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Krafton leads Rs 29 Cr round in Shuru at Rs 135 Cr valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 2m ago
Krafton leads Rs 29 Cr round in Shuru at Rs 135 Cr valuation
Medial

For the fiscal year ending in March 2024, Shuru reported Rs 26.84 lakh in revenue and Rs 3.31 crore in losses. It has yet to file its FY25 financials. Shuru, a location-based social networking platform, has raised Rs 29 crore in a fresh funding round, sources aware of the development told Entrackr. South Korean gaming major Krafton has acquired around 16% stake by investing Rs 21 crore in Shuru, according to sources cited above. Founded in 2021 by Mayank Bhangadia and Harsh Chhabra, Shuru has expanded its presence, reaching over 2 million active users across more than 600 cities and 8,000 sub-districts. The platform enables real-time engagement, civic participation, and support for local businesses, with the goal of connecting citizens to their neighborhoods. While Shuru had previously secured backing from investors such as Omidyar Network India, Titan Capital’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Eximius Ventures, and Shastra VC, the investment from Krafton is expected to support its next phase of growth and scaling. Shuru’s regulatory filing with MCA also shows that it is raising Rs 29 crore from Krafton, Omidyar Network, and Eximius Trust. As per Entrackr’s estimates, the firm will be valued at around Rs 135 crore (post money). For the fiscal year ending in March 2024, Shuru reported Rs 26.84 lakh in revenue and Rs 3.31 crore in losses. It has yet to file its FY25 financials. Krafton's interest in Shuru is part of its strategy to invest in Indian startups, reflected in its recent plans to invest over $200 million in the country's gaming and digital sectors. In August 2023, BGMI-maker Krafton committed to invest $150 million in India over the next two to three years. Some of its notable bets include Kuku FM, Cashfree, One Impression, Bobble AI, Pratilipi, and Nautilus, among others.

Way2News raises $14 Mn in Series B led by WestBridge

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Way2News raises $14 Mn in Series B led by WestBridge
Medial

Hyperlocal news platform Way2News has raised $14 million in its Series B round led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from venture capitalist Sashi Reddi. With the fresh proceeds, Way2News will focus on scaling operations, enhancing technology, and expanding its presence in the South Indian market, the company said in a press release. In June 2022, the Bengaluru-based firm scooped up $16.75 million in Series A round. Founded in 2015, Way2News claims to have 6.5 million daily active users, 13 million monthly active users, and more than 50 million downloads across app stores. Hyderabad-based Way2News offers short, relevant, and reliable news stories extending beyond districts to villages and mandals in their local language such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, and Gujarati from trusted local sources. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Way2News increased its operating revenue by 6% to Rs 29 Cr in FY23 from Rs 27.35 Cr in FY22. Way2News had a loss of Rs 15.14 Cr in FY23 whereas it made a profit of Rs 4.78 Cr in FY22. In the news aggregation space, Way2News faces competition from InShorts, Dailyhunt, Inshorts’ Public app and Feedly.

Cashfree Payments raises $53 Mn led by KRAFTON

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
Cashfree Payments raises $53 Mn led by KRAFTON
Medial

Cashfree Payments raises $53 Mn led by KRAFTON The capital will strengthen Cashfree’s payments and market reach while enabling synergy with KRAFTON to drive innovation across digital sectors. Payments firm Cashfree Payments has raised $53 million (Rs 450 crore) in a funding round led by Korean digital entertainment giant, KRAFTON and existing investor Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners Group. The capital will strengthen Cashfree’s payments and market reach while enabling synergy with KRAFTON to drive innovation across digital sectors, the Bengaluru-based company said in a press release. According to TheKredible, Cashfree has raised approximately $95 million over its nine-year journey from investors including Y combinator, Smilegate Investments and State Bank of India (SBI). This is the first external fundraise for the company since June 2021. Cashfree Payments provides businesses with a fast and easy way to collect payments online, make payouts, improve conversions, and verify identity and detect fraud during KYC and onboarding. With popular merchant platforms like Shopify, Wix, WordPress, WooCommerce, and WhatsApp, Cashfree enables businesses to start transactions in 24 hours. The Akash Sinha-led company claims to enable large businesses to process 12,000 transactions per second during peak demand. It has also introduced Embedded Payments, allowing platforms, ERPs, and SaaS businesses to easily and compliantly integrate payments as a feature into their products. Cashfree recently launched Secure ID, an identity verification stack with a comprehensive suite of APIs and KYC components, addressing the surge in fraud. As per the company, SecureID has completed more than 1 billion identity and user verifications to date. Besides India, Cashfree Payments is expanding its footprint in the UAE and sees significant growth potential offering payments and related products across the Middle East. Despite facing a ban on onboarding new merchants for most of FY24, Cashfree's revenue from operations grew by 4.7% to Rs 642.7 crore from Rs 613.8 crore in FY23. However, the company's net loss remained unchanged at Rs 135 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2024. It majorly competes with Razorpay, PayU, BillDesk, and CCAvenue.

