StartupCentral

Gurgaon-based  cloud telephony solutions startups Knowlarity Communications has raised a $6.75 million round of funding from Sequoia Capital. This appears to be the company’s first round of venture capital funding. The money will be used to strengthen research and development activities and expand marketing operations. The company also plans to extend its presence to other global markets, after establishing its presence in India and Indonesia, said a press release.

Knowlarity was founded in 2009 by IIT Kanpur alumni Ambarish Gupta and Pallav Pandey. Gupta earlier developed go-to-market strategies for global technology and insurance companies at McKinsey & Co. Pandey founded Viplav Communications, a political consulting company, in 2003. The top leadership team is completed by Bipul Parua, also an alumni of IIT Kanpur, who earlier worked in the US with Cisco Systems among other technology companies.

The company started with the objective of enabling small and medium enterprises with telephony solutions. It claims to have more 40,000 customers now and the client list includes Makemytrip and Adani Group. The company’s flagship solution is a cloud telephony platform called Knowlus. Its product range includes SuperFax, SuperReceptionist, SuperConference and SuperCaller. For larger enterprises the company provides hosted IVR solutions integrated with their existing IT Systems. The three-year old company already has over 100 people on board.

Gurgaon-based online health store HealthKart has raised $5.2 million (Rs 27 crore) as part of a Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Networks, reports VCCircle. The company had earlier raised over $1 million from KAE Capital and Sequoia in seed funds.

Founded in March 2011, the startup was reportedly in the market to raise $10 million, chiefly to expand its portfolio and launch an online magazine. It started business with products in categories such as diabetes, home medical and baby products and intends to expand into elderly care, nutrition, personal care chronic care, vision and skin care. The company takes orders online, over telephone and via email. Orders that exceed Rs 500 are eligible for free delivery and the company also offers customers the cash-on-delivery option.

The 11-month old ecommerce startup, founded by IIT Delhi alumni Prashant Tandon and Sameer Maheshwari, also retails services such as health-checkups, fitness packages at gyms and spa treatment packages. The leadership team, apart from Tandon and Maheshwari, includes Animesh Jain, founder of online gifting startup iTasveer, who now heads marketing for HealthKart.