Weekly Rundown: Pristyn Care is a unicorn; Byju’s snaps up Austrian firm; Shiprocket, Ola draw VC funding

Pristyn Care, a healthcare start-up specialising in affordable surgical care, has become the newest unicorn in India after raising a $100 million round at $1.4 billion valuation this week. The Series E round was led by Sequoia Capital US with participation from Tiger Global, Hummingbird Opportunity Fund, and Winter Capital.

In its last known funding round, the Gurugram-based company was valued at $550 million when it raised a $53 million round led by Tiger Global in April 2021.

Edtech major Byju’s acquired Austria-headquartered learning platform GeoGebra. The deal marks the edtech decacorn’s tenth acquisition this year. According to an official statement, GeoGebra’s dynamic, interactive and collaborative mathematics learning tool has 115 million students on its platform.

Also Read: India added the second-most number of unicorns after the US this quarter: NASSCOM

The acquisition is in line with the Bengaluru-based company’s ambitions to expand to overseas geographies after a series of fundraises from a clutch of investors this year. On Friday, the company appointed former Bain & Company Partner Rachna Bahadur as the senior vice president to lead its global expansion plans.

In this role, Bahadur will lead the overall planning, strategy, and roadmap for Byju’s expansion in new and existing markets. 

E-commerce shipping platform Shiprocket led the funding charts this week with a $185 million (Rs 1,380 crore) Series E funding round co-led by Zomato Ltd, Temasek and Lightrock India. Moore Strategic Ventures and 9unicorns came in as new investors while existing investors InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital participated.

This transaction marks Shiprocket’s third round of funding in 2021, which would bring its total funding to $280 million. 

Also Read: Byju’s makes tenth acquisition this year with math learning platform GeoGebra

Ride-hailing giant Ola raised over Rs 1,049 crore (about $139 million) from Edelweiss and IIFL Holdings at a valuation of over $7 billion, several media reports said. Meanwhile, the company is in discussions to raise a pre-IPO round of over $1 billion at a valuation of $7.5 billion, a new PTI report said. 

Packaging materials platform Bizongo bagged $110 million (Rs 825 crore) in its Series D round of funding led by Tiger Global. B Capital, CDC Group, IFC, Chiratae Ventures, Schroder Capital and others have participated in this round.

According to media reports, the round valued the company at $600 million. 

The week also witnessed a significant investment round into agri-tech start-up AgroStar. The company secured $70 million in a Series D funding round from private equity firm Evolvence, global asset management firm Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprises, and UK’s development finance institution CDC.

Also Read: Shiprocket to raise $185 mn in a round led by Zomato, Temasek, Lightrock India

Its existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures also participated in the round.

Health startup Suki.ai, customer engagement platform MoEngage, full-stack used car retailing platform Spinny, audio streaming platform Pocket FM, talent engagement and staffing platform SenseHQ have also attracted significant rounds this week.