Corporate Finance Alert

Twixor raises capital from Axilor Ventures, and others in Series A round:

Twixor, the digital process automation platform operated by Twixor Pte Ltd has announced that it has bagged $2.4 million (INR 18 Cr) in its Series A funding round from Season Two Ventures, Axilor Ventures and The Chennai Angels. The digital process automation platform was developed by the IIT Madras campus and has established a stronghold in Chennai along with a presence in other parts of India. The start-up is headquartered in Singapore and will deploy the fresh proceeds in advancing innovation, strengthening strategic partnerships, global expansion and hiring talent. Expanding its reach and operations will also be at the forefront of its agenda in deploying fresh capital. The founder and CEO, Ashok Anand, spoke about how the platform has been instrumental in creating superior customer experiences, addressing complex use cases, accelerating time to market and reducing the total cost of ownership. The fundraising has been at a strategic moment which will allow the start-up to accelerate on its twin objective of tech innovation and global scale-up.

Here is some latest financial news on private equity, venture capital, and mergers & acquisitions:

Few Major Transactions in Private Equity

Bodhi Tree Systems invests $600 mn in Allen Career:

Bodhi Tree Systems will invest $600 million (over INR 4,500 crore) in Allen Career Institute at a valuation of USD 1 billion. The transaction is expected to close within three months and the raised capital by the Kota-based coaching major will be used to expand its digital reach globally. The transaction is expected to close within three months. Earlier Reliance-backed Viacom18 invested INR 13,500 crores (USD 1.76 billion) investment for a 40% stake.

(Source: VC Circle, 01 May 2022)

Kaleidofin raises an additional $15 mn in Series B funding:

Chennai-based Fintech firm Kaleidofin has raised USD 15 million Series B equity round led by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. The company was founded in 2018 and offers products like KaleidoGoals – a goal-based savings solution; KaleidoCredit – credit as a platform service; KiScore – a supervised machine learning-based automated credit health checking platform. The raised funds will be used to further strengthen its product lines, and scale the KaleidoCredit business which aims at offering customized credit products for individuals and nano and micro-SME customers.

(Source: VC Circle, 04 May 2022)

Chiratae-backed Redcliffe Lifetech raises $61 mn in Series B Round:

Diagnostics platform Redcliffe Lifetech (Redcliffe), has raised $61 million in its Series B round led by LeapFrog Investments, with participation from Healthquad, Schroders, LC Nueva, Growth Spark Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, and Alkemi Venture Partners. The raised capital will be used to expand Redcliffe’s geographic reach in India and scale Redcliffe’s platform and increase its product offerings to radiology, disease data profiling, and lifestyle management. Founded in 2018, Redcliffe was founded in 2018 and it delivers diagnostics services in its network of 22 labs across 14 cities.

(Source: VC Circle, 06 May 2022)

Higher education-focused iNurture raises $15 mn, Ventureast exits:

iNurture Education Solutions, the Bengaluru-based ed-tech firm in higher education, has raised $15 million in a combination of debt and equity from ADM Capital. The raised capital will be used for propelling the growth of its NEP-ready (National Education Policy 2020) programmes, expanding its ‘Centres of Excellence’ model across university partners in India and further enhancing its technology stack for student placement. iNurture was founded in 2009 by Ashwin Alija.

 (Source: VC Circle, 10 May 2022)

SoftBank’s Vision Fund unit sees a loss of $26.2 bn, tech portfolio slides:

SoftBank Group, the global technology investor had recorded an annual loss of $26.2 billion at its Vision Fund unit as the value of its tech portfolio slid. Softbank has raised concerns about a global economic slowdown as energy prices have surged in the wake of economic sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, combined with the onset of monetary tightening in the U.S. to curb inflation.  SoftBank has backed many startups with over $1 billion in valuation. These include Paytm, Oyo, Ola, Lenskart, Policybazaar, FirstCry, Meesho, Unacademy, Zeta, Swiggy, Ola Electric and InMobi.

(Source: VC Circle, 12 May 2022)

Lenskart invests $100 million in Neso Brands:

Peyush Bansal’s Eyewear brand Lenskart Solutions Pvt. Ltd has invested over $100 million in seed funding in Singapore-based Neso Brands. Lenskart is one of the earliest unicorns in the D2C space. It recently raised $100 million from Alpha Wave Capital and was last valued at $4.3 billion.
Neso Brands will further invest in Lenskart and grow them by leveraging synergies and accelerating international expansion.

(Source: VC Circle, 16 May 2022)

Country Delight raises $108 mn in Series D round, valn at $615 mn:

A direct-to-consumer (D2C) food essentials brand, Country Delight has raised $108 million in a funding round led by Venturi Partners and Temasek, raising its total financing to $147 million. The funding round had participation from SWC Global and Trifecta Capital and existing investors, IIFL Asset Management, Elevation Capital, Orios Venture Partners and Matrix Partners Founded in 2013, Country Delight offers dairy, fruits and vegetables to the doorstep of consumers.

