Tag: 3one4 capital

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3one4 Capital, driven by contrarian bets, raises $200 million new fund

Partners of 3one4 Capital, a venture capital firm in India, recently went on a road show to raise a new fund. Within two and a half months, at the height of the worsening global economy, they had secured $200 million. It’s the fourth marquee fund for the Bengaluru-headquartered fund, whose portfolio includes four unicorn startups.

The fund, sixth overall for 3one4 Capital, was oversubscribed to $250 million but the firm is accepting only $200 million to keep itself lean and disciplined, said Pranav Pai, co-founder and partner at 3one4 Capital. The firm’s decision to limit the fund size is emblematic of its strategic choices, which have set it apart from other Indian venture firms.

“We are known to give good returns. Our performance has been benchmarked among the best leading performing funds in the space. So we asked ourselves the hard questions, can we continue our performance with a larger fund size? Do we even need that much capital for the early-stage?” said Pai in an interview with TechCrunch.

In recent years, a surge of venture capital firms in India have raised unprecedentedly large funds, sparking concerns about the responsible allocation of this capital, particularly for early-stage startups. Critics question whether there are enough viable companies in the Indian market to absorb and effectively utilize such significant investments.

Pai, pictured above, asserts that there is ample room for more Indian companies to pursue IPOs, as the nation’s IPO market has proven successful and well-regulated for institutional investors. He anticipates a transformation in India’s stock index, with an increasing number of tech companies, apps, services, fintech, and payment solutions becoming part of the index.

A look at how S&P 500 Index and Nifty 50 Index have evolved over the decades and projections for future. (Image and analysis by Mirae Asset)

Despite this, Pai acknowledges that the Indian market has yet to fully realize its potential for mergers and acquisitions. Although there has been growth in M&A activity—increasing three to four times in the past five years—it remains below expectations. For the Indian market to flourish, Pai emphasizes the need for a more robust M&A landscape.

Over the last half-decade, numerous Indian venture firms have shifted their attention to early-stage investments. Despite this increased focus, the market continues to depend on international investors to support mid- and growth-stage deals, highlighting the need for further growth in India’s venture capital ecosystem. “We have high performing mutual funds and PEs. We hope that more of these firms will launch dedicated funds for Indian startups,” he said.

Half of the capital in the new fund for 3one4 has come from Indian investors, another aspect that differentiates the firm from many of its peers. All the systemically important Indian banks, and the top five local banks by market cap overall have invested in the new fund. Eight of the top 10 mutual fund operators are also LPs in the new fund, said Pai. “We are also proud to have leading global endowments, sovereigns and insurance companies as LPs,” he said.

“We want to be India’s leading homegrown venture capital firm. We are based here, we invest here – we don’t want to invest in Southeast Asia – and our fund size and strategy are aligned with opportunities in India. As our companies have IPO-ed over the years, we have seen the importance of having India’s largest institutions working with us to help build those companies. It would be difficult if we didn’t have banks to help our companies from everything from revenue collection to payrolls. And mutual funds are buyers, book runners and market makers for IPOs and them buying the stock gives a vote of confidence to the market,” he said.

3one4, which focuses largely on early-stage and in sectors including direct-to-consumer tech, media and content, fintech, deep technology and SaaS and enterprise automation, today manages about $750 million in AUM and its portfolio includes HR platform Darwinbox, business-to-business focused neobank Open, consumer-focused neobank Jupiter, Licious, a direct-to-consumer brand that sells meat, local social networks Koo and Lokal, entertainment service Kuku FM, fintech Raise Financial, and gaming firm Loco.

3one4 Capital has gained a reputation for its contrarian investment approach, as exemplified by its early investment in Licious. Over five years ago, the prevailing opinion held that India’s price-sensitive market would not pay a premium for online meat delivery. However, Licious has since grown into one of South Asia’s largest direct-to-consumer brands, with a presence in approximately two dozen cities across India.

Another example of 3one4’s daring investments is Darwinbox, a bet made at a time when most investors doubted the ability of Indian SaaS companies to expand internationally or garner sufficient local business subscriptions.

