two sources familiar with specifics of the transaction.

Happay is the second acquisition for CRED following HipBar which was an alcohol delivery business it acquired in October. CRED could also be in talks to buy Times Internet's Dineout as well as Rainmatter's debt investing platform WintWealth. But the talks are still in their early stages and the Bengaluru-based firm is still waiting to confirm the talks.

In the case of Happay it offers companies with expense management to manage tax and travel advantages for employees. Happay offers customized solutions for large corporations that have multiple branches as well as logistic companies with a surface.

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The company, which has been in operation for a decade, also allows large companies to issue credit and prepaid cards as well as manage expenses for employees between 800 and 900k. They are employed by 6,000 businesses which includes 100 large companies.

At the time of writing, Happay has raised $22-25 million through various financing rounds. Based on TechCircle's estimates the company was valued at 60 million during its Series B funding round of the year 2019. If CRED buys Happay within the range above this will result in an attractive exit for Happay's shareholders.

Although Happay is still waiting to file its annual financial statements for FY21, its operating revenues grew by 49% to 37.55 crore in FY20 , up from the 25.12 crore during FY19. The company's losses in FY20 increased 95% to 49.20 crore.

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This year has been an incredible one for CRED in terms of the amount of money that was raised. CRED raked in $466 million in 2021 , and will soon become a part of Razorpay and Meesho which are in talks to secure new rounds that have valuations exceeding $5 billion. Entrackr has exclusive news about CRED's upcoming round that would be worth the company's three-year-old status at more than $5.5 billion.

Pepperfry Receives $10 Million in Debt

Hybrid furniture market Pepperfry has acquired the second tranche of 10 mn dollars from investors in form of obligatory convertible debt. This is the second round of debt that they have acquired till now.

In February, Pepperfry received Rs 35 from the debt firm InnoVen Capital.

According to its regulations, Pepperfry has approved the issue of CCD 74348 (Series A-class) with a face value of 10,000 to raise about the 74 crore mark, which is around $10 million.

Norwest Venture Partners, Broad Street Investments, and Erste WV Guttersloh are the most prominent players in this tranche.They are worth 23.28 crore and 15 crores and 18 crores per. Panthera Growth Fund, General Electric Pension Trust as well as Madhumala Ventures have also joined this round.

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It's important to know it is important to note that Madhumala can be a part of Pidilite Industries limited, which has invested in Pepperfry in the month of May last year. Pepperfry is valued about $462 million in the round, based on Fintrackr's estimates.

The company, which has been in existence for a decade, was created by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah is based on a marketplace model with both online and offline formats. Pepperfry is a platform that offers more than 11,000 items and connects brands like Spacewood, Godrej and Springfit to buyers.

At the end of June, Pepperfry boasted having more than 70 studios offline across 40 cities.

According to a Mint article, Pepperfry plans to apply for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) during the 1st quarter of 2022. It is expected to fund a public pre-public offering that will range from $50-$100 million at the end of the year.

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Although the company hasn't released its annual financial report for FY21, it reported an increase of 26% in revenues to 260.61 crores for FY20. The company has also reduced its losses by 33%.

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Setu Records Rs 3 Cr Revenue in Fy21 Even as Losses Climb to Rs 19 Cr

Fintech infrastructure firm Setu has broadened its offerings and currently includes data, payments as well as lending and investments through an Automated Programming Interface (APIs). The company announced in August that Google Pay partnered with Setu to provide fixed deposits from Equitas Small Finance Bank.

Although this company that is backed by Lightspeed startup is growing at a good rate, it appears to be at a pre-revenue phase as far as revenue is concerned for FY21.

Setu has reported operating revenues of 3.31 crore in FY21 as compared to none in FY20. This is the 2nd full financial year of operation for Setu. The majority of the revenue comes from the selling services (subscription charge).

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The Bengaluru-based business has been able to make 5.74 crore during FY21. This is additional income from interest earned on bank deposits. This is 334% higher than FY20. The company raised fifteen million (Rs 110 crore) Series A round at the start of FY21.

To earn this operating profit, Setu has spent 228 percent more in FY21. This is the rate of 27.96 crore, up from 8.52 crore in FY20. In accordance with the B2B model, its old set of costs were for salary and benefits for employees as well as other plans. The expense jumped by 254% in FY21 and reached 23.51 crore in FY21. 23.51 crore, up from the figure of 6.63 million in FY20.

The three-year-old firm also put aside more than 1.73 billion on consultation services in FY21. The cost increased by 226% during the previous fiscal year, compared to 52 thousands in FY20. At a unit-level, Setu spent Rs 8.45 to generate a rupee operating revenues in FY21.

The increase in total expenses has boosted setu's cash outflow by 70%, to Rs 15.3 crore in FY21 opposed to the just Rs 9 crore in the FY20.

