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ixigo-backed Fresh Bus raises $10.5 Mn in Series A round

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
ixigo-backed Fresh Bus raises $10.5 Mn in Series A round
Medial

All-electric intercity bus startup Fresh Bus has raised Rs 87.5 crore ($10.5 million) in Series A funding round led by international early-stage transportation-focused VC fund Maniv, with participation from Shell Ventures, Alteria Capital, and existing investor Riverwalk Holdings. Last month, Entrackr exclusively reported about Fresh Bus’ new round. Fresh Bus will utilize the new funds to add 15 routes and deploy 150 new electric buses, the firm said in a press release. Besides scaling ops, the funds will also be deployed towards raising technological capabilities, and strengthening its team. Fresh Bus was previously backed by notable industry leaders such as CRED founder Kunal Shah, TVS Motors MD Sudarshan Venu, and Rivigo CEO Deepak Garg. Earlier, the firm also secured Rs 16 crore ($2 million) from public company ixigo. FreshBus, which offers ticketing, real-time tracking of buses, loyalty program, among other services, was founded by Sudhakar Reddy Chirra. Chirra had built bus aggregator Abhibus which was acquired by ixigo in August 2021 in a cash and stock deal. The Bengaluru-based company claims to have ferried over 4 lakh passengers to date. According to Chirra, the firm expects to scale to 1000 electric buses pan-India over the next four years. As per startup data intelligence platform TheKrediblle, FreshBus was a pre-revenue stage firm with a loss of Rs 2.1 crore during FY23. The company is yet to file its annual financial results for FY24. Fresh Bus competes with IntrCity SmartBus, ZingBus, Yolobus, and gogoBus, among several organized travel agencies across regions.

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Exclusive: Ixigo-backed FreshBus kicks off Series A round

EntrackrEntrackr · 12m ago
Exclusive: Ixigo-backed FreshBus kicks off Series A round
Medial

Ixigo-backed EV bus startup FreshBus has raised Rs 43.7 crore (approximately $5.3 million) in its Series A round. This is the first round of funding for the Bengaluru-based company this year. The board at Fresh Bus has passed a special resolution to issue 2 equity shares and 63,825 CCPS at an issue price of Rs 6,845 each to raise Rs 43.7 crore or $5.3 million, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. Maniv Mobility led the round with Rs 35.68 crore while the remaining sum has been invested by Riverwalk Holdings during the Series A round. The company was in discussions to raise Rs 100 crore in its Series A round. This appears to be an ongoing fundraising and the company is likely to mop up more funds in this round. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Fresh Bus has been valued at around $20 million (post-allotment) in this round. The valuation may vary with the further capital injection. FreshBus has raised around $9 million to date including Rs 7.5 crore from Kunal Shah, TVS Motors MD Sudarshan Venu, and Rivigo CEO and founder Deepak Garg in October last year. FreshBus was founded by Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, who earlier built bus aggregator Abhibus which was acquired by ixigo in August 2021 in a cash and stock deal. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKrediblle, the company was still in pre-revenue stage with a loss of Rs 2.1 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023. The company is yet to file its annual financial results for FY24.

InstaAstro raises $2.3 Mn led by Artha Venture Fund

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
InstaAstro raises $2.3 Mn led by Artha Venture Fund
Medial

Online astrology platform InstaAstro has raised Rs 18.50 crore in its pre-Series A round led by Artha Venture Fund. The round also saw participation from LogX Ventures, Singularity Ventures, IR Capital Partners, Blume Founders Fund and Aloke Bajpai, MD & CEO of Ixigo. In November 2021, InstaAstro had raised Rs 3.2 crore in a seed round led by Artha Venture Fund along with Ramakant Sharma’s LogX Ventures. With fresh funds, InstaAstro is launching new spiritual e-commerce, daily pooja, and reiki healing services. As per the company, these offerings would deepen the platform’s user engagement and provide access to a comprehensive spiritual and astrological guidance ecosystem. Founded by Nitin Verma, InstaAstro claims to have over 200,000 monthly app installs, 50,000 minutes per day in consultations, and an ARR of $5 million. It offers horoscopes, tarot readings, and numerology in English, Hindi, and various regional languages. The startup has a total user base of over 5 million users and provided a cumulative consultation of more than 2 crore (20 million) minutes to its subscribers in FY24. The firm has 1,500 astrologers on its platform. It competes with GaneshaSpeaks, AstroTalk, Click Astro, and Bodhi. In the past 12 months, a clutch of astro and spiritual tech startups raised funds. The list included AstroTalk, Vama, Utsav, DevDham (previously DevDarshan), and Melooha. As per Entrackr’s sources, Bodhi is also in talks to raise a new round. AstroTalk had raised the largest funding ($20 million) among the astro and spiritual tech startups.

Captain Fresh raises $25 Mn in ongoing funding round

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Captain Fresh raises $25 Mn in ongoing funding round
Medial

Captain Fresh, a fish and seafood tech startup, has raised $25 million as part of a continuing larger funding round. The extension of the series C round is joined by Nekkanti seafoods group and British International Investment (BII), a UK-based development finance institution and impact investor, and a few family offices. Proceeds will be used to fuel its distribution presence in the US and Europe, and enhance multi-origin vertically integrated seafood platform, among others, the company said in a press release. With this, Captain Fresh has raised a total of $45 million across multiple tranches in its Series C extended round with $20 million raised in September last year. Strategic Business Innovators (SBI) and Evolvence fund led the first tranche with participation from Tiger Global, Prosus, Accel and Matrix Partners India. The firm also raised $13 million in January this year and will close the extended Series C at $48 million. As per startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Captain Fresh was valued at around $480 million when it raised $13 million and is likely to close the ongoing round at $500 million. Five-year-old Captain Fresh’s product portfolio encompasses over 100 species of fish and seafood, sourced from over a dozen countries globally and catering to customers in more than 30 countries. Captain Fresh has offices in India, the US, Dubai, Paris, Oslo, Amsterdam and Madrid. The firm claims that it handles over 80,000 metric tonnes of seafood annually with India constituting 90% of this. Some percentage of demand also comes from Southeast Asia. Captain Fresh recently completed the acquisition of a 40-year-old, Paris-based, shrimp cooker and distributor, Senecrus, as part of its EU expansion strategy. As per TheKredible, Captain Fresh’s gross revenue surged nearly 4X to Rs 817 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023 while its losses also shot up 2.6X to Rs 294 crore in the same period.

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