🇮🇳 Roundup: BlackSoil pours $4.5m into 3 startups

Startups in India, including MedisimVR, Mukunda Foods, Blu-Smart Mobility, BigHaat, and LoanTap, raised at least US$12.96 million in disclosed funding today from international and local investors.

Here’s a snapshot of the fundraising:

Here’s some important tech news from India today:

Venture debt firm BlackSoil pours $4.5m into 3 startups

These startups are electric shared mobility platform Blu-Smart Mobility, agri inputs digital marketplace BigHaat, and fintech firm LoanTap.

BlackSoil currently manages an alternative credit platform boasting a loan book that has deployed over US$250 million across 120 deals, with assets under management of more than US$80 million.

Other notable investments by BlackSoil include those in Udaan, Infra.Market, Zetwerk, Oyo, and Spinny.

BNPL to account for 14% of Indian ecommerce transactions by 2026: report

According to market research by Benori Knowledge, the number of buy now, pay later transactions in India’s ecommerce market has grown 5x this year.

This comes as the payment method emerges as one of the most preferred by the country’s youth, which couples with higher consumer spending.

The Indian BNPL market could become the largest in size globally and is expected to grow 10x over the next five years to reach US$35 billion to US$40 billion by 2026.

Crypto-friendly fantasy sports platform enters India

EarnU – which entered the market ahead of the Indian Premier League 2022 – allows users to earn cryptocurrency for correct predictions on major sports and esports events.

The game is free to play for BETU token holders. They can choose to hold their tokens or enter weekly rounds, where they can earn points that can be converted to BETU tokens.