India Roundup: Skeps nets $9.5m series A money, Codingal bags $1.2m, and more

Cloud-based fintech platform Skeps raises US$9.5 million in series A money

• Lead investor: Bertelsmann India Investments
• Returning investor: Accel
• Stage: Series A
• Funds used for:  Operational activities and growing its engineering and product teams
• About the startup: Founded in 2018, Skeps is a cloud-based modular platform used by merchants and lenders to help identify potential credit solutions for customers. The startup deploys private blockchain technology to combine information across multiple platforms.

Edtech startup Codingal nets US$1.2 million in seed round

• Lead investors: Y Combinator, Summer Capital, Day One Syndicate, and Rebright Partners
• Other investors: Angel investors Nate Lipscomb, senior product counsel at YouTube, Ganesh Rengaswamy, managing partner at Quona Capital, and Peter Weck, co-founder of Simply Hired and StoryJumper.
• Stage: Seed
• About the startup: Launched in September 2020, Codingal caters to K12 students in school. They are taught coding via live classes conducted by trained teachers who are experts at programming with a computer science background. The startup has partnered with institutions like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IIT Roorkee, and BITS Pilani, among others. In November last year, Codingal raised US$560,000 in an angel round. The company is part of Y Combinator’s winter 2021 batch.

Investment platform Altius Investech lands US$821k in seed money

• Investors: Undisclosed
• Stage: Seed
• Funds used for: Investing in technology, increasing working capital, and establishing offices in India and overseas
• About the startup: Founded in 2002, Altius facilitates the buying and selling of unlisted, pre-public listing, and privately held shares. It curates investment opportunities in companies with reasonable valuations that are on the verge of stock market debut by providing research and an investment thesis, along with a time-bound exit plan.

Housekeeping robots firm Peppermint bags US$684k in fresh financing

• Lead investor: Venture Catalysts and Indian Angel Network
• Other investors: Vinners Group and other angel investors
• Stage: Unspecified
• Funds used for: Developing its current production facility and ramping up manufacturing capacity, research and development, and scaling its business across India and the Middle East
• About the startup: Founded in 2019, Peppermint provides industrial floor-cleaning robots that help in automating housekeeping and service operations across warehouses, airports, offices, and public spaces, among others. The robots clean floors through physical scrubbing, chemicals, and ultraviolet light.

Cybersecurity company SecLogic scores undisclosed funding in pre-seed round

• Lead investor: Spanache.vc
• Other investor: India Accelerator
• Stage: Pre-seed
• Funds used for: Developing its existing product portfolio, aiming to log a consolidated revenue of over US$$30 million by the end of 2024
• About the startup: Founded in 2020, SecLogic offers chief experience offers roadmaps for adopting cybersecurity. the startup’s services include cloud security, people assessment, simulation, and training.