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Exclusive: upGrad raises $35 Mn debt from EvolutionX

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: upGrad raises $35 Mn debt from EvolutionX
Medial

Edtech unicorn upGrad has raised Rs 287.5 crore (approximately $35 million) from EvolutionX. This is the first debt funding for the Mumbai-based company this year. The board at upGrad has passed a special resolution to issue 28,75,000 debentures at an issue price of Rs 1,000 each to raise Rs 287.5 crore or $35 million, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies shows. The company will use these funds for growth, operating expenses, and general corporate purposes, according to the filings. upGrad has raised over $650 million to date including $36.5 million via right issue from Teamsek, founder Ronnie Screwala, and other in March last year. The Temasek-backed company was reportedly in talks to raise $100 million to close the acquisition of online education firm Udacity. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Temasek is the largest external stakeholder with 20.7% while Upgrad’s co-founder and chairperson Ronnie Screwvala holds a major 22.4% of the company. upGrad forayed into the offline higher education space in 2022 and invested $30 million to set up ten global campuses across India, the US, and other regions. upGrad experienced notable growth as its operational revenue increased by 72% to Rs 1,194 crore in FY23, up from Rs 692 crore in FY22. However, alongside this growth, the company’s losses also rose by 82% to Rs 1,114 crore in FY23. The company is yet to file its annual results for FY24.

Exclusive: WestBridge to join Spinny’s ongoing round with $35-40 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 1m ago
Exclusive: WestBridge to join Spinny’s ongoing round with $35-40 Mn
Medial

Used car platform Spinny has expanded its ongoing funding round to $170 million with new backing from WestBridge Capital, according to two sources familiar with the matter. “WestBridge has joined the round with $35–40 million in primary capital, which will push the total fundraise to around $170 million,” said one of the sources, requesting anonymity. The investment follows Entrackr’s earlier report from May, which said that Spinny is raising $131 million led by the US-based Accel Leaders Fund. According to the sources, the valuation of the Niraj Singh-led company remained flat at $1.5–1.7 billion. The Gurugram-based firm became a unicorn in July 2021 with a valuation of $1.8 billion. So far, Spinny has raised more than $500 million from investors including Tiger Global, Elevation Capital, General Catalyst, and Fundamentum, among others. In December 2021, the company also roped in cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar as a strategic investor and brand ambassador. The firm enables both the buying and selling of quality used cars through a full-stack retail model. It manages the entire supply chain, including vehicle inspection, refurbishment, documentation, and financing. According to industry estimates, Spinny sells nearly 11,000 cars each month through its retail and B2B auction platforms. Recently, the company also acquired auto media and car content platform Autocar India and kicked off operations of its NBFC which is a fully owned subsidiary of the parent company. For the fiscal year ending March 2024, the firm’s revenue from operations increased to Rs 3,725.02 crore from Rs 3,259.78 crore in FY23. During the same period, its losses decreased by 28% to Rs 590.37 crore. Spinny’s core competitor Cars24 reported a 25% year-on-year increase in revenue in FY24 to Rs 6,917 crore. The SoftBank-backed company posted a net loss of Rs 498 crore and an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 318 crore for the same period.

Exclusive: InMobi’s Glance set to raise Rs 200 Cr debt

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Exclusive: InMobi’s Glance set to raise Rs 200 Cr debt
Medial

