Deal roundup: Impact investor Omidyar scores an exit in slow funding week for startups

In an otherwise dull week yet again for startup funding in the technology sector, impact investor Omidyar Network scored an exit when portfolio company Aspiring Minds Assessment was acquired by United Kingdom-based SHL on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in November, pending regulatory approvals.

The acquisition gives talent assessment solutions firm SHL access to Aspiring Minds' artificial intelligence based employee assessment and interviewing solutions. It has raised $2.4 million from Omidyar in 2011. While the companies did not disclose the details of the all-cash transaction, The Economic Times put the size of the deal at $80-100 million.

Apart from Omidyar, Aspiring Minds’ other investors Ajit Khimji Group, Mukul Singhal, partner at Pravega Ventures Trust, and Tarun Khanna, will also exit via the deal.

In other notable deal related developments, Flipkart founder Binny Bansal’s $12.5 million infusion into Mobikon, a Singapore-based startup, this Friday comes in the wake of reports of him setting up a venture capital fund with a target corpus of $300-400 million. The fund is expected to be launched by the end of this year and will also be based out of Singapore. Mobikon provides marketing and analytics solutions to the food and beverages sector. The latest infusion takes the total capital raised by the startup so far to $25 million.

Bansal, who quit his role as group chief executive of Flipkart last year, sold shares worth $14 million in the company, reportedly to US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, last month.

Top Funding Deals

Log 9 Materials: The Bengaluru-headquartered cleantech company raised approximately $3.5 million in a Series A funding round from Sequoia Capital India’s accelerator programme Surge and Exfinity Venture Partners. 

Crediwatch: The data utility platform raised $3.2 million in a Series A funding round led by Artis Labs, a platform for early stage opportunities from San Francisco based venture capital firms Artis Capital Management and Abstract Ventures. The latest infusion takes the total capital raised so far to $5 million.

Credenc: The New Delhi-headquartered education loan startup raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by Omidyar Network India. Fintech and insurance-tech focused fund Emphasis Ventures (EMVC), venture capital firm Better Capital and the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) Alumni Fund also participated in the funding round.

Stage3: The New Delhi-based fashion rental and styling platform raised $2 million in a seed round led by Blume Ventures. It has created a community of designers, fashion enthusiasts, celebrity stylists, bloggers, influencers and celebrities on its platform. The platform plans to collaborate with more celebrities, influencers and designers in the next few months.

Wealthy: The online wealth management platform raised $1.3 million in a seed round led by early stage venture capital firm Good Capital. Emphasis Ventures (EMVC) and its existing investors  Venture Highway, Tracxn Labs, V1 Capital and Globevestor have also participated in the round. The tech-driven platform partners with independent advisors who manage clients.

Incubators

Mumbai-based Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator (SP-TBI) raised $1.4 million from the department of science and technology under the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations – Seed Support System (NIDHI- SSS) scheme.