5 rising startups in India – Oct. 2, 2016

Photo credit: dasha11 / 123RF.

Today’s list includes a startup headed by Ola and Flipkart execs.

InstaCar

Taxi app Instacar has secured US$1 million in seed funding from Hong Kong-based Swastika Company.

Located in Indore in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the startup aggregates cars and tests drivers with a 15-point check, background verification, and a monthly audit of cars. Riders get snacks, water bottles, and tissues, shares co-founder Priyanshi Choubey.

Priyanshi, along with Ishan Vyas and Anurag Gupta, founded Instacar. Priyanshi has her MBA in ecommerce. Instacar is Ishan’s second venture – he also runs Indore mobile app development firm Aspricot. Anruag is an IIM Kolkata grad and runs the Shear Genius salon chain.

Swastika has invested in a number of Indian startups in the past year, including used book site AbeRuk, online property rental company SimplyMoveIn, deals startup PocketIn, personal services app DoneThing, on-demand laundry service HelloDhobi, edtech firm Makkajai, and beauty and wellness startup Stylofie.

Fastudent

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Noida-based education ecommerce marketplace Fastudent has raised pre-series A funding from Fireside Ventures founder Kanwaljit Singh, former Vertex Venture Director Ajay Lakhotia, and former SoftBank Director Pavan Ongole.

Ashoka University trustee Ashish Gupta, who is also the former COO of eValueServe, also participated in the round. Ashish previously contributed to the startup’s angel round.

Founded by Gaurav Barman and Geetanjali Khanna, Fastudent has education supplies on sale online. It will put the funding toward expanding the tech, as well as moving into Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, and other locations. It currently serves the Delhi NCR and oversees deliveries from order to last-mile delivery.

The startup claims to have a consumer base of 1.2 million students and to have serviced over 90,000 orders. Its supplies cover 32 categories – 100,000 products across 500 brands – including books, stationery, digital learning, branded merchandise, augmented reality, uniforms, and shoes.

Pianta

Photo credit: rmarmion / 123RF.

Promon

Canvs