Incubate Fund Asia has rebranded its India-focused entity as “Incubate Fund Asia” to expand its focus to support pre-seed and seed-stage startups across India and Southeast Asia.

The fund intends to use the proceeds to make early-stage investments and support startups that exhibit strong fundamental growth potential. It aims to curate a portfolio of around 20 startups with this third fund.

Interestingly, only 40% of the fund’s total investible corpus will be used to create the initial portfolio. The remaining 60% will be directed toward backing the most successful companies in the portfolio.

Since 2016, Incubate Fund Asia has played a crucial role in India’s dynamic startup investment landscape. It established a dedicated fund to invest in Indian startups.

Incubate Fund Asia has a global presence with offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Bangalore, Mumbai, São Paulo, and Mountain View. The firm has made notable investments in startups such as Captain Fresh, Yulu, ShopKirana, Plum, and more.

The fund has been instrumental in nurturing these startups, guiding them toward establishing leadership positions in the Indian market.

Nao Murakami, Founder and General Partner of Incubate Fund Asia, expressed his enthusiasm about the fund’s focused objectives. “Our mission is to empower startups and fuel innovation across Asia. With the target fund closure of $50 million, we will be ready to significantly enhance our support to emerging ventures, driving sustainable growth and innovation. Incubate Fund Asia remains deeply committed to its vision of nurturing innovation and catalyzing the growth of startups, ultimately contributing to the development of a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem across Asia.”

Sumit Ghorawat, Co-Founder of ShopKirana, expressed how the Incubate Fund’s support has been pivotal for ShopKirana’s journey. He stated, “Incubate Fund Asia is everything that we look for in an investor and is definitely one of the top folks to have on your cap table and board. I feel proud to say ShopKirana was the first investment of Incubate Fund in India back in 2016, since then we have raised 4 rounds and they continue to back us in each of them. They have stuck with us during highs and lows, always pushing us to do better, giving us complete access to their rolodex and so much more. Over the years I have found the team at Incubate Fund to be one of the best to collaborate with and get perspectives from. Incubate Fund’s team will move mountains for you to help you on your startup journey.”

Incubate Fund Asia has provided invaluable support to 27 Indian companies, including standout ventures like ShopKirana and Captain Fresh. Their investments span various sectors, including B2B, B2C, Supply Chain, and consumer tech, operating in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets.

Typically, Incubate Fund Asia invests in the range of $500K to $1.5 million. In 2019, the firm launched a USD 18 million Fund II, demonstrating its commitment to nurturing and advancing promising startups.

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This investment round also includes participation from notable investors like Authum Investments and Team India Managers. The funds raised will be utilized for marketing initiatives, expanding the sales team, and further developing their product offerings.

Madmix, despite bootstrapping for two years, has managed to expand its global presence, reaching markets in Nepal, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the USA. In India, the company has made a substantial impact, with its products available in over 650 stores nationwide.

The recent rebranding of Madmix, coupled with their innovative approach to healthy foods, positions the company for significant growth and success in the health-conscious food industry. Madmix offers a range of ready-to-eat snacks made from millets like jowar in various flavors. Additionally, they offer a millet-based ready-to-cook product line, including dosa, idli, chilla, bread mix, and flour mix. Their mission is to replace unhealthy eating choices with nutritious and delicious food, and they continuously innovate and develop new products.

Gaurav Palrecha, Founder & Director, Madmix said, “We’re thrilled by the incredible support our investors have shown – it’s a true validation of our journey into the realm of madness. Consumers are becoming more conscious and are making healthy choices and we want to support them in their journey. These funds will enable us to achieve our growth numbers and we’re just getting started!“

Mr. Apurva Doshi, Sr Vice President, Equity Capital Markets, Prime Securities Limited said, “In India, snacking is more than just what we eat, it is a tradition and an important part of our cultural identity, as quoted by report ‘State of Snacking Report: A Global Consumer Trend Study’. We think the Company is revolutionising the idea of snacking with its ready-to-eat snacks and ready-to-cook range. We strongly believe in the Company’s prospects and this funding will aid the Company as it marches on in its growth journey.”

Mrs. Niru Kanodia, Director, Team India Managers Limited said, “The idea of mindful and healthy eating will drive the demand for snacking in India. We firmly believe that Madmix is rightly placed and offers balanced nutrition in every product combining with health and taste.”

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The round was led by Surge, Peak XV’s rapid scale-up program, and included participation from Titan Capital and Zetwerk founders.

The new funds will be used to strengthen Boxs’ product offering and expand its manufacturing capabilities.

