SaaS startup Zepic, kidswear brand Includ and artificial intelligence (AI)-based road safety platform Sapience Automata secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Thursday.
Zepic has raised $2.1 million (Rs 17.5 crore) in a pre-seed funding round from early-stage investment firm Neon Fund along with undisclosed angel investors.
Zepic is a Delaware-headquartered SaaS startup founded in 2023 by Naveen Venkatesan, Bharathi Kannan Ravikumar, Sunil Kumar and Sreelesh Pillai. The company was one of four firms to be selected globally into the Victorian government-backed Cremorne Digital Hub Scaleup program.
Zepic is a marketing automation platform that has the ability to ingest and model any business data alongside customer data to hyper-personalise experiences for their customers. This ensures that campaigns are not only tailored to individual customer preferences and behaviours but also consider the context and journey of the business-customer relationship.
Kidswear maker Includ has raised $1.5 million (Rs 12.5 crore) in a seed funding round, led by Incubate Fund Asia. The round also saw participation from Escape Velocity, Abhishek Goyal, the co-founder, Tracxn and IIM Indore Alumni Angel Fund.
The startup plans to use the funds to improve its supply chain, build in-house technology and create brand awareness, according to its statement.
Founded in 2023 by Ashwin Rastogi, Includ caters to children aged 0-14 years old, offering a range of clothing options made out of sustainable materials. The Gurugram-based startup claims to have crossed monthly sales of more than Rs 2 crore.
Meanwhile, Japanese venture capital firm Incubate Fund Asia marked the first close of its third fund that will invest in Indian and Southeast Asian startups in September 2023. The fund, which has a target corpus of $50 million (Rs 416 crore), however, did not specify the level at which it marked the first close.
Sapience Automata has raised $209,498 (Rs 1.75 crore) in a seed funding round from early-stage investor Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
The funds will be deployed for improving sales for driver cameras, building partnerships in the automotive domain, developing advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) technology along filing international patents.
Founded in 2021 by Satyajit Neogi and Unmesh Dabhade, Sapience Automata develops solutions using advanced AI and autonomous driving tech to improve road safety in India. The startup, which is based out of Bangalore focuses on commercial fleets.
“We aim to reduce road accidents in India by 90% by 2030. We started by building plug-and-play ADAS technology custom-made for Indian conditions, to prevent road accidents due to human errors such as distraction and drowsiness,” said Neogi, co-founder and chief executive officer, Sapience Automata.
BlackCarrot
BlackCarrot Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates the dinnerware brand BlackCarrot has secured investment from advertising professional Agnello Dias.
Dias, who is the co-founder of Taproot Dentsu joins BlackCarrot’s cap table along with Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia.
A few weeks ago, BlackCarrot had said that they had onboarded Dhupia as an investor. Notably, Dhupia also joined the startup as their brand ambassador.
Founded by Yadupati Gupta and Vishal Gupta, BlackCarrot is a startup offering a range of dinnerware, including stoneware, glassware and stainless-steel cutlery.
Talking about Aggie's association, Co-Founders Yadupati Gupta and Vishal Gupta state, "Dias is one of the most celebrated creative minds of India. With his support, BlackCarrot aims to elevate its marketing communication," said Yadupati and Vishal Gupta, co-founders, BlackCarrot.