5 rising startups in India

Hyperlocal delivery startup Grofers hogged the headlines today by securing US$120 million in funding. But others like Goqii and KountMoney also made merry. Here are the five startups that caught our eye today.

Grofers

Grofers, a startup that delivers groceries and other products from local stores to customers on demand, has snapped up US$120 million in a series C funding round led by Japan’s SoftBank.

Others who took part in the round were Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and Apoletto Managers. This was the third funding for Grofers this year, and one of the largest investments at this stage raised by any Indian tech startup. The company was founded by Saurabh Kumar and Albinder Dhindsa in 2013 and now delivers over 120,000 products.

See: Grofers bags big bucks from SoftBank

KountMoney

KountMoney, an online lending marketplace, today announced an undisclosed amount of seed funding from angel investors, through TracxnSyndicate.

The Bangalore-based startup promises to make it easier to get personal loans as India’s loan market grows at 20 percent. KountMoney is targeting the unsecured loans segment.

“Currently, the unsecured loan market is unorganized and credit underwriting of banks and financial institutions is not up to the mark,” says Abhishek Periwal, co-founder of KountMoney. Periwal is an IIT-Kanpur graduate and was a business analyst at Flipkart.

See: KountMoney tackles India’s archaic credit rating system for loans

GOQii

Wearable and fitness technology startup Goqii, started last year by Indian entrepreneur Vishal Gondal, has raised US$13.4 million in series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

The round also saw participation from Cheetah Mobile, Great Wall Club (GWC), DSG Consumer Partners, as well as Ilkka Paananen, CEO and co-founder of Finnish gaming startup Supercell, angel investor Pravin Gandhi and Gondal himself.

Headquartered in California with offices in Mumbai and Shenzhen, Goqii’s technology allows users to access fitness services by logging into a common platform. “We are now planning to replicate this success in key markets of China and the US,” says Gondal who had earlier founded game development and publishing company Indiagames.

Stelae Technologies

Stelae Technologies, a software vendor based in Chennai and Bangalore, today announced pre-series A funding led by Earlsfield Capital. Former Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai and Cross Border Angels also participated in the round.

The company’s software Khemeia detects content elements in unstructured data and extracts business intelligence from it.

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