CTE's Cambridge Innovations funds two US-based startups

Cambridge Innovations, the investment and technology platform of Cambridge Technology Enterprises Ltd (CTE), has invested an undisclosed amount of money in two US-based startups, Valet Anywhere and Ourly.help.

CI, which was launched in December 2015, has earlier funded six startups – RoadZen, Causemo, Authess, MyCrowd, PhotoKarma and Anthill Ventures. In an earlier interview to VCCircle, CTE and CI chairman Aashish Kalra had said he is looking at investing in 50 companies in the next three years through the $12.5 million Cambridge Innovations fund and will provide a mix of capital, people and technical knowledge to early-stage entrepreneurs.

Kansas (US) and Hyderabad-headquartered CTE is an IT services leader focused on the convergence of big data and cloud, has offshore development offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad. CI invests in early stage ventures and helps them leverage technology, big data and machine learning to disrupt markets through the creation of efficient products and services, and helps them get to their Series A rounds faster.

CI will help Valet Anywhere extend its product offerings and help it scale up in new markets.

The on-demand valet service provider allows people who own cars in cities to access long-term parking facility at prices lower than most garages. The startup, founded in New York City in 2014 by serial entrepreneurs Robert Kao and Lawrence Lee, has been a part of AngelPad Accelerator. It had previously raised $2.45 million from CyberAgent Ventures, AngelPad, Urban.US and other angel investors.

"Partnering with CI enables us to strengthen our technical expertise and accelerate our product vision establishing Valet Anywhere as the go-to solution to eliminate the stress and inconvenience of parking in major cities," said Kao in a statement.

Ourly.help is a platform that teaches kids to learn about, and earn, money within their surrounding environment through a self-paced mobile platform, thus helping kids gain professional and personal life skills. The new funds will be used to develop its technology and help increase its user base of children and parents in new markets.

"A new model of helping parents help their children learn about and earn money is needed," said John Malone, CEO of Ourly.help.

"In the US alone, teens spend an average of $5,000 a year of their parents' money. Ourly.help wants to create a better way for children to share in the work required for those earnings, as well as to begin developing the professional capabilities needed for life," said Kalra.