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Although the epidemic affected the businesses of all industries, Setu is unlikely to suffer a significant hit since it's a technology infrastructure company in a market which is rapidly changing and expanding. This means that Setu's primary priority will be to roll its products more quickly in the effort to reduce the burn rate in the year 4. With an appropriate product portfolio and technological expertise it will be an option for acquisition by any large company or group looking to establish an investment market.

For such informative news and updates of the Indian startup scene, check out Entrackr.

INDmoney is Expected to Raise $100 Mn in a Round Led by Tiger Global

INDmoney Startup Funding News

Startups operating in the field of investment management appear to be becoming popular with investors. Fintech platform INDmoney provides its customers manage their money across taxes, investments expenditures, loans, and taxes on a single platform, and is currently in negotiations to secure $100 million through an existing investor Tiger Global Management, according to two sources who are familiar with the developments.

Sources also said that this round is likely to put the value of INDmoney at $500 million. The company's last funding round was in January of 2020.

"Tiger is leading the $100 million round, and the existing investors, including Steadview as well as Dragoneer are likely to be part of the deal," said one of the sources who requested anonymity. "The details for the transaction are nearly done and are likely to be announced in the near future," the person added.

Incredibly, Tiger Global has also invested in other companies operating in the same industry: Groww, which recently reached a valuation of a unicorn and Upstox is another platform that lets its customers manage their the management of their investments.

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INDmoney has received $58 million since it was founded this year from investors like Tiger, Steadview Capital and Dragoneer. The company was created by Ashish Kashyap, who was the founder of the travel platform Goibibo. INDMoney also utilizes its robo-advisor platform to assist clients, mainly between the ages of 25 to 45.

INDMoney also allows Indian customers to invest into US stocks on its platform.

In August of 2020 the Bengaluru-based company had launched third-party loan options that range from personal, home as well as against property and investments. According to the website of the company the personal loan could vary from 12 to 36 percent, while the interest rate for business loans is typically between 12-22 percent.

"INDmoney has expanded its offerings in terms of products like loans and credit on demand for the last 12-15 months, and the proceeds are likely to be utilized as a key element of the company's expansion plan to grow.," said the second source.

According to reports in the media The company is likely to join the insurance market in the near future. The other major competitors for INDmoney are Zerodha along with Paytm Money, among others.

Tiger Global declined to comment on the report. Questions addressed to INDmoney were not answered as of publishing this story. We will bring the story up to date in the event that INDmoney responds.

Although the company has yet to submit its accounts for the fiscal year ending in FY21 the company has reported operating revenues of 1.07 crore. The company saw the opportunity to record a 2.3X increase in its total earnings to 7.26 crore, up from 3.17 millions in FY19. The total spending of the company increased to 19.12 crore, up from 3.06 millions in FY19.

If you want to stay updated with the latest ongoings in the start-up industry, then visit our official website “Entrackr”.

Nykaa Updates Its Latest Equity Offer to Raise 630 Crore in IPO

Nykaa IPO News

A marketplace that is primarily focused on beauty, Nykaa has updated its red prospectus for herrings (DRHP) to boost the value of its new offering by Rs 100 crore. Based on regulatory reports, Nykaa is now seeking to raise around 630 crore in IPO.

In August, the company stated within the DRHP, that it planned to raise 525 crore through the forthcoming Initial public offer (IPO). According to media reports, Nykaa could raise $500 million (Rs 4000 crore) however, the company did not reveal the exact amount of its IPO it had announced in the DRHP at a price of between $4.5-5 billion (Rs 35,000-40,000 crore).

According to sources in the industry the company has been granted acceptance from SEBI for the public listing of its stock and will likely be listed at the exchange before the end of the month.

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Planning of lower stakes in Nykaa IPO

Nykaa will use the fresh funds to open warehouses and stores as well as to fund operations online and also repay its borrowers. Promoter Sanjay Nayar Family Trust and Nykaa's investors: Lighthouse, TPG Growth, Sunil Munjal among others will lower their stakes in the planned Nykaa IPO.

If the company is listed at $4.5-5 billion, it would be a 2.5X increment from the $1.8 billion value in November of 2020 when Massachusetts-based Fidelity Investments had picked up additional shares of the Mumbai-based company.

Contrary to most companies that are preparing for public listing, Nykaa is a profitable venture. Based on its DRHP report, the company reported the sum of Rs 61.94 crore in profit and operating revenues of 2440.89 crore for the fiscal which ended March 2021.

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The fact that promoters are a part of Nykaa differs from other IPO-bound businesses. Falguni along with Sanjay Nayar, along with their trusts of family members hold 53 percent of the company with a variety of rights that are favorable.

Nykaa is also older than the other internet-based consumer businesses that are preparing to go public. It was founded in 2012 by Nayyar back in the year 2012 Nykaa is able to fulfill more than 60,000 daily orders it claims that they have more than 15 million users registered. There are 73 physical stores spread across 38 cities across India with three stores at the close of FY21.