3one4 Capital’s contrarian approach extends to the investments it has deliberately avoided as well. In 2021, amidst a frenzy of investment activity in the crypto space, nearly every fund in India sought opportunities and backed crypto startups. However, 3one4 Capital, after thorough evaluation of the sector, chose not to make any investments in crypto.

The firm, which employs 28 people, is also focusing on setting new standards in transparency and governance for itself. It’s the first VC to be a signatory to UN PRI, it said. “We have to report, behave, act and look a certain way. We have to look like the fiduciary of best institutions in the world, and then and only then we quality to tell our portfolio founders that this is how we want to create best in class companies with you,” said Pai.

3one4 Capital, driven by contrarian bets, raises $200 million new fund by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

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3one4 Capital, driven by contrarian bets, raises $200 million new fund

Partners of 3one4 Capital, a venture capital firm in India, recently went on a road show to raise a new fund. Within two and a half months, at the height of the worsening global economy, they had secured $200 million. It’s the fourth marquee fund for the Bengaluru-headquartered fund, whose portfolio includes four unicorn startups.

The fund, sixth overall for 3one4 Capital, was oversubscribed to $250 million but the firm is accepting only $200 million to keep itself lean and disciplined, said Pranav Pai, co-founder and partner at 3one4 Capital. The firm’s decision to limit the fund size is emblematic of its strategic choices, which have set it apart from other Indian venture firms.

“We are known to give good returns. Our performance has been benchmarked among the best leading performing funds in the space. So we asked ourselves the hard questions, can we continue our performance with a larger fund size? Do we even need that much capital for the early-stage?” said Pai in an interview with TechCrunch.

In recent years, a surge of venture capital firms in India have raised unprecedentedly large funds, sparking concerns about the responsible allocation of this capital, particularly for early-stage startups. Critics question whether there are enough viable companies in the Indian market to absorb and effectively utilize such significant investments.

Pai, pictured above, asserts that there is ample room for more Indian companies to pursue IPOs, as the nation’s IPO market has proven successful and well-regulated for institutional investors. He anticipates a transformation in India’s stock index, with an increasing number of tech companies, apps, services, fintech, and payment solutions becoming part of the index.

A look at how S&P 500 Index and Nifty 50 Index have evolved over the decades and projections for future. (Image and analysis by Mirae Asset)

Despite this, Pai acknowledges that the Indian market has yet to fully realize its potential for mergers and acquisitions. Although there has been growth in M&A activity—increasing three to four times in the past five years—it remains below expectations. For the Indian market to flourish, Pai emphasizes the need for a more robust M&A landscape.

Over the last half-decade, numerous Indian venture firms have shifted their attention to early-stage investments. Despite this increased focus, the market continues to depend on international investors to support mid- and growth-stage deals, highlighting the need for further growth in India’s venture capital ecosystem. “We have high performing mutual funds and PEs. We hope that more of these firms will launch dedicated funds for Indian startups,” he said.

Half of the capital in the new fund for 3one4 has come from Indian investors, another aspect that differentiates the firm from many of its peers. All the systemically important Indian banks, and the top five local banks by market cap overall have invested in the new fund. Eight of the top 10 mutual fund operators are also LPs in the new fund, said Pai. “We are also proud to have leading global endowments, sovereigns and insurance companies as LPs,” he said.

“We want to be India’s leading homegrown venture capital firm. We are based here, we invest here – we don’t want to invest in Southeast Asia – and our fund size and strategy are aligned with opportunities in India. As our companies have IPO-ed over the years, we have seen the importance of having India’s largest institutions working with us to help build those companies. It would be difficult if we didn’t have banks to help our companies from everything from revenue collection to payrolls. And mutual funds are buyers, book runners and market makers for IPOs and them buying the stock gives a vote of confidence to the market,” he said.

3one4, which focuses largely on early-stage and in sectors including direct-to-consumer tech, media and content, fintech, deep technology and SaaS and enterprise automation, today manages about $750 million in AUM and its portfolio includes HR platform Darwinbox, business-to-business focused neobank Open, consumer-focused neobank Jupiter, Licious, a direct-to-consumer brand that sells meat, local social networks Koo and Lokal, entertainment service Kuku FM, fintech Raise Financial, and gaming firm Loco.

