Deal Street: Maker Of Bira Beer, Logistics Startup 4TiGO Raise Funds

Fund-raises by a beer maker and ride-hailing unicorn were the highlight of the startup deal street last week. One of India's newest beer makers -- B9 Beverages -- raised $7.5 million from existing and new investors. Cab aggregator Ola raised $100 million in a fresh round of funding from U.S. hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital and UC-RNT Capital, a joint venture between Ratan Tata and University of California Investments.

Deal activity for smaller startups remained tepid as investments declined 40 percent from the week ago – eight startups raised about $30 million from angel investors and venture capitalists.

Nandan Nilekani, Accel Infuse Fresh Funds In 4TiGO

Trucking logistics startup 4TiGO raised $10 million (around Rs 66 crore) in Series A funding from existing investors Accel Partners and Infosys Ltd.'s co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

Bengaluru-based 4TiGO had raised about $2 million in seed funding from Nilekani and Accel in 2015. The firm kicked off its operations in January 2017.

The startup will use fresh funds to expand its network of trucks and to build its core technology product, co-founder Vivek Malhotra told BloombergQuint over the phone. A part of the investment will also go into building a payments platform for the logistics industry, Malhotra said.

4TiGO provides fleet management services for truck owners and helps logistics partners manage and track their inventory. It has a fleet of 6,500 trucks on its platform and aims to have 50,000 trucks by next year.

IFC To Invest $10 Million In Power2SME

International Finance Corporation, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, will invest up to $10 million (Rs 64 crore) in Gurugram-based online buying hub for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Power2SME.

The proceeds will be used to help Power2SME engage with its non-banking financial services portfolio for growing the SME financing platform, IFC said in a disclosure note. Given Power2SME's pan-India operations, the number of transacting SMEs is expected to grow more than 10 times by 2021, it said.

Founded in 2012, Power2SME has a presence across 16 cities and works with nearly 50,000 registered small and medium industries. It helps in sourcing raw materials such as steel, polymers and chemicals, and provides a buying club for SMEs to reduce their procurement costs.

The company had last raised an undisclosed amount of funding in January 2016 from Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani with participation from existing investors.

Beer Maker Bira 91 Raises $7.5 million

Craft beer maker B9 Beverages raised $7.5 million (around Rs 50 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital for its handcrafted beer brand Bira 91, documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.

Other investors include Shantanu Rastogi, managing director at General Atlantic; Alok Misra, senior vice president at General Atlantic; and another investor listed as Naik Family Trust 2013 – through Thomas Murphy & Richard Gold Trustee.

The beer maker plans to use the funds to scale up manufacturing. A part of the investment will also go into roping in fresh talent, the company said in its RoC filing.

The two-year-old beer brand has so far raised $16 million, according to Crunchbase, which collates information on startups. Bira is available across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Pune, Gurugram, Kolkata, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Gwalior and Mysuru.

Other Deals

Online diagnostics and wellness startup Healthians.com raised an undisclosed amount in bridge funding from Japan's Asuka Holdings and other existing investors, a company statement said. Healthians is also backed by cricketer Yuvraj Singh's early-stage fund YouWeCan Ventures.

Bengaluru-based banking software startup Sumeru raised $1 million (Rs 6.4 crore) in angel funding from high-net-worth individuals, news provider VCCircle reported. The company will use the funds to grow its business and build a global distribution network, the report said.

Enterprise mobile software startup Innovapptive Inc. raised $1.5 million (Rs 9.6 crore) from angel investor network Hyderabad Angels. The company will use the capital to strengthen its sales and marketing teams, accelerate product innovation and ramp up customer acquisition, it said in a statement.

Bengaluru-based fintech app Balance Technology raised $233,000 (Rs 1.5 crore) from Rainmatter, a fintech fund and incubator managed by stock broking firm Zerodha. The startup will use the funds for hiring talent and marketing, it said in a statement.

Kerala- and US-based health-tech startup Good Methods raised Series A funding in a round led by venture capital firm Accel Partners, said a press statement. The startup will use the funds to step up its sales efforts and product adoption, and to ramp up product engineering and talent acquisition.