The remarkable growth for interior design industry in India is projected to reach $38.2 billion by 2027. Despite such growth, many challenges still plague interior designers during the process of taking their design to the building stage.

While there are many existing software solutions that help interior designers create beautiful designs, there is no integrated platform that addresses the crucial stage of bringing these designs to life.

Boxs addresses this industry gap by providing interior designers access to a diverse library of modules, enabling the creation of bespoke designs. The platform’s technology allows for extensive customization of these modules, while an instant pricing engine provides real-time cost insights. Unlike traditional methods, where designers must coordinate intricate construction processes, Boxs delivers fully assembled products. This approach significantly reduces build times and minimizes errors.

Boxs was founded in May 2022 by Satheesh Ramdass and Vikram Venkatesan in Chennai. The duo, who studied together at the College of Engineering, Guindy, brings a wealth of experience from the tech industry. Having faced the challenges of interior design firsthand through their earlier venture Zenterior, they sought to revolutionize the design-to-build phase. Satheesh’s background includes roles at tech giants like Oracle, Microsoft, and Vegrow, while Vikram has led teams at D. E. Shaw, Thoughtworks, and Ally.io.

Vikram Venkatesan, Co-Founder of Boxes, said, “Boxs was started with a simple idea – what if the broken and inefficient build phase could be replaced with a simple IKEA-like experience? For far too long, interior design firms have been stuck with decades-old systems and processes, and spend a disproportionate amount of time managing workers onsite to ensure the final build quality and timelines are met. Even large, established firms struggle to build their designs on time. With the new funds, we will be doubling down on building out our tech and manufacturing capabilities to provide our customers a superior, hassle-free experience, better profit margins and shorter timelines”.

Rachel Hariharan from Beehive Homes Design Studio, said, “Boxs’ high quality, pre-assembled design modules have saved us countless hours of project management. Having to source and speak with various contractors was a time-consuming process that diverted our focus from expanding our creative vision and business growth. With Boxs, much of the design-to-build frustration has been lifted, and we can concentrate on improving our design innovation,”.

Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital, said, “We are really proud to be partnering with Boxs early in their journey given their unique insights into the interior value chain and the team’s capability to apply tech to bring efficiency into the design to build process.”

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This funding was led by Matrix Partners India and Nexus Venture Partners. AdvantEdge and Mars Shot Ventures (Razorpay Founders’ Fund) along with 30 angel investors like Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Sanjiv Rangrass (ex-ITC), Vikrampati Singhania (JK Group) and the founders of Zetwerk were also parcipated.

The funds will be used to establish the early team, build technology and strengthen presence in the US and UK.

Wootz.work is dedicated to redefining cross-border procurement of light engineering products through a combination of cutting-edge technology and comprehensive process ownership, spanning from initial design to final delivery. Setting itself apart from conventional marketplaces, Wootz.work doesn’t merely facilitate buyer-seller connections; it directly links buyers to tailored products and solutions. By considering key parameters like geography and industry, its technology swiftly tailors products to meet unique buyer needs. Quotations are delivered within 24 hours, compressing a typically lengthy 4-week process.

Over the past three years, the engineering equipment sector valued at $1.7 trillion has undergone remarkable supply chain transformations. Western buyers, in pursuit of value-driven capital expenditure, are increasingly looking at Southeast Asia for their procurement needs. However, they grapple with navigating the vast, fragmented market of nearly a million Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) suppliers. Adding to the complexity, are language barriers, long pre-sales time inherent in custom products and an overall broken buying experience. Wootz.work, through its cross border platform, aims to bridge this gap.

Founded in March 2023, by Karan Anand and Himanshu Uniyal, the need for a fast, seamless and reliable global procurement platform became apparent as they were setting up factories for their former employer, Zume Inc. Karan and Himanshu cumulatively have 25 years of experience in engineering procurement, project management and international business development. They are alumni of Stanford University and Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) respectively.

Karan Anand, Co-Founder & CEO, said, “We are convinced that the conditions have never been better for India and Southeast Asia to emerge as a global manufacturing hub for light engineering products. However, tapping this opportunity for SMEs is not as straightforward given their scale, differing engineering standards, regulatory environments, market distances and the imperative of robust after-sales service. Our goal at Wootz.work is to address this need and build at scale, to become a trusted, enduring procurement channel for our global customers.”

