Financial services platforms Metafin and Cashinvoice along with healthtech startup Piscium, home care brand Koparo, deeptech startup Torus and refurbished smartphone maker ControlZ, secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Wednesday.
Cleantech-focussed non-bank financial company (NBFC) Metafin has raised $5 million (Rs 42 crore) in a round from Prime Venture Partners and Varanium Capital.
Metafin plans to utilise funds to expand across states, grow its loan book, improve technology, internet-of-things (IoT) stack and hire talent.
Founded in 2019 by Sandeep Chopra and Aditya Shah, Metafin is a financing platform that provides financing to businesses and homeowners for installation of solar power.
Metafin claims to have enabled almost 1,000 installations in UP and Bihar (14+ MWs) of which 90% are off-grid, replacing diesel directly.
"In addition to our climate impact, every plant we enable helps India a) increase energy inclusion b) broaden financial inclusion and c) improve livelihoods. Our goal is to finance over 1 million such projects in the next five years,” said Chopra, founder and chief executive officer, Metafin.
Supply chain finance platform Cashinvoice has raised $3.4 million (Rs 28.2 crore) in a Series A funding round from institutional investors Pravega Ventures, HDFC Bank and existing investor Accion Venture Lab.
The company plans to utilise the proceeds to expand operations and improve presence in existing and newer markets. It will also develop new products tailored to medium and large anchor corporates and their MSME supply chain ecosystems.
Launched in 2018, Cashinvoice is a supply chain financing platform that offers invoice discounting. The platform optimises working cashflows through the digitisation of invoices and using supply chain finance to incentivize payables and receivables.
Through its digital marketplace for invoice discounting, the company offers customised supply chain financing (SCF) solutions to buyers and suppliers of mid and large corporations.
In 2021, the startup had raised $1 million in a pre-Series A funding round from Accion Venture Lab.
ControlZ has secured $3 million in seed funding round co-led by 9 Unicorn and Venture Catalysts. The funding was a mix of equity and debt infusion. The breakup of the equity and debt investment was, however, not disclosed.
The startup will use the funding to invest in testing labs and automation, according to its statement.
Founded by Yug Bhatia, ControlZ is a refurbished smartphone maker that specialises in the component-level renewal of pre-owned devices. ControlZ focusses on renewing both cosmetically and functionally, increasing its life cycle and ultimately reducing the carbon footprint of smartphone manufacturing.
“With these resources, we aim to improve our technology by automating the complete renewal process,” said Yug Bhatia, founder and chief executive officer, ControlZ.
Piscium has raised $722,994 (Rs 6 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Unicorn India Ventures.
The funds raised would be used for strengthening the sales and marketing team, brand building, scaling up production, operations and expanding internationally.
Founded in 2017 by Malay and Trupta Dikshit, Piscium is a dental and medical device manufacturing company. Piscium’s product portfolio consists of over 10 product categories which include dental burs, alginates and other products.
In the last 12 months, Piscium claims to have expanded to over 10 states and serving over 25,000 dentists.
“By 2027, we aim to expand to over 300,000 dentists across 5 continents. Scientific acumen, innovation pipeline and a strong route to market would be our principal growth drivers,” said Dikshit, founder and chief executive officer, Piscium.
Koparo has raised $722,994 (Rs 6 crore) in a funding round led by 4P Capital Partners. The startup also managed to raise funding from angel investors in the television show Shark Tank India.
The plant-based home care brand raised secured Rs 5.2 crore from 4P Capital Partners along with Rs 70 lakh from Aman Gupta (boAt) and Vineeta Singh (Sugar Cosmetics), at a valuation of Rs 70 crore.
The brand is planning to invest the funds in brand building and distribution.
Launched in 2021 by Simran Khara, Koparo is a direct-to-consumer brand that manufactures natural and sustainable products for home and personal hygiene. The company offers a portfolio of over 15 products and 30 stock-keeping units (SKUs) across core cleaning, specialty cleaning and accessories.
Before this funding round, Koparo raised Rs 5.7 crore in a pre-seed round in 2021 and Rs 12 crore in a pre-Series A round in 2023, respectively, led by Saama Capital. Other investors who backed the brand in these rounds include MVP, Fluid Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners and Titan Capital.
Deeptech startup Torus Robotics has secured $470,000 (Rs 3.9 crore) in a seed funding round led by Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC), operated by Tamil Nadu Emerging Sector Seed Fund (TNESSF).
The funding round also saw participation from Forge Innovation & Ventures, Coimbatore, and SINE (Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship) IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay.
The startup said that the funding will be utilised to scale up its research and development operations, along with growth and expansion.
Founded in 2019 by Vignesh M, Vibhakar Senthil and Abbhi Vignesh K in Chennai, Torus Robotics is a company specialising in power train solutions for electric vehicles, defense, aviation and consumer markets.
“Torus's approach in the development of axial flux motors aligns with TNIFMC's commitment to innovation/R&D in the state and investing in technologies that can be commercialized at scale,” said Karthic Ramamoorthy from Tamil Nadu Emerging Sector Seed Fund.