Zomato leads growth deals rally; Infra.Market joins unicorn club

The last week of February saw significant growth startup deals, and a number of merger and acquisitions (M&A). 

The period saw 17 technology startups in the country raise a total of $413 million. The investment value of three early-stage deals were not disclosed.

In the run up to its IPO, Zomato raised yet another growth round investment, worth $250 million this time, marking the largest deal of the week. The deal, closed at a valuation of $5.4 billion, was led by returning investor Kora Holdings, which infused $115 million in the company. Fidelity Management put in $55 million, Tiger Global $50 million, Bow Wave Capital $20 million and Dragoneer Investment Group $10 million.

Infra.Market turned unicorn after raising $100 million in a Series C round led by returning investor Tiger Global. Returning investors Accel, Nexus Venture Partners, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund, and Foundamental also participated in the round.

K-12 focused Doubnut secured $30 million in a Series B round, led by US firm SIG and Lupa Systems, an investment firm set up by James Murdoch. Participants in this round included returning investors Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network India, and Waterbridge Ventures.

E-pharmacy platform PharmaEasy is set to raise $16.6 million in a funding round led by returning investor Temasek Holdings. Lightstone Fund, a unit of LGT Lightstone, is participating in the round. 

Arzooo, which helps physical retailers compete with ecommerce platforms, ready-to-cook food brand Fingerlix and edtech platform Kutuki also raised fresh capital this week.

Three technology firms, founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, received significant capital infusion from venture capital firms. 

Among them, healthcare technology firm Innovaccer entered the coveted unicorn club after closing a $105 million growth funding round, led by Tiger Global Management. 

Hubilo, a virtual and hybrid events platform, landed $23.5 million, and Blueshift Labs, which offers an AI-powered customer data platform, secured $30 million. 

It was a busy week in terms of M&As too. 

Bengaluru-based Vedantu acquired Instasolv, an education-technology company that focuses on doubt-clearance for middle and high school students, while news aggregator unicorn Dailyhunt snapped up AI solutions provider Cognirel Technologies.

Sequoia-backed DeHaat, which operates an online marketplace for farm products and services, acquired software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform FarmGuide. Fisdom, focused on investment and wealth management, acquired tax returns filing platform Tax2win.