Himanshu Uniyal, Co-Founder & COO, said, “Our supply partners, SMEs from India and Southeast Asia, have a proven track record of technical excellence and often outperform economically in segments spanning from material handling to electrical equipment and MRO. At Wootz.work, we harness this technical and economic edge, speeding up the entire procurement journey — from pre-sales to logistics — aiming to match, if not surpass, local market delivery speeds, all while ensuring top-tier after-sales support.”

Sameer Brij Verma, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners, said, “Wootz.work promises a transformative approach to cross-border engineering equipment procurement, simplifying and standardizing processes from design to delivery. We at Nexus are thrilled to be part of this pioneering journey with the Wootz team.”

Sudipto Sannigrahi, Principal, Matrix Partners India, said, “We at Matrix are super excited about the manufacturing opportunity in India. A combination of the realignment of global supply chains, China + 1 and maturing of the Indian manufacturing sector has positioned India to be the manufacturing hub for the world. Wootz’s platform empowers Indian SME manufacturers to sell globally by solving key bottlenecks like design and quality. Karan and Himanshu bring extensive experience in setting up manufacturing facilities through the course of their respective careers and we are privileged to partner with them in the Wootz journey.”

Wootz.work is currently working with factories and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the UK across their growth, automation, and MRO phases, driving supply chain innovations and capital expenditure optimization. The company will be setting up new offices in the UK and US this year.

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The platform aims to allocate the funds to enhancing the technology and formulate a highly efficient EV asset and lending solution.

Founded in 2022, Finayo aims to streamline the financing process for lenders, OEMs, dealers, and EV buyers. Through its proprietary technology, Finayo automates the entire loan lifecycle, from origination to disbursement, collection, repossession, and resale. In addition, it enables lenders to make precise risk assessments and select quality borrowers, which minimizes non-performing loans.

Munish Bhatia, Co-Founder, India Accelerator said, “Indian roads are witnessing a rising number of EVs, deepening its penetration in the country. Financing plays a crucial role in enabling the transition to EV. Finayo’s approach of unified EV asset and lending management will prove to be a catalyst in mitigating credit risk and automating the loan life cycle for all stakeholders.”

Brajendra Singh Tomar, the Founder and CEO of Finayo said, “Lenders in the EV space face several challenges related to the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) and minimizing the risk. We are thankful to iAngels Network for trusting our capabilities which will help us invest in the latest technologies for mitigating risks of NPA, and creating a more stable and inclusive financial ecosystem. Overall, this development marks a significant milestone for the company and is a testament to their commitment to creating innovative solutions that benefit all stakeholders.”

Yogesh Prakash, Co-founder and CAO of Finayo said, “With this new financial support, Finyao is planning to expand its business to 50 new locations across five different states. With this expansion, Finyao is poised to make a significant impact on the Electric vehicle lending industry, and the company’s leadership is excited to see the positive outcomes that this growth will bring.”

Since its inception, Finayo is continuing to make strides in the EV asset and lending management space. It leverages its advanced technology to provide detailed analytics on every loan performance, allowing the associate lending partners to make data-driven decisions.

Finayo uses AI-based loan applications to help OEMs and its dealers to process the customer application and receive quick approval within ten minutes. The EV platform provides tailored financing options for electric vehicle buyers depending on their selection of EVs and credit history.

Finayo embarks on a business model that distinguishes the company from other market players. It brings all EV categories under one umbrella to serve a larger pool of EV buyers. By the end of FY 2023-24, the company is planning to lend Rs. 150 Cr. with its three prominent lending partners to accelerate EV adoption in India.

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The company plans to use the funds towards technology development, team building and GTM rollout to help brands move to digital manufacturing for enhanced business outcomes.

With the pre-seed funding, Leumas intends to re-imagine the legacy factory system by leveraging advancements in emerging technologies viz. industrial robotics, IIoT and cyber-physical systems.

The company’s future roadmap includes the commercial deployment and productization of the Leumas Digital Factory suite, as well as the addition of process-line capabilities to its nano-factories and strengthening the Leumasware platform with the ultimate vision of becoming the new factory order for process industries.

Nitesh Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Leumas said, “Leumas is solving for volume, variety, and cost limitations of the legacy manufacturing systems through our innovative Digital Factory Solution. With the fast-changing channel-mix and emergence of D2C models, brands need the ability to produce flexibly, while remaining inventory light. We are helping them with on-demand manufacturing tech. to launch faster, scale nimbler and produce with unparalleled efficiency. Look forward to partnering with brands on their concept to scale up journey.”

