Ikonz Studios, Raincheck Earth, BYTES, Lurny, and Almond Ai have secured funding from various investors, including angel investors, venture capital funds, foreign funds, and consumer brands, among others. Meanwhile, InfoEdge Ventures-backed NextLeap has acquired professional education platform PM School.
Ikonz Studios, which counts Village Global as its investor, has received $5 million as part of its ongoing pre-Series A round of funding from talent manager Marc Jordan and State of the Art Entertainment. The round also saw participation from Expedia chief technology officer Ramana Thumu, veteran fund manager Madhusudan Kela, and principal owner of Enam Group Akash Bhanshali.
The Hyderabad-based startup is a provider of hyper-realistic artificial intelligence-powered digital avatars and holographic experiences. It said the capital raised will be used to drive global expansion, strengthen its AI capabilities, and scale the intellectual property (IP) portfolio.
Ikonz was founded by Abinav Varma Kalidindi in 2021.
Raincheck Earth Co, which sells alcoholic beverage Cherrapunji Craft Gin, has raised $1.2 million in a pre-Series A funding round from TRTL Ventures and a Japanese investor.
It said the round also saw participation from existing investor AngelList India Syndicate. The fresh investment will accelerate Raincheck's domestic and global expansion, increasing distribution and awareness for Cherrapunji Craft Gin in key markets.
The company was founded by Mayukh Hazarika in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya.
Bengaluru-based BYTES said it has emerged from the stealth mode, securing about Rs 20 lakh in grant from Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund as part of its second cohort for 2024.
The startup provides AI-driven Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) for two-wheeler mobility. It will use the funds raised to launch pilot programs with two-wheeler original equipment manufacturers, integrating its AI safety system into real-world use cases, the company said in a statement.
BYTES is aiming to close its pre-seed funding round in the next two months, focus its efforts on product development, and scale its technology for widespread deployment. The company was founded by Aayush Kumar and Prakhar Agrawal.
Lurny, an AI-led content creation and sharing platform with a two-minute micro lesson collection, has raised an undisclosed amount as part of a $100,000 seed funding round led by angel investors John Varghese, Mathew Tharakan, and Manoj Kumar.
The company said it plans to allocate the funds to enhance product development, finalise development of key features such as audio, video and PPT-based learning, and advance content transformation tools and multilingual capabilities. It also aims to expand its product development team, and set up office spaces and compliance facilities.
Lurny, which was founded last year by Krishnesh Nair in Bengaluru, claims the platform's Beta version has reached over 1,000 test users in the education and professional sectors. It expects to onboard more than 10,000 users by the end of Q2 2025.
Almonds Ai
AI-driven engagement solutions company Almonds Ai has secured Rs 16 crore ($1.8 million) from the promoters of snack brand Haldiram’s, and angel network JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF). Venture Catalysts, Ever Grow Capital, Nine ALPS, and industry executives such as KLJ Resources Ltd’s managing director Hemant Jain and OfBusiness co-founder Nitin Jain also participated in the round.
The fresh funding will be used to drive research and development initiatives, expand the team, and enhance product offerings.
Almonds Ai is a platform for channel loyalty, rewards, and engagement solutions for brands. Its AI-led technology helps brands engage with their distribution networks by enhancing engagement, education, and rewards for retailers, dealers, and influencers.
Workforce skilling platform NextLeap, which is backed by InfoEdge Ventures, has acquired PM School, a provider of product management education.
The Bengaluru-based company, which provides courses to professionals looking to transition to tech roles, said the integration of PM School is already underway and that it plans to launch new offerings later this year.
In 2021, NextLeap raised $2 million in seed funding. Besides InfoEdge Ventures, it counts Meraki Labs founder Mukesh Bansal, Flipkart chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CRED CEO Kunal Shah, and Virgio CEO Amar Nagaram as its investors. It was founded by former Flipkart executives Arindam Mukherjee and Mohammad Yasir.
"With this acquisition, the goal is to build India’s most accessible and effective product management education ecosystem," the company said in a statement.
PM School was founded by Ankit Bareja, Nikunj Sharma and Kushaal Devanahalli.
