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Exclusive: Electric mobility platform Kazam to raise $6 Mn in Series B

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
Exclusive: Electric mobility platform Kazam to raise $6 Mn in Series B
Medial

Exclusive: Electric mobility platform Kazam to raise $6 Mn in Series B Electric mobility startup Kazam is raising Rs 51 crore (around $6 million) in its Series B round, led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Avaana Capital and Chakra Growth Capital. The board at Kazam has passed a special resolution to issue 36,410 Series B compulsory convertible preference shares at an issue price of $165.06 each to raise the aforementioned sum, its regulatory filing sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. IFC VVSEA Co-Invest LP and Vertex Ventures SEA Fund, representing Vertex Ventures, will jointly invest $4.9 million, while Avaana Capital and Chakra Growth Capital will contribute $1.01 million and $0.9 million, respectively. According to Entrackr’s estimates, the company will be valued at around $51 million post-allotment. Kazam plans to deploy the funds towards business growth, expansion initiatives, and general corporate purposes. After this funding round, Vertex Ventures and IFC VVSEA Co-Invest together will hold a 22.89% stake, while Avaana Capital and Chakra Growth Capital will own 17.02% and 1.51% stakes, respectively. Founded in 2020 by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyagi, Kazam is an EV charging software platform that develops smart and affordable charging networks. Its technology supports a wide variety of vehicles, including two-wheelers, commercial electric vehicles (CEVs), three-wheelers, and city buses. It claims to power over 25,000 charging points. The Bengaluru-based firm works with the likes of BigBasket, Zypp, Mahindra, Bajaj, Ather, TVS, Hero MotoCorp, and Ultraviolette. The company is yet to file its annual results for FY25. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, its revenue from operations surged 3.3X to Rs 12.19 crore during the fiscal year ended in March 2024 while its losses stood at Rs 10.2 crore in the same fiscal year.

Snap-E Cabs raises $2.5 Mn in bridge round led by IPV

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Snap-E Cabs raises $2.5 Mn in bridge round led by IPV
Medial

Snap-E Cabs raises $2.5 Mn in bridge round led by IPV Snap-E Cabs, an electric mobility startup, has raised $2.5 million in a bridge round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from ah! Ventures and angel investors including Shish Kharesiya, Praveen Chand, and Jaspreet Kaur. Earlier in February last year, the startup had raised $2.5 million in pre-Series A funding from Inflection Point Ventures, which supported its entry into Delhi through a partnership with Rapido, deploying 200 cars in the last three months. The proceeds will be used for product development, leasing more EV cars, and expanding operations in Delhi NCR. Founded in 2022 by Mayank Bindal and Mahendra Bindal, Snap-E Cabs operates as an EV-first ride-hailing platform while also leasing EV cars to fleet operators. Snap-E owns 100% of its fleet and has set up its own EV charging infrastructure. It currently runs 1,112 EV cars and serves more than 1.2 million paying users. Over the next year, Snap-E plans to add another 1,000 cars to bridge the supply gap in EV ride-hailing. The company claims to have achieved EBITDA profitability in January 2025. Snap-E operates in a competitive EV mobility market, going up against players like Uber, Ola, Rapido, Evera Cabs, and BluSmart. Unlike demand aggregators, Snap-E is pursuing a supply-led infrastructure model with exclusive charging hubs and full fleet ownership.

Exclusive: Info Edge to back ShipGlobal again at 3X higher valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
Exclusive: Info Edge to back ShipGlobal again at 3X higher valuation
Medial

Exclusive: Info Edge to back ShipGlobal again at 3X higher valuation Cross-border logistics startup ShipGlobal is set to raise a pre-Series A round from existing investor InfoEdge Ventures. The funding comes nearly two years after its seed round. The board at ShipGlobal has passed a special resolution to issue 2,143 pre-Series A preference shares at an issue price of Rs 70,000 each to raise Rs 15 crore, according to its regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). ShipGlobal will deploy the funds towards capital expenditure, marketing, and general corporate purposes, as per the filing. According to Entrackr’s estimates, the company’s post-money valuation would be around Rs 315 crore ($36 million), representing a 3X increase from its seed round of $3.5 million. Following the fresh infusion, Info Edge Ventures will hold 23.81% of the company, while its co-founders Aayush Anand, Angad Arora, and Vaibhav Kapur will each command 21.89%, the filings show. The round may see participation from new investors and the valuation and shareholding will vary accordingly. Founded in 2022, ShipGlobal provides cost-effective logistics solutions to Indian SMEs, simplifying cross-border shipping with services such as customs clearance, tracking, and real-time pricing. According to the website of the company, Shipglobal has over 25,000 exporters and has shipped more than 1 crore orders across 220 countries. The New Delhi-based company is yet to file its annual statements for FY25. During the fiscal year ended March 2024, it recorded a 5X year-on-year increase in its revenue to Rs 40.6 crore, while the losses stood at only 1.37 crore in the same period.

