Matra Mobili Pvt Ltd, which operates furniture and home decor brand Sunday Design, on Tuesday said it has raised $1.5 million (around Rs 11.25 crore) as a part of its pre-Series A funding round from QRG Investment and Holdings (family office of Havells founders), Kama Group (family office of SRF), KCT family office and other existing investors.
The Delhi-based startup plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to expand both its online and offline presence. It also plans to launch an e-commerce store to scale market share across the country and in new segments.
Founded by Gautam Baid and Vinit Agarwal last year, Sunday Design offers contemporary products manufactured in India, but designed by global designers.
“During the pandemic, we noticed a change in the attitude of people towards interior design. They want to invest more in their living spaces. With this new investment, we intend to collaborate with European designers and grow our footprint in an omnichannel format, introducing new product lines on a strategic basis,” said Gautam Baid, founder and managing director of Sunday Design.
“We believe in partnering with brands that are future-proof and show potential for growth. The furniture and home décor industry is poised for a significant growth in India,” said Anil Rai Gupta, chairman of QRG Investments and Holdings.
QRG Investments has made over 14 investments and it typically invests between Rs 5-50 crore in its ventures.
Yostra Labs
Bengaluru-based healthcare startup Yostra Labs Pvt. Ltd, on Tuesday said that it has secured seed funding of Rs 4 crore ($500,000) led by Indian Angel Network, with participation from investors including Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms.
The platform plans to use the fresh funds to scale its headcount across sales and marketing, expand its market footprint and boost production.
Founded by Vinayak Nandalike, Mohan Rao, Sanjay Sharma and Maruthy in 2014, Yostra Labs is a medical device firm with a portfolio of patented products for the diagnosis and management of peripheral neuropathy and its complications such as foot ulcers. The startup claims to have screened over 40,000 patients across clinics, private and government hospitals and diagnostics centres in India.
“Yostra has developed innovations for the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic foot complications. With the investment from IAN, we plan to scale up our operations and expand our market reach,” said Vinayak Nandalike, founder of Yostra Labs.
“Yostra has a portfolio of patented products with a focus on diabetes neuropathy that can save complications in diabetes patients. This investment from IAN and co-investors will help. The investment will accelerate Yostra to scale globally,” said Venkataraman KNK of Indian Angel Network.
The Indian Angel Network, founded in 2006, has been a prominent investor in India's startup ecosystem. With investors from 12 countries, the network is spread across seven locations, which includes cities in India and the UK.
Luxembourg-and Bengaluru-based agri insurtech platform Ibisa (inclusive blockchain insurance using space assets) has raised seed capital of an undisclosed amount from early-stage investor, Ankur Capital.
The startup plans to use the fresh funds to scale its operations across India.
Founded by Annette Houtekamer, Jean-Baptiste Pleynet and Maria Mateo Iborra in 2019, IBISA provides micro insurance solutions for low-income small farmers. IBISA’s case, these are small farmers whose livelihoods might be affected by adverse climate events, which are unfortunately on the rise.
The startup claims to be in talks with large lenders, food processors, and agritech clients to mitigate their credit risk against default, reduce their supply chain risks and increase their sustainability practices in agriculture and strengthen farmer connection with smallholder farmers in India and abroad.
“With Ibisa, we sought to create technology that would help reduce costs for the active players in the insurance space. Finding a way to responsibly protect farmers in the event of extreme weather, by slashing distribution and operating costs, making it affordable to many groups in the value chain,” said Maria Mateo Iborra, Co-founder and CEO at IBISA.
“The unavailability of data has hampered the growth of the agricultural insurance industry in developing countries for decades. Legacy crop insurance involved long manual processes making them impractical for developing markets where smallholder farming is the norm, and parametric insurance has historically been unviable due to the lack of detailed climate-related datasets,” said Ritu Verma, Partner at Ankur Capital.
Ankur Capital was set up in 2014 by Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma. Its first fund had invested in 14 companies including Cropin, Niramai, Healthsutra, ERC and StringBio. The fund has exited from three companies in 2021. The VC firm has around 30 companies in its portfolio across two funds.
