Deal Roundup: Byju’s scores a large cheque; Flipkart, Pine Labs, Nykaa make acquisitions

Following a frenzied funding week that saw six new unicorns and a record $2.5 billion deployed in technology startups, deal making this week was at a relatively moderate phase. Startups raised a total of $530 million across 25 deals. The week also saw five acquisitions.

For the second week in a row, edtech decacorn Byju’s announced a major development. After the acquisition of Aakash Educational Services last week, the Bengaluru-based company raised $455 million as part of an ongoing $1 billion growth funding round.

A clutch of investors including asset management firm Baron Funds, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and hedge fund XN Exponent Holding participated in the round.

In other deals, co-working space provider WeWork India raised $26 million through a mix of debt and equity, for future growth.    

M1xchange, which holds a central bank-issued Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) license, secured $10 million in a funding round led by ecommerce giant Amazon. Other participants in the funding round included returning investors Beenext and Mayfield.   

Edtech platform upGrad landed $9.3 million from Unilazer Ventures, a Mumbai based private equity and venture capital firm run by upGrad’s co-founder and CEO Ronnie Screwvala.   

Robotics startup Miko bagged $6.7 million in a Series B funding round led by IvyCap Ventures.  Returning investors Chiratae Ventures, and YourNest Capital, and undisclosed angel investors participated in the fundraise.

The notable acquisition of the week was Flipkart’s buy of distressed online travel platform Cleartrip. The Walmart-backed ecommerce giant said it will strengthen its digital commerce offerings with the acquisition. Cleartrip will continue to operate as a separate brand, retaining all employees, and work closely with Flipkart to further develop travel technology solutions.

Digital payments and merchant commerce platform Pine Labs bought Kuala Lumpur headquartered fintech startup Fave, in an all-cash deal valued at $45 million. Fave’s investors, including Grab Financial, food delivery and logistics company Grab, as well as Sequoia Capital, Venturra Capital and SIG Asia Investments will receive all-cash payouts. The acquisition will help Pine Labs expand its presence in Asia riding on Fave’s network of 6 million consumers and 40,000 retailers across Southeast Asia.   

Mumbai based device lifecycle management platform Servify acquired the key businesses of Munich based customer service solutions provider for devices, WebToGo. The acquisition will add two of WebToGo’s solutions, myhandycheck and wenewa, to Servify’s portfolio.

Chennai headquartered Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services, which provides financial solutions for the agricultural sector, acquired farmer-centric agri supply chain platform Kamatan Farm Tech. The acquisition is expected help Samunnati’s market linkage outreach initiatives.

Nykaa E-Retail, which operates retail platforms for beauty and fashion products, acquired Pipa Bella Accessories-run online jewellery brand Pipa Bella for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to help Nykaa Fashion, the Falguni Nayar-led startup’s fashion brand, expand its jewellery category.