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Urban gardening firm Ugaoo raises Rs 47 Cr in Series A

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Urban gardening firm Ugaoo raises Rs 47 Cr in Series A
Medial

Houseplants and urban gardening brand Ugaoo has raised Rs 47 crore ($5.6 million) in its Series A funding round led by V3 Ventures, with participation from existing investors DSG Consumer Partners and RPG Ventures. The company previously raised $2 million in its pre-Series A round in November 2021. According to a press release, the proceeds will be used to expand Ugaoo’s regional presence across the top 10 Indian cities and establish 80 retail stores by FY30. The company also plans to broaden its product offerings by partnering with international plant suppliers and introducing a diverse selection of exotic plants and premium plant care products to the Indian market. Founded in 2015 by Siddhant Bhalinge, Ugaoo operates a 25-acre farm in Talegaon, on the outskirts of Pune, where greenhouses and horticulture specialists are used to cultivate all of its plants in-house. Ugaoo serves customers pan-India through both online and offline channels, including its website, app, and nine stores across Pune, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Its products are also available on digital marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, as well as on quick commerce platforms such as Zepto, Swiggy, and Blinkit. The brand’s target demographic is women aged 25-60 years, along with gardening and home décor enthusiasts in metropolitan and tier II and tier III cities. Ugaoo claims to have fulfilled over 1 million orders in the past three years and currently boasts an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of over Rs 100 crore. The company reported Rs 63 crore in revenue for FY24, marking a 100% growth from Rs 24 crore in FY23. It also claims to have been operationally profitable throughout the year. Ugaoo competes with other brands in the space, including Inflection Point Ventures-backed Urvann, Kyari, Nurserylive, GreenMyLife, and Grow Garden, among others.

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MS Dhoni-backed Garuda Aerospace raises Rs 100 Cr in Series B round

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
MS Dhoni-backed Garuda Aerospace raises Rs 100 Cr in Series B round
Medial

MS Dhoni-backed Garuda Aerospace raises Rs 100 Cr in Series B round Drone technology startup Garuda Aerospace has raised Rs 100 crore ($11.6 million) in its Series B funding round led by Venture Catalysts (VCAT) at a post-money valuation of $250 million. Previously, the firm had raised $22 million in its Series A round led by Venture Capital firm SphitiCap in February 2023. The fresh proceeds will be used to scale up drone manufacturing, enhance production capabilities, and complete an R&D and testing center focused on defense drone technology. Founded in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Garuda has grown to a team of over 200 members and manufactures 30 drone types while offering 50 services. Garuda currently holds over 20 patents and operates a fleet of over 400 drones with 500 trained pilots across 84 cities. It serves clients including government agencies and major corporations such as TATA, Reliance, and Adani. It has also partnered with global companies like Lockheed Martin and Elbit Systems. As per TheKredible, Garuda Aerospace’s revenue from operations grew by 2.3X to Rs 110 crore in FY24 from Rs 47 crore in FY23. Its net profit reached Rs 16 crore in FY24, a 2.7X increase from Rs 6 crore in the previous year. Garuda competes with the likes of ideaForge, Aarav Unmanned Systems, Throttle Aerospace Systems, General Aeronautics, and Omnipresent Robot Tech in the drone manufacturing and drone-as-a-service (DaaS) segment across defense, agriculture, and industrial applications.

Decentro raises Rs 30 Cr in Series B, to shift domicile to India

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Decentro raises Rs 30 Cr in Series B, to shift domicile to India
Medial

Decentro raises Rs 30 Cr in Series B, to shift domicile to India Y-Combinator-backed fintech startup Decentro has raised Rs 30 crore in its Series B funding round led by InfoEdge Ventures, with participation from Stargazer Growth and existing investors such as Uncorrelated Ventures. Entrackr has exclusively reported the Series B round recently. The proceeds will be used to grow enterprise adoption, expand product capabilities, and strengthen go-to-market efforts across financial institutions. Co-founded by Rohit Taneja and Pratik Daudkhane, Decentro’s offerings cover consumer and business verification, payment infrastructure for collections and disbursals, and AI-driven debt recovery systems. The API banking platform, which processes over Rs 50,000 crore in annual payment volumes, plans to shift its parent entity from Singapore to India within the next 12 to 18 months. The company claims to be profitable and serves more than 1,300 businesses including NBFCs, digital lenders, banks, and fintech firms. Recently, it launched Scanner, a real-time risk assessment engine, and Neobot, a multilingual AI voice agent focused on debt collections. As per TheKredible, Decentro reported a 47% year-on-year increase in operating revenue to Rs 17.7 crore in FY24 from Rs 12 crore in FY23. However, the company slipped into a loss of Rs 2.46 crore during the same period, after posting a profit in the previous fiscal.