Glance, a mobile-first content platform, is raising Rs 200 crore (around $23 million) in debt from Stride Ventures. This marks its first debt financing and the first fund infusion in three years, following its $200 million Series D round from Jio Platforms in February 2022. The company’s board has passed a special resolution to issue 20,000 non-convertible debentures to Stride Ventures at an issue price of Rs 1,00,000 each to raise Rs 200 crore, according to its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies. The Singapore-incorporated company will utilize the proceeds for growth, expansion, and general corporate activities, as per filings. Glance is a mobile-first content platform that powers Glance Lock Screen, offering content and ads directly on mobile lock screens. Its Home Screen feature lets users personalize displays with news, movies, sports, travel, and games, among others. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Glance has raised a total of $390 million in equity funding from investors, including Reliance-owned Jio Platforms, Google, and Mithril. Glance reported a nearly 90% surge in operating revenue to Rs 600 crore in FY24 while incurring a loss of Rs 929 crore. Glance became a unicorn in December 2020 after raising $145 million from Google and US-based VC Mithril. The company was reportedly in talks to secure $250 million, led by Google. In 2023, Glance’s parent company, InMobi, raised $100 million in debt financing from MARS Growth Capital, a joint venture between MUFG and Liquidity Group.

Exclusive: Matrix and Stellaris-backed Dashtoon in talks to raise $10-12 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: Matrix and Stellaris-backed Dashtoon in talks to raise $10-12 Mn
Medial

AI assisted comic creation platform Dashtoon is in talks to raise a new round from new and existing investors, sources aware of the development told Entrackr. This will be the second funding round for the San Francisco and London-based startup which has offices in Bengaluru. “New investors along with existing ones Matrix Partners India and Stellaris Venture Partners are in late-stage talks to invest around $10-12 million in Dashtoon,” said a source requesting anonymity. In November 2023, Dashtoon had raised $5 million in a seed round led by Matrix and Stellaris with participation from prominent angel investors. Founded in December 2022 by Sanidhya Narain, Lalith Gudipati, and Soumyadeep Mukherjee, Dashtoon leverages Generative AI to turn storytellers into comics artists. Using its proprietary product Dashtoon Studio, storytellers can create digital comics. Narain and Gudipati were part of the founding team of audio entertainment startup Pocket FM and helped the company building and growing the product in the US. Mukherjee also built and scaled deep-tech teams at various startups including solving cancer diagnosis at Morphle Labs. Dashtoon also enables published authors or aspiring writers to distribute and monetize their comics and graphic novels. “The terms of the deal have been agreed upon and it’s likely to get materialized in a few weeks from now,” said another source who also requested anonymity. “Dashtoon is likely to be valued in the range of $5-60 million during the Series A financing.” Queries sent to Dashtoon, Matrix and Stellaris did not elicit any response. We’ll update the post in case they do. In November, the company said that it started monetising in October and expects to make $15,000 in revenue during the first month, with plans to grow to $100,000 per month over the next two to three months. In a long haul, Dashtoon aspires to be a global IP powerhouse by partnering with thousands of creators and readers. Currently, Japanese Manga and Korean Webtoons have been dominating the global comics market which was worth $15.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to be valued at around $27 billion by 2032, according to Allied Market Research.

Exclusive: SriMandir’s parent AppsForBharat in talks to raise $15-20 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: SriMandir’s parent AppsForBharat in talks to raise $15-20 Mn
Medial

AppsForBharat, the parent company of devotional app SriMandir, is in talks to raise a new round from new and existing investors, according to three people aware of the development. “AppsForBharat is in late-stage discussion with three new investors to raise $15-20 million,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “An Indian growth stage fund and a Singapore-based investor are in the race to lead the round.” Sources outline that the Bengaluru-based growth stage fund has backed companies including Spinny, Pharmeasy, FarEye and Probo. The Bengaluru-based startup had scooped up $10 million Series A in September 2021 and $4 million Seed round in August. As per sources, AppsForBharat is seeking a valuation of close to $100 million. “Existing investors including Peak XV and Elevation will also join the round on a pro-rata basis. The contours of the deal are being chalked out and the deal is likely to materialize later this month,” said another source who also wished not to be named as discussions are private. Queries sent to AppsForBharat didn’t elicit any response. AppsForBharat’s flagship product SriMandir allows users to create their personalized shrines, consume devotional content, connect with prayer groups, and access a large library of spiritual texts, scriptures and videos. Users can also consult with astrologers and priests. It claims to have over 10 million downloads since its inception in 2021. AppsForBharat’s long list of investors includes Peak XV, BEENEXT, Matrix Partners and angels such as Scott Schleifer, Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Pratap Singh, Utsav Somani, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Kunal Shah and Sai Srinivas. AppsForBharat registered Rs 3.53 crore in revenue with Rs 45 crore loss in FY23, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible. The firm is expected to post a better result in the last fiscal year (FY24). It competes with DevDham, Utsav App, Sutradhar, and 27 Mantra. As per data compiled by TheKredible, astro and spiritual tech startups have raised around $25 million in the past 12 months. Besides Ustav App and DevDham, InstaAstro, AstroTalk, Vama, and Melooha also raised decent funding during the period.

