Troo Good, Yoho, five others raise early-stage funds

By Nitesh Kumar

  • 15 Oct 2024
Raju Bhupati, founder, Troo Good

D2C footwear brand Yoho, millet-based snacks brand Troo Good, house of brands Evenflow, no-code third-party logistics management platform Traqo.io, an AI innovation company Data Science Wizards, insurance-tech startup Healspan, developer display technologies SuperUs, raised early-stage funding, companies said on Tuesday.

Hyderabad-based Troo Good, a millet-based snacks brand, has raised $9 million in a funding round led by Puro Wellness. Existing investors Oaks Asset Management and V Ocean Investments also participated.

This capital infusion will support the company’s efforts in expanding infrastructure, enhancing distribution capabilities and driving product innovation, it said in a statement.

This latest round brings Troo Good’s total funding to approximately Rs 130 crore. It last raised Rs 55 crore in a Series A round in November 2021.

Since its founding in 2018, Troo Good has become known for its range of millet-based snacks, including chikkis, protein bars, and Nutri bars. The company claims to sell over 3 million units daily of its popular millet chikkis and other millet snacks.

Founded in 2018 by Raju Bhupati, the company aims to provide affordable nutrition to all, especially children, through a range of products, including its flagship, Millet Chikki, it said in a statement.

Yoho, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) footwear brand, has raised Rs 27 crore ($3.2 million) in a pre-Series B funding round, led by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII). Other investors such as Rajeev Misra (SoftBank Investment Advisers), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Rukam Capital, and Pankaj Chaddah (Shyft) also participated in the round.

The company plans to use the latest infused funds to back its domestic and international expansion.

Yoho aims to deploy the additional funds strategically to drive its growth and innovation, including investment in research and development to bring new products to market, it said in a statement.

It seeks to boost its offline presence across India, targeting partnerships with 2,000 Multi-Brand Outlets (MBOs) in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.

Founded in 2021, Yoho is a D2C footwear brand. It offers range of products from casual wear to formal shoes for both men and women.

Data Science Wizards (DSW), an AI innovation company, has secured $1.4 million in seed funding.

Building on a pre-seed round of $450,000, this latest seed funding of $1.4 million from an angel investor raises DSW’s valuation to $16.4 million.

The investment will be used to further develop and enhance their deep-tech AI platform, UnifyAI, and strengthen the team.    
Data Science Wizards (DSW) offers purpose-built AI solutions.

Evenflow, a house of brands, has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round from Shail Patel and some existing investors as a part of its ongoing Series A round of $5 million.

The new funds will be used to expand operations and grow all seven acquired homegrown brands — Xtrim, Yogarise, Rusabl, BabyPro, Trendy Homes, Cinagro, and Frenchware. Evenflow plans to expand the global presence of these brands by entering more countries, it said in a statement.

Founded in 2021, Evenflow is backed by 100Unicorns, Village Global, Equanimity, Kunal Shah, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Emil Michael, Sandeep Varaganti, Srinath Rajam and others.

The new fund raise comes in a week after, the Bengaluru-based startup Evenflow announced strengthening its leadership team with four key hires across supply chain, marketplaces, D2C and quick commerce verticals and a month after it promoted Shashank Ranjan as its co-founder, who had joined Evenflow in 2022.

Traqo.io, a no-code third-party logistics management platform for manufacturers, has raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-seed funding round, led by We Founder Circle.

Founded by Mukesh Deogune, the platform claims to be 10x faster and cheaper than current market alternatives, providing stakeholders such as manufacturers with powerful tools for streamlining their operations.

The no-code-Saas platform offers easy-to-customise, drag-and-drop modules for freight procurement, tracking, trip planning, SLA management, fund audit and invoicing. It deploys a combination of SIM-based tracking, GPS, and toll gate data for real-time monitoring.

Furthermore, its AI-based trip planner for route optimization and 3D load optimization, allows organizations to achieve cost and operational efficiencies.

Bengaluru-based insurtech startup Healspan – provider of a disruptive revenue cycle management software – has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding, led by financial services and angel investing network Lead Angels.

The round also witnessed participation from several other angel investors like Ankitt Jain (Paper Arizona); Chief Investment Officer of a GCC based Investments firm, Srijith Nair (Gowelnext Solutions) and The Doctorpreneur Academy. Prior to this, Healspan had closed a pre-seed funding round of Rs 1.2 crore last year.

It utilise the fresh capital raised through this seed round majorly towards bolstering its marketing and sales, and growth.

SuperUs raised undisclosed funding in a pre-Seed round, led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from other investors, including ZNL Growth Fund Scheme I, Pravaha Creations, Singhvi Heritage LLP, and Pranjal Corporate Services.

Founded by Ali Hussain Cochin and Pravesh Kanther, SuperUs develops display technologies for various industries, including retail, healthcare, transportation, and smart cities. The company’s product range includes ePaper displays, Spectra 6, and Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL).

The pre-seed funding will enable SuperUs to further develop its technology, expand its team of experts, and accelerate its go-to-market strategy. The company plans to focus on enhancing its B2B and B2G offerings while exploring new applications for its innovative display solutions, it said in a statement.