Home decor brand Trampoline, electric vehicle (EV) components maker Indigrid Technologies, bakery brand Crème Castle, gen AI platform Rampp.ai and rental marketplace Hour4u secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Thursday.
Cross-border business-to-business (B2B) home decor brand Trampoline has raised $7 million in a seed funding round from a host of investors. The startup has raised $5 million (Rs 42 crore) in equity from Matrix Partners India and WaterBridge Ventures.
The round also saw a $2 million debt investment from venture debt firm Alteria Capital.
The funds will help the startup improve its supply chain and sourcing capabilities along with product development and hiring talent.
Founded in December 2023 by Abhik Ghosh, Anushka Mahanti and Varun Deo, Trampoline is a cross-border B2B home decor brand that aims to provide independent retailers, interior designers and wholesalers access to ethically manufactured products at low minimum order quantities (MOQs) with an accretive margin profile, credit terms and improved logistics and delivery experience.
The startup has also expanded beyond India as it launched its operations in the UK in February 2024.
Indigrid Technology
EV component maker Indigrid Technology has raised $5 million (Rs 42 crore) in a funding round from Cactus Venture Partners.
Indigrid Technology will use the funding infusion to expand its production capacity, improve its product offerings, expand its presence in both Indian and global markets and strengthen the team by investing in talent acquisition, training and development.
Founded by Sameer Narang and Rishab Puri, Indigrid Technology is a full-stack EV component supplier. It has manufacturing operations in Manesar and counts companies such as JP Minda, Hella, Revolt, Bounce, and Xidda, as part of its client portfolio.
On the other hand, this marks the seventh investment made by Cactus Venture Partners and the second in the EV component manufacturing space. The fund, which started investing in January 2021, has already made investments in companies such as Kapture, Vitraya, AMPM, Auric, Lohum, and Rubix, which it has exited as well.
Creme Castle
Bakery brand Creme Castle has raised $838,077 (Rs 7 crore) in a seed funding round from a host of investors including V3 Ventures, Amit Jain from CarDekho, and Indian Silicon Ventures among other investors.
The brand aims to use the funding to expand its presence across 15 cities in India along with setting up a central facility in Uttar Pradesh, according to its statement.
Established in 2013, Creme Castle is a customized cakes-focused bakery brand. The startup, which has also appeared on Season 3 of Shark Tank India, aims to service cities such as Jaipur, Chandigarh along with expanding its presence within the Delhi NCR region.
The brand today generates 65% of its revenue from its digital channels, with the remaining coming from ecosystem players such as Zomato and Swiggy.
Crème Castle aims to sustainably scale to 80 locations by 2026, with the priority list being Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh.
Rampp.ai has raised $500,000 (Rs 4.17 crore) in an angel funding round from a host of undisclosed investors. The startup, in its statement, said that it has raised funding from executives and startup entrepreneurs in North America and India, without disclosing their names.
Established in 2023 by Ajay Agrawal and Huzefa Saifee, rampp.ai provides enterprises with its generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) platform, which can be customized to suit different enterprise journeys with diverse blueprint formats, roadmaps, and analysis for an action plan for one’s business.
“This funding will help us accelerate our product development and expand our market footprint,” said Agrawal, co-founder and chief executive officer, rampp.ai.
Hour4u, a rental marketplace for booking venues and on-demand hourly workers, has raised seed funding to the tune of $420,000 (Rs 3.5 crore) in a mix of debt and equity. The round was led by Apptad Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
With the new funds, Hour4u plans to onboard new customers, increase its sales team and add more adjacent categories while expanding its services to major metro cities of India.
Launched in 2019 in Pune by Anmol Pathak, Hour4u is a platform that allows users to book venues, workers (on an hourly basis or otherwise) and equipment. The platform automated the process by connecting enterprises with agencies, agencies with suppliers, and suppliers with hourly workers and venues through a community-driven fulfillment model supported by artificial intelligence.
This model allows businesses to compare bids, track work, and obtain proof of work in real time. Currently, this on-demand fulfillment model is live in Delhi and Pune.