AMAZON SMBHAV VENTURE FUND
Investors pour $27.1 billion into AI startups, defying a downturn
Investors poured $27.1 billion into AI startups in the United States from April to June, accounting for nearly half of all U.S. startup funding in that period, according to PitchBook, which tracks startups. In total, U.S. startups raised $56 billion, up 57% from a year earlier and the highest three-month haul in two years.
Tech-enabled construction startup Wify raises funding from Mount Judi Ventures, Capria Ventures
The Mumbai-based on-site installation and post purchase services provider said it will use the funds to penetrate deeper into existing categories. Wify will also The Mumbai-based on-site installation and post purchase services provider said it will use the funds to penetrate deeper into existing categories, company said in a statement.
AI startup EvolutionaryScale raises $142 million to advance tech in biology
Calling it a "ChatGPT moment for biology," Lux Capital cofounder and managing partner Josh Wolfe told the company has developed the first large language model for creating novel proteins and other biological systems.
Early-stage VC Z21 Ventures planning $40 million second fund
Z21 Ventures, an early-stage investment firm focusing on the India-US corridor, has fully deployed its first $5-million fund and is gearing up to launch a $40 million second fund. The firm, founded in 2022 by Abhinav Shashank and Raj Shekhar Singh, targets enterprise software and hardware startups with investments ranging from $100,000 to $150,000, backed by a community of Indian-origin technology executives like Google, Amazon, and Meta.
Scoop: DST Global, Lightspeed, others may join Zepto’s financing round valuing it at about $3 billion
Investors are bullish about the company, lured by the growing adoption of ultra-fast delivery platforms despite the high cash burn that typically accompanies these kinds of good-for-consumer businesses.
New-age consumer brands trend on deal street
Uppercase–a luggage brand started by former VIP Industries MD Sudip Ghose–is in talks with Flipkart-backer Accel to raise new capital, sources told us. This would be the 3rd major deal in the space after Peak XV Partners’ Mokobara investment and Lighthouse’s bet on Safari.
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SuprDaily founder Puneet Kumar joins Nexus as venture partner
Kumar joining Nexus Venture Partners adds to a long list of top personnel changes at venture firms in India over the last 8-10 months. He was previously at startup accelerator Y Combinator and had also founded Supr Daily along with Shreyas Nagdawane and Rohit Jain.
Mixed reality content platform Flam raises Rs 38 crore in funding
Mixed reality (MR) content publishing platform Flam will use the fresh capital to expand its MR platform footprint into new countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa.
Scale AI valued at $14 billion in Nvidia, Amazon-backed funding round
Top tech companies are racing to build AI into their products and services. Startups catering to the surge in demand for AI chips and machine learning have been a bright spot in an otherwise subdued private funding market.
Scale AI valued at $14 bln in Nvidia, Amazon-backed funding round
Top tech companies are racing to build AI into their products and services. Startups catering to the surge in demand for AI chips and machine learning have been a bright spot in an otherwise subdued private funding market.
Draft digital competition bill will make business untenable: IAMAI
Ex-ante regimes tell businesses precisely how to behave, or what to do. Under the current ex-post regime of the Competition Act, companies are only required to ensure that their conduct in the market is not anti-competitive. An overlapping ex-ante regime proposed under the digital competition Bill will force tech companies to comply with parallel legislation and undertake measures for additional compliance, the IAMAI said.
How Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund is funding small businesses with a digital-first focus
The fund’s portfolio includes investments across industries like consumer brands, healthcare and financial services; it has invested in brands such as Acko, Cashify, Fitterfly, Axio and M1xchange.
Meesho closes $275 million funding in first tranche, in talks for more
Meesho secures $275M funding in a $600M round. Share transfers hinted in SEC filing. In total, Meesho has raised $1.36 billion – including secondaries – since 2015.
New growth markets for IT firms; Stride Ventures closes third fund
Indian IT firms are seeing rapid growth in new geographies amid a slowdown in their established North American market. More on this in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Exclusive: EV startup Zypp in talks to raise new funding from Tribe Capital at $300-350 million valuation
Zypp Electric seeks $40M funding from Tribe Capital for expansion and tech development. Revenue tripled in FY24. Launching $250M India fund with Shiprocket's Vishesh Khurana. Raj Snehil Juneja also joins the team.
