Jun 28, 2023

YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Wednesday, June 28, 2023. WatchYourHealth raises $2.2M from Global Health Ventures WatchYourHealth (WYH), a health tech SaaS platform, has raised $2.2 million from Conquest Global Ventures Private Limited (CGVPL), a Singapore-based venture capital firm. Launched in 2015 by Ratheesh Nair (Founder and CEO), WYH works with enterprise clients in healthcare delivery and healthcare financing, leveraging SaaS platform with a phygital approach to improve health outcomes for their customers. WYH will use this funding round towards product development, geographic expansion, sales and marketing efforts, office spaces, and inventory enhancement. It currently serves over 10 million users offering consumer engagement solutions through its B2B integrated SaaS platform. The Mainstreet Marketplace raises $2M in seed round The Mainstreet Marketplace, a premium sneaker resale platform, has raised $2 million in a seed round from angel investors. The startup will deploy the capital for hiring, expansion of stores and building on the quality of their customer experience. This funding round was led by Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai’s fund Gruhas, along with participation from angel investors—Deepinder Goyal, Sujeet Kumar, Silverneedle Ventures, Tanmay Bhat, Mouni Roy, Ashish Chanchlani, Amarjit Batra, Nikhil Chinappa, Yogesh Chaudhary, Ayush Mehra, Vinay Pillai, and Arjun Vaidya. It had previously raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding in 2022. It stocks premium brands like Yeezy, Jordan, Adidas, Nike, and apparel from Fear of God, Essentials, Drewhouse, Supreme, Palm Angles, Off White etc. Zippee raises funding from Haldiram’s, angel investors Delivery platform Zippee has raised an undisclosed round of funding from food brand Haldiram’s and angel investors. The startup plans to use the capital to expand same-day delivery service to 15 cities, as well as for hiring and technology development. Formerly known as ZFW Dark Stores and founded in 2021 by Madhav Kasturia, it had previously raised $1.7 million from VC firms and angel investors. The latest round of funding saw participation from startup founders such as Ashneer Grover, Kunal Shah, Peyush Bansal, Prashant Pitti, Aakash Anand, and other venture capital firms. Zippee partners with D2C brands across segments of F&B, personal beauty care, wellness, and pet care to enable same-day deliveries. Qlan raises $200K in pre-seed funding Qlan, a social networking app designed for gamers and esports enthusiasts, has raised $200,000 in a pre-seed round of funding from Marwah Sports, CIIE.CO, and Faad Network. The capital will be used for growth activity, gamer networking, and content creation. According to Qlan, it has recorded over 100,000 downloads with a user base of 50,000 gamers spread across multiple geographies. On the Qlan app, users can establish gaming profiles, connect with gamers possessing comparable skill levels, explore and share gaming content, unlock gaming rewards, and much more. The objective of the startup is to leverage technology in order to address the issues of insufficient discovery, ineffective networking, and difficulties faced by aspiring gamers trying to crack the world of gaming and esports. Finayo raises seed round of funding Finayo, an EV asset and lending management platform, raised an undisclosed seed round of funding led by iAngels Network backed by India Accelerator. Founded in 2022, Finayo streamlines the entire financial process through a proprietary technology platform that connects lenders, OEMs, dealers, and EV buyers. The startup said its platform also enables precise risk assessments, and select quality borrowers, which minimises non-performing loans. Finaya will use this fresh capital for enhancing its technology platform and also create an EV asset and lending solution. It is also looking to expand its operations to 50 new locations across five different states. It aims to facilitate lending of Rs 150 crore through its platform by FY24. Other news Multipl partners with ACKO Multipl, an investment-cum-saving platform, has entered into a partnership with insuretech company ACKO to provide integrated insurance payment options to its customers. It will allow car owners an option to invest and renew their policy with the extra benefit of returns. ACKO's features will integrate with the Multipl platform to allow individuals to create a goal for their annual insurance premium as a part of its 'save and spend' smartly business model. They can then save in small equal amounts for a duration of 3-12 months to achieve the goal. This will enable people to relook at their policy buying and renewing behaviour. Multipl also enables individuals to invest their savings in curated direct mutual funds based on the risk profile on its platform. This will fetch returns on the invested amount and upon maturity, individuals can make the premium payment on the ACKO interface, which is integrated with the Multipl app. EMBIBE unveils new app for learning through 3D models and videos Edtech platform EMBIBE has launched a text-to-visual learning app called EMBIBE Lens. It aims to enable the conversion of textbooks into 3D models and videos. Through a smartphone camera, a student can scan a book or paragraph to create 3D visuals. According to EMBIBE, this app will improve the learning quotient of the students by making the subject matter accessible and engaging. It can be used to study and understand various subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. EMBIBE Lens incorporates auto-detection of concepts and annotated labels technology to identify and present relevant information, along with annotated labels that help students establish connections between concepts and diagrams. The app is currently available in English and Hindi. The startup also plans to add new features such as question scanning and doubt resolution on the app. Ecom Express appoints former Airtel executive as CEO Logistics startup Ecom Express has appointed Ajay Chitkara as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Chitkara, who is at present serving as Director and CEO of Bharti Airtel's enterprise arm, Airtel Business, will assume the new role from September 1. With over two decades of experience, Chitakara also serves on the boards of Nxtra by Airtel, Hughes Communication and Network i2i, the company said. Ecom Express, which is backed by private equity investors Partners Group, Warburg Pincus and British International Investment, has its presence across 28 states and operates in over 2,700 towns across 27,000-plus PIN codes. It has over 3,000 delivery centres. Medix Global launches new programme for healthcare startups Medix Global, a global healthcare management company, has launched Digital Health Innovation Challenge 2023 for startups and innovators creating cutting-edge digital health solutions. The challenge focuses on tech startups catering to healthcare issues linked to women’s health and mental health. The two-month challenge, scheduled to conclude in August 2023, invites entries starting from June 28, 2023. Medix's Digital Health Innovation Challenge 2023 seeks to encourage entrepreneurs to present their ground-breaking ideas, products, or services that leverage digital platforms, mobile applications, telemedicine, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge technologies. A panel of judges, consisting of healthcare experts, investors, technology leaders, and influential figures in women's health, will evaluate the submissions based on innovation, feasibility, scalability, and potential impact. Medix Global will actively support the winners in providing access to potential funding, validating product-market fit, mentorship and driving the implementation and adoption of their solutions. We Founder Circle unveils new marketplace for angel funding We Founder Circle (WFC), an early-stage startup investment platform, has launched Invstt app, a tech startup investment marketplace. According to WFC, this app simplifies the entire angel investing process—from discovery and evaluation to investment transactions and portfolio management. The platform caters to both individual angel investors and syndicates. WFC said that Invstt app has already got over 50 syndicates and 30 deals with funding commitments of $5 million that facilitated transactions worth $3 million. It further added that the app has already attracted participation from more than 600 investors, contributing to a total fund commitment exceeding $25 million. InCred appoints new CIO for private equity fund InCred Alternative Investments Private Limited has appointed Vivek Singla as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Private Equity. InCred Alternative Investments is part of InCred Capital, the institutional, wealth, and asset management arm of InCred Group. Vivek will spearhead InCred’s maiden Private Equity Fund, which will be the third alternative strategy from InCred after Structured Credit Fund and Liquid Quant Fund. Vivek has over 18 years of investment experience across both private and public equity markets. His last role was as a Principal at Avendus PE Investment Advisors. Prior to Avendus, he was part of CLSA Capital Partners. Edited by Kanishk Singh