The funds raised will also be allocated towards building an ‘A Team’ to support growth of the company in areas of GTM, technology, manufacturing, and Ops. The GTM strategy will pilot and co-create with D2C brands to help them launch new product lines, scale existing product lines and streamline product manufacturing. The funds raised will also be utilized to expand the company’s digital factory capacity that will be utilised by partner brands.

Vibhore Sharma, Partner at Capital 2B, said “Leumas is paving the way for on-demand, agile manufacturing that would enable agility in product development – from launch to scale up. We are very excited to be part of this endeavour”.

Ashvin Chadha, Partner at Anicut Capital, said, “With the changing retail-mix and emerging of D2C models, more and more brands are recognising the need to successfully translate customer insights into products fast and win in fragmented consumer segments. This requires the agility to manufacture and fulfil high-mix product lines, while remaining inventory light. This is where Leumas’ Digital Factory solution comes in, offering brands the tech. capability to manufacture on-demand with unprecedented flexibility – from experimentation to scale. Their innovative approach to manufacturing is unmatched in the industry, offering brands a forward-looking solution to traditional manufacturing limitations of volume, variety, and cost”.

Ankit Kedia, Partner at Capital A, said, “Cultivating innovation through digitisation is not only a strategic imperative, it’s the future of manufacturing. Our investment in Leumas reflects our belief in the power of cloud manufacturing to transform the way brands manufacture products, enabling them to optimize their supply chain and improve speed to market, with their unique nano production approach. We are excited to partner with Nitesh and Subhajit and look forward to creating the next big shift in manufacturing tech”.

Leumas provides on-demand manufacturing capability through its Digital Factory technology for brands across the nutrition, cosmetics, and pharma space. The Digital Factory technology is a cyber-physical platform of software-controlled robotic production lines that are modular, re-configurable, and scalable, enabling unparalleled flexibility around batch size, product mix, and formats. Leumas also ensures the highest standards of product quality with its patented robotic preparation helping brands go from concept to scale in record time and at a fraction of the cost.

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Other investors included Aditya Mallik, CEO-Higher Education, Veranda Learning; and Avatar Monga, Independent Director, Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment(FACE).

The funds will be used to enhance the technology and expand into new markets while providing top-quality service to existing partners.

PeProp.Money provides a full suite of real estate services for developers, consultants, and investors to ensure top-quality offerings.

Its AI and big data-based user-friendly application ensures that only verified properties with a proven track record are listed on the platform, which enables developers, channel partners, and brokers to connect with buyers and investors for property-related deals.

The company claims that it has facilitated over 1,750 deals worth INR 1375 crore, working with more than 15 developers across 30 projects in the last 15 months.

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“We are truly the first Indian space start-up incorporated in India to build an imaging satellite and we are committed to accelerating technological innovation in India for the world,” stated Suyash Singh, Co-founder & CEO, GalaxEye Space. “I believe this is possible today with the enormous support available from ISRO, government and our global partners.” 

GalaxEye also announced availability of the company’s flagship product offering, featuring multi-sensor imagery via modern satellites. The data fusion technology developed in-house will bring unparalleled insights and data from space, enabling satellite constellations to perform all-weather imaging at all times without atmospheric interference typical of today’s single sensor satellites. GalaxEye’s technology will enable the production of images with extremely high resolution via a small satellite constellation that, once fully operational, will provide global coverage in under 12 hours. 

“Next year is crucial for us, as we aspire to reach space with our satellite and become the leader in multi-sensor imaging for the industry, “added Singh. “We will be seeking an additional round of funding of the order of $15-25 M in 2023 to add more satellites to our constellation as our business grows. We are grateful for the immense support and guidance from the mentors, investors, industry, and customers received so far. It’s an exciting time for GalaxEye.”

Founded in 2020, GalaxEye is the brainchild of several entrepreneurs emerging from Avishkar Hyperloop, a team of scientists brought together via global competition organized by Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX. The team, which is now also funded by the Indian Railways, was the only Asian team represented at the finale of the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition and was also a part of the FalconX immersion program 2022, which was based in Silicon Valley, California.

“GalaxEye is one of the unique companies with the vision to democratize access to space for the small satellite market. Their team has a distinctive mix of domain strength and tenacity that will get them to space, making India self-reliant. This investment aligns with our vision of backing visionary founders with disruptive companies to solve global problems via tech innovations. We wish the team continued success,” said Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest.

The company previously raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round led by Speciale Invest in May 2021. This investment facilitated completing Proof of Concept and Prototype Development and Demonstration.