3one4 Capital has gained a reputation for its contrarian investment approach, as exemplified by its early investment in Licious. Over five years ago, the prevailing opinion held that India’s price-sensitive market would not pay a premium for online meat delivery. However, Licious has since grown into one of South Asia’s largest direct-to-consumer brands, with a presence in approximately two dozen cities across India.

Another example of 3one4’s daring investments is Darwinbox, a bet made at a time when most investors doubted the ability of Indian SaaS companies to expand internationally or garner sufficient local business subscriptions.

3one4 Capital’s contrarian approach extends to the investments it has deliberately avoided as well. In 2021, amidst a frenzy of investment activity in the crypto space, nearly every fund in India sought opportunities and backed crypto startups. However, 3one4 Capital, after thorough evaluation of the sector, chose not to make any investments in crypto.

The firm, which employs 28 people, is also focusing on setting new standards in transparency and governance for itself. It’s the first VC to be a signatory to UN PRI, it said. “We have to report, behave, act and look a certain way. We have to look like the fiduciary of best institutions in the world, and then and only then we quality to tell our portfolio founders that this is how we want to create best in class companies with you,” said Pai.

3one4 Capital, driven by contrarian bets, raises $200 million new fund by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

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Eka Care, a startup helping digitize health records of Indian patients, raises $15 million

Eka Care, a startup that aims to digitize the health records of Indian patients, has raised $15 million in a new financing round as it looks to hire more engineers and bring additional doctors to its platform, which has amassed over 30 million registered users and 5,000 doctors.

Hummingbird Ventures led Eka Care’s Series A round, with participation from 3one4Capital, Mirae Assets, Verlinvest, Aditya Birla Ventures, Binny Bansal and Rohit MA, among others.

Founded in December 2020 by Vikalp Sahni and Deepak Tuli, who previously co-founded travel booking platform Goibibo, Eka Care allows consumers to manage their digital health records, which doctors can access using an in-house digital clinic management tool.

“I don’t see a future where you will continue to keep a large part of your health data non-digital,” Sahni said in an interview with TechCrunch.

Today, his platform is enabling close to half a million chronic patients to store their health records digitally.

“When you go to a doctor, and you have a medical record file, the doctor has to go through every page of that file, which is impossible for anyone to read through and remember,” said Tuli. “But if it’s a graph, it is easy to remember and see… That’s the fundamental difference for a doctor.”

Eka Care Founders Vikalp Sahni and Deepak Tuli

Vikalp Sahni (left) and Deepak Tuli (right)

Bengaluru-headquartered Eka Care started its journey as a record-keeping app for doctors and patients. Last year, it received approval from New Delhi’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) to allow users to create and use their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) and integrate the platform into the Unique Health Interface (UHI).

The government envisions ABDM to offer a unified digital health infrastructure. At the same time, ABHA works as an individual account to help consumers easily share their health data with doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and health tech companies. UHI, on the other hand, offers an interoperable IT network through which people can connect with different healthcare providers using their ABHA identities.

“The essence of UHI and ABDM is that public health record apps will be the health locker for patients,” Sahni said. “It is absolutely what we want for the users. So, it was a natural integration for us.”

Sahni said that while using ABDM is optional for users, Eka Care recommends consumers to create their health IDs as it enables them to share their health records to the open ecosystem.

Eka Care last year also integrated the government’s CoWIN to let its users find COVID vaccination centers and store their vaccine certificates on the platform.

Going with the government’s plan to digitize healthcare data has helped Eka Care attract the latest investment.

“We find that for any key venture investment market, timing is critical,” Akshay Mehra, India Lead, Hummingbird Ventures, told TechCrunch. “In this case, with the help of or through the government pushing ABDM, we thought that the Eka team is well positioned to execute on that strategy.”

Mehra also pointed to Sahni’s previous experience working with the government — where he was a part of the team working behind India’s contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu — as one of the reasons that convinced Hummingbird Ventures to take the investment decision.

“Outside of the competition, we don’t want to name any players, of course, but their patient-first approach is the hardest to crack,” he said.

A number of companies have embraced the government’s digitization plan in recent quarters and have started offering solutions based on the UHI. These include players such as DRiefcase, Docon and Bajaj Finserv Health.

