4 rising startups from India

Photo Credit: 401(K) 2012

The Indian startup ecosystem continues to expand in terms of both geography and funding. Here is a look at what happened today.

Stylofie

Gurgaon-based Stylofie.com, a three-month-old beauty and wellness startup, has raised US$250,000 in seed funding from Hong Kong-based company Swastika. Stylofie is an online marketplace through which consumers can discover salons and spas near them, read reviews and ratings of services, compare prices, book appointments, and get discounts.

Stylofie was founded by two MBA graduates – Prateek Agarwal (who has worked with Airtel, Videocon, and Telecom Oman) and Saurav Dey (previously with Ingersoll-Rand, Accenture, and Genpact) – after a midnight conversation about starting something of their own.

Wigzo

Delhi-based Wigzo, a marketing automation startup, raised a pre-series-A round of US$500,000 from Aarin Capital Partners and Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education.

Wigzo was founded by four former media and software professionals: Umair Mohammed, Himanshu Kaushik, Shamail Tayyab, and Vikrant Khushu two years ago.

The startup is involved with content marketing for brands using data management.

CanvasFlip

Bangalore-based CanvasFlip, a consumer experience research startup has been selected Google’s Blackbox Connect in Silicon Valley. It is a two-week residential program to introduce startups to the culture in the Valley.

“We are looking forward to have many discussions and mentorship sessions scheduled as part of the program to execute our product and growth exercises. This is our first step to establish our presence in Silicon Valley,” says Manish Jha, CTO and founder at CanvasFlip.

Manish, 27, hails from Lucknow in northern part of India and is an engineer who has worked with Deloitte.

Butterfly

Delhi-based online marketplace Butterfly Interactive has raised an undisclosed amount in angel round funding from a group of Delhi-based angel investors. The startup is a marketplace for hobbies and extracurricular activities. Its app is available on Android and iOS.
Butterfly Interactive was launched by former management professional Luv Gupta in August of this year. The app allows you to book a class or activity based on your location and preferred time.