Cheelizza and Uma Robotics raise early-stage funding

By Malvika Maloo

  • 27 Sep 2022
Credit: 123RF.com

Uma Robotics 

Uma Robotics, an internet of things-solutions provider, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed round from We Founder Circle (WFC) as a part of its early-stage startup investment platform’s global accelerator programme, EvolveX.  

The IoT-focused player will use the funds to increase size of its engineering team, for business development, building infrastructure for research and development.  

The company, founded by Suchit Sharma, provides sustainable logistics, automation, and IoT solutions to assist warehouses and manufacturing industries in cost optimisation. It had recently won the STPI Chunauti 2.0 competition and received a Rs 25 lakh investment from Pontaq Ventures. 

“This fundraise not only brings us the resources but also the fine mentorship of an array of reputed investors. Their support will help us achieve more milestones,” said Sharma, who is also chief executive officer at Uma Robotics. 

Cheelizza 

Mumbai-based pizza chain Cheelizza has raised Rs. 4.11 crore ($504,483) in seed funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN), among others, the company said on Tuesday.  

Sagar Daryani, founder of Wow! Momo; Karan Tanna of Ghost Kitchens and Rahul Surana, a principal at an international fund, also participated in the round. 

The company said in a statement it will focus on expanding its presence in Mumbai, with the aim of opening 20 new stores in the next 12 months. 

Cheelizza was incorporated in 2013 by Animesh Lodha. It operates 10 stores across Mumbai & Gujarat, out of which three are operated via a franchising model. The company says it sells over 30,000 pizzas every month with a repeat order rate of over 50%.

“We have been operating in stealth mode for over 10 years, focused on building the business on strong fundamentals. We have had a 10x revenue growth and clocked over 20%+ store level Ebitda, along with a 50% repeat order rate,” said Lodha in a statement.