Without explicitly naming competitors, Sahni told TechCrunch that many players still see health as a transactional journey. “We will be, at least, 50x more in terms of our MAUs, DAUs, and a total number of users that are using our platform,” he said.

The executive also pointed out that Eka Care has both patients and doctors on its platform, bringing a competitive edge over similar healthcare offerings. “Somehow due to our broader tech business edge, we have been able to leverage the tailwinds, which is of CoWIN, ABDM, the best in the market,” Sahni said.

Eka Care claims to have become the largest repository of health records in India, with over 30 million health records and 1.6 million ABHAs.

In addition to supporting the government ecosystem, the company offers a Gmail integration to store medical records directly from emails. It also allows users to upload medical documents via WhatsApp or by clicking their photos. Eka Care’s mobile app also includes a heart rate monitor feature that uses the smartphone’s camera to suggest heart rate.

Eka Care mobile app

Eka Care app on Android

Keeping sensitive health records on a digital platform often raises users’ security and privacy concerns. Eka Care claims it takes care of user security by carrying multiple measures.

“We got some really good people in our tech team. They’ve done a good job. Many of these guys have worked with me at Aarogya Setu and Goibibo as well,” said Sahni. “I have not seen any more hacking attempts ever in my life than I have seen on Aarogya Setu during my stint. And fortunately, all the learnings that we had is now we are putting it up on Eka Care.”

The company also works with external agencies and has an internal security and anonymization team to ensure the safety of user data, he said.

“There is an external agency that we have employed. They do penetration testing on our systems every month,” said Sahni. “They test us as a hacker like white hat hackers externally and try to give us any early warnings that we have done.”

Eka Care also claims that it never rents or sells user “information or data to anyone” and never uses or transfers its user data “for serving ads, including retargeting, personalised, or interest-based advertising.”

At present, Eka Care operates with a subscription-based model to generate revenues. It sells subscriptions to doctors to allow them to connect with their patients and keep their records digitally stored on the platform.

“Our objective is the doctor should be able to finish typing on the electronic medical record (EMR) in less than 30 seconds. The rest of the time, they should just talk to the patient, understand more about them, and give them more confidence,” Tuli said.

Eka Care plans to expand its revenue model and explore more avenues to monetize its offering. A part of the funding it has received in the fresh round is aimed to be used specifically for monetization experiments.

“If consumers are not willing to pay, then maybe insurance companies are willing to pay because they are taking insurance. So, there are many avenues,” Sahni said.

Eka Care is also planning to expand its workforce, which currently comprises of about 150 people, by hiring more engineers and speeding up the process of onboarding doctors. It has its sales team in 14 cities, including tier-two towns and metros, to onboard doctors. However, there are plans to expand that reach to new cities.

With the new funding, Eka Care has raised a total of $19.8 million — including $4.8 million before the current round. The exact valuation of the company after the fresh funding has not yet been disclosed. However, Tuli said it would be closer to “three-digit million dollars.”

“In Vikalp and Deepak, we are backing an exceptional team that has experience and expertise of building and scaling digital platforms,” said Ashish Dave, CEO, Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), in a statement.

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India’s Licious raises $150 million for its fresh animal protein e-commerce platform

Licious, a Bengaluru-based startup that sells fresh meat, seafood and other fresh animal protein online and which became the nation’s first direct-to-consumer brand to become a unicorn last year, said on Tuesday it has raised an additional $150 million from a set of late-stage investors in a move that appears to be a precursor to startup’s initial public offering.

The round was led by Singapore based Amansa Capital, Kotak PE and Axis Growth Avenues AIF – I. A number of existing investors as well as new set of angel investors including Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha, BoAt’s Aman Gupta and Haresh Chawla of True North also participated in the new round.

The new funding — which is an extension to the $52 million Series F disclosed last year — brings Licious’ all-time raise to $488 million, according to insight platform Tracxn.

Licious, which counts Temasek, 3One4 Capital and IIFL among its backers, operates an eponymous e-commerce platform where it sells meat and seafood in over a dozen Indian cities. The startup has built a supply chain network across several Indian cities to be able to procure meat and seafood, keep them fresh and deliver within hours of the order.