GalaxEye has already signed partnerships and commercial contracts with several leading organizations in the space tech ecosystem, including US-based space software provider Antaris. The company plans to continue expanding its partnerships and customer base in the coming months and has submitted a proposal to IN-SPACe seeking support from ISRO.

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ATF II will have a total corpus of INR 770 crore ($100 million) and is almost four times the size of the first fund.

The fund will continue to look at emerging opportunities in enterprise SaaS, B2B commerce, agritech, consumer tech, fintech, and health-tech. It will have a longer tenure allowing it to stay longer in companies and has a higher follow-on reserve.

The fund will also set aside 30 per cent of the new corpus for investing in ten to 12 winners from its first fund.

Axilor Technology Fund I, launched in 2018, has invested in 54 startups. ATF I has a follow-on rate of 75 per cent+ with 21 startups having already crossed Series A and beyond. Its portfolio companies include Detect, Enkash, Headfone, Locofast, Loco, Medfin, Niramai, Urban Piper, Vyapar, and Wiz.

Co-founder and CEO Ganapathy Venugopal said: “There is no better time to invest in innovation coming out of India. We have built a well-respected brand among founders and VCs. With our first fund, we have demonstrated our deep engagement model and a programmatic approach that predictably delivers better outcomes for startups. We hope to extend the same commitment and disciplined approach into our next fund to help entrepreneurs build valuable companies.”

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Exprto, India’s largest experience-sharing and mentorship network for students, has raised Rs 5 crores in a seed round led by GSF and Angel List USA; it also had Agility Ventures, Lets Venture, and Supermorpheus participating in it. Agility Ventures is a start-up investing platform that shares a passion for nurturing and investing in early-stage businesses and technology that are transforming the supply chain.   The funding-round also saw unicorn founders and angel investors participating in it, which included Rishabh Karwa (Go Mechanic), Rahul Jaimini (Swiggy), Sanka Aravind (Rapido), Rajesh Yabaji(Blackbuck), Vikas Bagaria(Pee Safe), Rahul Maroli(Zee5), Nitish MitterSain (Nazara Technologies), Dinesh Gulati (India Mart), Deep Gupta, Sahil Mahaldar and Archana Priyadarshini among others.

Varun Richharia, co-founder of Exprto, stated that the edtech start-up is going after the big whitespace opportunity which is untapped in India. He added, “The total market opportunity for ‘Mentorship as a Service’ (MAAS) in India alone is $11 billion, with $6 billion in the test prep segment only. That’s where we will create coalescence and a massive success network within the Indian student community.The evolution of Exprto continues to build on the belief that every mentor’s voice can transform and accelerate people’s career immensely, and our platform provides them with an entirely new, accessible and engaging way to do so”

The company offers mentorship services that vary in duration between 1 to 12 months range. Currently the platform offers 1-on-1 as well as cohort-based group mentorship sessions. Based on the stage of preparation that the aspirants are at, each service is personalised using their proprietary AI/ML profile-matching tech.

Rajan Chaudhary, co-founder of Exprto, feels that the company’s business model fills the gap of mentorship issues in the student community. He explained, “The Indian edtech market is primarily focused on opportunities for better teaching methodology and academic content. Despite the real advantages that such platforms have brought to students, they still struggle to achieve their exam-related objectives. These include strategies for preparation, revision, and guidance that they mostly get from senior students or from online platforms like Quora/YouTube. There is no structured approach to address the mentorship issue, but there is a clear evidence of a large market gap and the stakes are very real.”

Exprto, in the last eight months, has seen a staggering increase in gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than 23X, as well as over 18X growth in sessions of over 1 million+ minutes of mentorship. It now plans to refine the overall product and accelerate its growth by buildinga stronger team and technology with the newly-acquired funds. Product offerings will also be launched for the new market segments.

While giving reasons for funding Exprto, Rajesh Sawhney, Founder and CEO of GSF, said, “GSF is delighted to back Exprto, a fast-growing mentoring platform. Its unique business model of ‘MaaS – mentoring as a service’ is well-suited to meet the requirements of millions of aspirational students. Besides, Exprto’s founders, Varun and Rajan, are exceptional leaders and have a deep commitment committed to building a sustainable and innovative edtech platform.”

Talking about his association with edtech start-up, Dhianu Das, co-founder of Agility Ventures, said, “Exprto distinguishes itself from other edtech companies by focusing solely on an underserved market: providing high-quality mentorship to students, which is required by four out of every five students in India.”

Exprto currently has over 1,100 mentors from top Indian colleges on its platform, it plans to onboard over 10,000 new mentors in the coming months and expand into other major competitive exam segments in India.

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