IoT platform Cavli Wireless, direct-to-consumer startup Freakins, content production firm Knocksense, real estate digital amenities provider Reloy, mead brand Moonshine Meads and artificial intelligence-based marketplace ZuAI have raised early-stage funding, the companies said on Wednesday.
Internet-of-things (IoT) startup Cavli Wireless has raised $10 million (Rs 82.1 crore) in a Series A funding round co-led by Chiratae Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
The round also saw participation from an undisclosed US technology conglomerate as well.
Cavli Wireless will deploy the fresh proceeds to establish its manufacturing base in India and launch 5G and automotive solutions for its global customer base.
Founded in 2017 by John Mathew, Ajit Thomas, Tarun Thomas George, and Akhil A Zeeb, Cavli Wireless designs and manufactures cellular modules in 4G and 5G technologies with integrated embedded (e)SIM and global connectivity.
“This Series A will enable us to strengthen our position in the global IoT market by expanding our product portfolio, enhancing research and development (R&D) capabilities, and growing our international presence,” said Mathew, co-founder and chief executive officer, Cavli Wireless.
It currently operates across the US, India, Spain, Vietnam, the UK, France, Italy, Turkey, and Germany.
Freakins
Denim maker Freakins has raised $4 million (Rs 32.84 crore) in a seed funding round led by Matrix Partners India and Blume Ventures.
The round also saw participation from angel investors like Revant Bhate (Mosaic Wellness), Navin Agarwal (Sonal Apparels), Chakradhar Gade (Country Delight), Utkrishta Kumar (Meesho), Asish Mohapatra (OfBusiness) and social media influencers like Aayush Wadhwa, Tarini Shah and Agastya Shah.
The D2C brand will use the funds to expand its omnichannel presence, improve its supply chain, hire talent, launch new stock-keeping units (SKUs) and improve its operations.
Founded in 2021 by Puneet Sehgal and Shaan Shah, Freakins is a Mumbai-based Gen-Z women-focused brand that claims to have 35 categories with over 1500 styles.
"The funding will facilitate our expansion into new categories and improve our manufacturing capabilities and extend our distribution footprint,” added Sehgal, founder and chief executive officer, Freakins.
Knocksense
Hyperlocal content production platform Knocksense has closed its pre-Series A funding round at $1 million (Rs 8.2 crore) after raising capital from musician Lucky Ali.
In April, the startup had secured funding from Nitish Mittersain, founder of gaming company Nazara Technologies, as part of its pre-Series A round. We Founders Circle, LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels Network, and Imperial Holdings have also participated in the funding round.
The Lucknow-based startup aims to use the funding towards geographical expansion within India to newer tier II and III cities.
Founded by Vibhore Mayank and Varul Mayank, Knocksense is a content production platform that creates local digital and live entertainment content targeted around Tier II/Tier III cities in India. The company claims to have onboarded 25,000 paid subscribers on its platform to date. It is currently present in Lucknow, Kanpur, Indore, and Ahmedabad.
In 2021, the company raised $150,000 as part of a bridge round from We Founder Circle along with Appyhigh, Mumbai Angels Network and angel investors from LetsVenture.
Reloy
Real estate digital amenities provider Reloy has raised $875,140 (Rs 7.2 crore) in an ongoing pre-Series A funding round, from a host of investors including new investors such as BlueLotus VC, Dream Green Capital along with several undisclosed angel investors also participated in the round.
The investment will be used to expand its presence across geographies.
Founded in 2015 by Akhil Saraf, Reloy is a real estate digital amenities and referral solutions provider which initially started as a loyalty platform that catered to enterprises across industries. It is a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) homeowner and broker management platform that helps builders manage their home owners and brokers.
The startup claims to manage 1.3 Lakh apartments coming up for possession and 17,000 brokers across 15 cities in India. Its client portfolio includes Godrej Properties, DLF, M3M, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Mahindra Lifespaces, K Raheja Corp, Brigade, Piramal, L&T Realty, Arvind Smartspaces, JP Infra, amongst others.
Moonshine Meads
Ronin Wines Pvt Ltd, which operates the mead brand Moonshine Meads, has secured $675,000 (Rs 5.5 crore) as part of their larger pre-Series A funding round from Rainmatter Capital and Grip Invest.
The round also saw participation from Auxano Capital, Supermorpheus, Anthill Capital and a clutch of existing and new angel investors.
The funding will be deployed to improve sales and distribution of Moonshine Meads and expand the honey and bee-keeping focussed brand, Moonshine Honey Project.
Founded in 2021 by Nitin Vishwas and Rohan Rehani, Moonshine is a mead brand, which is made by fermenting 100% pure honey with various fruits and spices, Moonshine’s meads have low alchol content, carbonated and part of the fast-growing ready to drink segment (beyond beers category) in India.
Moonshine is currently available in India in states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and is present UAE, Australia and New Zealand overseas.
Generative AI startup ZuAI has secured $487,055 (Rs 4 crore) in a seed funding round from Prime Venture Partners.
The Bengaluru-based startup will use the funding to further develop its platform by offering adaptive test series and other such tools. It also plans on expanding its presence across India.
Founded by Anubhav Mishra and Arpit Jain, ZuAI provides an interactive learning experience for children and teenagers and helps them to prepare in an interactive manner following the official central board of secondary education (CBSE), Indian certificate of secondary education (ICSE) and respective state board curriculums.
“We started ZuAI to make learning interactive and personalized so that they can learn at their own pace. This investment will allow us to improve our platform's capabilities and reach more students in India,” said Mishra.