It’s among a group of growing startups that is disrupting the meat and seafood category, an area that has largely been unorganized and underserved. Analysts at Bernstein estimate that the meat and seafood market is a $40 billion opportunity.

Captain Fresh, which operates a business-to-business marketplace, earlier this month announced a $50 million fundraise that more than doubled the startup’s valuation in just three months.

“Today, Licious is the highest valued D2C start-up in India. This valuation is a direct outcome of the value that we have created for our stakeholders- investments made towards building the category have borne us rich dividends and have propelled growth for the company and its people,” said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders of Licious, in a joint statement.

“The growing interest of investors- from India and abroad alike is an added assurance that obsession with customers, quality and service standards are the pillars of the best businesses.”

The startup did not disclose any metrics today, but it has been a beneficiary of the surge in direct-to-consumer brands’ popularity amid the pandemic. In October, it said its business had grown by over 500% year-on-year.

Sharp scale up in operations of digital brands in FY21, partly pushed by COVID. (Image and analysis: Bernstein)

“We are excited to partner with Licious, India’s #1 D2C brand,” said S Sriniwasan, MD of Kotak Investment Advisors, in a statement.

“Due to Licious’ focus on quality and strong execution, its successfully creating a habituated and loyal customer base. We believe under the leadership of Abhay and Vivek, Licious is best positioned to serve the fresh meat and seafood need of India.”

This is a developing story. More to follow…

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Asia HR tech platform Darwinbox becomes unicorn with TCV-led $72 million funding

HR tech platform Darwinbox has more than tripled its valuation to become a unicorn in a new $72 million funding round as the Indian startup leads what an investor calls the “SaaSification of Asia” trend.

Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) – an investor known for backing firms such as Netflix, Meta, Spotify and Airbnb – led the Hyderabad-headquartered startup’s $72 million Series D funding.

Existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Salesforce Ventures, 3One4 Capital and SCB 10X also participated in the round, which pushes Darwinbox’s all-time raise to over $110 million and values it at over $1 billion, the six-year-old startup said.

Darwinbox operates a cloud-based human resource management platform. The startup’s eponymous platform manages the entire “hiring to retiring” cycle needs of employees. Hundreds of firms including Starbucks, Domino’s, recently-turned decacorn Swiggy, Tokopedia, Zilingo, and Kotak use the startup’s platform to handle onboarding of new hires and gaining visibility on their performance, attrition rates, and establishing an ongoing feedback loop.

The new funding follows a year of strong growth for Darwinbox. Co-founder Chaitanya Peddi told TechCrunch in an interview that the pandemic accelerated Darwinbox’s growth as firms across the globe scrambled to find tools to coordinate with – and serve – their employees.

The startup said its revenue doubled last year and grew by three times in the Southeast Asia region, which accounts for about 20% of its overall revenue.

Chaitanya Peddi (left), Rohit Chennamaneni, and Jayant Paleti co-founded Darwinbox in late 2015. (Image credits: Darwinbox)

The startup’s full-stack offering – which includes a social network for employees to stay connected with one another and an AI assistant to apply for a leave or set up meetings with quick voice commands from phones – has helped it plant its place as the only Asian startup to be featured on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for enterprise Cloud HCM.

The broad offering might explain why a third of Darwinbox’s customers today are those who previously used more established platforms by Oracle and SAP and Workday.

“We get most excited investing behind visionary founders that are fundamentally transforming large industries with a highly resonant product,” said Gopi Vaddi, General Partner at TCV, in a statement.

“I am delighted to back an outstanding team that is doing exactly that in a highly impactful, fast-evolving HR technology space and partner with them on their journey to global HCM leadership.”

Darwinbox is part of a cohort of startups that is building from Asia for the world, said Dev Khare, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “I am a strong believer in the SaaSification of Asia. I see increasing pull in the market for Asia-facing SaaS companies, a sea change from what I observed five years ago,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post in 2019.

“You may ask why SaaS for Asia needs to even exist as a category. Why can’t vendors from the US or Europe continue to dominate here? My view is these Western vendors never really dominated, but only skimmed the top of the market. What’s really happening in India/Asia is that companies that were non-users of packaged applications, or employees (e.g. blue collar workers) that were non-users of technology are now starting to leapfrog straight from paper-based and manual processes to SaaS,” he wrote.

