Latest Funding News 

Data science startup TheMathCompany raises funding from Arihant Patni 

The startups offers data analytics services to enterprises right from advisory, to implementation and even hires and trains talent for customers. 

 

Bengaluru and Chicago-based data science startup TheMathCompany has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from venture capitalist Arihant Patni in his personal capacity, as it looks to grow its presence in markets such as Europe and APAC.  

 

Started in 2016 by Sayandeb Banerjee, Anuj Krishna and Aditya Kumbakonam, all three of whom were previously employed with startup unicorn MuSigma, TheMathCompany says it counts 33 Fortune 500 companies as its customers today. 

 

PE major ChrysCap in talks to fund co-working space startup Awfis 

Awfis, which was seeded by Three Sisters, has so far raised an estimated $51 million in a mix of equity and debt financing. It had last announced a $20 million financing round led by existing investors in July last year. 

 

Co-working space provider Awfis Space Solutions is in advanced talks to close a $25 million funding round led by ChrysCapital, one of the largest domestic private equity firms, according to two people familiar with the matter.  

 

Awfis, which counts venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Three Sisters, the family office of Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and Temasek-backed venture debt firm InnoVen Capital as institutional backers, will use the proceeds to further ramp up its pace of growth, even as deep-pocketed competitors double down on the space.  

 

For ChrysCap, which manages assets worth $3 billion, the deal, if successful, will be among its first in a new-age business. Private equity investors have taken selective bets on internet companies, but have shown interest in platforms that have both an online and physical presence. 

 

Bira 91 secures $4.3M funding from Sixth Sense Ventures 

Bira 91 had forayed into mass beer market with the launch of a sub-brand Boom in April this year. 

 

B9 Beverages, owner of craft beer company Bira 91, has raised $4.3 million in fresh funding from Sixth Sense Ventures as part of its Pre-Series C round, at an estimated post-money valuation of $246 million. 

 

Sixth Sense Ventures was allotted five lakh Pre-Series C preference shares for Rs 30 crore, according to documents filed with regulators, sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc. 

 

Bira 91 has raised $74 million in funding so far from angel investors including Bollywood bigwigs Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, as well as prominent names in the tech sector such as Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy. 

 

Alibaba invests $100M in short video app VMate 

This investment comes as Alibaba aims to gain a foothold in India’s growing short video apps segment, currently led by Bytedance’s TikTok 

 

Alibaba has invested $100 million in VMate, a social video app owned by subsidiary UC Web, reports TechCrunch. 

 

Launched in 2016, VMate initially offered full-length movies to users but later shifted to user-generated short videos.  

 

It offers several video making and editing tools like stickers, special effects, custom clips, and duet video format among others along with the ability to share videos to other platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat and TikTok among others. The company claims to currently have 30 million users in India. 

 

This investment comes as Alibaba aims to gain a foothold in India’s growing short video apps segment, currently led by Bytedance’s TikTok which claims to have more than 120 million users in the country. UC Web, which was acquired by Alibaba in 2014, had earlier said that short videos will be one of the company’s top priorities this year. 

 

Automated video platform Rocketium raises Rs 7 Cr from 1Crowd and Blume Ventures 

Rocketium has a drag-and-drop editor to create video templates that can be converted to unique videos with automation 

 

Video creator platform Rocketium has raised Rs 7 crore from early-stage investment firms 1Crowd and Blume Ventures. 

 

Founded by former TaxiForSure executives Satej Sirur and Anurag Dwivedi, Rocketium helps businesses create thousands of videos in minutes using automation. Rocketium has a drag-and-drop editor to create video templates that can be converted to unique videos with automation. They also have capabilities to convert spreadsheet data into videos, eliminating the need for professional designers and hours to create each video.