Deal Street: Big Data Startup Raises $25 Million From Singtel Group

Seven startups together raised around $50 million in angel, seed and venture capital funding across sectors including agriculture, financial technology, big data, healthcare and artificial intelligence last week.

The funding activity was primarily led by global investors such as Singtel Innov8, China's Fosun, Quona Capital.

Big Data Startup Raises $25 Million From Singtel Group, Harmony Partners

U.S.- and Bengaluru-based big data startup Qubole raised $25 million (Rs 163 crore) in fresh funding from Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture capital arm of Singtel Group, and Harmony Partners.

Existing investors Lightspeed Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners and Charles River Ventures also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.

Qubole will use the funds to expand in India, Australia, Singapore and other countries.

Founded in 2011, Qubole is a big data-as-a-service provider for technologies such as Hadoop and Spark and works on all cloud platforms including those provided by Amazon Web Service, Google and Microsoft.

The company had last raised $30 million (Rs 203.34 crore) in Series C funding led by IVP along with participation from Lightspeed and Norwest. Its global clients include Autodesk, Lyft, Samsung and Pinterest while Ola and Saavn are among its Indian customers.

Fosun Leads $10 Million Funding Round In Fintech Startup Kissht

Digital lending platform Kissht raised $10 million in a funding round led by Fosun RZ Capital, with participation from Prophet Capital, Beijing and existing investors Ventureast and Endiya Partners.

The proceeds will be used to expand its reach among offline and online merchants, enhance data science capabilities and venture into additional product categories, Kissht said in a statement.

Founded in 2015, the company helps consumers pay for online orders in monthly instalments, without a credit card. It uses proprietary algorithms to assess the credit-worthiness of a potential buyer and process credit purchases instantly. It uses more than 2,000 digital and social footprints to assess a customer.

Kissht had last raised $3 million in Series A funding from Ventureast and Endiya Partners in 2016. At present, it is catering to more than 50 online and 3,000 offline retailers, across categories such as consumer durables, electronics, healthcare and education.

Wealth Management Startup Fisdom Raises $3.8 Million From Quona Capital

Bengaluru-based wealth management app Fisdom raised $3.8 million (Rs 25 crore) in a Series B round led by Quona Capital Management Ltd., a venture capital firm that focuses on the financial technology sector in India and South East Asia.

Existing investor Saama Capital too participated in the round, Fisdom said in a statement.

The fresh capital will be used to ramp up its technology backbone, besides expanding its team and stepping up customer acquisition efforts, the company said. It plans to add new financial products, including insurance schemes and the National Pension System to its portfolio.

Founded in September 2015 Fisdom is a mobile-first platform which allows consumers to discover and make mutual fund investments. An algorithm suggests schemes a user could invest in according to their portfolio and risk appetite. The company makes money from commissions made from funds sold on its platform.

Customers can view and manage or withdraw their investments whenever required. It also provides a wealth manager for free.

Fisdom has facilitated more than 100,000 mutual fund investments worth over Rs 100 crore, over the past one year, according to information on its website.

Agri-Tech Startup FarmLink Raises $3 Million

Mumbai-based agriculture technology startup FarmLink raised $3 million (Rs 20 crore) from the Indian arms of Swiss incubator-cum-investment firm Pioneering Ventures and agro-chemicals company Syngenta AG.

The company will use the funds to expand and strengthen its technology and analytics capabilities in the supply chain segment.

Incubated in 2014 by Pioneering Ventures, FarmLink is an end-to-end logistics solutions provider for supplying fruits and vegetables and procures directly from farmers through a network of collection and service centres. It then delivers the products to modern retail stores, quick service restaurant chains, industrial processors and e-commerce food platforms.

It procures over 20 tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables every day and operates across Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra.

Others

U.S.- and Mumbai-based doctor-patient communication platform DocTalk Solutions, Inc. raised $5 million (Rs 32.43 crore) in a fresh funding round from Matrix Partners India, Khosla Ventures, and others, The Economic Times reported.

Chennai-based hospitality startup FreshUp raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Singapore-based Lotus Global Investments. FreshUp is now planning to strengthen its presence in South India, the company said in a statement.

Bangalore-based Open Appliances Pvt Ltd., a startup which makes smart locks for firms, raised $550,000 (Rs 3.6 crore) from seed fund Axilor Ventures and Kumar Vembu, co-founder of enterprise-tech firm ZOHO, a company statement said.