Darwinbox plans to deploy the fresh funds to expand its team and further fuel its global expansion plans. It is also aiming to broaden its product offerings to add a number of ancillary services and solutions that enterprises can plug and play into their HR tech ecosystem.

The startup is eyeing to add some of those product offerings by the way of merging with or acquiring startups, said Peddi.

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Indian neobank Jupiter raises $86 million to launch lending and wealth management services

Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta’s consumer-focused neobank Jupiter has raised about $86 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore-based startup gears up to offer its customers lending and wealth management services.

Tiger Global, QED and Sequoia Capital India co-led the two-year-old startup’s Series C round, Gupta told TechCrunch in an interview. The new round values the startup at $711 million, up from about $300 million in its August Series B funding.

MUFG Bank, Japan’s largest bank, also invested in the new round, making its debut fintech backing in the South Asian market. Existing investors 3one4 Capital and Mirae Asset also participated in the round.

Launched in beta in June this year, Jupiter has established itself as a market-leading “100% digital bank” in India. The startup has amassed “just short of half a million users,” said Gupta. More than 65% of this user base actively transacts on the platform each month, he said.

“We are more than doubling transaction volume each month. We should end this month at over $60 million worth of transactions,” said Gupta, who previously co-founded CitrusPay, a fintech startup that was acquired by PayU.

Scores of startups in India are attempting to improve the banking experience in India today. Whether you are a teenager, or just out of college, or a working professional, or don’t have a credit score, there are firms that can get you a credit card and loan. But most of these services have a ceiling limit of some sort.

The fintech veteran is taking a broader approach to win customers by adding what he says is “delight” to the banking experience. And that bet appears to be working. Jupiter, which offers its customers a banking account as well as a debit card, is adding about 5,000 users each day and its burn is less than $1 million a month.

Reducing the friction customers face while engaging with their banks and an additional layer of offerings have helped neobanks make inroads in several markets in recent years. The top 20 neobanks globally have about 180 million customers, analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note earlier this month. This figure “may appear small overall, but the number is growing fast,” they wrote.

Gupta said the startup now has more than $145 million in its bank. It has yet to deploy any capital it raised from its previous round — which eventually ballooned to $50 million. Moreover, it has yet to tap nearly half of the $25 million fund it raised in its Series A round two years ago.

He said Jupiter, which employs about 300 people, is focusing on developing new services for its customers. By April, the startup plans to offer its customers a lending feature. Next year, it will also launch investment products.

“We have sufficient capital to use. We are confident to reach at least 2 million users by the end of next year,” he said.

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India’s Licious raises $192 million for international expansion

Licious, a Bangalore-based startup that sells fresh meat and seafood online, has raised $192 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its footprint beyond the South Asian market.

The new round — a Series F — was led by Singapore’s investment firm Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. The round, which brings the six-year-old Indian firm’s to-date raise to over $285 million, values the startup at more than $650 million (according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter), up from $285 million in December 2019 Series E funding.

Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Growth Fund, and Vertex Ventures also participated in the new round, and some early investors sold some of their stakes.

Licious operates an eponymous e-commerce platform where it sells meat and seafood in over a dozen Indian cities. The startup has built a supply chain network across several Indian cities to be able to procure meat and seafood, keep them fresh, and deliver within hours of the order.

In recent months, the startup says it has accelerated its growth as people increase their protein consumption in a bid to improve their immunity.

It didn’t disclose exact figures, but said the startup has seen a 500% growth in the past 12 months and delivered to more than 2 million unique customers.

“This is just the beginning in our pursuit of building an exemplary and iconic tech-led D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand,” said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura in a joint statement Friday.

According to industry estimates, India’s online meat market is worth over $4.4 billion and has grown by over 2.5x since the pandemic hit last year.

Licious, which competes with FreshToHome, plans to deploy the fresh capital to expand to “multiple geographies,” it said, without identifying any market. The startup is also making investments to broaden its tech and supply chain networks, it said.

The startup’s co-founders have “revolutionised the purchase of poultry, seafood and meat in the country delighting customers with their promise of quality, freshness and timely delivery,” said Sridhar Sankararaman, MD, Multiples.

