7 rising startups in India – Jan 26, 2017

Photo credit: Wikimedia.

Japanese backing for Indian games, home tuition for next-gen math, and local snacks from the little nooks of South India: they’re among the lucky seven startups that got funded even as the winter of funding continues.

99Games

The 99Games team.

99Games, which is part of Udupi-based app development company Robosoft’s repertoire, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Japan’s Dream Incubator. Existing investors Kalaari Capital and Ascent Capital participated in the round.

Udupi is better known for its dosas than startups, but Robosoft has proved you don’t have to be in urban centers like Bangalore to hit global markets. Support from the Japanese investor is expected to boost its global ambitions by helping with market access.

See: In a small town in India, this startup has made millions

NowFloats

Hyderabad-based NowFloats helps small businesses come online and find new consumers. It has closed a series B funding round of US$10 Million from Iron Pillar and IIFL, along with existing investors Blume Ventures and Omidyar Network.

NowFloats is expanding its value proposition to handle transactions for small businesses. It is also making its automated SEO product available on the cloud for larger enterprises to integrate into their websites.

See: 45 hot software product startups from India and their cool ideas

Cuemath

The core team of Cuemath: (from left) Anushray Gupta, Nikhil Pawar, Manan Khurma, and Akshay Kumar.

Edtech startup Cuemath has raised US$15 million in series B funding from CapitalG and Sequoia Capital. CapitalG (earlier known as Google Capital) is the growth equity investment fund of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Cuemath supports after-school tutoring in math for K-8 students. It has 2,000 centers across the country run by Cuemath-certified teachers. Many of them are educated women needing a home-based career opportunity.

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