If you want to stay updated with the latest ongoings in the start-up industry, then visit our official website “Entrackr”.

Dream 11 suspended its operations post FIR registered against them in Karnataka

Fantasy sports website Dream11 has suspended operations for customers in Karnataka after a first Information Report (FIR) was made against Dream11's founders for violating the law prohibiting betting and wagering on games played online.

Dream11 continued to be operational throughout the state, until the beginning of Sunday, even though its rivals such as Mobile Premier League (MPL), Paytm First Games and RummyCircle have been unable to offer their services to users of Karnataka following the fact that the state legislature adopted a law prohibiting betting and wagering platforms and money betting.

"In order to allay our users' concerns, we have decided to suspend operations in Karnataka," stated Dream11 in a press release.

According to the company, they have been informed by Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) that the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act 2021 is not applicable to its members Fantasy Sports Operators. "The FIFS format of Fantasy Sports has been upheld by the courts of India as not amounting to gambling, betting or wagering," the statement reads.

The app was withdrawn soon after an FIR was registered against the co-founders of Dream 11 in the Annapoorneshwarinagar Police Station in West Bengaluru.

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Prior to Karnataka, such online games have already been banned in states like Assam, Odisha, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While these platforms promote themselves as games that require skill, Karnaraka's ban does not comprise games of skill, however it does include a money-bet element.

In the past, FIFS Members of the Federation called on the Karnataka government to comply with and respect the constitutional and judicial safeguards that are provided to the company's business. Dream11 is the first member of FIFS which includes MPL as one of their members.

If you want to stay updated with the latest ongoings in the start-up industry, then visit our official website here. 

Licious becomes India's first unicorn company in the D2C segment

Latest Startup Funding News

Direct-to-consumer seafood and meat brand Licious became the first Indian unicorn in the D2C segment when the brand raised $52 million under the guidance of IIFL's Late Stage Tech Fund. It is also the 29th company that has achieved the status of a unicorn in 2021 .

As of June this year, Bengaluru's firm was able to raise $192 million in the Series F round of funding that was led by Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. Brunei Investment Agency and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Growth Fund as well as Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India were also part of the round.

"Even though the funding for the D2C sector has grown significantly, FMCG is still not considered the most attractive category," said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura who co-founded Licious.

"The fresh meats and seafood sector is still largely underserved and unorganised that holds a vast opportunity of $40 billion," they said.

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In the spring of this time last year Licious was able to provide ESOPs to over 1,000 employees , which included its blue-collar employees. Then, it announced the purchase of a buyback amounting to 30,000 in the month of August.

Licious was the 29th company to reach unicorn status by 2021 on its own. The company was founded in the month of April. Vedantu Professional, a networking platform designed for people working in the blue collar and gray Apna and the esports platform Mobile Premier League had joined the club following some of the other companies like Zetwerk, Grofers, Eruditus, CoinDCX, upGrad, MindTickle and BharatPe had raised new rounds with a valuation of unicorns in August.

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Ola, Uber, Swiggy & Zomato Workers Filed Petition in Supreme Court for Their Social Security Benefits

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court today praying for social security benefits for gig employees working for companies such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy and Zomato. It also asks that the court acknowledges that these companies have breached the rights of their gig workers by restricting the manner in which they utilize their platforms.

The petition was submitted through the Indian Federation of App-based Transportation Workers, a worker's union that advocates for the rights of gig-workers working for companies such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy and Zomato as well as other companies.

The union in the petition claims that they fall within what is known as "unorganised people" in India's unorganised Worker Social Welfare Security Act 2008 . They are therefore entitled to social security benefits. Since this hasn't been the case in the past the union feels "exploited".

"Denial the social insurance benefits to those referred to as "gig workers" as well as the "platform worker" has led to the exploitation of these workers through forced labor in accordance with Section 23 of our Constitution. The right to live is the ability to earn a living under fair and decent conditions of employment," the plea said.

Workers who work as gigs in India have complained for years about their uncertain earnings and a poor base wage and an algorithm is said to force them to travel hundreds of kilometers every day for very little cash. All this with little or none social security benefits, like gig workers around the world.

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In the year 2000, India enacted the Code on Social Security, 2020 that promises to increase benefits from social security to those who work, but is not yet in place.

It also said that platforms have total control over how users are able to use their apps, even claiming that the relationship is only supposed to consist between "partners".

"The simple fact that employers label their own "aggregators" and have entered into"partnership" agreements, doesn't negate the reality that there is an official relationship between employer and employee, master and servant as well as worker in the sense of the law," the petition said.

The petition has been resolved with the Senior Advocates Indira Jaising as well as Gayatri Sing. The petition was filed by Advocate-on-Record Nupur Kumar.

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