Quick service restaurant chain House of Biryan, climatetech startup Ricron Panels, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms Centriti and Helium along with gaming startup Felicity Games raised early-stage funding, the companies said on Tuesday.
House of Biryan has raised $2 million (Rs 16.6 crore) in a funding round from Middle East-based Al Siraj Holdings, Angel Star Ventures and undisclosed high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) from the US.
According to its statement, the startup has raised $3 million so far.
The funding will be mainly used to support the brand’s growth in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.
House of Biryan currently has 12 kitchens between Mumbai and Delhi and aims to add another 30.
The company claims its current ARR is Rs 25 crore over six businesses that have been open for more than six months, with six kitchens that are only a month old on average. It aims to break even by 24 September, with single-digit profitability by 24 December. At present, its current burn rate is -2% EBIT.
Qarmatek
Refurbished electronics startup Qarmatek has raised $1 million (Rs 8.3 crore) in a funding round from a host of investors including Umang Nahata of Orange Orbit, Rakesh Raman of Orange Orbit and Vishal Makwana of Texspin.
The newly raised capital will be used to expand Qarmatek's presence across multiple categories in renewed electronics, scale operations, and grow geographically.
Founded in 2011, Qarmatek serves customers by working closely with all major electronic brands to offer a seamless repair experience.
In 2022, the startup raised $3 million in a funding round led by GVFL (Gujarat Venture Finance Limited) and Caspian Debt.
Ricron Panels
Ricron Panels has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round led by Boon Sustainability.
The round also saw participation from Harsh Mohunta of Classic Display Systems, Dinesh Babbar (ex-Infra.Market), boutique investment bank Veromint Advisors, Venkatesh Srinivasan, (ex-EY GDS), architect Renuka Sharma and Kaushik Rajan, founder of Stoicus Legal.
The funds raised in the current round will be utilized to improve the startup’s marketing and distribution efforts and expand Ricron’s presence in the Indian market.
Founded by Rahul Chaudhary and Radhika Chaudhary, Ricron Panels is a plastic waste recycling company that converts low-value multi-layer plastic (MLP) into high-quality, carbon-negative and eco-friendly building materials using its patented technology.
The end applications include furniture, housing, roofing, and construction.
Hospitality industry-focused-business-to-business (B2B) SaaS platform Centriti has raised $718,644 (Rs 6 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Emergent India Ventures (EV2). The round saw participation from Atrium Angels, Alluvium Capital, Venture Garage, CoralBay Ventures, HOF and Brigade Group.
The funds raised will be utilised to improve its technology capabilities and expand into newer geographies.
Founded in 2022, Centriti offers a tech-based end-to-end procurement system, which centralises the procurement process for hotel, restaurant, and catering (HoReCa) businesses.
The platform uses AI-based inventory management solutions to help hotels and restaurants reduce costs, minimise waste and improve overall operational efficiency. The platform’s in-house AI-driven integrated inventory software automates inventory tracking and replenishment while providing analytics and forecasts.
The platform currently works with hospitality players like Taj Hotels, Oberoi Hotels, Accor Group and Barbeque Nation, among others.
Felicity Games has raised $700,000 (Rs 5.8 crore) in a pre-seed funding round from DeVC, Visceral Capital along with angel investors like Kunal Shah of Cred, former Nazara senior executive Manish Agarwal, Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy of Swiggy and Sameer Pittalwala of Google Cloud (APAC) among others.
The company, which has launched around 10 game titles, will use the funds towards testing 10 more such games by March 2025. It also aims to increase its revenue by 10 times by the end of this year, according to its statement.
Felicity was founded in 2023 by ex-Swiggy executive Anurag Choudhary. In under a year, Felicity has launched over 10 game titles, which it claims have been played by more than a million monthly users across 14 geographies.
Some of its notable game titles include Seek & Find and Nova Solitaire.
Helium has raised around $550,000 (Rs 4.52 crore) in a pre-seed funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Merak Ventures. The round also saw participation from angel investor Alok Mittal.
Founded by Shray Arora, Sidharth Sahni and Deepak Kapoor, Helium collaborates with brands in the fashion and consumer tech sectors to create intelligent collection and product landing pages. By using artificial intelligence (AI), Helium tags each product and user interface (UI) element, understanding their context through anonymized behavioural interactions of visitors.
This allows Helium to curate a combination of content, copy, and product for each visitor that leads to improved brand affinity and conversions.
The new funding will be strategically deployed to hire talent and develop Helium's product offerings.
The company aims to expand its presence across geographies, specifically focusing on the North American market.