Deal Roundup: BharatPe, Dailyhunt, ShareChat score growth funding

Dealmaking momentum in the Indian startup ecosystem continued in the second week of February, with 31 companies raising about $413.5 million. Ten firms did not disclose the funding amount. 

Growth stage deals once again saw the most activity -- BharatPe, Dailyhunt, and ShareChat accounted for about 65% of the week’s overall investments. 

Payments and financial services startup BharatPe topped the deal charts with a $108 million Series D funding round that valued the company at $900 million.  Led by returning investor Coatue Management, the round includes a $90 million primary infusion while the remaining $18 million of secondary will deliver exits for angel investors and employees. With this, BharatPe has now raised a total of $268 million through equity and debt since its inception.

VerSe Innovation, the parent of online news and content platform Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, snapped up more than $100 million as part of its Series H round of funding led by sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and US-based alternative asset manager Glade Brook Capital Partners. 

The fresh funding comes within two months of VerSe amassing a similar amount in an exercise that had catapulted the company to the unicorn club of startups with a valuation of at least $1 billion. The latest capital will be used to scale up Josh, which it launched after the Indian government banned popular app TikTok last year.

ShareChat, which also ventured into the short video space after TikTok ban with Moj, bagged $60 million from existing investor Twitter Ventures, the VC arm of the micro blogging platform.   

Mohalla Tech, the parent of ShareChat, had raised $40 million from returning investors Twitter, Lightspeed Venture partners, SAIF Partners and India Quotient to grow Moj in September 2020.

In other major deals, logistics firm Ecom Express raised follow-on round from UK government’s development finance institution (DFI); edtech startup SplashLearn secured $18 million from San Francisco-based venture capital firm Owl Ventures; an omni-channel meat and seafood supplier TenderCuts bagged $15 million in a round led by homegrown private equity firm Paragon Partners; gaming and sports platform Nazara Technologies raised about $13.7 million from Instant Growth Limited (IGL),  an investment vehicle of the limited partners of Hornbill Orchid India Fund, a Mauritius based hedge fund.  

On Thursday, TechCircle exclusively reported healthcare services company MedPlus Health Services’ $13.7 million fundraising from New York headquartered private equity investor Warburg Pincus, and PremjiInvest, the family office of Wipro founder chairman Azim Premji.

The week also saw rural lending startup SarvaGram mopping up $10.5 million as part of its Series B funding round led by Elevation Capital  and student financing platform Eduvanz raising $10 million in a debt funding round. 

Additionally, omnichannel health and wellness platform Cure.fit acquired gym aggregator Fitternity in the lone M&A deal of the week.