India Roundup: Grocery unicorn Grofers banks fresh funds, and other news (Updated)

Update (Sept 29, 9:32 p.m.): Added news about Grofers’ fundraise, CredAvenue, Exotel, and Fantasy Akhada

Grocery delivery unicorn Grofers banks US$16.7 million in its latest round

• Online grocery delivery platform Grofers has reportedly secured US$16.7 million from existing investor KTB Ventures, lifting the valuation of the firm to US$1.01 billion.
• Last month, Grofers entered unicorn territory after raising US$100 million from Zomato.
• Following the latest investment, KTB holds a 4.4% stake in the online grocery platform. Meanwhile, SoftBank is the largest stakeholder in Grofers with 46.11% stake in the company, followed by Tiger Global, with a 17.07% stake.

Oyo faces legal hurdle ahead of IPO

• Hospitality startup Zostel (Zo Rooms) has reportedly approached the Delhi High Court alleging that Oyo’s breached a binding agreement for a buyout deal that was inked six years ago.
• Zostel’s legal counsel said the company filed an application in court last month that sought “an interim order to restrain or injunct Oyo from modifying its shareholders structure or cap table including by way of an IPO (initial public offering).”
• The legal battle comes ahead as the SoftBank-backed Oyo looks to raise about US$1 billion through its listing in India.

Grofers co-founder launches new ecommerce firm

• Saurabh Kumar, who in June took a step back from his role at Grofers, the online grocery platform, has reportedly launched a new ecommerce firm called “Warpli”
• Warpli promises to deliver products to customers within a few hours, while most other ecommerce firms take up to five days.
• Kumar also plans to raise capital for the ecommerce platform, which has been bootstrapped so far. Meanwhile, he will remain a board member and a stakeholder at Grofers and reportedly has no plans to exit.

Debt platform CredAvenue raises US$90 million in series A money

• Sequoia Capital India led the funding round, while Lightspeed, TVS Capital Funds, Lightrock, Cred, and Stride Ventures also participated.
• The startup will use the fresh capital to improve the tech on its platform including its data science infrastructure.
• Founded in 2019, CredAvenue offers an enterprise debt marketplace that connects enterprises with lenders and investors. To date, it has facilitated transactions worth US$9 billion through its platform. The company also plans to double its headcount to 700 by the end of FY 2022.

Instamojo’s ecommerce venture aims to add over 250k new subscriptions

• Fintech firm Instamojo intends to onboard over 250,000 small businesses by the end of the financial year ending 2022.
• Instamojo’s ecommerce enabler suite includes tools to help businesses with building and managing their websites, digital payments, logistics, and marketing, among others. It entered the ecommerce enabler space earlier this year with a focus on direct-to-customer brands.
• The fintech firm acquired Times Internet-backed GetMeAShop, an ecommerce enablement firm, in February 2020.

Customer engagement firm Exotel raises US$35 million in series C round

• The company raised its latest investment from IIFL AMC, Sistema Asia Fund, CX Partners and Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund. Existing investors Blume Ventures and A91 Partners also joined the round, along with former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin.
• The company plans to use the new funds to develop its product offerings.  The company said it has recorded an average recurring revenue (ARR) of US$45 million. It also aims to hit an ARR of US$200 million over the next five years. Exotel will increase its headcount by 200 over the next 12 months as well.
• Established in 2011, Exotel works with over 6,000 companies in India and overseas such as Ola, Flipkart, Gojek, HDFC Bank, Quikr, and Redmart. The latest fundraise comes months after Exotel announced a merger with Ameyo, a customer engagement platform.

Former Vodafone exec joins US$2 million round in sports platform Fantasy Akhada

• Prime Securities and Team India Managers Limited led the round, while existing investors including the family of Harsha Bhogle, former Vodafone managing director and chief executive officer Sunil Sood also took part.
• Fantasy Akhada said it will use the fresh capital to develop tech capabilities as it looks to double down on user acquisition and retention, and scale the company.
• The one-year-old fantasy sports platform said it has increased its user base to 600,000 since its last fundraise in April. Fantasy Akhada added that its annualized gross gaming revenues have seen a 21x growth over the same period.