Deal Roundup: Thrasio-style startups draw mega bucks; Growth startups lead late week rally

A late dealmaking rush by a handful of growth startups drove investments in technology startups this week to $743 million. A total of 43 startups raised capital this week, of which 11 did not disclose the amount they raised.

Three large deals on Friday – Digit Insurance, Licious and WinZO – accounted for 61.5% of the total capital raised during the week.

General insurance company Digit Insurance topped the funding charts with a $200 million round led by returning investor Faering Capital. With the fresh round, the Bengaluru headquartered hit a valuation of $3.5 billion, a 1.8X jump from January this year. New participants in the round included Sequoia Capital India and IIFL Alternate Asset Managers among others. Digit has raised $442 million to date. The platform offers motor, health as well as travel, property and other insurance schemes. 

Online meat and seafood delivery platform Licious bagged $192 million in a round led by Temasek Holdings and Multiples Private Equity to accelerate its supply chain transformation, improve product quality and customer experience. Licious has so far raised $282 million, making it one of the highest funded companies in this category.

Vernacular social gaming platform WinZO raised $65 million in a round that marked the first ever investment in India for California-based Griffin Gaming Partners. The round takes the total tally of capital raised by the company to $90 million.

Two startups -- 10club and Powerhouse91 -- looking to replicate the ecommerce model made popular by Thrasio raised funding this week. 10club, launched by former Lamudi CEO Bhavna Suresh and two others, raised $40 million in an outsized seed funding round from Fireside Ventures and an undisclosed international investor while Powerhouse91 bagged an undisclosed amount of seed capital from U.S.-based venture capital firm Crossbeam Venture Partners.

In other significant deals this week, music and podcast streaming platform Gaana secured $40 million in a debt round from returning investor Tencent Cloud Europe; Logistics-tech startup LocoNav’s bagged  $37 million from a clutch of investors; Quizizz, which gamifies quizzes and interactive lessons, landed $31.5 million from Tiger Global Management and others.

In mergers and acquisitions, Bengaluru based cloud communications firm Exotel and contact centre solutions provider Ameyo said they were joining forces to form a customer engagement cloud platform. The resulting combined entity will have a presence in 60 countries with an estimated annual recurring revenue of $40 million or Rs 297.26 crore. Meanwhile, TVS Automobiles Solutions Ltd, which operates a multi-brand car servicing chain under the MyTVS brand, snapped up vehicle service app goBumpr.