Bhive, TagMango, Swipez, iNSTRUCKO raise fresh funds

Tusker Workspace, the Bengaluru-based company that runs Bhive co-working, said it has secured an aggregate investment commitment of $1 million (Rs 7.37 crore at current exchange rates) for its new US fintech entity, Bhive Investech.

The investment, set to be infused as part of a seed funding round, will come from a clutch of returning and new investors, the startup said in a statement, without disclosing their names.

It said that the proceeds from the round will go towards team building, technology development, and legal, compliance and marketing efforts.

Founded in 2014 by Sheshagiri Rao Paplikar, Ravindra Mysore Kantha, Arun Narayan and Monappa Muthappa Bayavanda, Tusker’s main business has been in the co-working segment. The company claims to be the first professionally run co-working space in Bengaluru, with an estimated $30 million worth of properties at the moment.

The new fintech arm, which will operate on an asset-light model, aims to democratise the commercial real estate market by providing shared ownership of large value properties to businesses, middle class and high net worth individuals. It will offer investors benefits of long-term appreciation, it said.

Co-founder Paplikar said, “A very senior person who is a veteran in the real estate industry and with very strong domain expertise in fractional investment space is coming in as a co-founder to the new fintech entity.”

Y Combinator leads seed funding round in TagMango 

Mumbai-based TagMango, which offers a marketing platform for creators, on Friday said it has raised $750,000 (approximately Rs 5.5 crore) in a seed funding round.

The round was led by startup accelerator Y Combinator, with participation from Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, XRM Media Pioneer Fund, and undisclosed angel investors from the USA and UAE.  

In a statement, TagMango said that the proceeds from the round will be deployed to build the platform’s tech capabilities and expand its creator base, with a focus on influencers from India. 

“With these funds, we are looking to build more and more features, hire top talent and onboard the biggest creators that are in India and not just restrict ourselves to tier 1 cities but also tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” Divyanshu Damani and Mohammad Hasan, co-founders of the startup, said in a joint statement.

The duo founded TagMango in 2019 with a goal to offer Indian creators and influencers monetization channels and tools. It offers one-time subscription-based services, including exclusive content, one-on-one sessions and video chats, to build a sustainable business.

So far, the platform has on-boarded more than 3,000 creators with a follower base ranging from thousands to millions across social media platforms. 

Anicut Angel Fund, 9Unicorns back Swipez 

Mumbai-based Opus Net, which owns and operates B2B SaaS platform Swipez, said it has raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding.

The round, according to a statement from the company, was led by Venkatesh Ramarathinam, founder and CEO of Vuram Technology Solutions, through Anicut Angel Fund. Also participating in the round were Mumbai-based early stage fund 9Unicorns and angel investors Sanjiv Bajaj, Ashvin Chadha and Harsh Khanna.

Founded in 2014 by Vivek Iyer and Shuhaid Lambe, Opus Net’s Swipez platform helps digitise small businesses by offering them tools to set up online payments, manage receivables and payables, generate invoices and bills, and consolidate expenses and revenue at one place. It also comes with GST integration and helps SMBs file their GST returns effectively.

“Improving operational efficiency gives businesses improved cash flows and margins,” the co-founders said in a joint statement. “We are seeing clients using Swipez improve their collection efficiencies by over 35%. Automation provides them visibility and efficiency.”

They said that the money from the latest round will be used to expand its merchant base.

Edtech startup iNSTRUCKO to expand customer base with fresh funds

London-based education technology startup iNSTRUCKO said it has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge funding round, dubbed a pre-Series A round.

The capital was infused by the Virgin Group, MVK Group, and a consortium of venture capitalists across London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Switzerland, the company said in a statement. 

The fresh funds will be used to expand iNSTRUCKO’s customer base across India, the Middle East, Singapore and the UK to build new content, it said. It also plans to expand the scope of its partnerships with educational establishments such as Eton College, the statement added.

Founded in April 2020 by Devvaki Aggarwal, iNSTRUCKO offers one-to-one English language lessons for children aged between three and 12. 

The platform delivers interactive digital content through teachers who have been trained in universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and other Ivy League institutions, and claims to focus on sharpening the young students’ social, emotional and cognitive skills.

“With this round of funding, we aim to build our position as a leading premium education brand across India. Our focus is on delivering top-quality courses designed by experts from the UK and India with strict attention to detail, such as capping the number of students in a group at three,” Aggarwal said.