India Roundup: Temasek-backed CureFit breaks into unicorn club, and more

Temasek-backed CureFit hits US$1.5 billion valuation

• CureFit’s valuation rose after the newly-listed Zomato acquired a 6.4% stake in the company through a twin deal.
• Under the twin deal, the food delivery firm sold sports facilities provider Fitso to CureFit for US$50 million and invested US$50 million into CureFit.
• CureFit is a health and wellness platform, launched in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal, who, along with former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, co-founded fashion ecommerce platform Myntra. The latest deal comes days after Zomato took to the public market in a blockbuster listing. (Read: 8 takeaways from Zomato’s investor deck for its $1.3b IPO)

YC-backed grocery delivery firm Zepto to raise US$100 million

• The company is reportedly in talks to raise between US$100 million and US$125 million from existing and new investors at a valuation of around US$550 million.
• The potential fundraise comes days after Zepto raised US$60 million in a round led by growth equity firm Glade Brook Capital.
• The fresh investment will reportedly be used to launch Zepto’s “dark stores” across more than a dozen cities.

Sequoia joins US$28 million round in sleep solutions firm Wakefit

• US-based SIG led Wakefit’s series C round, while Sequoia Capital India and Verlinvest also took part.
• The fresh funds will be used to expand Wakefit’s omnichannel expansion plans, develop its supply chain and tech, and for marketing. The firm also plans to enter the home interiors market.
• Launched in 2015, Wakefit’s portfolio of products includes sleep accessories such as back pillows, neck support pillows, and comforters, as well as mattresses.

Ecommerce rollup Evenflow buys fitness brand

• Ecommerce rollup Evenflow acquired Xtrim, a sports and fitness firm, for an upfront price based on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) multiple. the deal also includes performance earn-outs spread out over three years.
• Evenflow expects Xtrim to grow 20x over the next three years to four years. By 2022, it expects the brand to grow by 5x.
• While Evenflow acquires online marketplace sellers for a price of US$200,000 – US$1.5 million per brand, Xtrim sells sports, fitness, and outdoor accessories such as gym gloves, joint wraps, and belts, among other things. (Read: Roll-up ecommerce flexes its muscles in India)

Temasek exec joins US$3 million round in NFT startup Lysto

• Lysto has raised fresh funds from Beenext, Better Capital, Cloud Capital, and other investors, including Pradyumna Agarwal, managing director at Temasek; Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart; and Ashish Gupta, founder of Helion Ventures.
• The funding will help Lysto with product development, ramp up hiring, and drive up the adoption of NFTs.
• Founded in 2021, Lysto builds application programming interfaces, tools, and infrastructure to enable the creation and distribution of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) across platforms.

EV Charging Platform ElectricPe nets US$3 million in seed money

• Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund led the funding round, with participation from other angel investors.
• The company will use the capital to develop its deeptech platform to enable access to affordable charging points through its application.
• Founded in May 2021, ElectricPe partners with a network of electric-vehicle (EV) charging points and independent charge point operators to provide EV users with a one-stop platform to access the charging points and track real-time usage.