Convin, Finarkein, six others raise early-stage funds

By Nitesh Kumar

  • 27 Aug 2024
Nikhil Kurhe, co-founder and CEO, Finarkein

Conversation intelligence platform Convin, data and workflow orchestration platform Finarkein, insurance technology platform InsurancePadosi, marketing platform just words, technical service provider plutos ONE, startup incubator T9L QUBE, account aggregator OneMoney, and QSR chain 99 Pancakes have raised early-stage funds, the companies annuanced Tuesday.  

Convin, conversation intelligence platform, has raised $6.5 million (Rs 54.5 crore) in its Series A funding round, led by India Quotient, with participation from new investor JSW Ventures and existing investors Kalaari Capital, Titan Capital Winners Fund, Sparrow Capital, and 9Unicorns.   

The fresh capital will be used to expand the core team and distribution channels. With additional resources, the company is projecting a 200% increase in new customers and a 3x revenue increase in 2024-25, it said in a statement.   

Founded in 2021 by IIT-Delhi alumni Ashish Santhalia (CEO), Bharat Patidar (COO), Atul Shree (CTO), and Durgesh Choudary (CPO), Convin.ai is an AI-driven platform that empowers businesses to enhance customer interactions through advanced conversational intelligence.  

Finarkein raised $4.75 million in a pre-series A round led by Nexus Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from existing investors IIFL’s Fintech Fund and Eximius Ventures, and angels like Uni’s Nitin Gupta and Ashika Group’s Chirag Jain.  

Finarkein’s data and workflow orchestration platform allows enterprises to co-create data products on India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) like the account aggregator (AA) ecosystem, ONDC-Financial Services, OCEN and more.   

Founded in 2019, the platform offers B2B SaaS and data products which primarily caters to the BFSI sector. It is headquartered in Pune, with 14 data products across AA, OCEN, ONDC-FS, ABDM, the company said in a statement.  
  
InsurancePadosi  
  
InsurancePadosi, an insurtech platform, today announced the close of its $500,000 pre-seed funding round, led by global early-stage venture capital firm Antler. The round also saw participation from industry veterans such as Hemant Kaul, former CEO and MD of Bajaj Allianz, and Satish Pillai, former CEO and MD of TransUnion CIBIL, who joined as angel investors.   

The new funds raised will enable InsurancePadosi to strengthen its technology platform, expand its product offerings, and enhance sales and marketing efforts. The platform also plans to venture into underwriting and claims management.   

The platform offers an Insurance Health Report (IHR), an AI-driven tool that provides personalized insurance recommendations.  

Just words, a marketing platform founded by Neha Mittal and Jeff Hara, today announced the closing of a $1.7 million seed funding round led by Peak XV Partners and Y Combinator.  

The platform offers services for social media platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr. It has catered to companies such as Grammarly, BeReal, and BiggerPockets. 

The platform analyzes user behavior, preferences, and market trends to automatically refine messaging across various channels, including emails and push notifications. It provides AI-driven solutions for growth and marketing. 

Plutos ONE, founded by Rohit Mahajan and Rajjat Gulati, raised $2 million in seed round. The round was led by StartupXseed, a Bangalore-based VC. The round also saw participation from Genesia Ventures - a Tokyo-based VC firm, Auxano Capital, Raghuvanshi Investments and other investors.  

The company intends to use the funds raised in this round for onboarding banks as biller operating units and agent Institutions on the BBPS Network.  

Plutos ONE had previously raised an angel round from leading investors like Aakash Chaudhry- co-founder of Aakash Educational Services, Prabhjeet Singh - president of Uber India and South Asia, Neeraj Mohan - MD and CEO of IARC and ex-MD and operating partner of Blackstone India, Gautam Kamath - Group CFO of P&G India, Ravi Gosain - MD of Erco Travels, Harish Chandra - president of Indian Achievers Forum, Chanakya VC, Sarcha Advisors and others. StartupXseed and Raghuvanshi Investments had also previously invested in plutos ONE.  
  
The company provides technical services for the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). It offers a full suite of products and services for banks. Additionally, it also provides complete biller solutions - from BBPS onboarding to settlements, refunds and support, the company said in a statement. 

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has made his maiden investment in the startup ecosystem. He infused an undisclosed amount into the startup incubator T9L QUBE. 

T9L employs a playbook-based approach to generating, validating, building, and launching growing startup ideas into the market. The studio concept is based on the idea that, through appropriate intervention, the majority of the reasons for startup failures can be mitigated, the company said in a statement. 

Startups incubated by T9L and/or its founders Fahad Moti Khan and Gaurav Gaggar include Docquity, SpotDraft, Adda52, NirogStreet, UOLO, PumPumPum, HealthTrip, Tota, ShipsKart, PeopleMatters, CrownIt, RupeePower, BroEx/FastFox, BIS Research, among others. 
  
OneMoney  
  
ID-sharing platform Equal has made an undisclosed strategic investment into account aggregator OneMoney. 

OneMoney and Equal jointly enable over 55 million monthly transactions and claims to have 97% success rate in KYC-processing for 250+ BFSI clients nationally, according to a statement.  

OneMoney has RBI NBFC-AA license. It claims to have a 45% market share and serving more than 200 FIUs (financial information users). Equal is a consent-first and privacy-focused ID sharing platform, for Indian enterprises to securely, compliantly and seamlessly share IDs. 

99 Pancakes, a QSR chain, has raised Rs 20 crore in a recent Series A funding round.  

With this new capital, 99 Pancakes aims to scale its operations across the country. The company is set to add 50 new outlets by the end of the current year and 200 outlets by the end of December 2025.  

The company will expand its presence by opening company-owned outlets and associating with master franchisees in different regions. Current expansion efforts are centered in Gujarat.  

99 Pancakes is a quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain, specializing in a variety of pancakes that cater to all tastes and preferences.