Exclusive: Leap Finance in talks to raise $100 Mn; seeks over $1 Bn valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 12m ago
Exclusive: Leap Finance in talks to raise $100 Mn; seeks over $1 Bn valuation
Medial

Leap Finance, a fintech platform for Indian students pursuing higher education overseas, is in talks to raise around $70–100 million in a new round, according to two sources aware of the development. The company is seeking fresh investment after more than two years of its Series D round. “Leap has been doing well for the past two years which attracted interest from several investors including internals,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity as talks are private. “The firm is in talks with at least three new investors to raise up to $100 million in Series E round.” Leap is likely to become a unicorn with this round, said sources. San Francisco-incorporated Leap last raised $75 million in its Series D round led by Owl Ventures with participation from Steadview, Paramark Ventures, Jungle Ventures and Peak XV in June 2022 in a valuation range of $850-900 million. Its exact valuation, shareholding and revenue couldn’t be ascertained as the firm parent entity isn’t registered in India. “The terms of the deal are currently being negotiated with two of the three new investors and Leap would finalise lead for the new round in a few weeks,” said another source who also wished not to be named. “It’s seeking $1 to 1.2 billion valuation in the Series E.” Sources assert that Leap has grown multi-fold since its Series D round. The firm enables educational loans for students keen on pursuing education in overseas universities. It offers test prep apps for IELTS, TOEFL, SAT; admissions and visa counseling as well as financial offerings through LeapScholar, LeapFinance, and Yocke. It also assists with international bank accounts, credit cards, and money remittance. “The new round will be a mix of primary and secondary capital, and some early investors including angels may take partial or full exit from the company,” said the source quoted above. Leap has declined to offer comment on the story. Queries sent to Owl Ventures, Jungle Ventures, Steadview and Peak XV did not elicit any response until publication of the story. The five-year-old firm has raised $175 million until Series D round and claims to have funded more than 3,000 students since 2021. It largely focuses on institutes in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. While edtech startups have been struggling to raise funds for the past couple of years, overseas education-focused finance platforms have cornered decent funding during the period. As per data compiled by TheKredible, Leap and its competitors such as Auxilo, Avanse Financial, Financepeer, Propelld, Grayquest, and Eduvanz collectively cornered around $500 million in the last 24 months. The strong preference to study abroad for superior exposure is a significant growth driver for companies like Leap, Leverage Edu, and CollegeDekho. Incred, a prominent player in the overseas educational loan space, reported that such loans accounted for 21% of its total disbursal in FY24. According to InCred’s founder, Bhupinder Singh, the growth prospects and increasing awareness in this segment have contributed to its [overseas educational loan] rapid expansion.

