In the capacity of exclusive advisor and lead sourcing partner, FundTQ has successfully closed the seed round for Cercle X, led by Inflection Point Ventures. Cercle X is a tech-driven, cloud-based waste management firm that enables brands to achieve zero waste through circularity and meet their sustainability goals. 

The Coimbatore-based platform was founded in 2020 by Vishnu Vardhan and Divya Shetty, with key focus on creating a B2B Marketplace that connects key players (such as brands, consumers, MRFs, aggregators, recyclers, etc.) across the waste value chain and provides a platform for traceability, transparency and access to quality waste. Been accorded the Outstanding Environmental Changemaker Award 2020, Cercle X has a network of 700+ vendors and channelizes 500+ MT of recyclables every month. They also execute EPR mandates for 20+ large corporates and have direct relationships with more than 50 governmental agencies and ULBs. 

“Waste management via sustainable methods is vital nowadays. With Cercle X optimizing waste management coupled with IPV’s extensive network across sectors is set to scale rapidly,” said Aanchal Malhotra, Growth Partner of FundTQ – a digital funding assistance platform for institutional investments and M&As. 

Pertaining to FundTQ’s role in deal closures, associated founders have found that FundTQ’s proprietary valuation software and choose right investors platform, make the fund raising process seamless and efficient. Based on user feedback, the close accuracy of FundTQ’s 10-minute valuation software is a game-changer for start-ups.

FundTQ follows a hybrid approach for fundraising and M&A through their distinctive technology driven products, holistic advisory services and elaborative network of firms. It’s Proprietary Valuation Software, also available on subscription basis, is Asia’s 1stSaaS Valuation Tool that allows a company value their venture in under 10 minutes using just 15 data points, effectively simplifying an otherwise complex and highly data-driven process. FundTQ’s Choose Right Investors platform further allows start-ups to select a combination of institutional and strategic investors from a pool of 3000+ investors, with just a few clicks! 

While successfully running more than hundred deals for a variety of start-ups and mid-corporates, FundTQ has established itself as the go-to-platform that allows you to get the right valuation, systematically raise funds and grow your venture without getting into the hassle of tedious processes. 

Cercle X’s successful seed round is just one of the many success stories at FundTQ, and latest testimonial for the efficacy of FundTQ’s unparallel software. 

FundTQ served as a lead sourcing partner and exclusive advisor for a herb-based D2C startup, Amaara Herbs, which aims to provide their customers with best organic drinks and has recently raised a seed funding round co-led by O2 Angels and Faad Network. India Accelerator also participated in the round.

Amaara Herbs, founded by Mr. Rupan Oberoi and based out of New Delhi, started its mission to offer quality produce of natural herbs to all tea lovers in the year 2018 and started their operations in 2019, by offering a diverse range of herbal superfoods including Ashwagandha, Gokshura, Brahmi, Satavari etc. along with other varied herbs. All products are herbal and natural with no additives. The product offering is unique and does not have any direct competition for the products they offer.

With a good understanding of herbs, Amaara has created a niche in the segment by serving over 20,000 customers through the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model. The startup is selling its products in the US, and it aims to enter the UK market soon. They aim at increasing the discoverability, consumption and adoption of organic brews and lattes as first beverage.

Amaara plans to expand their operations markets (domestic and international), strengthen distribution channels along with plans of product expansion both horizontally and vertically in near future. They are a marketplace dedicated to everything organic.

“The platform works tirelessly to find the best herbs-produce and bring to their customers the best organic drinks of their preferences. We understand the importance of herbs on your health and also spread awareness on how these herbs can be beneficial if adopted in daily regime”, said by Mr. Rupan Oberoi, Founder of Amaara herbs.

“Herbal Tea Market has gained momentum in recent times because of the new health-conscious generations scouting for alternatives i.e. healthy and tasty hot and cold brews. Amaara Herbs is a right fit to provide this perfect blend to suit everyone’s liking. We believe with O2 Angels, IA and Faad Network’s combined expertise, Amaara Herbs can grow faster and effectively” said by Aanchal Malhotra, Growth Partner of FundTQ.