Indian startups show sign of recovery with $7 Bn funding in H1 2024

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Indian startups show sign of recovery with $7 Bn funding in H1 2024
Medial

The Indian startup ecosystem is going through a recovery phase: there have been larger funding rounds, an increase in the number of deals, a surge in secondary deals and ESOP buybacks, and a decline in layoffs. As per data compiled by TheKredible, Indian startups raised nearly $7 billion in funding during the first half of 2024. This is more than the $5.92 billion raised in H1 2023. But it’s also far less than $20 billion in H1 2022 which now seems like the golden phase for startups, at least in terms of venture capital inflow. The $7 billion funding consisted of 182 growth or late stage deals worth $5.4 billion and 404 early-stage deals worth $1.54 billion. Meanwhile, 99 were undisclosed deals. During the first half, Indian startups produced a couple of unicorns: Perfios and Krutrim SI Designs. In 2023, only two startups managed to go past the unicorn valuation while 2022 and 2021 saw the emergence of 26 and 44 unicorns, respectively. [Y-o-Y and M-o-M trend] As mentioned above, there is a significant increase in the number of startup deals and funding in H1 2024 from $5.92 billion in H1 2023. If we see the last four consecutive half yearly data, H1 2024 stands at the top in terms of total amount raised. The growth can be attributed to a bunch of $100 million plus rounds and mega deals bagged by late stage firms such as Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy and Lenskart. When it comes to month-on-month trends, June saw nearly $2 billion in funding which is more than double of the average of $1 billion monthly funding until May this year. [Top 10 growth stage deals in H1] Late stage companies such as Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy and Lenskart were on the top with $665 million, $350 million, $216 million, and $200 million funding, respectively. Lenskart’s $200 million funding was a pure secondary transaction play whereas Zepto may have also had some secondary component in the last funding round. Overall, all startups in the top 10 list have raised more than $100 million each during the first six months of 2024. The list includes Engrail, Atlan, Pocket FM, Nephroplus, SEDEMAC and Shadowfax. [Top 10 early stage deals in H1] Invite-only networking platform SCOPE led the funding chart for early stage startups with $90 million funding. This was followed by AI startup Krutrim, blockchain startup Avail, e-commerce startup Indkal and battery tech startup IBC. Lyskraft, Ema, StockGro, Hunch and Rozana also made it to the top 10 list of early stage deals. Notably, more than 30 early stage startups have raised over $10 million each during H1 2024. [Mergers and Acquisitions] The first half of 2024 saw 55 mergers and acquisitions, which is lower when compared to the previous years. The year 2021 saw more than 250 mergers and acquisitions which declined to 204 in 2022 and further reduced to 145 in 2023. Even if we double the number of M&A, it will hover around 100 in total by the end of 2024. There were stress deals during the period which included the acquisition of ZestMoney by DMI Group, MX Player by Amazon, Kuvera by CRED, Spartan Poker by OneVerse, and ET Money by 360 One (formerly IIFL Wealth). Check the list for more details: [City and segment wise deals] Bengaluru, once again topped the list with 253 startups from the city having raised more than $2.83 billion in funding during 2023. This accounted for 40% of the total funding. Delhi-NCR-based startups followed with 164 deals amounting to $1.3 billion. Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune made it to the top five list. Notably, Mumbai-based startups contributed to nearly 22% of the total funding whereas Delhi NCR-based startups accounted for 18.76% of the overall fund inflow. Segment wise, e-commerce was at the top with 124 startups raising over $1.87 billion. Fintech, healthtech, SaaS and EV startups were next on the list. Amount wise, EV startups raised more money than SaaS and healthtech. Agritech, foodtech, edtech and proptech saw their downfall during the first half of 2024. [Stage wise deals] In H1 2024, seed and pre-seed stage startups saw 266 deals amounting to more than $457 million. Series A and pre Series A saw 134 and 80 deals, respectively. There were 58 debt funding worth $784 million and 5 pre-IPO rounds worth nearly $250 million. Check TheKredible for more details. [Layoffs, shutdowns and departures] Layoffs, shutdowns and departures continued even in 2024. However, there was a sharp decline when compared