10 min food delivery startup Swish raises $14 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
10 min food delivery startup Swish raises $14 Mn
Medial

Exclusive: 10 min food delivery startup Swish raises $14 Mn Swish, a 10-minute food delivery startup, has secured Rs 122.32 crore in its Series A funding round, led by Hara Global Capital and existing investor Accel India. This follows just three months after its $2 million seed round. The board at Swish has passed a special resolution to issue 4,762 Series A compulsory convertible preference shares at an issue price of Rs 2,56,334 each to raise Rs 112.3 crore or $14 million, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies shows. Hara Global Capital led the round with Rs 69.56 crore while Accel India invested Rs 52.18 crore. Kunal Shah-led QED innovation, and Gaurav Munjal (CEO of Unacademy) and Sumer Juneja, investment advisor at SoftBank, participated with Rs 20.5 lakhs, Rs 5 and Rs 30.7 lakh respectively. According to Entrackr's estimates, the company has been valued at around Rs 522 crore or $60 million post-allotment. After the new funding round, Hara Global Capital will own 13.33%, while Accel India will hold a 27.24% stake in the company. Co-founders Aniket Sunil Shah, Sureshkumar Sarana, and Ujjwal Sukheja will each retain a 16.38% share following the Series A round. Founded in 2024, Swish’s 10-minute delivery model operates within a 1.5–2 km radius using cloud kitchens called ‘delight centers,’ ensuring fresh and hygienic food is delivered swiftly through its optimized full-stack approach. Swish is competing in the fast-expanding instant food delivery market, where Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto are leading the charge. Zomato-owned Blinkit has also launched Bistro, a standalone app for instant food delivery. In December, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola entered the segment, while emerging players like Magicpin and Zing are gaining traction. The latest entrant to the space is cloud kitchen unicorn Rebel Foods, which has introduced a new app called QuickiES.

Rare Rabbit raises $18 Mn from A91 Partners, Zerodha founders’ fund, others

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Rare Rabbit raises $18 Mn from A91 Partners, Zerodha founders’ fund, others
Medial

New-age fashion brand Rare Rabbit has raised Rs 150 crore (approximately $18 million) in primary capital led by A91 Partners. This is the maiden institutional investment for a Bengaluru-based company since its inception in 2015. The board at Rare Rabbit has passed a special resolution to issue 69,230 compulsory convertible preference shares at an issue price of Rs 21,670 each to raise Rs 150 crore, its regulatory filings accessed from the Registrar of Companies show. A91 Partners led the round with Rs 102 crore while Zerodha’s founders NKSquared injected Rs 29 crore. Gruhas Proptech, Ravi Modi Family Trust, and Vendant Modi cumulatively participated with Rs 18.92 crore during the investment. As per TheKredible’s estimates, the company has been valued at around Rs 2,350 crore or $283 million post-allotment. Following the fresh proceeds, the A91 emerging fund will hold 9.65% of the capital while NKSquared and Ravi Modi Family Trust will get 4.15% and 2.13% of the stake in the company, the filing further added. This appears to be a part of a larger round as Rare Rabbit was in talks to raise Rs 500 crore led by A91 partners. Inc42 reported the development first. Rare Rabbit is a high-end fashion brand specializing in designer clothing for men and women. The brand operates more than 100 stores across India and offers collections through its online store. Rare Rabbit demonstrated rapid growth, which is evident from its revenue that scaled 72.3% to Rs 381 crore in FY23 with a positive bottom line of Rs 32 crore in FY23. The company reportedly clocked a revenue of Rs 600 crore in FY24. Rare Rabbit competes with brands like Souled Store, which raised around $29 million and achieved a revenue of Rs 235 crore in FY23. Its other competitors Snitch and WROGN also raised $13 million and $15 million in December 2023 and June respectively. In the past couple of months, a clutch of fashion and apparel brands have 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.

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