BetterPlace, CredAble, Svami raise fresh funds

Bengaluru-based BetterPlace Safety Solutions, a startup offering blue-collar workforce management services, has raised $10 million in a Series B round of funding.

The investment, announced on October 27, was led by Singapore-based Jungle Ventures with participation from existing company investors Unitus Ventures, 3One4 Capital, and Venture Highway Capital.

As part of the fundraise, BetterPlace has issued 91,009 Series B cumulative compulsorily convertible preference shares to the investors at a face value of $1.36 (Rs. 100) per share and a premium of $109.9 (Rs. 8,107) per share, regulatory filings revealed. 

Jungle Ventures’ founding partner Anurag Srivastava will also join the board of the company under this deal.

The company will use the money to build innovative products, grow presence in new business verticals, and expand its footprint in the SME sector as well as international markets. It also plans to upscale its hire-engage-manage digital solutions, which connect over 150 million blue-collar employees with the enterprises, according to a statement. 

With the inclusion of this round, the total amount raised by BetterPlace has reached $16 million. The company’s Series A round of $3 million was led by 3One4 back in 2018. 

Read: Market opportunity of $30 bn and BetterPlace has first-mover advantage

The startup was founded in 2015 by Pravin Agarwala and Saurabh Tandon. Initially, they only offered background verification services, but later, the portfolio of the company was expanded to provide employee lifecycle management services for the blue-collar workforce. This includes solutions like digital onboarding, background verification, training, certification, and attendance management. So far, the 200-strong BetterPlace team has served over 700 companies through their all-in-one lifecycle management platform.

Back in March 2020, BetterPlace had also acqui-hired artificial intelligence-powered analytics company Fabulyst to strengthen its data mining team and release improved workforce management products.

“The blue-collar ecosystem is undergoing massive digital transformation and the ongoing pandemic has accelerated this adoption. We are onboarding more than 150k people digitally every month and aim to serve 2000 enterprises and a 3 million workforce by the end of this financial year,” Agarwala said.

CredAble raises $2.45 million from V’Ocean Investment, others

Equentia SCF Technologies, which runs fintech platform CredAble, has raised $2.45 million (Rs. 18.14 crore) from V’Ocean Investment and other individual investors.

The company, a holder of a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license, has issued 22,684 compulsorily convertible preference shares to the investors at a face value of $0.14 ( Rs. 10) per share and premium of $108.21 (Rs. 7,990) per share, Inc42 reported, citing MCA filings.

According to the data, 18,273 shares have been allotted to V’Ocean Investment, taking its investment to $1.97 million (Rs. 14.61 crore), while the remaining have been issued to 18 different individuals.

CredAble was launched in 2017 by Nirav Choksi and Ram Kewalramani with the goal to provide supply chain financing services and disrupt the segment in Asia. The Mumbai-headquartered company leverages its partner network of financial institutions as well as technology, deep learning, analytics, and an in-house blockchain platform to deliver vendors strategically structured solutions, including loans against receivables, working capital loan, and more. 

Prior to this, the NBFC had raised $14.8 million from Alpha Capital as part of a Series A round of funding in June 2018. In all, the startup is estimated to have raised over $17 million to expand its footprint in the SME lending segment, which also has players like CredRight and Amazon-backed Float.

Svami raises $877,000 from Mumbai Angels Network, others

Foxtrot Beverages, the company that owns and manages progressive drinks brand Svami, has raised $877,252 (Rs. 6.5 crore) as part of a bridge round, leading up to Series A.

The investment was led by Mumbai Angels Network with participation from other existing investors, including Rukam Capital Trust, Niren Shah, managing director of Norwest Venture Partners, and Yukti Securities, the family office of Ashish Chand.

The startup plans to deploy the fresh funds to launch a new ready-to-drink product line and expand its footprint, Mumbai Angels said in a statement. It added that the company looks forward to growing into newer cities in India while growing its presence across existing geographies at the same time.

Prior to this, Svami had raised $1 million (Rs. 7.5 crore) in November 2019, as part of a pre-Series A round of funding led by Rukam Capital.

Founded in 2016 by Sahil Jatana, Rahul Mehra, and Aneesh Bhasin, Svami has built its name by offering premium non-alcoholic beverages like different varieties of tonic water, ginger ale, and sodas. 

The aerated drinks are available online as well as through 900 touchpoints, including retail outlets, wine shops, restaurants-bars in eight Indian states and two international markets.

“Since launch, we have seen massive product acceptance across retail and HoReCa (hotel/restaurant/café) and now we are doubling down on our first-mover advantage with deeper retail presence and a new category launch,” Jatana said in the statement.