SoftBank may invest $350 mn in Curefit; FnO raises $2 mn from angel investors

Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund is in talks to invest up to $350 million in health and fitness startup Curefit, The Economic Times said. If the investment in the startup co-founded by Mukesh Bansal fructifies, Curefit’s valuation may cross the $1 billion mark to achieve unicorn status.

The talks are still in preliminary stages, three people familiar with the development told the daily. One of the people said that Curefit’s operations may be expanded globally if the investment is made.

Early last month, the healthcare startup had raised $75 million in a funding round led by Accel. Other existing investors such as Kalaari Capital and Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures) also participated in the round.

In April, Curefit allocated $3 million for an incubator programme aimed at health food platforms. It acquired juice brand Rejoov on the heels of its acquisitions of mental wellness platform Seraniti and gym chain Fitness First India.

Curefit was founded in 2016, starting with the fitness chain CultFit and then expanding into diagnostics platform Health.Fit, mental wellness unit Mind.Fit and food delivery platform Eat.Fit. Today, it operates 130 Cult.Fit centres across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad.

FnO

Financial services platform FnO has raised $2 million in a round of funding, the company said in a statement. The Singapore-based startup did not disclose the investors but said they are top executives of banks, financial services and asset management companies, among others.

The financial services platform creates customised products for trading in futures and options (F&O). “FnO is the first platform in the world dedicated only to F&O trading,” said Vishesh Dhingra, founder and CEO, FnO. “We plan to make FnO synonymous with F&O by making futures and options trading easy, affordable and less error-prone,” he added.

FnO said in a statement that it intends to launch its first product in the Indian market in the next few weeks.

Vogo

Bike-renting platform Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd is in talks to raise $40-50 million, Mint said.

A person in the know told the daily that talks with multiple investors are at a preliminary stage.

Of late, Vogo has been looking to expand its fleet of bikes, with a marked focus on increasing the number of electric scooters.

Vogo recently raised Rs 100 crore in a Series B round of funding from Kalaari Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India and the family trust of Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal.

Earlier this month, Alteria Capital spearheaded a fund infusion of Rs 25 crore in the bike-sharing platform.

Within a fortnight of Alteria Capital’s investment, former Myntra chief executive Ananth Narayanan, investors K Ganesh and Srini Anumolu and SVG Media founder Manish Vij invested an undisclosed sum in Vogo.

Founded in 2016 by Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan and Sanchit Mittal, Vogo’s fleet now boasts of 12,000 vehicles across five cities of India.