Goodmeetings, Playo, Pixuate get early cheques

Bengaluru-based Chakadola Technologies, the startup behind remote networking and sales platform Goodmeetings, said it has raised $1.7 million (about Rs 12 crore) in a pre-Series A round of funding. 

The investment, Goodmeetings said, was led by Chiratae Ventures, with participation from investment firms FortyTwo.VC, First Check, Adept Ventures, 100X Entrepreneurs, Atrium Angels and several high-net-worth entrepreneurs, including Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Udaan founder Sujeet Kumar, and Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari. 

Inmobi group co-founder Piyush Shah, Simplilearn co-founder Krishna Kumar, Zolve’s Raghunandan, and Nestaway CFO Sandeep Daga also chipped in. 

Goodmeetings said it plans to use the funding to build its technology and scale up teams in the US over the next 12-18 months. 

Founded in 20 by Srinivasan Narayan and Soumya Ranjan, Goodmeetings’ online video & AI-enabled platform helps sales guys sell 10X better. It empowers sales associates by providing dynamic nudges, checklists, mood indicator, help on the fly, and workflow automation to improve productivity & efficacy. 

Associates also get access to essential analytics post video calls to help sales managers and coaches gather useful insights & take data driven decisions. The platform currently serves companies in insurance, real-estate, and fintech sectors and is planning to target B2B SaaS, edtech, internet and consumer segments. 

SucSEED Indovation backs video analytics platform Pixuate with $1 mn

Hyderabad-based video analytics startup Pixuate has raised $1 million (Rs 7.41 cr) seed funding from SucSEED Indovation Fund, Mumbai Angels Network, CIIE-IIM Ahmedabad, and few other angels. 

Operating under Cocoslabs Innovative Solutions, Pixuate uses proprietary algorithms in AI, deep learning, and computer vision to deliver real-time and actionable insights from high-volume video and image data.  

The startup said it will use the funding for R&D and market expansion plans. 

“We are ready to fast-track our growth through market expansion focused on pharma, logistics, oil & gas, and food & hospitality sector clients, with our exciting line-up of product features in the pipeline,” Prithavi Palekar, the founder of the startup, said. 

“...with this freshly infused funding we will also be looking at smart cities and highway traffic management use cases as our platform’s video analytics capabilities are also applicable in those areas,” she added. 

The development comes as the global video surveillance and analytics market continues to grow. The segment is expected to hit $74.6 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 10.4%.  

Sports-tech startup Playo gets $500,000

Bengaluru-based TechMash Solutions, which runs sports-tech platform Playo, said it has raised $500,000 (Rs 3.70 cr) from ah! Ventures’ High Tables platform and other angel investors as part of its ongoing pre-Series A round of funding. 

Playo offers an integrated solution to book sports venues and find a micro community to play with. It is currently operational in India, UAE, and Qatar with pilots running in the UK and Australia. 

“Sports provides an incomparable opportunity to connect people while also making them fitter in a more engaged way. Playo’s value proposition has resonated with users, not just in Indian metros but also in Tier 2/3 towns and international markets,” Gauravjeet Singh, the founder and CEO of the startup, said. 

“More than 10% of our active users are outside India and during the course of the pandemic we have seen our presence swell to 35+ cities across India,” he added, without sharing how exactly the funding will be deployed. 

The platform has a user base of 1.5 million and has enabled 3 million relationships and 150,000 monthly sports activities. It has also achieved about 70% recovery to pre-Covid levels.