2 rising startups in India… and some rumors

Photo credit: Chris Isherwood.

It looks like we all agree, there are too many damn mobile wallets on the market. An app that aggregates all of them for small and medium businesses got funding today, as well as an office assistant app named Alex.

Skedool

Skedool raised an undisclosed amount of money today from investors including Kludein LLC and the founder of RedBus, Phanindra Sama. It’s an office assistant app powered by an artificial intelligence bot named Alex. The money will be used for product development and operations.

The market for AI apps is full of competition, but Skedool is unique in the office space. “Simply email Alex from wherever you are and consider it done,” reads the company’s website.

MoMark

Photo credit: Meena Kadri.

MoMark, a startup that lets small and medium business owners accept payments from any mobile wallet, raised US$600,000 from YourNest Angel fund and the LNB Group today.

It provides its users with several features, including the ability to track customer analytics and push digital coupons and claims to be operational across 58 cities.

Rumors

Photo credit: London Scout.

There were a few funding rumors floating around today.

Systemantics, a company that makes industrial robots, reportedly received US$1.38 million in funding today from Accel Partners and the co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani. Some sources explain that this is old news getting recycled and neither of the investors has confirmed the investment publicly.

Also in the news today was Jabong, Rocket Internet’s foray into ecommerce in India. It reportedly raised another round of US$15 million from its existing investors, Global Fashion Group (GFG). Most reports are cynical of this rumored round, explaining that it’s GFG’s way of keeping the ecommerce company afloat for another year.

Converted from Indian rupees. US$1 = INR 67.36