Guestara, NumberOne, Flo Mobility bag early-stage cheques

Guestara, NumberOne, Flo Mobility bag early-stage cheques

By Roshan Abraham

  • 30 Dec 2024
Guestara co-founders

Guestara, NumberOne Academy and Flo Mobility have received early-stage investments, the companies said on Monday. 

Guestara, a guest management startup has raised $500,000 (Rs 4.2 crore) in a pre-seed funding round from a clutch of investors led by hospitality industry veteran Sanjay Ghare

The company aims to use the funds to accelerate product development and to expand its reach, targeting a diverse range of hotel partners—from boutique independents to multinational chains. 

Founded by CEO Akshay Dekate and three other co-founders, the startup offers an AI-driven guest management platform that centralizes and automates key hospitality functions. 

NumberOne Academy, a platform providing courses on business and technology, has secured Rs 3 crore in strategic investment from Santosh Nair, a business coach based out of Mumbai. 

With the investment, NumberOne Academy is plans to expand its suite of business courses in Hindi and other regional languages building courses in over 10 regional languages for entrepreneurs, the Kochi-based startup said. 

It has already raked in "significant" investments from figures such as V-Guard Chairman Kochouseph Chittilapilly and Mohan Kumar, CEO of Strides Pharma Global Pte Ltd - Singapore, alongside investors from the Middle East and Kerala. 

The company was founded by a team of industry experts led by Lajesh Kolath. It offers upskilling courses tailored to help business owners achieve sustainable growth and scale operations. 

Construction robotics company Flo Mobility has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF), an angel network platform. 

The latest funding round comes more than three years after the Bengaluru-based startup raised $400,000 in pre-seed round from Blume ventures, Devx ventures and Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc). 

"The company plans to utilize the fresh funds to expand into the overseas markets, hire talent and enhance their product portfolio for construction automation," Flo said in a statement. 

The startup was founded in 2020 by Manesh Jain and Pratik Patel. It offers robotic solutions such as material handling, surveillance, wall finishing among others to help clients in in the construction industry.