Mergers, Aquisitions and Funding Round-up this week: April 15 to 20

Last week remained important for various start-ups that received funding as they cumulatively raised $260.1 Mn from 31 deals between April 15 to 20. Out of all the sectors, Fintech stood on the top with the startups in this sector cumulatively raising $74.8 across 5 deals. Talking about seed funding, it was slightly picked up accounting for a 7% increase from $21.6 Mn from last week.

Here are the details of the few mergers and fundings in the business world to check out!

Avaada Energy gets INR 4,471 crore from NaBFID

Avaada Energy, the renewable energy arm of Avaada Group, has closed on one of the largest refinancing transactions in India’s renewable energy sector, securing about INR 4,471 crore (~USD 535 Million) from the state-owned lender, the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID). This refinancing is likely to support Avaada’s mission towards a sustainable future, ensuring stable, long-term cash flows and improved financial health. 

Sapience Automata raises INR 1.75 CR in Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures 

AI-powered driver assistance technology startup Sapience Automata has raised INR 1.75 CR in a Seed Round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds are likely to be utilized for growing sales of Driver cameras, building key partnerships in the automotive domain, continuing to develop Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) technology, and filing international patents.

Amwoodo raises $1 million from Rainmatter

Amwoodo, a Kolkata-based startup that manufactures bamboo items including combs, toothbrushes, razors, slippers, compostable sanitary bags, and towels has raised $1 million in funding from Rainmatter, a venture fund backed by stock broking giant Zerodha.

LightFury Games raises $8.5 million

LightFury Games, a nascent gaming startup co-founded by Karan Shroff, Tina Balachandran, and Anurag Banerjee, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding from Blume Ventures. The startup aims to use the raised capital for the development of high-budget, high-quality AAA video games, focusing on mobile platforms while having plans to expand to consoles later.

RING raises 100 crore from Trifecta Capital

RING, a consumer lending app that was previously known as Kissht, has raised Rs 100 crore in venture debt from Trifecta Capital. It offers a variety of lending solutions suitable to both salaried and self-employed individuals across all major city tiers in India. With RING, consumers can obtain loans up to Rs 5 lakh with flexible repayment structures.

Beyond Odds raises $11 million  from  Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed Venture Partners

Beyond Odd Technologies, the grey-collar training and recruitment platform Beyond Odds, which was founded by former OYO and Unacademy senior executive Vivek Sinha, has raised $11 million in seed funding led by venture capital (VC) firms Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The platform recruits, trains, certifies, and deploys candidates for grey-collar job roles in industries like healthcare, education, construction, and hospitality. 

Acquisitions from the last two weeks to check out!

• News aggregator DailyHunt’s parent company VerSe Innovation acquired the digital newsstand platform Magzter. Post this acquisition, VerSe launched DailyHunt Premium, a subscription-based service to grant users access to premium content.
• The cloud kitchen startup Ghost Kitchens India announced to has acquired The Shy Tiger in an all-cash deal. 
• Spartan Poker and BatBall 11, OneVerse Gaming has bought online poker platform PokerSaint. 

What else?

Apart from this, Almonds Ai, a Gurugram-based B2B loyalty and channel partner engagement solutions provider, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from prominent Dubai-based anchor investors.

Investment management company StepTrade Share Services has also received a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) approval to set up its India fund office at GIFT city, Gandhinagar. This move is likely to hep the company in launching a 1,000 crore India-focussed fund in the next six months after FME and scheme approval.

With inputs from INC42, Zee Business, The Economic Times.