Technology startups draw $658 mn on the back of growth funding rounds

Edtech decacorn Byju’s funding spree continues as the Bengaluru-based startup mopped up $460 million in a fresh funding round led by MC Global Edtech Investment Holdings LP. The latest infusion takes the firm’s post-money valuation to a little over $13 billion.

Other investors who participated in this round include B Capital, Baron Global Advantage Fund, XN Exponent Holding, Arison Holdings, TCDS (India), and TIGA (India).  

In September last year, the edtech company raised $500 million at a valuation of $10.8 billion from a clutch of investors including private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, along with existing investors General Atlantic, Owl Ventures and Tiger Global. 

Chennai-based conversational AI (artificial intelligence) technology company Uniphore secured $140 million round led by Sorenson Capital Partners with participation from new investors from Europe and the Middle East -- Serena Capital, Sanabil Investments -- and Cisco Investments. Returning investors in the round included March Capital Partners, National Grid Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Iron Pillar Fund and Sistema Capital. 

The two large late-stage rounds took the overall weekly funding numbers to $658 million. A total of 12 startups raised funds this week, in comparison to 27 deals last week when the funding tally touched $667.3 million.  

Other significant deals include Bengaluru-headquartered electronic medical record (EMR) provider HealthPlix Technologies’ $13.5 million Series B round led by Lightspeed. The round also saw participation from returning investors – JSW Ventures, Kalaari and Chiratae. HealthPlix will use the capital to grow its doctor base in existing geographies, as well as add new towns and medical specializations. 

Homegrown short video app Chingari bagged $13 million in an early-stage found round from a clutch of investors led by NSE-listed mobile entertainment company OnMobile Global as it builds its portfolio post TikTok’s ban in India.  As part of the investment, OnMobile will partner with Chingari for integration and distribution of its direct-to-consumer ONMO gaming platform and other integrations.   

Omnichannel baby products retailer FirstCry, which became a unicorn in February this year, landed $13 million of funding from Premji Invest, Wipro founder Azim Premji’s family investment firm. According to a separate report on VCCircle that cited sources, the company has raised $300-325 million from a consortium of investors led by US based private equity firm TPG Growth. Premji Invest and homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital participated in the round, which is a combination of primary and secondary capital. 

VCCircle also reported that FirstCry has made its third acquisition as it bought a majority stake in Indore-based Cuddles launched in 2016. The deal is said to have been struck at a valuation of Rs 15-20 crore ($2-2.7 million).  

 Amazon has acquired the POS (point of sales) offering of Perpule, a retail technology solutions startup based in Bengaluru. As part of the acquisition, Perpule’s POS team will join the rolls of the Seattle headquartered ecommerce major. Earlier, multiple media reports, citing regulatory filings, said Amazon had acquired Perpule parent Delvit Solutions in an all-cash deal worth Rs 107.6 crore.