with the previous years. For context, Indian startups saw 3,300 people being laid off during H1 2024 which is roughly one-third of the over 9,000 in H2 2023 and 15,000 in H1 2023. Byju’s, ReshaMandi, Swiggy, Ola, Cult.fit, Healthifyme, Scaler and PrepLadder topped in terms of laying off employees during the first half. During the first quarter of 2024, five companies shut their operations. The list includes Resso, Rario, OKX India, GoldPe, and Muvin. Rario added that it will launch a brand new platform that will enable users to play new and engaging cricket-based games. However, only one startup announced its shutdown during the second quarter taking the overall shutdown to six in H1. In 2023, more than 15 startups shut their operations. High profile departures were a big concern during the first half of 2024. As per data compiled by TheKredible, 45 top level executives left their posts. These include co-founders, CEOs, CFO, CBO, COO, and managing directors, among others. [Comparison] For a better understanding of startup funding, we have created a comparison graph for the first and second quarter of the year which showed that the number of deals and total funding saw an uptick in Q2 when compared to Q1. [Trends in H1 2024] Surge in generative AI and spiritual tech deals: Overall, AI startups saw 27 deals amounting to $237 million. Generative AI startups grabbed a significant portion of the total funding. In the past six months, these startups have managed to mope up nearly $100 million. The list includes Sarvam AI, Ema, Neysa, Vodex, and KonProz, among others. Spiritual tech startups also saw an uptick in the number of deals. In the ongoing calendar year, such startups have raised more than $36 million and some new rounds are in the pipeline. Maiden funding for established fashion brands: During H1, a clutch of fashion and apparel brands raised their maiden institutional round. In May, A91 Partners led a $21 million round in TechnoSport whereas Libas raised $18 million led by ICICI Venture’s fund. Recently, Rare Rabbit raised $18 million in primary capital led by A91 Partners. The round is expected to close at around $50 million. ESOP and secondary deals: More than 10 startups announced their ESOP buyback program worth nearly $58 million in H1 2024. While the majority of them did not disclose the amount, Meesho, Urban Company and Pocket FM announced their largest ESOP buyback program. Similarly, secondary transactions have also increased during the first six months. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of secondary transactions are Lenskart, Meesho, Shadowfax, Fibe, Wow! Momo, Porter, among others. Startup IPOs on the rise: In the ongoing calendar year, TBO tech, Digit Insurance, Awfis and Ixigo have been listed on the stock exchanges while Unicommerce, FirstCry and Ola Electric got final approval from SEBI and Mobikwik, Swiggy and Avanse have been waiting for approval from the market regulator. Overall, 2024 appears to have better prospects for startups in the public market. In 2021, more than 10 startups listed on stock exchanges. This number plummeted in 2022 (two IPOs) and 2023 (five IPOs). Moreover, a bunch of companies are assessing the right time to launch their IPO, Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy, The Good Glamm Group, and others may announce their exact IPO timeline anytime soon. Debt deals: Besides increase in equity and secondary deals, debt deals also contributed a significant portion in H1. As per data, H1 2024 saw 57 debt only deals amounting to $784 million. There were several deals which included equity as well as debt components. However, we couldn’t ascertain the actual breakdown of such deals which may push the overall debt to more than $1 billion in the said period. [Conclusion] While the peaks of H1 2022 might take some time to be reached and crossed again, considering the typical cycle of at least 3-5 years for such funding peaks, things are certainly improving fast. While stability in government helps, it is the booming stock markets that will drive funding for startups too, as investors cash out gains and redeploy from successful IPOs or broader market gains. Ironically, many firms that could barely get VC or PE funding have managed IPOs in recent weeks, further underscoring the case for a correction in the stock markets or a diffusion of the bullishness to startup funding as well. But while the markets will continue to value revenues and some profitability ideally, the real job of backing ideas and innovations will also benefit as multiple VCs, family offices and other investors return to the startup funding market to seed the next crop of startups.

