GREYORANGE FUNDING

December brings the highest monthly fundraise of 2023, though the annual total is the lowest in 7 years.

A total of 19 startups raised a cumulative of $908 million between December 16- 20, as per Tracxn data shared with ETtech.

​​Existing investors Blume Ventures, Peter Thiel's Mithril Captial and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal's 3State Ventures also participated in the funding round.

Ecommerce giant Flipkart is in the middle of closing a $1 billion funding round in which Walmart has committed $600 million. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Through its first fund – a rupee-denominated fund – Blume Ventures began investing in 2011, and has backed startups such as GreyOrange, Carbon Clean, Cashify, Purplle, Zopper, Taxi For Sure and WebEngage.

This week, Terra’s creator Do Kwon was fined $78 million by tax authorities and faces an investigation in South Korea, another stablecoin lost its peg to the dollar, and regulators vowed to rein in the controversial assets.

Neso Brands, GreyOrange and Fashinza collectively raised over $300 million.

The famed Silicon Valley startup accelerator has told founders of all its portfolio companies to hunker down, cut costs and extend their runways “within the next 30 days”.

Mumbai-based Blume Ventures is also an investor in the company, which provides software and hardware that automates multiple functions in warehouses for companies such as Walmart, H&M, COS, Coupang and GXO Logistics.

The company, which is backed by SoftBank and Alpha Wave Global, joins a growing list of startups that have fired employees to conserve cash amid a slowdown in funding.

In today's ETtech Morning Dispatch: Tata-BigBasket deal; Byju's may land new funds; and GreyOrange eyes US listing.

The artificial intelligence robotics company may be valued at $1.5-1.7 billion

​​The money was raised from both domestic as well as international investors, many of whom are existing investors, it said in a statement.

Julia is a domestic cooking robot, it utilises AI and machine learning capabilities to learn about user taste & preference and is capable of cooking most single pot meals.

Nearly 50 startups, including Swiggy, Zomato, PolicyBazaar, GreyOrange and Udaan, are among those which have soaked up mega cheques of over $100 million apiece.

GreyOrange, founded by BITS-Pilani graduates Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta, produces up to 1,500 robots a month and has R&D centres in the US, China and India.

The investment, being structured via convertible note, could value robotics firm at between $300 million & $500 million.

BankBazaar, online marketplace for rates on loans, credit cards and other personal finance products, has announced plans to hire 400 workers to strengthen business growth.

Pivoting is essentially a course-correction that can range from a tweak in product or service to a major overhaul of a business that has hit a brick wall.