12 rising startups in India – Dec 28, 2016

This may be the end of a (relatively) tough year when it comes to fund flow for startups. According to venture capital intelligence tracker Tracxn, Indian startups raised funding of only US$3.89 billion in total in 2016. In comparison, startups raised a total of US$7.54 billion last year.

But quite a few startups are still standing to celebrate the holiday season, announcing funding rounds from seed funding to series Bs. Read on to find out who these happy startups are.

10i Commerce

Ecommerce is still an urban phenomenon in India. And just over a quarter of India’s 1.2 billion population lives in its top cities. The rest are still shopping at the brick-and-mortar stores that dot Indian towns and cities. That’s what got Bangalore-based startup 10i Commerce to build ShopX. ShopX gives tech muscle to traditional retailers. Its aim is to make “products, content, and services available to the 600 million consumer mass market in India.”

The startup recently raised US$5 million from Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. Nandan had invested an undisclosed amount in 10i earlier as well. 10i’s mission fits squarely into Nandan’s area of interest – digitalizing non-urban India. He headed India’s unique ID project, Aadhaar, and is one of the masterminds of the government’s Digital India program.

Reports say 10i is Nandan’s biggest startup investment so far. Last year, he invested US$7.5 million in Mumbai-based auto parts company Sedemac Mechatronics. 10i was founded by Amit Sharma and Apoorva Jois, who had earlier built niche ecommerce firm Go Untucked.

See: 25 failed startups in India this year and what you can learn from them

Shadowfax

Hyperlocal delivery startup Shadowfax has raised US$10 million in series B funding from Eight Roads Ventures, an investment arm of Fidelity International. It had raised US$8.5 million from the same investor last year.

The investment comes at a time when several food and grocery delivery startups have become unsustainable because of poor margins and a funding squeeze. Shadowfax diversified from food delivery to enter the ecommerce, pharmacy, and grocery delivery verticals to improve its unit economics.

The startup was founded by Abhishek Bansal and his college mate Vaibhav Khandelwal in May 2015. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Zishaan Hayath of Powai Lake Ventures, and Prashant Malik of Limeroad pumped in the seed round of funding for Shadowfax.

See: Meet the new Bansal making waves in Indian ecommerce

Dekkho

ShopKirana

Pandorum

The Postbox

Innoplexus

Zoomcar

ChatterOn

Supr Daily

GetBike

EventsHigh