Exclusive: No appraisal for Unacademy employees in 2024

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Exclusive: No appraisal for Unacademy employees in 2024
Medial

Employees of edtech unicorn Unacademy will receive no appraisal in 2024, co-founder and chief executive officer Gaurav Munjal said at the firm’s virtual town hall. Even in 2023, it had not given cash appraisal and instead provided performance-linked stock options to employees. “I think 2023 was an average year for us. But 2024, if not great, was above average. But we did not hit our growth goals. The good part is that the burn is extremely low now, and we have a huge runway. And I kept saying that we don’t have a survival risk,” said Munjal in the town hall. Entrackr has reviewed the video of the virtual town hall. As per Munjal, the company won’t be able to do any appraisals this year as it didn’t hit the projected growth numbers. “I know I said that we will do appraisals two, three weeks ago, but when we started the process, we realized that we made a mistake,” he said in the town hall. Munjal urged its workforce to look at the bigger picture. “We are the ones who are still standing while our competitors are going down one by one,” he said. Entrackr has reached out to Munjal for comment. The development comes soon after the company laid off 250 employees citing efforts to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Last month, Entrackr also reported that the SoftBank-backed firm was in early-talks to merge with K12 Techno which runs the chain of Orchids International Schools. Unacademy raised its last equity round of $440 million at a valuation of $3.44 billion in August 2021. Since then, the firm has gone through mass layoffs, shutting down acquired verticals and exits of key employees including co-founder and CTO Hemesh Singh. Though, it has also launched several offline centers. The firm recently forayed into the language learning segment with a new app. In the beginning of FY24, the company claimed that it was close to achieving profitability at the group level. While the firm is yet to file the audited annual report for the last fiscal year (FY24), it recorded a 26% jump in its operating revenue to Rs 907 crore in FY23 while controlling losses by nearly 40% to Rs 1,004 core. Edtech companies have been going through hard times whether it is once-most valuable edtech company Byju’s or several growth stage startups. As per data compiled by TheKredible, edtech companies managed to raise only $138 million across 21 deals during the first half of 2024. In 2023, edtech startups raised $456 million while 2022 and 2021 saw $2.3 billion and $5.8 billion deployment in the space, respectively.

Exclusive: Whatfix bags $100 Mn in primary and secondary capital

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Exclusive: Whatfix bags $100 Mn in primary and secondary capital
Medial

SaaS-based digital adoption solution provider Whatfix has scooped nearly $100 million in primary and secondary funding led by Sweet Nectar Investments (Warburg Pincus) and SoftBank. With this, the Bengaluru-based company has marked its first funding round in the last three years. The board at Whatfix has passed a special resolution to issue 13,201 Series E compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of Rs 2,24,788.44 per share to raise Rs 296.74 crore in primary capital, the company’s regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies show. Additionally, the transaction also includes secondary funding worth nearly Rs 530 crore, the filings reveal. Whatfix aims to use the primary proceeds to expand and grow the business. Sweet Nectar Investments (Warburg Pincus) led the round with Rs 615 crore (Rs 271.7 crore primary and Rs 343.2 crore secondary) while the company’s existing backer SoftBank poured in Rs 210.5 crore (Rs 25 crore primary and Rs 185.5 crore secondary) funding. The secondary funding has been extracted from taking the same issue price under consideration. However, the transaction could also have taken place at a discount rate which reduces the overall amount raised. As per the startup intelligence platform TheKredible, Whatfix has been valued at around Rs 6,871 crore or $820-830 million (post-money). It has raised over $140 million before the fresh funding round. In June, the Economic Times reported that Whatfix is in talks to raise a new round which will see partial exits of early investors Helion Venture Partners and Eight Roads Ventures. Post allotment of the round, SoftBank increased its stake to 15.51% while Warburg Pincus’ Sweet Nectar Investments acquired 8.94% shares in the company (including the secondary transaction). Queries sent to Whatfix did not elicit an immediate response. Founded by Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar, Whatfix provides in-app guidance and performance support for web applications and software products. Its tools can be used by large companies and organizations, and integrated into their own apps to help guide the workforce in using them more efficiently. Whatfix recorded a 65.7% growth in revenue from operations to Rs 285 crore while its losses also went up 31.2% to Rs 328 crore in FY23. Importantly, Whatfix generated the entire revenue from global markets: America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East region. About 61% of the revenue emerged from the US followed by Europe. The company is yet to reveal its FY24 numbers.

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