4 rising startups in India – Dec. 19, 2016

Photo credit:lucato / 123RF.

Christmas is right around the corner, and these startups have met Santa a week early. Real estate, media, healthtech, and some bling, of course.

Nobroker

Akhil (left) and Amit, co-founders of NoBroker.Photo credit: NoBroker.

Bangalore-based online house-hunting startup NoBroker raised US$7 million as part of its series B round. As the name suggests, the startup wants to change the real estate market in India by offering house hunters and house owners a way to transact without the interference of, well, brokers.

The funding round was led by Korea’s KTB Network. Existing investors SAIF Partners, BEENEXT, and Digital Garage also participated in the funding.

Founded in 2014, NoBroker says it has served 1.5 million customers to date, adding more than 100,000 new registered customers each month. This results in savings of US$3 million in brokerage fees monthly.

“Our aim is to use these funds to expand rapidly and move towards becoming the number one online real estate player in India in terms of closed transactions in next 24 months” co-founder Akhil Gupta says. That means it has to overtake Commonfloor, Housing, Magicbricks, and a host of other rivals active in the market.

The difference? NoBroker says a typical rental transaction would cost two months brokerage and a resale transaction used to cost buyers and sellers a combined four to six per cent of the deal value as brokerage. NoBroker skips this transaction cost altogether.

The company even got attacked by local brokers last year over its business model.

VivoCarat

Ritesh Oza CEO & & Abhijith Shetty, COO , at VivoCarat. Photo credit: VivoCarat.

Bling is in the air as VivoCarat, an online jewellery marketplace, raised US$50,000 in seed funding from a group of investors. VivoCarat competes with Caratlane and Bluestone, but sells branded jewelry and doesn’t own inventory.

Founded in early 2016, it adds 100 to 150 new designs on the site every month. “VivoCarat has successfully managed to join hands with more than 30 reputed brands across Mumbai and other cities like Jaipur, Surat, Kolkata, and New Delhi.” says CEO Ritesh Oza.

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