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India’s Licious raises $192 million for international expansion

Licious, a Bangalore-based startup that sells fresh meat and seafood online, has raised $192 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its footprint beyond the South Asian market.

The new round — a Series F — was led by Singapore’s investment firm Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. The round, which brings the six-year-old Indian firm’s to-date raise to over $285 million, values the startup at more than $650 million (according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter), up from $285 million in December 2019 Series E funding.

Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Growth Fund, and Vertex Ventures also participated in the new round, and some early investors sold some of their stakes.

Licious operates an eponymous e-commerce platform where it sells meat and seafood in over a dozen Indian cities. The startup has built a supply chain network across several Indian cities to be able to procure meat and seafood, keep them fresh, and deliver within hours of the order.

In recent months, the startup says it has accelerated its growth as people increase their protein consumption in a bid to improve their immunity.

It didn’t disclose exact figures, but said the startup has seen a 500% growth in the past 12 months and delivered to more than 2 million unique customers.

“This is just the beginning in our pursuit of building an exemplary and iconic tech-led D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand,” said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura in a joint statement Friday.

According to industry estimates, India’s online meat market is worth over $4.4 billion and has grown by over 2.5x since the pandemic hit last year.

Licious, which competes with FreshToHome, plans to deploy the fresh capital to expand to “multiple geographies,” it said, without identifying any market. The startup is also making investments to broaden its tech and supply chain networks, it said.

The startup’s co-founders have “revolutionised the purchase of poultry, seafood and meat in the country delighting customers with their promise of quality, freshness and timely delivery,” said Sridhar Sankararaman, MD, Multiples.

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Tiger Global leads $30 million investment in Indian Twitter rival Koo

Investors are backing Koo, an Indian alternative to Twitter, with large size checks at a time when tension is brewing between the American social network and New Delhi.

The Indian startup said on Wednesday it has raised $30 million in a financing round led by Tiger Global Management. Mirae Asset, IIFL’s venture capital fund and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures, and Accel also participated in the round, which valued the Bangalore-based startup at over $100 million, up from about $25 million in February.

Like Twitter, Koo app allows users to publish posts in English and half a dozen Indian languages. Its interface, logo, and social sharing mechanism are strikingly similar to those of Twitter.

The app has gained popularity in India in recent months following flare-ups between Twitter and the Indian government after the San Francisco-headquartered firm refused to block accounts that criticized New Delhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year.

(The Indian government, like Singapore’s, also ordered Twitter and Facebook last week to take down posts that identified a new variant of the coronavirus as “Indian variant”. Also last week, New Delhi objected to Twitter’s labeling of some of its politicians’ tweets as manipulated media. Earlier this week, police in Delhi visited Twitter offices to “serve a notice.”)

Screenshots of Koo app

Several prominent government officials — including Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, Union Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad — and many celebrities have signed up on Koo in recent months and urged their followers to follow suit.

Though the app — co-founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna (who also co-founded TaxiForSure, which was sold to local giant Ola; and is a prolific angel investor) — has won the trust of investors, it is yet to gain ground.

Koo app, which was launched last year, had fewer than 6.5 million monthly active users in India in April, according to mobile insight firm App Annie (data of which an industry executive shared with TechCrunch).

The startup says it aims to build a social network for the entire nation and not just a fraction of it. Twitter remains largely popular among users in urban cities in India.

Koo, whose initial traction has been credited to Hindu nationalists, is currently one of the handful of social networks that has complied with India’s new IT rules that grant New Delhi greater power to take down posts it deems offensive.

The revised IT rules, announced in February, would put an end to “double standards” by making platforms more accountable to the local law, government officials said then. Failure to comply might bereft social networks of safe harbor protection they enjoy.

The deadline to comply with the new rules expires on Wednesday. Facebook, which identifies India as its largest market, said it “aims to comply” with the new rules, while Google said in a statement that it “respects” India’s legislative process.

Koo is the latest investment from Tiger Global in India this year. The hedge fund, which has backed over 20 Indian unicorns, has emerged as the most prolific investor in Indian startups in recent months, winning founders with its pace of investment, check size, and favorable terms.