Mumbai-based cold storage startup Celcius has raised $500,000 as part of its seed round led by Mumbai Angels Network.
The round saw participations by early-stage Venture firm Huddle, Lumis Partners and other investors from Nigeria, Malaysia and the US.
The funds raised from this round will be used in expanding its services across cities and remote areas in India, Celcius said and added that the team will be setting up headquarters across different cities to provide cold storage and transport solutions.
“The past year has seen an uptick in demand for efficient cold-chain facilities and Celcius has been doing commendable work in the space by ensuring operational efficiency and cost optimization while also focusing on customer satisfaction and a tech-powered approach.
We believe that this funding will enable them to further bolster their offerings and scale their business,” Nandini Mansinghka, co-founder & CEO of Mumbai Angels Network, said.
The firm works as an aggregator platform for cold storage by providing transport and storage to perishable goods.
Currently, Celcius handles shipments in pharma, dairy, seafood and vegetables.
Khabri, an audio podcasting platform, has raised $2.1 million in a pre-series A funding round.
The round saw participations from Liquid 2 Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Rebel Fund, Siqi Chen of Sandbox VR, Ex-Google India MD Shailesh Rao and Edward Lando.
The Gurugram-based startup said it will use fresh funds to strengthen its product and tech offerings.
“So far, aiming at adding multiple languages soon with the new influx of funds. Our app is playing a pivotal role in providing learners with more passive learning opportunities, and teachers to get a bigger outreach.
Khabri users have also been enjoying seamless access to content even in the areas with weaker internet bandwidth,” Pulkit Sharma - co-founder & CEO, Khabri, said.
The startup said it plans to launch its services in languages like Tamil, Telugu and Kannada in the coming quarters.
The Y-combinator-backed startup aims to convert non-learning time with the help of audio content provided by the creators.
AyuRythm, a Bengaluru-based wellness startup, has raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round led by SucSEED Indovation fund and others.
The funding raised from this round will be used to enhance product and technology capabilities, strengthening the team, and accelerating growth, said Abhilesh Gupta, founder and CEO of AyuRythm.
The startup says its application can complete pulse diagnosis (nadi pariksha) via a smartphone camera. AyuRythm integrates pulse detection and ayurveda to provide solutions for the underlying causes.
“AyuRythm provides digitised real-time assessments by merging ayurveda with AI algorithm,” said VVSN Raju, partner at SucSEED Indovation Fund.
CrazyLabs acquires Firescore Interactive
Tel Aviv based game developer and publisher CrazyLabs said it has acquired Mumbai-based game development studio Firescore Interactive.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition is part of CrazyLabs’ strategy to expand in India and grow its game development business.
Both companies have been in partnership for over two years and have collaborated on several projects. CrazyLabs published Interactive’s Acrylic Nails which has received over 85 million downloads.
Recently, CrazyLabs published Firescore’s game Hair Dye which is approaching 30 million downloads.
CrazyLabs has offices in Israel, China, Macedonia, Germany and Ukraine, and has hyper-casual gaming hubs in India, Turkey, Serbia, Israel and South Africa.
StockGro, a social investment startup, has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round of funding led by Roots Ventures and Velo Partners.
The fresh funds will be used to grow the user base, hire talent, and build new features.
The stock investing platform uses gamified features like sharing investment thesis and strategies. The firm said it has over 1 million users, with 80% month-on-month retention.
“At StockGro we are on a mission to make millennials investment-ready. With over 1 million active users on the platform within 9 months of launch, StockGro has become the primary social investment platform for the millennials,” said Ajay Lakhotia, founder of StockGro.
The firm previously raised around $1 million in an angel round of funding from Kunal Shah of Cred, Vivekananda Hallekere of Bounce, Rahul Garg of Moglix, and Ramakant Sharma of Livspace.
The round also saw Varun Laul of Investcorp, Ashish Sharma of Innoven Capital, Rohit Sood of Bertelsmann, Ankit Agarwal of Alteria Capital, Tej Kapoor of Fosun, Karthik Bhat of Ubiquity.
It also saw family offices including Creed Capital, Luminaire Capital, and Mark V Capital. Falcon Edge Partners was also a part of the round.
Aartas Clinishare, a medical co-working space, has raised $5 million in its first phase of funding from QRG Holdings, the promoter of Havells.
The fresh funds will be used to create around 100 multi-speciality clinics.
“With the launch of CliniShare, our purpose is to leverage technology in helping make doctors more independent and empower them to give their best care, and provide them an alternative ecosystem that is free of corporate pressures,” said Dr Ankur and Dr Ayush Sharma in a joint statement.
The medical co-working space will come with the Aartas app which will be used to enter, register and pay at the location.
Enguru, an English-language learning app, has raised an undisclosed amount from Potencia Ventures, Bisk Ventures, LetsVenture, Ronnie Screwvala, Arihant Patni, and Dell Foundation.
The funding will be used to scale up live class offerings and launch kids focused classes aimed at 6-16-year-olds.
Launched in January 2020, Enguru says it has grown over 30 times with over 200,000 monthly live classes with 200 plus teachers.
“English is a pre-requisite for most jobs in the service industry and young Indians are very often at an unfair disadvantage due to a lack of access to effective training. Enguru’s live classes give learners a platform to practise speaking in English through an unlimited subscription model,” said Arshan Vakil, founder and CEO of Enguru.
Vakil added: “With these funds, we aim to bolster the technology in our live classes to facilitate peer to peer interactions more efficiently. We are also building complementary offerings to help our users boost their employability starting with the launch of an AI-based English assessment tool called Upskill in collaboration with Cambridge English.”