Deal roundup: Dealmaking up 16% week-on-week; Incred, MPowered scoop highest funds

Early and later-stage investors put to work about $145 million this week across 17 deals, a 16% increase compared to the past week. Out of the 17, two did not disclose the financial details. 

Investors mostly focused on startups in the fintech and ecommerce sectors. The period also saw the most number of capital infusions in seed-stage funding rounds, signalling the return of investor confidence in the ecosystem.

Funding:

InCred: The non-banking financial company raised about $67 million in a debt funding round to expand its loan books. The lender raised the capital from undisclosed public sector banks and financial institutions in the form of term loans, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and market linked debentures.

MPowered: The real estate management startup raised $21 million in its first funding round, from a group of high net worth individuals (HNIs) from the United States.The fresh capital will be used to take on new verticals of real estate such as warehousing, residential and commercial spaces

Sibros Technologies: The connected automobile technology provider raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, to expand on its product offerings, customer engagement and core teams in the United States and India.

Ather Energy: The electric scooter maker raised about $11.2 million from Hero MotoCorp, as an extension of its Series C funding round that was led by Sachin Bansal. The startup claimed to enter an aggressive expansion phase on the back of its flagship product, the Ather 450X, and is looking to scale to 20 cities by the end of 2021.

Bijnis: The online wholesale sourcing startup raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding co-led by venture capital firms Matrix Partners India and Sequoia Capital India.It will use the funds to scale products and technology that’s specific to footwear and fashion categories manufacturers.

Mobile Premier League: The mobile fantasy esports startup raised $8.7 million from its Singapore-based parent entity M-League.

Jodo: The fintech startup raised about $3.8 million in its first institutional funding round from angel investors and venture capital firms SAIF Partners and Matrix Partners.

Entri: The vernacular test preparation startup has raised a total of $3.1 million, to close its seed round of funding, dubbed a pre-Series A round.

Vegrow: The agritech startup has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round from venture capital firm Matrix Partners India and impact investor Ankur Capital, alongside other investors.

BlueStone: The omni-channel jewellery startup raised about $2 million from existing investors. The growth round, dubbed Series, E round, was led by Accel.

iNurture: The omni-channel higher education services provider raised $1.34 million at current exchange rates) in a debt funding round from Mumbai-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) BlackSoil Capital.

BankBazaar: The loan aggregation startup raised about $1 million from returning investors in the latest tranche of its ongoing growth funding round.

Gigforce: The technology-enabled staffing solutions startup raised $802,380 from Seattle and Bengaluru based impact investor Unitus Ventures.

StyleDotMe: The augmented reality technology startup for fashion raised $466,978 in a bridge round, dubbed pre-Series A, led by Survam Partners, the family office of Suman Kant Munjal.

WYN: The content startup has raised about $66,778 in a seed funding round from India Angel Fund.

Finin: The artificial intelligence-based wealth management startup has raised a bridge round of funding dubbed as ‘pre-Series A,’ led by venture capital firm Unicorn India Ventures.

leap.club: The women-focused networking startup has reportedly raised an undisclosed amount of capital from Titan Capital, the investment office of Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, alongside other investors.

M&A:

Walmart India: Homegrown major Flipkart Group acquired its global parent Walmart’s local cash-and-carry business, to launch a business-to-business marketplace called Flipkart Wholesale.

Travenues: Budget airline SpiceJet acqui-hired Travenues, the airline technology subsidiary of online travel marketplace Ixigo, for an undisclosed amount.