Regional language news and content aggregator Dailyhunt is in talks to raise $25 million (about Rs 190 crore at current exchange rate) in a round of funding led by US-based private equity fund Alpine Capital, persons in the know told Moneycontrol.
In August last year, it was rumoured that SoftBank was looking to invest up to $150 million in the company. But the deal did not come through.
Boston-based Alpine is investing via its Alpine Opportunity Fund, a Cayman Islands-based private equity fund which would mark its second investment in India till date. Previously, Alpine has backed student-lending platform KrazyBee in 2018.
Dailyhunt also faced headwinds on the regulatory front. The Centre had announced that companies must restrict foreign direct investment in digital news media companies to 26%.
Aggregators such as Dailyhunt and Tiger Global-backed InShorts were expected to be impacted by this but there has been no clarification since.
Dailyhunt is backed by all foreign investors including venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, Sofina and China’s ByteDance.
Meanwhile, Lightspeed Venture Partners has led a Series A round of funding worth Rs 109 crore ($14.6 million) in a year-old financial infrastructure startup Setu, an Entrackr report disclosed.
The funding could be part of a larger round that could close in the coming weeks, the report added.
The round is joined by new investors Falcon Edge India and Bharat Inclusive Technologies Seed Fund, which have invested Rs 42.5 crore and Rs 4.7 crore, respectively. Existing investor Lightspeed has poured around Rs 62 crore, regulatory filings disclosed.
Setu had raised Rs 24.5 crore ($3.5 million) in a seed round of funding from Lightspeed last year.
According to Entrackr’s calculation, Setu has been valued at Rs 376 crore (approx $50 million) in this round. Lightspeed’s shareholding has gone up to 25.31% while Falcon Edge and Bharat Inclusive control 9.62% and 2.94% equity, respectively.