Urban Company turns profitable with Rs 7 Cr PBT in April

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Urban Company turns profitable with Rs 7 Cr PBT in April
Medial

Urban Company has turned profitable at PBT level (profit before tax) on a consolidated basis in the last month, said two sources aware of the firm’s financial numbers. The development will potentially smoothen its public listing plan which is likely to happen in the second half of next year (2025). “Urban Company’s India business has been EBITDA profitable since October-November 2022,” said one of the people cited above requesting anonymity. “But on a consolidated basis, the firm posted a little over Rs 7 crore in profit before tax (PBT) in April 2024.” As for the firm’s India unit—which is more than 90% of its business—it recorded over Rs 11 crore PBT in April. “Urban Company has also achieved breakeven in the UAE but it is incurring losses in Singapore and Saudi region as these two markets are new,” said the person mentioned above. The profitability in April indicates that Urban Company has been able to cut losses by over two-third in FY24. “The company’s losses for the last fiscal stood under Rs 100 crore,” said another person who also requested anonymity. The 10-year-old company posted a loss of Rs 308 crore against revenue of Rs 637 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Urban Company also reduced its losses by 40.1% in FY23 as compared to FY22. Queries sent to Urban Company didn’t elicit any response. Urban Company is a home services and beauty salon marketplace with a presence across over 30 cities in India along with operations in some foreign markets. The Gurugram-based company joined the unicorn club in June 2021 with a valuation of over $2 billion but the company hasn’t raised any primary money in the past three years. In December 2021, it bought back employee stocks (ESOPs) at a valuation of $2.8 billion. While plans for an IPO are usually a red flag when a sudden improvement in financials is observed, in Urban Company’s case, the improvement has been long in coming with a series of changes the firm has been making over the years. Be it white label or own label products, service contracts to ensure predictable cash flows, focus on repeat users and better management of partner relationships, the firm has been seen to be at work. Seen as a barometer for the state of blue collar gig economy in India, the firm will continue to find itself in the cross hairs of critics in case of any misstep, but credit has to be given for a long and sustained effort to thrash out a business out of it all. The international ventures remain a question, considering the widely different conditions and laws in each market, but in India at least, the numbers will just be the icing on the cake that seems ready for a taste test in the capital markets.

CityMall to raise Rs 55 Cr in debt; expands ESOP pool

EntrackrEntrackr · 6m ago
CityMall to raise Rs 55 Cr in debt; expands ESOP pool
Medial

Grocery-focused social e-commerce platform CityMall has raised Rs 55 crore approximately $6.3 million in debt from Trifecta Venture debt fund and Alteria Capital Fund. The board of CityMall has passed a resolution to issue 400 series X NCDs to Trifecta Venture and 1,500 series X1 NCDs to Alterial Capital Fund having face values of Rs 10 lakh and 1 lakh, respectively, to raise the above sum. According to filings, the company will utilize this debt funding for the expansion and growth of the company's business. CityMall's board has expanded its ESOP pool by adding 1,03,300 new options worth Rs 47 crore, increasing the total pool to 3,73,200 options valued at Rs 171 crore. Notably, every 100 ESOP options will be converted into one equity share, a separate resolution shows. CityMall sells lifestyle, grocery, and other essentials through a network of community resellers in tier II and III cities. The company also plans to add new categories such as beauty through this network. The firm has not raised external capital (debt or equity) for the past three years. The firm last raised $75 million in funding led by Norwest Venture Partners in March 2022, where it was valued at $320 million. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Elevation Capital is the largest external stakeholder followed by Accel and Jungle Ventures. CityMall’s gross revenue (GMV) increased by 23% from Rs 346 crore in FY23 to Rs 427 crore during FY24. The Angad Kikla and Naisheel Verdhan-led firm reported a loss of Rs 159 crore in the same period. DealShare, one of the early competitors of CityMall, pivoted to a hybrid model in 2023 from a community group buying model. The Tiger Global-backed company also faced a 75% decline in its revenue in FY24.

Rapido raises Rs 250 Cr from Prosus as part of Series E round

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
Rapido raises Rs 250 Cr from Prosus as part of Series E round
Medial

Rapido raises Rs 250 Cr from Prosus as part of Series E round Mobility firm Rapido is raising Rs 250 crore (around $29.7 million) from Prosus as part of Series E round. This funding comes just seven months after its $120 million round, which was led by WestBridge. The board at Rapido has passed a special resolution to issue 47,743 Series E preference shares at an issue price of Rs 52,467 each to raise Rs 250 crore or $29.7 million, the company's regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies shows. Rapido was set to raise approximately $60 million in a mix of primary and secondary funding from Prosus, as exclusively reported by Entrackr in October 2024. The ride-hailing app is raising $200 million in its Series E round at a $1.1 billion valuation. The company has already received two tranches—$120 million and $29.7 million. Following this latest tranche, Prosus will hold around 2.9% of Rapido. Based on Entrackr’s estimates, Rapido is currently valued at approximately Rs 8,726 crore (just over $1 billion). Rapido recorded 46.3% year-on-year growth, with revenue standing at Rs 648 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024. The company also reduced its losses by 45%, bringing them down to Rs 371 crore during the same period. In Q2 FY25, Rapido reported a 2.5X year-on-year increase in gross order value (GOV), reaching Rs 2,461 crore, up from Rs 977 crore in Q2 FY24. The company also saw a two-fold increase in rides, totaling 207 million.

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