Hilt Brands India Pvt. Ltd., which operates direct to consumer (D2C) health products brand Bibo, said it has raised $150,000 (around Rs 1.12 crore) led by ah! Ventures.
Vikash Kumar launched Bibo after leaving boutique investment banking firm Springforth Capital Advisors in 2019. He worked at Springforth for six-and-a-half years, most recently as a director and head of deals execution, according to his LinkedIn profile. The IIT-Kharagpur alumnus has had earlier stints with firms like SBI Capital Markets and Deloitte.
“Having worked with several pharma entrepreneurs and CXOs and visiting around hundred pharma facilities, I could understand the vastness of the sector which had been growing in double digits for over a decade. However, the whole trade is being run traditionally with conventional methods. Even after the evolution of e-pharmacies like Pharmeasy, 1mg etc., the key stakeholders and product mix remains the same,” Vikash Kumar said.
To date, ah! Ventures’ has done a total of 108 investments (in 83 Startups) taking its total investment portfolio to Rs 257 crore ($34 million) with 13 exits and 23 follow on rounds. 6 investments have happened through all three platforms in 2022 date.
Ekank Technologies
Ekank Technologies, a vernacular storytelling platform, has raised $1 million (around Rs 7.5 crore) from 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Titan Capital, Bharat Founders Fund Syndicate, Sujeet Kumar (Cofounder of Udaan). The round saw participation from investors like Archana Priyadarshini, Amit Jain, Amit Hooja, and Deepak Jain (Partner at Bain).
The fresh funds will be used towards supporting and strengthening the technological capability, and inviting more storytellers on the platform across different media formats like text, audio, illustrations, and comics. The company also plans to expand its team across all departments, particularly, product and technology.
“Ekank Technologies wants to be synonymous with culture-led startups in India. We want to transform the way stories are told by providing the creators with an opportunity to share their human-interest stories across history, art, culture, and heritage, with a large audience base,” Summit Nayak, Co-founder, Ekank Technologies said.
Co-founded in 2020 by Summit Nayak and Chetan Rexwal, the startup brings micro-influencers and content creators to share stories and connect with different audience base. Since its inception, the company claims to have over 15 million users on the platform, with over 100 storytellers sharing more than 4,000 stories.
