Tencent, Tiger Global back security management startup MyGate

By Joseph Rai

  • 17 Oct 2019
Credit: Pixabay

MyGate, a security management app for gated premises, said on Thursday it has raised $56 million (Rs 400 crore) in a Series B funding round.

The company raised the capital from Chinese conglomerate Tencent, US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, JSoros and existing investor Prime Venture Partners, it said in a statement.

MyGate will use the funding to build more solutions.

The startup, run by Bengaluru-based Vivish Technologies Pvt. Ltd, allows users to communicate with neighbours, manage visitors, and maintain attendance records, among other things. It also helps users discover services and pay society maintenance bills. The firm currently has presence in 1.2 million homes across 11 cities in India.

The company has over 700 employees and is planning to triple its workforce over the next two quarters.

MyGate was co-founded in mid-2016 by Vijay Arisetty, a former Indian Air Force pilot who has also worked with Goldman Sachs, and Abhishek Kumar, a former vice-president at Goldman Sachs. Other co-founders are Vivaik Bhardwaj, who was an air force pilot; and Shreyans Daga, an alumnus of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

The startup had raised Rs 65 crore in a Series A round led by Prime Venture in October last year. Prior to this in January 2018, it had raised Rs 16 crore ($2.5 million then) in its first round of external funding led by Prime Venture.

Another funded player offering mobile-based security management solutions for gated premises is Biizlo, which had raised angel funding in November last year.

Other major security services providers in India include Security and Intelligence Services (India) Ltd, Tops Security Ltd and G4S.

Investors

Tiger Global, an early backer of online retailer Flipkart, has increased the pace of its investments in India ever since it ended a three-year hiatus towards the end of last year.

Just earlier this week, it invested in mobile app analytics startup CleverTap and software-as-a-service platform UrbanPiper.

Its other deals in the past two months include quick-service restaurant chain Wow! Momo Foods, ed-tech startup Vedantu, financial technology startup Cred, artificial intelligence-based wealth management venture INDwealth and home services marketplace UrbanClap.

Tencent has also stepped up its India presence this year. Earlier this month, it invested in Khatabook, a platform that enables small and medium enterprises to record and track business transactions.

In July, it joined the Series B funding round of neo-banking startup NiYO.  

In September last year, the Chinese conglomerate led a large investment round in Mumbai-based Dream11 Fantasy Pvt. Ltd, which operates a fantasy sport website.