FundTQ is a Digital Funding Assistance Platform for Institutional Investment and Mergers & Acquisitions known as One of its kind fundraising platform with products such as  “Valuation Software” and “Choose right investors platform”.

FundTQ follows a hybrid approach for fundraising and M&A for startup companies through their distinctive technology products, holistic advisory services and their network of firms. Two of their exclusive product offerings include a Proprietary Valuation software available on Subscription basis which allows companies to value their venture in 10 minutes using 15 data points in the most complex and highly data driven manner; and Choose Right Investors platform that helps startups pick and choose right institutional and strategic investors from a pool of 3000+ investors anytime, anywhere in a click of a button.

Close to a 100 startups and mid corporates are currently using FundTQ’s products to raise capital. Founders need to approach fundraising through a filtered process. You start with a large pool of potential investors and trickle down to investors that you feel connected with. FundTQ helps you build that pool of investors and connect with them. Their primary focus is to get you the right investors, at the right valuation, and at the earliest.

IIT Delhi

Many unicorn startup founders in India attended IIT Delhi. The college also has an entrepreneurship growth cell and offers a variety of entrepreneurship short courses.

IIT Delhi alumni-founded startups raised $480 million in funding in the first half of 2020.From the first half of 2017 to the beginning of 2019, IIT Delhi alumni-founded startupsraised a total of $7483 million in funding.

Popular startup alumni include :

Deepinder Goyal (Zomato)

Total Funding : $2.15B

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (Flipkart)

Total Funding: $9B

IIM Ahmedabad

This year, several top-funded startups have been founded by graduates of thisinstitution. With 462 million dollars collected in funding from alumni, the college is notfar behind IIT Delhi. From 2017 to 2019, startups led by IIM Ahmedabad graduates wereable to raise a total of $207 million.

Popular startup alumni include :

Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip)

Total Funding : $748M

Sanjeev Bikchandani (Naukri.com)

Annual Revenue : $196M as on Dec 31, 2019

IIT Kharagpur

In the first half of 2020, IIT Kharagpur alumni-founded startups raised $329million. There are 637 companies created by alumni of the college as of July2020, including three unicorns. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google was also astudent of IIT Kharagpur.

Popular startup alumni include :

Rahul Jaimini (Swiggy)

Total Funding : $2.42B

Ramakrishna Adukuri (Stellapps)

Total Funding : $19M

IIM Calcutta

More than 380 Indian companies have been founded by IIM Calcutta alumni. Six ofthese are unicorn startups. The college is well-known for producing the founders ofmany of the country’s most well-funded startups. The alumni raised 328 million dollarsin investments between January 2020 and June 2020.

Popular startup alumni include :

Pranay Chulet (Quikr)

Total Funding : $370M

Sumant Sinha (ReNew Energy)

Total Funding : $125M

IIT Bombay

For several years, IIT Bombay has produced entrepreneurs who havelaunched some of the country’s most well-funded startups. IIT Bombayalumni own a total of 759 businesses. These companies were able to raisea total of $9.87 billion in funding.

Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola)

Total Funding : $3.28B

Paytm, the fintech decacorn, announced that it is preparing to airlift 21,000 oxygen concentrators (OCs) to India as part of the #OxygenForIndia project, which is scheduled to arrive in the first week of May. Government hospitals, Covid treatment centers, private hospitals, nursing homes, and Resident Welfare Associations will all receive these machines right away. People have already contributed INR 5 crore to the project, which the corporation has matched rupee for a rupee, bringing the total to INR 10 crore. Paytm is now targeting to collect over INR 14 Cr to source over 3,000 OCs over the next few days, buoyed by the immense support and contribution from people across the country.

In collaboration with logistics startup Delhivery, Zomato Feeding India has launched the “Help Save My India ” project to procure oxygen and related supplies for hospitals and families in need. Unacademy, the edtech unicorn, has donated INR 7 crore to Zomato ‘ s Feeding India project to purchase medical supplies.

Dream11, the fantasy gaming unicorn, has donated INR 15 Cr to GiveIndia and ACT Grants (a million each) to aid in emergency Covid response efforts in India. “Half of this will be spent on addressing the current issue of supplying medical equipment and hospital beds, while the other half will be used to support large-scale vaccination drives.

