Funding to startups resumes, albeit at lower pace
After a brief lull in funding, Indian startups have started to see funding inflows with some investors taking big bets last week.
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Bengaluru, 11 June After a brief lull in funding, Indian startups have started to see funding inflows with some investors taking big bets last week.
Edtech startup 'Physics Wallah' and online beauty retailer 'Purplle' turned into unicorns last week after raising funds from a bunch of investors. Bootstrapped edtech Physics Wallah raised $100 million in its first funding round, led by WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures, at a $1.1 billion valuation. Such huge funding round indicated that funding for growing startups, which have a focus on profitability, may not see funding winter. Launched in 2016 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwar, Physics Wallah operates in giving coaching to students for competitive engineering and medical entrance exams.
Last week also saw online beauty retailer Purplle turning into a unicorn as it raised $33 million from Paramark Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation. Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital and Blume Ventures participated in the current round.
Meanwhile, fintech startup Cred raised $80 million as part of a larger $140 million funding round from GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Its valuation now stood at $6.4 billion post this funding round. Tiger Global, Sofina and others participated in the round.
Another fintech startup, Kissht raised $80 million from Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency at a $500 million valuation. Its existing investors Vertex Ventures SEA India and Endiya Partners also participated in the round. According to the company, it will use the funds to launch buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) card services.
Similarly, content marketplace Pepper Content raised $14.3 million in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
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