Finzy, a peer to peer lending platform, has raised $1.3 million in first round of pre-Series A from undisclosed group of investors.

A second round of fundraising is expected to close with pre-identified set of investors within the next 60 days, the company said in a statement.

Finzy will use the funding to accelerate growth by investing in technology, making the processes leaner and faster and in building the team. A significant amount of the funding will also be utilised for geographical expansion across tier I cities to take finzy’s value proposition to a wider audience.

Started last year in Bangalore, Finzy helps connect verified borrowers looking for an affordable personal loan with investors looking to invest in a new risk-optimised asset class through a proprietary credit assessment algorithm and granular diversification.

Commenting on the development, Amit More, CEO and Founder, Finzy, said: “Our investors firmly believe in the team, our product positioning and scalability of solution that we offer to our lenders and borrowers. We have maintained a very focused customer centric approach while designing our products and processes, as a result in our first 10 months of operations we do not have a single default in any borrower EMI.”

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Bangalore-based SmartQ, which provides digitisation services for food courts and cafeterias, today announced that it has raised close to $1 million from an investor group, led by a consortium of Dubai-based investors.

Existing investor YourNest also participated in this round.

The foodtech startup intends to use the funds to expand in India and globally, strengthen the team. It also plans to roll out new products.

Additionally, Anvita Varshney, former Managing Director of Lazada group, has joined as the Board of Advisors for SmartQ.

Founded in 2014 by Krishna Wage and Abhishek Ashok, SmartQ provides integrated digital cafeteria experience across different sectors, including corporates, malls, multiplexes, stadiums, hospitals and colleges. It transforms any conventional cafeteria into one that is completely digital and cashless.

By offering completely customised 360-degree digital cafeteria solutions with multiple ordering channels like mobile application and automated billing kiosks, SmartQ helps in improving consumers’ experience while saving their time and cost.

SmartQ claims it has been growing 50 per cent month-on-month and clocks over 1,00,000+ transactions every day.

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Doodhwala, a subscription-based micro delivery service for fresh groceries, has received a seed investment of $2.2 million from VC firm Omnivore in return for a minority stake.

The funding comes less than a year after the company raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Thomas Varkey, a partner at Stonehill Capital in the US.

The new financing will go towards expanding Doodhwala’s service into new markets, funding talent acquisition and upgrading technology.

Founded in 2015 by Aakash Agarwal and Ebrahim Akbari, Doodhwala is a micro-delivery service working directly with farms and dairies to ensure delivery of fresh groceries, which have a short shelf life but high consumption pattern.

The startup offers a variety of milk, dairy, groceries, fresh poultry, veggies, fruits and household essentials at MRP. Doodhwala shoppers set a subscription schedule and receive their groceries for the day promptly before 7am.

Currently operating in Bangalore and Pune, Doodhwala has over 4 lakh month deliveries. 

Aakash Agarwal, Co–founder of Doodhwala, said: “Doodhwala’s unique business structure benefits customers, dairies and supermarkets. It makes farm-to-fork viable by taking over sales, marketing, logistics, and fulfilment for producers. Additionally, we are expected to scale easily due to our capital effective model, paired with the high demand for milk, and a need for regulated milk supply.”

“By lowering our delivery cost to Rs 3, Doodhwala is uniquely positioned in a market where other players are struggling. We have done a great job of maintaining a steady month-on-month growth rate while scoring a 85 per cent-plus customer retention,” said Ebrahim Akbari, Co–founder, Doodhwala.

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Bangalore-based fashion e-commerce company Myntra today announced that it has acqui-hired InLogg, a technology platform that provides logistics solutions for the ecommerce sector. As part of the acquisition, the team at InLogg has been inducted into Myntra, making it an acqui-hire that will further strengthen and expand Myntra’s supply chain capabilities.

InLogg was founded in 2015 by a team with first hand expertise in fulfillment, technology and business, with an aim to standardize the process of logistics in remote areas and bring in efficiency. To enable reach, the InLogg platform has onboarded local and regional courier players in multiple states across the country. The company stitches composite supply chain using multiple regional logistics players to provide a pan India delivery network.

Over 50% of the e-commerce and retail business in India is contributed by tier 2, 3 and 4 cities and towns. With limited logistical capability and reliability in these areas, InLogg devised a solution to bridge the gap with technology. InLogg is uplifting technology sophistication of regional courier companies by providing SaaS for shipment lifecycle management, mobile apps for pickup, delivery, returns, Cash on Delivery reconciliation, reporting and analytics. This helps in standardizing the logistics fulfillment process and providing needed visibility. With this acquisition, Myntra will be able to strengthen its logistics capability with an expanded reach and improved customer experience.

Ananya Tripathi, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, Myntra, said “The Inlogg acqui-hire with the platform and capabilities will help us scale while delivering great customer experience in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities. It will allow us to leverage local and regional players to enhance our reach, reduce delivery time and develop a plug and play model which can be scaled in the future.”

Ambarish Kenghe, Chief Product Officer, Myntra, said “With the implementation of GST, launch of Value added services and continued focus on efficiency in FY18, has led to SCM becoming one of the most exciting areas where we will continue to invest for the future”

InLogg is Myntra’s fourth technology led acquisition. Myntra has previously acqui-hired Cubeit, Native5, and Fitiquette.

Picture credit: Pixabay

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Bangalore-based venture capital firm Exfinity Venture Partners has made the final close of its second fund at Rs.300 crore (approximately $44 million).

According to a press statement, the fund saw participation from CXOs, marquee industrialists, family offices, UHNIs and institutions invested in this .

Exfinity was started in 2013 by industry veterans such as TV Mohandas Pai, Deepak Ghaisas, Girish Paranjpe, Balakrishnan V, and Rajiv Kuchhal. The fund mainly invests in Indian companies with a focus on US market. Its preferred verticals are cloud, analytics, mobility, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and cyber security.

“Our fund thesis of investing in deep tech product/IP companies in the enterprise technology space resonated well with our investors. We received strong commitments from high quality marquee investors. Our deal flow is proprietary and we have strong conviction about the approach we are taking that is manifested in our fund thesis,” said V. Balakrishnan, Chairman, Exfinity.

Shailesh Ghorpade, Managing Partner and CIO said: “Exfinity works closely with the portfolio companies in bringing to bear its network and perspectives on strategy, organisation design, go-to-market decisions, capital raising, etc.,which entrepreneurs appreciate.”

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