Quick-service restaurant brand Charcoal Eats, webtoon app Toonsutra, Mayhem Studios and TechEagle have raked in early-stage funding, the companies said Friday.
Charcoal Eats
Charcoal Eats secured Rs 45 crore (over $5 million) in a funding round led by Girish Patel, the founder of Paras Pharma. The round also saw participation from Anil Sanghvi, chairman at Sanghvi Erectors; Ajinkya Firodia, MD at Kinetic Group; and Rajiv Jain, an ex-banker.
The company operates brands such as Charcoal Eats for Biryani and B Burger across Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi-NCR. With this investment, the startup aims to strengthen its operations and expand its footprint.
Founded in 2015 by Anurag Mehrotra and Krishnakant Thakur, Charcoal Eats operates around 40 outlets, mostly cloud kitchens. The company expects to achieve an annualized revenue run rate of Rs 150 crore by the end of this fiscal year.
Toonsutra
Gen Fukunaga, the founder of Funimation, has joined the webtoon app Toonsutra as an investor and advisor. The funding amount is undisclosed.
Fukunaga has a decade of experience in anime, pop-culture, and streaming platforms, having previously founded Funimation, which was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment and acquired Crunchyroll to become one of the leading anime digital platforms.
Toonsutra, founded by Sharad Devarajan and Vishal Anand, is a webtoon comics app. It caters to Indian audiences with Hindi, Tamil, and Telegu language content offerings.
The platform is backed by a clutch of investors including the Sony Innovation Fund, Maiora Capital, Kun Gao (co-founder, Crunchyroll), Jeremy Liew (partner, Lightspeed), Kevin Lin (co-founder, Twitch), Patrick Lee (co-founder, Rotten Tomatoes), Holly Lui (co-founder, Kabam), Benjamin Grubbs (co-founder, CreatorPlus), and Steve Chung (former CEO of Americas, CJENM).
Mayhem Studios
Mayhem Studios, a Bengaluru-based developer of AAA mobile games, has secured an undisclosed amount in funding from Lumikai, a media and gaming-focused venture fund.
The developer is building its flagship title, Underworld Gang Wars (UGW). It will use the funding to scale operations, accelerate game development, expand its team of developers, and enhance technological capabilities.
Its investors include Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia India), Steadview Capital, Truecaller, Hashed Emergent, Base Partners, and Moore Strategic.
TechEagle
TechEagle, a drone delivery startup, has entered into a strategic alliance with ideaForge Technology, an unmanned vehicle manufacturer. IdeaForge has also participated in TechEagle’s bridge financing round.
TechEagle claims that it has developed world-class drones and a sophisticated software stack, establishing an operational services network for aerial logistics in e-commerce, hyperlocal delivery, logistics, and healthcare. It aims to create end-to-end aerial drone logistics solutions ranging from regional mobility to last-mile logistics.
IdeaForge and TechEagle are focused on developing small, tactical, and middle-mile logistics platforms for dual use, complementing each other’s efforts.
