Zee invests in Flutrr; Datazip, three others pocket early-stage cheques

By Nitesh Kumar

  • 10 Oct 2024
Datazip founders Shubham Baldava, Rohan Khameshra and Sandeep Devarapalli

Data engineering startup Datazip, manufacturer of assistive devices, bionics, and field robotics Social Hardware, carbon management and sustainability reporting platform Onlygood.ai and AI startup Wokelo, raise early-stage funding, companies said on Thursday.

Zee-Flutrr

Zee Akaash News Pvt. Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zee Media Corporation Ltd, is investing Rs 3.75 crore ($446,625) in Flutrr Digimate Pvt. Ltd.

Zee Media said in a stock-exchange filing its unit will invest in Flutrr by subscribing to shares and convertible warrants.

Flutrr, set up in 2021, runs a vernacular social media website and mobile app. Its revenue rose to Rs 2.5 crore in FY24 from Rs 0.99 crore in FY23 and Rs 0.17 crore the year before.

AI startup Wokelo has secured $4 million (Rs 33.6 crore) in seed funding from investors Array Ventures and KPMG Ventures.

The US-based company, which has an office in Bengaluru, streamlines due diligence by processing data from various sources, enabling more time for in-depth analysis. The recent funding will support the further development of its technology.

Founded in 2022 by Siddhant Masson and Saswat Nanda, Wokelo employs 13 people and claims to have served over 35 clients, including private equity and venture capital firms.

The round also includes a minority equity investment from KPMG Ventures, which is collaborating to combine Wokelo’s large language model (LLM)-based technology and agentic workflows with KPMG’s deal advisory and strategy expertise.

Data engineering startup Datazip secured $1 million (Rs 8.4 crore) in a seed funding round. Equirus Innovatex Fund (EIF) led the round with Rs 6 crore infusion. This marks EIF's second investment from their $30 million tech-focussed venture capital fund.

Datazip is co-founded by Sandeep Devarapalli, Shubham Baldava and Rohan Khameshra.

Datazip owns and operates a non-code engineering platform Datazip.io. The platform offers organisations to ingest, store, transform and visualise data, resulting in fast data-driven decision making, without the need for expensive data teams and provides data warehousing, data analytics (BI tool), data transformation solutions.

The company was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Datazip Technologies Pvt. Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Datazip Inc.

Social Hardware, a startup that designs and develops assistive devices, bionics, and field robotics, has raised Rs 3.2 crore ($381,061) in a seed round, led by Inflection Point Ventures, with Ivyleague Ventures and Soonicorn Ventures participating as co-investors.

The funds will be allocated towards key growth and go-to-market (GTM) initiatives, building a strong marketing and sales team, establishing an advanced R&D facility, expanding in-house manufacturing capabilities and strengthening R&D efforts, the company said in a statement.

Founded by Abhit Kumar, Cameron Norris and Raghavendran Arunachalam in 2017, Social Hardware specialises in teleoperated robotic systems designed for hazardous operations.

The company serves industries such as manufacturing, infrastructure, defense and aerospace, delivering solutions that enhance safety and operational efficiency in challenging environments.

Onlygood.ai, a platform dedicated to simplifying carbon management and sustainability reporting for businesses, raised Rs 4 crore ($476,327) in a seed funding round.

IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), Goel Group of companies and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) invested in the round, wherein DICV has obtained rights to purchase 1.5% equity stake at valuation.

The platform will deploy to expand its operations across India and the Middle East, with plans to extend into Europe later in 2024.

Launched in early 2020, Onlygood.ai simplifies the complex data businesses need to measure, track and reduce their carbon footprints. It plans to heavily invest in R&D, expanding its automation capabilities and data management tools to enable businesses to better track and manage their carbon footprints.

The startup is preparing for a Series A funding round, expected to launch in mid-2025. The company aims to raise $8-10 million to further fuel its expansion into Western markets, with a focus on enhancing product features and entering North America, it said in a statement.