7 rising startups in India – April 29, 2017

Photo credit: Susan Nilsson

Three healthcare startups make the cut in this roundup of rising Indian startups that have raised funding in a tough environment. The biggest funding round for a co-working space and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s backing of a gaming startup are other highlights.

Awfis

Sequoia India has bet US$20 million on co-working space Awfis in a series A round. This is the biggest funding round in India for co-working spaces, and Sequoia is the solo investor. The round is bigger than the combined capital raised by the remaining top 10 highest funded co-working startups in India, which gives Awfis the opportunity to take the lead.

Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Blume Ventures, Anthill Ventures, and Facebook have backed other Indian co-working spaces like Innov8, BHive, 91Springboard, and MyHQ. “Awfis is playing on two significant global trends – sharing economy and communities. This being delivered through a superior user experience at a lower total cost makes it more exciting,” says Abhay Pandey, managing director with Sequoia India.

See: Sequoia goes solo in India’s largest funding for co-working spaces, heralds a shakedown

Mech Mocha

Photo credit: Mech Mocha.

Shunwei Capital, founded by Xiaomi boss Lei Jun, has led a series A investment of US$5 million along with Accel Partners in Bangalore-based gaming startup Mech Mocha. Early investor Blume Ventures also participated in the round.

Even though monetization has been hard so far in the Indian market for mobile games, there’s been a surge in downloads of games, with India climbing to fifth globally. The ongoing smartphone boom has encouraged investors to back Mech Mocha to take the lead in the market. Shunwei Capital made a debut in India earlier this year with an investment in used car marketplace Truebil.

See: Xiaomi founder’s Shunwei invests in Indian gaming startup amid smartphone boom

Niramai

Bangalore-based healthcare AI startup Niramai has raised seed funding led by Pi Ventures, with participation from Axilor Ventures, 500 Startups, Ankur Capital, and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal. The startup is also part of the current summer batch of Axilor accelerator.

Niramai uses machine learning and artificial intelligence, with cloud-based software, to make breast cancer screening more accessible and affordable. It uses a low-cost device that takes high-resolution thermal images which require no radiation. Artificial intelligence is applied to the images on the cloud to detect breast cancer.

See: Half the work people do can be automated: McKinsey

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