India Roundup: Temasek may lead Shiprocket’s $200m round, and other news

Temasek may lead Shiprocket’s upcoming US$200 million round

• Logistics aggregator Shiprocket is in talks with Temasek to lead a new US$200 million round, reported The Economic Times.
• The upcoming round could see the valuation of the startup soar to US$800 million.
• Shiprocket reportedly plans to use the funding to further grow the company and to acquire startups operating in sectors such as automation.

Edtech firm CollegeDekho secures US26.5 million in series B round

• Lead investor: Winter Capital Partners, ETS Strategic Capital
• Other investors: Calega, Man Capital, and others
• Stage: Series B
• Funds used for: Improving services, and investment in product and technology, among others
• About the startup: Founded in 2015, CollegeDekho has provided counselling to more than 2 million students to date, and worked with more than 750 colleges. It had last raised US$8 million in funding in May 2019.

Fintech firm WeRize bags US$8 million series A money

• Lead investors: 3one4 Capital, Picus Capital, Kalaari Capital, and Orios Ventures
• Stage: Series A
• About the startup: WeRize offers a range of credit, group insurance and savings products. The two-year-old startup says it has registered a revenue growth of 10x in the last year and expects to be EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) positive by 2022.

Agritech startup Intello Labs nets US$5 million

• AI-driven Intello Labs has raised US$5 million in a round led by Avaana Capital, Entrackr reports.
• Saama Capital, Nexus Ventures, and Omnivore Partners also participated in the round.
• In May 2020, the startup raised US$5.9 million in a series A funding round, which was led by Saama Capital.

Drone delivery startup TechEagle raises US$500k in seed round

• Lead investor: India Accelerator
• Other investors: Vinners Group and Sitics Logistics
• Stage: Seed
• Funds used for: Launching new indigenous products, scaling up operations in India, and hiring more talents
• About the startup: Founded in 2015, TechEagle is one of the first companies in India to receive government and regulatory approvals to conduct beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) trials for package delivery via drones.

Google-backed Cuemath offers content free for a year

• Edtech firm Cuemath has made some of its content free for a year, Bloomberg reported.
• The premium content, which can normally be accessed for US$299 a year, will be available for free to subscribers who invite two new users to the platform.
• The company is on course to hit US$100 million in revenue in “a year or two,” doubling its current revenue of US$50 million, according to Cuemath co-founder Manan Khurma.

Government plans US$3.5 billion incentive to boost clean auto tech

• The Indian government will shell out US$3.5 billion in incentives to auto companies over the next five years under an updated scheme that focuses on the manufacturing and export of cleantech vehicles, Reuters reports.
• The original plan proposed US$8 billion in incentives for auto firms and parts manufacturers with extra benefits for electric vehicles.
• India reportedly revised the plan to zero in on electric and hydrogen-based vehicles, a move seen as a precursor to the imminent arrival of Tesla in the country.