Space technology startup Digantara, fintech startups Volt Money and TransBnk, healthtech platform Neuphony and direct-to-consumer (D2C) apparel maker Sujatra have secured early-stage funding, the companies said Tuesday.
The startup secured $10 million (Rs 82.3 crore) in a Series A funding round from Peak XV Partners, the venture capital firm earlier known as Sequoia India.
The round also saw participation from Kalaari Capital, Global Brain, Campus Fund, and the founders of IIFL Wealth Management.
The Bengaluru-based startup intends to use the funds to build its commercial space situational awareness satellites, as part of its infrastructure. It also plans to launch the beta version of its space data mapping service by the end of this year.
Founded in 2018, Digantara specializes in space weather and debris-tracking. In January 2023, Mint reported the company's plan of raising Series A funding within a few months.
In 2021, the startup raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round from Kalaari Capital.
In the space-tech sector, Google led the $36 million Series B funding round in Bengaluru-based spacetech startup Pixxel earlier this month.
Volt Money raised $1.5 million (Rs 12.3 crore) in a pre-seed funding round, co-led by Titan Capital and All In Capital. The round also saw participation from Praveen Jadhav (Raise Ventures), Aditi Kothari (DSP Adiko Holdings), Gemba Capital, Kunal Shah (Cred), Ashish Kehair and Rahul Jain (Nuvama Wealth) amongst others.
The funds will be deployed towards product development, establishing partnerships and hiring talent.
Founded in 2022 by Lalit Bihani, Ankit Agarwal and Bharat Lamba, Volt Money is a platform for instant secured loans against mutual funds. In January 2023, they onboarded Bajaj Finserv Ltd, to launch a digital journey for end-to-end process. The company claims to have served customers across more than 80 cities with loans ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 crore.
“With the advanced digital infrastructures for know your customer (KYC), account aggregator, and pledging capabilities, we're positioned to capture a large opportunity," said Bihani, co-founder and chief executive officer, Volt Money.
Fintech startup TransBnk raised $1 million (Rs 8.2 crore) in a seed funding round led by VC firm 8i Ventures. The round also saw participation from Growthcap Ventures, Leadway Ventures LLP and Growth Sense, along with other family offices and angel investors whose names were undisclosed.
The Mumbai-based startup plans to use the funding to develop its technology stack, hire talent and expand its product offerings.
Founded in 2022, TransBnk is a fintech startup that helps traditional banks keep up with regulatory shifts in the banking system concerning multi-party transactions. It provides a transaction banking system that empowers any financial ecosystem player to manage multi-party transactions in a compliant manner.
"TransBnk's tech stack is gaining traction for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, strengthening our partnerships with key players in the private banking, NBFC and fintech sectors," said Vaibhav Tambe, co-founder and chief executive officer, TransBnk.
Healthtech startup Neuphony raised an undisclosed amount in an ongoing pre-Series A funding round from ah! Ventures’ Angel Platform, Rajesh Bhojwani (RBB Ship Chartering Pvt. Ltd.) and undisclosed angel investors from the UAE and India.
The startup will use the fund to expand its operations across geographies.
Neuphony is a healthtech startup that works in the field of brain-computer interface (BCI) devices with neurofeedback techniques. Their proprietary brain-wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) device provides insights into brainwave data, allowing individuals to monitor and enhance their cognitive functions.
The company claims to have grown its topline 7x in FY23, aided by a presence in over 16 countries. It targets to establish 1,000 brain gyms in the next three years.
Meanwhile, ah! Ventures has done 183 investments across 121 startups to date, taking its total investment portfolio to Rs 376 crore with 16 exits and 47 follow-on rounds. It has three platforms namely First Gear, which helps startups raise upto $150,000, Angel Platform, which helps startups raise up to $1 million and High Tables Platform, which helps startups raise $1-10 million.
Apparel maker Sujatra raised an undisclosed amount of debt funding round from revenue-based financier Velocity.
The funding will be used for research and development and geographical expansion targeted towards the Canadian market.
Founded in 2016 by Chitralekha Das, the startup designs and retails ethnic wear for women, combining Indian art forms, paintings and fabrics.
"This funding will help us with expansion and focus more on research and development. We are strengthening the quality checks and with the infusion of these funds, we will also implement new technologies," said Bedprakash Das, chief executive officer, Sujatra.
The launch of international operations will assist in cutting down the international shipping costs from India and the order servicing time will also reduce, according to a release.
