Weekly Rundown: NoBroker, Spinny, Upstox turn unicorns; Indifi, Dream Sports score large VC cheques

With every passing week, India’s startup sector continues to produce more and more unicorns or companies with over $1 billion in valuation. The week gone by saw realty platform NoBroker, used car marketplace Spinny and online stockbroking platform Upstox entering the coveted unicorn club with their latest funding rounds.

Online real estate portal NoBroker raised $210 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by its existing investors General Atlantic and Tiger Global Management along with new backer Moore Strategic Ventures. The deal values the company at $1 billion, helping it become the first prop-tech unicorn in India. NoBroker has raised $361 million so far.

Abu Dhabi-based ADQ and New York-based investment firm Tiger Global led a $285 million Series E funding round in used car marketplace Spinny, making it the fourth unicorn in the used car space after Cars24, CarDekho and Droom. Venture capital funds Avenir Growth and Arena Holdings also participated in the round.

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

Online brokerage startup Upstox raised a fresh round of funding led Tiger Global at a valuation of $34 billion, Entrackr reported. Tiger Global invested Rs 185 crore in the round which may see more investors joining in. Tiger Global had backed the company with a $25 million cheque in September 2019.

Sports tech firm Dream Sports, Digital lender Indifi, and online beauty startup Purplle also raised significant VC rounds this week.

Online fantasy gaming platform Dream11’s parent company Dream Sports raised $840 million at a valuation of $8 billion on Wednesday. The funding round was led by investors including Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Tiger Global and RedBird Capital. TPG and Footpath Ventures also participated, making it amongst the largest investments globally in the sports tech sector.

Also Read: NoBroker becomes India’s first proptech unicorn, plans heavy investment on apartment management services
 
Small business-focused digital lender Indifi Technologies raised a total of Rs 340 crore in a mix of equity and debt funding. CX Partners and OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I along with existing investors CDC Group, Omidyar Network, Flourish Ventures, Elevar Equity and Accel infused Rs 140 crore of Series D equity capital into the company while Vivriti, Northern Arc, SIDBI, and others invested Rs 165 crore of debt. 

Additionally, U.S. DFC (United States International Development Finance Corporation) will be investing Rs 35 crore in Indifi. The online lending platform offers tailored business loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the travel, hotel, e-commerce, restaurant, trading, and retail segments. 

It plans to invest the fresh funds on serving more customers, identifying additional segments of MSMEs, and towards technology and product development.

Also Read: Dream11 parent company raises $840 mn at a valuation of $8 bn

Online beauty platform Purplle bagged a fresh tranche of $65 million led by new investor, Premji Invest. This investment comes weeks after a $75 million funding from Kedaara Capital, alongside Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures.

The infusion, according to the beauty startup, will accelerate the company’s growth towards building a multibillion-dollar company from India. The firm thus announced the closure of its Series D $140 million funds-raise.
 
Meanwhile, early-stage venture capital firms Blume Ventures and WaterBridge Ventures marked certain fund close milestones. Blume made the first close of its fourth India-dedicated fund at $105 million while WaterBridge raised $150 million for its second fund, 50% more than the planned size.