Aartas CliniShare, StockGro, Khabri, others raise early-stage funds; CrazyLabs acquires Firescore Interactive

Aartas Clinishare, a US-based startup enabling medical co-working, said it has raised $5 million in a fresh round of funding, led by Havells promoter QRG Holdings. 

The startup has just launched operations in India with the goal to provide doctors the space, tools, and staff they need to carry out private practice.  

It was founded in 2018 by Dr. Ankur Sharma and Dr. Ayush Sharma. 

According to the company, the capital will largely go towards creating a parallel healthcare ecosystem where doctors could practice their “idea of care” for patients.  

It envisions to set up 100 smart multi-specialty clinics in India, fully equipped with consultation rooms, waiting lounge and dedicated staff support. 

The flagship location was recently launched in New Delhi. 

“With the launch of CliniShare, our purpose is to leverage technology in helping make doctors more independent and empower them to give their best care, provide them an alternative ecosystem that is free of corporate pressures, at the same time still be part of something greater than themselves,” a joint statement from the co-founders said.  

“We have woven technology into the very fabric of our spaces to make each step of patients care journey easier and seamless,” it added.  

Patients, for instance, could use the Aartas app to book an appointment, check in remotely, and see their waiting time, among other things. 

Social investment startup StockGro secures $5 mn in pre-Series A round

Bengaluru-based Assetgro Fintech, which runs social investment platform StockGro, has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round, led by Roots Ventures and Velo Partners. 

StockGro offers a gamified experience to discover trading strategies, compete, and interact with some of the country’s best minds to learn and participate in stock markets. 

The company, founded in 2020 by former venture capitalist Ajay Lakhotia, said it will use the fresh capital to grow its user base, hire tech talent, and build new features for users.  

Currently, the platform has a user-base of over 1 million, with 80% month-on-month retention. It offers cash rewards to best-performing traders and gives them an opportunity to gain followers by sharing their investment strategies and thesis. 

“At StockGro we are on a mission to make millennials investment-ready. Global investors aligned to our vision have come on board to support us in democratizing investments for the next generation,” Lakhotia said. 

The platform last raised $1 million in an angel round.  

Audio content platform Khabri bags $2.1 mn funding

New Delhi-based Accerank Software, the startup behind vernacular audio content platform Khabri, has raised $2.1 million pre-Series A funding from Liquid 2 Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Rebel Fund, Siqi Chen (Sandbox VR), Shailesh Rao (former Google India MD), Edward Lando, and others. 

Khabri’s platform allows creators to develop channels and deliver audio programmes – from educational content to current affairs – to millions of vernacular listeners.  

The startup said it will use the capital to strengthen its product and tech capabilities.  

This would mainly include expanding beyond Hindi speaking markets, improving the recommendation and search engine of the platform, and enhancing based noise cancellation and volume normalization to ease content creation. 

Founded in 2016 by Pulkit Sharma and Sandeep Singh, Khabri has seen significant interest from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The platform has over 4 million downloads and its user and creator base has grown by 6x and 4x during the pandemic. 

“As a leading digital audio content platform in a local language, Khabri has been instrumental in creating an influencer-user ecosystem for Hindi language speakers, so far, aiming at adding multiple languages soon with the new influx of funds,” Sharma said while commenting on the fund-raise. 

 “Our app is playing a pivotal role in providing learners with more passive learning opportunities, and teachers to get a bigger outreach. Khabri users have also been enjoying seamless access to content even in the areas with weaker internet bandwidth,” he added. 

Cold chain marketplace Celcius raises $500,000

Celcius, a full-stack marketplace for cold chain logistics, said it has raised $500,000 in seed funding from Mumbai Angels Network, venture firm Huddle, Lumis Partners, and angel investors from Nigeria, Malaysia, and the US. 

The Mumbai-based startup will use the funding to expand its offerings and reach across India, hire fresh talent, and to set up more offices. 

Founded in August 2020 by Swarup Bose, Rajneesh Raman and Arbind Jain, Celcius claims to be the only company providing end-to-end (first mile, warehousing, and the last-mile) cold chain solutions.  

Its unique SaaS platform connects shippers & transporters, enabling seamless handling of shipments in pharma, dairy, seafood, and fresh produce, amongst other categories. 

“The funding will help us expand our footprint and scale the business and make cold chain products easily accessible across India. Through the expansion, we also plan to delve deeper into the segment by gaining more insights about other innovative cold chain solutions that we can offer, ultimately making our services all-encompassing.” 

So far, the company has shipped around 5000 tonnes of perishable cargo across India. 

Enguru gets undisclosed sum in pre-Series A round

Enguru, a Bengaluru-based startup providing live English-language classes for children and young adults, has raised an undisclosed sum in pre-Series A funding. 

The investment, a statement said, was led by multiple institutional and individual investors, including Potencia Ventures, Bisk Ventures, LetsVenture, Ronnie Screwvala and Arihant Patni.  

Existing investor Dell Foundation also participated in the round.  

Enguru said it will use the capital to scale up its live class offering and build a range of new complementary offerings. This will include a new kids app focusing on conversational and reading lessons and personalized reading programs curated with industry partners. The startup was founded in 2015 by Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja. 

Since January 2020, the platform has seen 30x growth. It currently hosts more than 200,000 sessions with 200+ teachers. 

“English is a pre-requisite for most jobs in the service industry and young Indians are very often at an unfair disadvantage due to a lack of access to effective training. enguru’s live classes give learners a platform to practice speaking in English through an unlimited subscription model,” Vakil said while commenting on the effectiveness of the platform. 

“It’s been tremendous to see our learners spending over 90 minutes a day over a sustained period of time,” he added. 

Wellness startup AyuRythm raises seed funding

Bengaluru-based wellness startup AyuRythm has raised an undisclosed sum in seed funding from SucSEED Indovation fund and other marquee angels. 

The startup offers an application that can do 30-second naadi pariksha (pulse diagnosis) via a smartphone camera. It then uses an AI algorithm to recommend proactive solutions for the underlying causes and treatments of ailments and stress-related issues. 

AyuRythm said it will use the capital to enhance its product and technology capabilities, strengthen team and accelerate growth. 

Founded in 2017 by Abhilesh Gupta, Sandeep Acharya, Ramanath Padmanabhan, the company uses assessment and recommendation engines certified by institutions such as SVYASA, HCG, Niraamaya Retreat, and Dr Vaidya’s.  

During the pandemic, it saw increased traction, with platform activation rate increasing by 60% and install base. 

“Our aha moment came when we realized more than 90% of consumers are looking for sustainable wellness solutions beyond aggressive exercise like running, weight-lifting and cycling. Overwhelming response from the young adult population during the past few months has certainly validated our hypotheses and opened up exciting possibilities ahead, globally,” Gupta said. 

CrazyLabs acquires game development studio Firescore Interactive

Israel-based game publisher CrazyLabs has acquired Mumbai-based hyper casual game development studio Firescore Interactive. 

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The acquisition, a statement said, is a part of CrazyLabs’ strategy to expand in India and grow its game development business. The collaboration between the entities started two years ago with the publishing of Firescore's games. 

“We are very excited to become an official part of CrazyLabs, and we are even more excited with the opportunity to expand CrazyLabs business in India. Our team has worked extremely hard to get to this point and this is well-deserved validation. The close relationship and open communication with CrazyLabs was a key differentiator for us from the get go,” Karan Khairajani, co-founder at Firescore Interactive, said.