CRED, headquartered in Bengaluru, has also initiated a fundraising campaign to help healthcare organizations purchase oxygen concentrators. Milaap has invited its members to donate their CRED coins toward the purchase of oxygen-related equipment, which will be facilitated by the startup. The initiative ‘ s goal is to raise funds to purchase equipment capable of producing one billion litres of oxygen. 

Fintech unicorn Zerodha has announced plans to include ambulances and a step-down hospital to tackle the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru, fully equipped ambulances will be available. Each ambulance is fitted with a ventilator, critical care equipment, medicine, a nurse, and a paramedic, according to Zerodha. Half of them will have a doctor on board, while the other half will use remote doctors, according to the study. Five ambulances are also fitted with freezing capabilities.

Overview of GupShup

• GupShup is a leading conversational messaging platform used by thousands of large and small businesses in emerging markets to have conversational experiences acorss marketing, sales and support. 
• Its API helps to enable over 1, 00, 000 developers and businesses and has the potential to deliver over 6 billion messages per month across 30+ messaging channels. 
• The compnay has declared to use every investment to scale up its product delivery and go-to market initiatives worldwide to accelerate the transformation of business-to-consumer interaction with conversational experiences. 
• The company exited the year 2020 with an annual revenue run rate of $150 million as per the compnay stats. 

Funding in GupShup

• Gupshup has raised $100 million in latest round of funding from Tiger Global at a valuation of $1.4 billion. 
• In their late stage venture funding of Series E, they raised $10M from Tenaya Capital, a venture capital firm investung in technology driven technologies. 
• Leading the Series D funding to help this venture, Globespan Capital Partners along with Helion Venture Partners and CRV invested $12M in 2010. 
• In Series C round of funding in 2008, GupShup managed to raise $11 million from two technology power based investors named Helion Venture Partners and CRV. 
• Gaining a bit of momentum they raised Series B funding of $10M from Llyod George Management, HTSG and Cambrian Ventures in 2006. 
• In their early stage round of Series A funding, they were backed by Cambrian Ventures with a funding of $1.1.M when they were recently launched in the market. 

Udaan Overview 

• Udaan is a B2B trading marketplace that has an aim of empowering retailers, wholesalers, traders, and manufacturers through the use of technology. Its network connects over 25,000 sellers to over 3 million B2B users in 900 cities. 
• It was founded in 2016 by former Flipkart employees – Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, and Sujeet Kumar. 
• Based on their business model, Udaan is an asset-light player and aims to help Indian SMEs with credit issues, B2B logistics, revenue, and marketing. 
• Udaan provides merchants on their platform with accounting, order, and payment processing solutions and provides retailers with affordable working capital (funds). In other words, Udaan is not only a forum for retailers and wholesalers, but it also underwrites small business loans. 

Funding History

• Earlier this month, B2B e-commerce platform Udaan had announced raising $280.5 million in its extended Series D round from new and existing investors. 
• Udaan has now raised $1.15 billion in total, including this new capital infusion. Udaan has surpassed $3 billion valuation as a result of this deal. 
• Existing Udaan investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent, as well as two new investors Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital, participated in the latest funding round. 

Overview of Meesho 

• Meesho operates as an online reselling platform that enables anyone to start a business without investment. It is a business platform trusted by more than 2.6 million resellers across India. 
• The company plans to deploy the fresh capital to help 100 million individuals and small businesses in the country to sell online. 
• Social commerce and business-to-business marketplaces have emerged as the potential sources of competition to e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Flipkart in India. 
• Social commerce is one prominent bet to take on modern e-commerce that has struggled to make inroads in India, despite billions of dollars ploughed by Amazon and Flipkart. Another bet is digitizing neighborhood stores in the country — without so much of the social element — that dot tens of thousands of towns, cities and villages in India. Global giants Facebook and Google are backing both the horses. 

