3 rising startups in India – June 7, 2016

Photo credit: Pixabay.

It’s been a million dollar day for the startups on our list in India. That’s a nice number to see in funding, and a variety of different startups have secured large amounts today, including an edtech startup that helps students teach themselves math, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that wants to help with the hassles in customer service, and a microlender that wants to help out students with thin files. Check out these startups that have received funding today.

Cuemath

Cuemath, an after school math tutor, has bagged US$4 million in a series A round of funding from Sequoia India and Unitus Seed Fund. The funds will be used to expand the program through India and to other parts of the world.

Founded by Manan Khurma in 2013, Bangalore-based Cuemath involves a learning-by-doing methodology to math tutoring for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The learning materials gamify the subject material and ideally, the child gets to practice his or her way through learning, with the instructor only there to facilitate through major problems. Teachers are curated and trained before they lead home-based teaching sessions for students.

Manan graduated from IIT-Delhi and has worked on math textbooks. He also founded Locus Education, a test prep center for engineering students, which was acquired by NHElite in late 2010.

Helpshift

Depending on where you are, “customer service” may well be a four-letter word denoting a super long wait. Many have felt the wrath of a long line in a department store or the hassle of attempting to multitask while on hold on the phone. This startup wants to get rid of that process altogether.

SaaS in-app customer service portal Helpshift has secured US$23 million from Microsoft Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, as well as existing investors Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures, and Visionnaire Ventures.

Helpshift helps collect information for developers and also has chat support for app users. It is present on 1.3 million devices and wants to grow that number to 2 billion next year. The service begins free for companies with up to 10,000 monthly active users and can go up to higher customized prices for larger enterprises.

KrazyBee

Photo credit: Betterment.

Student microloan startup KrazyBee, run by Bangalore-based Finovation Tech Solutions, has raised US$2 million from mobile ad network Yeahmobi and microloan and ecommerce company Fenqile. Both investors are based in China.

The money will be used to expand to other cities, launch an Android app, and improve the startup’s risk evaluation model.