4 rising startups in India

(Photo Credit: Ewan Munro)

You could say hot and Yumist! India’s much maligned food tech sector got a thumbs up today. There was action in analytics too, as Jigsaw Academy made news. Here are the four startups that made it to our list.

BlackBuck

Bangalore based business-to-business (B2B) logistics startup BlackBuck has raised series B funding of US$25 million from Accel Partners, Flipkart, Tiger Global, and Apoletto Asia backed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

BlackBuck was founded in January by two Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur graduates and former employees at tobacco firm ITC – Rajesh Yabaji, 27, and Chanakya Hridaya, 26. The third cofounder – Rama Subramaniam, 42 – was a former executive at MieBach Consulting. The company acts as a marketplace of truck owners.

See: Will Flipkart’s $25m funding in BlackBuck fuel the logistics war with Snapdeal-GoJavas?

Yumist

Food tech startup Yumist has bitten off US$2 million in a pre-series A round led by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala’s fund Unilazer Ventures. Existing investor Orios Venture Partners and Valley-based investor Steven Lurie also took part in the funding.

Yumist was dished out a year ago by by Alok Jain and Abhimanyu Maheshwari in Gurgaon and has quickly expanded to Delhi and Bangalore. It serves home-style daily meals priced at INR 65 (around US$1) and above, and these can be ordered via app or website.

The funding comes as a silver lining for the food-tech sector which has seen several firms shutting shop or slimming down in India.

“While everyone was writing off food-tech in India, we kept our heads down and focused on building a profitable, scalable business while staying true to the customer problem. This approach helped us grow organically and maintain a low cash burn,” says Abhimanyu, founder and COO at Yumist.

The fresh funds will be used to build the team, expand its footprint and create a brand.

“Yumist is solving a core problem in one of the largest food and beverages markets in India. They come with the right skill sets and have demonstrated a good understanding of the market and solid execution capabilities,” said Ronnie.

Jigsaw Academy

Jigsaw Academy, which offers online courses in analytics, has received INR 200 million (US$3 million) in funding from Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE), the company said in a press release.

The Bangalore-based company will use the fresh funds to expand its offerings and penetrate new markets, say Gaurav Vohra and Sarita Digumarti who co-founded Jigsaw in 2011.

“We believe there is great potential in the analytics and big data training market in India and abroad. This funding will help us take bigger steps in the global market while opening up more corporate training opportunities,” Gaurav said.

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