Funding in Meesho

• The Series E funding round, led by SoftBank Group ‘ s Vision Fund 2, saw the valuation of the Bengaluru-based start-up rise to $2.1 billion from around $700 million in 2019. Existing investors Facebok Inc, Prosus Ventures, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway and Knollwood Investment also participated in the latest investment round. 
• Meesho has raised a total of $515.2M in funding over 9 rounds by 25 investors out of which 12 were lead investors. 
• The online platfrom recorded a revenue of INR 341.6 Cr in FY20, ending March 31, 2020, representing a 4X spike from the INR 84.8 Cr revenue in 2019. In the same period, the company ‘ s expenses grew 3.5X to INR 657 Cr, leading to a loss of INR 315.4 Cr in the year, up from INR 100.42 Cr. 
• With the backing of the investors, it seems Meesho is riding on a high tide. 

Overview of Swiggy

• Swiggy is an on-demand food delivery platform, operating in over 500 cities that brings food from neighborhood restaurants directly to customers ‘ doors. 
• The fundraise has raised Swiggy’s valuation to more than $4.9 billion from its previous ascribed valuation of $3.6 billion in 2020.
• The next 10-15 years offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies like Swiggy as the Indian middle class expands and their target segment for convenience grows to 500M (million) users over the period. 
• Swiggy which has approximately 60% share in the foodtech industry raised this round funding only weeks after its arch rival Zomato raised $ 250 million in its latest funding round and plans to go public this year. 

Funding in Swiggy

• Swiggy has raised $800 million in its latest Series J round of financing with Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac and Goldman Sachs joining as new investors. Sovereign wealth funds Qatar Investment Authority and GIC of Singapore were also part of the financing round 
• Swiggy has raised a total of $2.4B in funding over 13 rounds by 23 investors out of which 11 of them are the lead investors of Swiggy. 
• The company’s business grew by 85% in the fiscal year 2019-20 with the addition of 100000 restaurants and over 2 lakh delivery fleet. 
• Swiggy’s revenue grew 129% year-on-year (YoY) from INR 1,292 Cr in FY19. During the same period, Swiggy’s total expenses grew 88% YoY to INR 6,864 Cr. As a result, the company’s losses grew 66% from INR 2,362 Cr in FY19 to INR 3,909 Cr in FY20 
• Indian food-tech aggregators are attracting investor interest, given the rise in demand for home delivery of food following the Covid-19-led lockdowns. Indian food-tech aggregators secured the second-highest amount of funding from investors in the first two quarters of FY21. 

Investments in EVs 

• A cumulative investment of over INR 12.5 trillion in vehicle production and charging infrastructure would be required until 2030 to meet India ’ s EV ambitions. 
• Inspite of 2020 being a rough year for businesses, a few EV startups saw a rise. 
• Euler Motors raised INR 200 Mn from Inventus Capital India as a part of its ongoing Series A funding.
• Yulu, the micro-mobility service provider announced in 2020 that Rocketship VC invested ₹300 million in the company. 
• TVS Motors acquired a stake of 29.48% in the EV startup Ultraviolette through a funding of INR 300 Mn 
• Ather Energy was the biggest funding recipient among Indian EV companies in 2020, with two huge deals raking in a total of INR 3.423 billion. 

The Healthtech Industry 

• There was a whopping $571 Mn investment in the healthtech industry in 2018 in India. Technologies like ML, robotic surgery, telemedicine, nanotech, IoT, AI, robotics, 3D printing are examples of a few technologies that have paramount importance in the healthcare industry. 
• The 2020 pandemic situation has provided a boost to rise of several healthtech startups.
• There are about 3,225 healthtech startups in India. They focus mainly on the accessibility of healthcare resources because the ratio of medical specialists to patients is quite imbalanced in the country. 
• Indian healthtech startups exist in divisions of pharmacy, home healthcare, diagnostics & biotech 

Investments in the Healthtech Industry

• Healthcare has become the hotbed for investments in India. 
• The total investments in healthtech startups in India in FY 20 over 141 funding rounds was $600 Mn. 
• In FY 20, 53% of the angel investments were towards healthcare. 
• In FY20, the number of angel/seed investments were at their highest as compared to venture capital, private equity and public equity with 57% of the total angel investments going towards healthcare technology sector till date. Q2 2020 saw 9 angel/seed deals in healthtech as compared to 3 deals being carried out in Q1 (2020), an increase of 3X. 
• It is evident that the new-age health-tech startups will define the post Covid pandemic world.