Exclusive: Euler Motors’ valuation remains flat in Series D round

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Exclusive: Euler Motors’ valuation remains flat in Series D round
Medial

Exclusive All Stories Exclusive: Euler Motors’ valuation remains flat in Series D round Commercial electric vehicle manufacturer ​​Euler Motors is raising Rs 638 crore (around $75 million) in its Series D round led by Hero MotoCorp. The company has already announced a $60 million investment from Hero MotoCorp, and the round is expected to see further participation from other existing investors. While the investment will provide a much-needed breather for Euler, which has been seeking funds for some time, the Delhi-based company will have to settle for a flat valuation in this round. To delve deeper into Euler’s latest funding round, Entrackr has reviewed the company’s regulatory filings to uncover details such as the round's breakdown, shareholding structure, and current valuation. The board at Euler Motors has passed a special resolution to approve the issue of 8,33,047 Series D Cumulative Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares and 10 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 7,659 to raise Rs 638 crore or $75 million. Hero MotoCorp led the round with an investment of Rs 510 crore ($60 million) whereas British International Investment and Caladium Investment (GIC) will contribute Rs 96 crore ($11.3 million), Rs 32 crore ($3.76 million), respectively. As per Entrackr’s estimates, the Saurav Kumar-led company is expected to be valued at approximately Rs 1,496 crore ($176 million) post-allotment, reflecting a flat valuation compared to the previous round. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Euler Motors has raised around $128 million prior to this round including debt and equity. Following the allotment of Series D round, Hero MotoCorp will be the largest external shareholder in the company with 34.10%. Caladium Investment (GIC) and British International Investment will hold 18.00% and 10.40% stakes respectively. Launched in 2018, Euler Motors is a commercial electric vehicle startup specializing in the production of three-wheelers. The company has deployed its EV fleets for major clients such as BigBasket, Ecom Express, Amazon, and Udaan. On a year-on-year basis, Euler recorded over a 3X jump in its operating revenue, reaching Rs 189 crore in FY24 from Rs 62 crore in FY23. However, it also incurred a loss of Rs 227 crore during the same fiscal. The firm has yet to disclose last fiscal year numbers (FY25). It competes with Altigreen, along with established players such as Mahindra Electric, Piaggio, Kinetic Green, Tata, and others. The three-wheeler market is perhaps the one market that has evolved at its own pace. It has been the same story in the electric version, with nothing like the horde that entered the two-wheeler space hoping to strike it big. Margins are way healthier for the established players, and Euler has done enough to show it can punch its weight or even above as well. That explains the continued interest from Hero MotoCorp, albeit at the flat valuation to reflect the rising challenges or Euler’s present situation. With EV mandates only spreading faster to more and more states and some of the biggest buyers known to be open to a better deal, Euler certainly has a better than even chance of gaining further traction and enjoying a good ride. The key will be the ability to produce newer products for a market with a variety of needs by size and features.

Exclusive: Hero MotoCorp to lead Euler Motors’ Series D funding

EntrackrEntrackr · 12m ago
Exclusive: Hero MotoCorp to lead Euler Motors’ Series D funding
Medial

Exclusive: Hero MotoCorp to lead Euler Motors’ Series D funding Commercial electric vehicle manufacturer ​​Euler Motors is in talks to raise up to $50 million in its Series D round led by Hero MotoCorp, according to two sources familiar with the matter. In May 2024, the firm raised $24 million in an extended Series C round led by new investor Piramal Alternatives India Access Fund. Existing investors British International Investment and Blume Ventures also participated. “Hero MotoCorp will lead the round along with existing investors including Caladium Investments (GIC),” said one of the sources requesting anonymity as talks are yet to be public. According to sources, the round is yet to be fully subscribed and the company may end-up raising anywhere between $45 to $50 million. The Delhi-based company already raised $20 million in debt from responsAbility Investments AG last month. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Euler has raised over $110 million and is currently valued at around $160-170 million. Queries sent to Euler, Hero MotoCorp, and GIC did not elicit a response until the publication of the story. Launched in 2018 by Saurav Kumar, Euler Motors claims that its commercial electric vehicles have covered a total distance of over 45 million kilometers in goods transportation. The company's flagship model, the HiLoad EV, is claimed to be the most powerful electric cargo three-wheeler, offering a range of 170 kilometers. For the fiscal year ending in March 2024, Euler Motors’ operating revenue soared 3X to Rs 189 crore in FY24 from Rs 62 crore in the previous fiscal year. During FY24, the company posted a net loss of Rs 226.9 crore. In FY24, the company sold 3,700 vehicles and expanded its footprint from five to 22 cities. In the electric three-wheeler segment, Euler Motors competes with Altigreen, as well as established players like Mahindra Electric, Piaggio, Kinetic Green, Tata, and others. It's worth noting that Hero MotoCorp was reportedly in talks to invest Rs 900 crore in Bengaluru-based startup Altigreen. The entry of Hero MotoCorp would certainly raise a few eyebrows, but the decision is not as unexpected as it seems. Hero MotoCorp will find the three wheeler commercial category worth a relook now that it is looking to become EV led, creating a fresh opportunity for many players. With its stake in two wheeler EV firm Ather already at 40%, the Hero’s $5 billion balance sheet can well afford a stake in Euler, before it takes a strategic call to go big possibly. But for industry watchers, it is an enticing prospect indeed.

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