Artificial intelligence (AI)-based platforms OrbitShift, Nirwana.ai, Metis; sportstech startup Quidich Innovation Lab; specialty chemicals platform Distil; networking platform Unikon.ai, personal care brand Asaya and Thrive.co secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Wednesday.
OrbitShift has raised $7 million (Rs 58.4 crore) in a seed funding round, co-led by Peak XV Partners’ Surge and venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners.
Founded in 2023, OrbitShift is an AI-sales operating system that helps enterprise sales and marketing teams throughout in account insights, actionable recommendations, account planning and pitch content, among other aspects.
“Our AI-first, domain-centric approach has helped over 10 global companies, improving their sales and marketing engine. This investment will aid in expanding our product footprint and geographical reach,” said Saurabh Mishra, co-founder and chief executive officer, OrbitShift.
Currently, the startup serves large enterprise customers that have users based in the US, Europe and the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Quidich Innovation Labs has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round from sports and gaming-focused venture capital firm Centre Court Capital.
The Mumbai-based startup will use the Series A infusion to expand its technology stack and offerings, strengthen its presence in global cricket and expand into other sports.
Founded by Rahat Kulshreshtha and Gaurav Mehta, Quidich works in the space of live sports broadcasts, as it uses technological solutions with specialized camera systems, computer vision and augmented reality to improve the viewing experience.
The startup pivoted in 2019 to specialize exclusively in sports, starting with cricket. It has worked with broadcasters and cricket boards across the world such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), International Cricket Council (ICC), Sky Sports and Sunset+Vine in the UK, Channel 7 in Australia, SuperSport in South Africa amongst others.
Distil has raised $3.1 million (Rs 26 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by venture capital firms Jungle Ventures and India Quotient. At the same time, other undisclosed investors participated in the round, as per the company’s statement.
The funds raised will be used to expand its teams across departments, while also utilising the funds for proprietary product development and geographical expansion across India and key international markets such as the US, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) region.
Founded by IIT Bombay alumni Atanuu Agarrwal, Karan Hirani and Viraj Shah, Distil offers customizable and scalable solutions through a tech-enabled platform for the procurement of specialty chemicals.
Distil’s offerings, which include tailored formulations and custom manufacturing, are designed to help manufacturers meet specific performance, regulatory requirements. Its platform also provides a tech-enabled purchasing process, ensuring consistent product quality, meeting quantity requirements, and reducing lead times and minimum order quantities (MOQs) through a network of stock points.
Unikon.ai has raised around $2 million (Rs 16 crore) in a seed funding round from a host of investors including Nikhil Kamath (Zerodha), Peyush Bansal (Lenskart), Vishesh Khurana (Shiprocket), Dholakia Ventures, Nitin Jain & Vasant Sridhar (OfBusiness), Gaurav Khatri (Noise), Tanmay Bhatt, Sharan Hegde (Finance with Sharan), Ganesh Prasad (Thinkschool), Shlok Shrivastava (Techburner) and Rahul Malodia (Business Coach).
Founded by Aakash Anand, Palash Arneja and Sumit Jha, Unikon.ai offers free, AI-based 1:1 conversations on diverse topics and a personalised content feed.
The AI search feature helps users find the right individuals for consultations, while queries, webinars, workshops, and knowledge-sharing generate income. Users control pricing and scheduling for one-on-one sessions via chat, audio, or video calls.
Skincare brand Asaya has raised $1.5 million (Rs 12.5 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by OTP Ventures and Huddle Ventures. The round also saw participation from Eternal Capital.
The funding will be directed towards research and development (R&D) of products and an increase in market reach.
Launched in September 2023 by Neeraj Biyani, Mandeep Bhatia, and Eeti Sharma, Asaya is a skincare brand that has a focus on melanin-rich skin tones. It has expanded its sales and customer base, retailing through its website and online retail platforms like Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, among others.
It currently has more than 11 products and 23 stock-keeping units (SKUs).
"This funding will help us go from 20,000 to over 250,000 consumers in the next 12 months," said Biyani, co-founder of Asaya.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence platform Metis has raised $155,565 (Rs 1.3 crore) in a funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
The funds will be allocated for platform development along with the expansion of its presence both locally as well as across the globe.
Founded in 2021, Metis Intellisystems provides solutions to financial services firms using AI and ML. Its decision-making platform, QANAT analyzes bank statements and GST data and can triangulate GST, SMS and bank data accurately.
The platform primarily focuses on lending portfolio management – onboarding, risk assessment, early warning system, and cross-selling.
It also detects fraudulent statements and transactions. The platform can process statements from multiple banks simultaneously and will eventually incorporate data from additional sources.
Nirwana.ai has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round at a valuation of Rs 100 crore, as per the company’s statement.
The round saw investment from a Canada-based company and high-net-worth individuals, whose names were not disclosed.
Founded by Kapil Gupta, Alok Gupta and Adit Singh, Nirwana.AI is an AI-based design platform that helps users visualize design concepts. It also helps home improvement companies like paint, tile, furniture and lighting manufacturers whereby the customers can visualize these companies' products in their homes using the tool.
The platform has a suite of features, including an AI object editing brush for manipulation of furniture, wallpaper, paint colors and tiles. Additionally, the floorplan to 3D model generator facilitates quick 3D rendering and design. The tool supports multiple styles and reference images.
Thrive.co
Personal care brand ThriveCo has raised funding from Ananta Capital’s beauty and wellness company Guardian. By way of the investment, Ananta Capital has acquired a majority shareholding in the personal care brand.
The company, however, did not disclose the stake acquired or the consideration for the stake.
KPMG Corporate Finance acted as Exclusive Financial Advisor to ThriveCo and its promoters for the transaction.
The fresh capital will be used for the development and launch of new products across hair and skincare categories and expansion into global markets.
Founded in 2019 by Vivek Singh and Saurav Patnaik, ThriveCo is a personal care brand focusing on evidence-based hair and skincare products.