3 rising startups in India – August 25, 2016

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A car rental startup gets an American boost, an Internet of Things (IoT) startup sets its sights on smartwatches, and a city discovery platform looks to New York for its next move. Check out these funded startups.

Zoomcar

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Ford Smart Mobility, part of the popular US automaker that bears its name, has led a US$24 million round of funding for car rental startup Zoomcar. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, and Empire Angels also participated.

Zoomcar rents out several kinds of vehicles and includes fuel, insurance, and roadside assistance for customers.

In a statement, the company said that Ford is the biggest vehicle supplier for the startup.

The funding will be invested toward getting 25,000 vehicles for rent into 25 cities by 2018. It will also increase vehicle offerings at airports and promote its Zoomcar Associate Program, which allows people to purchase cars on the startup’s behalf. The vehicle buyers may then list their vehicles on the platform and share profits on a monthly basis.

WitWorks

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Bangalore-based IoT startup WitWorks announced today it has raised seed funding in a round led by Fireside Ventures, InvestoPad, P39 Capital, and a group of angel investors.

The funding will go toward the company’s launch of a smartwatch wearable called Blink.

Founded by IIT-Kharagpur grads Somnath Meher, Ankit DP, and Chandrashekhar Iyer, the company manufactures its hardware in Shenzhen and its software in India. Because Blink won’t be tied to a major smartphone, the WitWorks team believes the product has an advantage over other smartwatches like Apple Watch and Android Wear.

WitWorks has also developed Rewind, a product which helps detangle earphones.

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