Sustainable packaging startup Bambrew raises $7 million in funding led by Blume Ventures
Bambrew said the funds will be used to expand into primary packaging for consumer goods, food and beverages product categories, expanding manufacturing capabilities, research and development and building a team
AI startup RapidCanvas raises $7.5 million in funding round led by Accel
The funds will be used for customer acquisition through marketing and sales expansion, as well as for customer retention through investment in research and development.
D2C apparel firm Bummer raises Rs 9.25 crore led by Nikhil Kamath-backed Gruhas Collective
The funding – entirely primary – also saw participation from D2C-focused venture firm Fluid Ventures, an existing investor. Bummer had earlier raised Rs 5.5 crore in seed funding from Singapore-based venture firm Beenext Asia, which has invested in firms like NoBroker and BharatPe.
Blume Ventures invests $10 million in edtech firm Interview Kickstart, largest maiden cheque
US-based Interview Kickstart is a platform for working technology professionals who want to prepare to work at top tech companies. Over 20,000 people have gone through its programmes spanning AI, Machine Learning, Data Science and other advanced engineering and product areas, so far.
Nexus Venture Partners leads $20 million funding at DevOps startup Orkes
Nexus Venture Partners leads a $25 million funding round in Orkes, a DevOps startup focused on orchestration. United Wholesale Mortgage, Foxtel, and Collective are among Orkes' clients. The funding will be used to build out offerings, including an AI orchestration platform. Orkes was founded by Viren Baraiya, Boney Sekh, and Dilip Lukose.
Kitchen appliances startup Upliance AI raises Rs 34 crore in funding led by Khosla Ventures
Bengaluru-based Upliance AI said it will utilise the the funds will be used to accelerate product expansion by investing in tooling and advanced manufacturing techniques, building the team, and collaborating with content creators for marketing.
The Baker’s Dozen raises Rs 33 crore in funding round led by Wipro Consumer VC unit
The funds will be used to enhance distribution growth, expand reach into non-metro cities and international markets. It will be also employed for brand-building and marketing initiatives.
Search startup Perplexity AI valued at $520 million in funding from Bezos, Nvidia
Perplexity's search tools enable users to get instant answers to questions with sources and citations. It is powered by a variety of large language models (LLMs) that can sum up and generate information, from OpenAI to Meta's open-source model Llama.
Silicon Valley startups had their worst funding year since 2019
Over the last 12 months, investors poured money into artificial intelligence startups, but the rest of the industry foundered. According to early data released by research firm PitchBook on Thursday, venture capitalists invested $170.6 billion in the US in 2023, over an estimated roughly 15,000 deals. That deal value is down by about 30% from 2022.
Ayurveda-focused D2C startup Nat Habit raises $10 million led by Bertelsmann
The company has previously raised about $7 million in total. From the current funding, about $2 million will be used for early-stage investor exits, in about 5X returns in four years. Its other past investors include Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia.
Cross-border logistics firm ShipGlobal raises $2.5 million in funding from Info Edge Ventures
This is the first time the firm, which was founded in 2022, is raising institutional capital, said co-founder and chief executive Aayush Anand. ShipGlobal did not disclose the valuation at which the funds were raised.
BharatPe interim CEO details bounce back plans; Hinduja Tech plans minority stake sale
In his first media interview since the Ashneer Grover saga unfolded, BharatPe interim chief executive Nalin Negi details the company’s profitability goals, IPO plans, and more. Get all the details in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Bare Anatomy parent Innovist secures $7 million in funding from Amazon Smbhav, others
The Gurugram-based house of brands was founded by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana, and Vimal Bhola, with the goal of utilising clean science-backed ingredients and serving consumers in India.
Kidswear D2C brand Hopscotch raises $20 million led by Amazon
The round also included participation from Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, as well as other existing investors, including Lionrock, IIFL Seed Venture Fund, RPG Ventures, and Techpro Ventures.
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