(Source: VC Circle, 25 May 2022)

Few Major Transactions in Venture Capital

Open turns unicorn with $50 mn funding led by IIFL Finance:

Open Financial Technologies Pvt Ltd, a neo-banking platform has cashed USD 50 mn in a  Series D funding round led by IIFL Finance at over USD 1 bn valuation along with existing investors Tiger Global, Temasek, and 3one4 Capital. This fundraising has led Open to double its valuation since September 2021 when it had raised USD 62 mn in a Series C from Temasek, Google, and others.

(Source: VC Circle, 2^nd May 2022)

021 Capital, Global Founders co-led $4.2 mn seed bet on interviewing AI firm BarRaiser:

BarRaiser operated by BarRaiser Pvt Ltd, which runs AI-powered interviewing platform BarRaiser has bagged a seed capital of USD 4.2 mn. This investment was co-led by 021 Capital and Global Founders Capital with participation from other angel investors.

(Source: VC Circle, 2^nd May 2022)

Inflection Point Ventures, others back relocation firm HappyLocate:

The Bengaluru-based start-up, HappyLocate Relocation Services Pvt Ltd, which operates relocation platform HappyLocate has raised USD 1.1 mn in its pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with co-investments from VM Ventures and RMZ Management.

(Source: VC Circle, 18^th May 2022)

Ratan Tata invests in fuel e-commerce startup Repos Energy for 2nd time:

Repos Energy, a fuel e-commerce start-up operated by Repos Energy Pvt Ltd announced fundraising of INR 56 crore in a combination of debt and equity in its pre-Series A round from Ratan Tata, with participation from other undisclosed investors.

(Source: VC Circle, 17^th May 2022)

Fashinza ropes in WestBridge Capital, Prosus as new investors to raise $100 mn; valn at $400 mn:

Fashinza, a B2B marketplace, has raised around USD 100 mn in a mix of debt and equity in its Series B round from a consortium of new and existing investors. The round was led by homegrown PE fund, WestBridge Capital and Euronext-listed entity, Prosus Ventures. The fresh funds will be utilized in creating a sustainable supply chain for the global fashion industry and in scaling up the company’s presence globally.

(Source: VC Circle, 17^th May, 2022)

Few Major Transactions in Mergers & Acquisition

Jindal Worldwide enters EV space with Earth Energy acquisition:

Jindal Worldwide has acquired Mumbai-based EV startup Earth Energy EV via its subsidiary Jindal Mobilitric for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition also marks the entry of Jindal Worldwide into the electric vehicle sector of India. The financial details of the deal are yet to be disclosed market. Earth Energy, operated by Grushie Energy Pvt. Ltd was founded in 2017.

(Source: VC Circle, 06 May 2022)

upGrad acquires data science institute INSOFE in $33 mn share swap deal:

Ed-tech platform upGrad has acquired Asia’s first data science education institute, specialising in data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning ‘International School of Engineering (Insofe)’, one of the top data science institutes in India, in a $33 million share swap deal. This is upGrad’s seventh acquisition in the last couple of years.  INSOFE’s management and investors will get 1% equity in upGrad as part of the deal. upGrad is valued at USD 2 billion.

 (Source: VC Circle, 02 May 2022)

Twitter deal temporarily on hold, tweets Musk:

Elon Musk’s offer to buy twitter at $44-billion is temporarily on hold while he waits for data on the proportion of its fake accounts, sending shares in the social media platform plunging. Shares of the social media company fell 20% in pre-market trading. The spread between the offer price and the value of Twitter shares had widened in recent days, implying less than a 50% chance of completion, as investors speculated that the downturn would prompt Musk to walk or seek a lower price.

(Source: VC Circle, 13 May 2022)

L&T Infotech, Mindtree set to merge creating fifth-largest IT service provider:

L&T Infotech and Mindtree, the two independently listed IT services companies under Larsen & Toubro Group, would merge to create India’s fifth-largest IT services provider. Current Mindtree chief executive officer and managing director Debashis Chatterjee will lead the combined entity while LTI’s chief executive Sanjay Jalona has resigned citing personal reasons.

(Source: VC Circle, 6 May 2022)

TikTok-owner ByteDance exits DailyHunt, Josh parent VerSe:

Chinese investor ByteDance, the parent company of the popular short-video app TikTok, has fully exited VerSe Innovation, the parent company of content aggregator DailyHunt and short video platform Josh. The move was precipitated by the Indian government’s aversion to Chinese ownership of Indian companies.

Source: VC Circle, 6 May 2022)