Venture capitalists’ enthusiasm for ecommerce has tempered in the past six months and it’s showing in the numbers. While investments in the sector have far from dried up, founders of ecommerce companies will tell you that term sheets have become rarer since January. Still, six ecommerce companies managed to make it to the list of the top 15 companies that raised the highest venture capital in the first six months of 2013. What’s more interesting and exciting to note in the top 15 list is the presence of three companies from the healthcare and lifesciences sector. Perfint, Ivy Hospitals and MyDentist together accounted for $32 million out of the nearly $200 million raised by these 15 companies.
Scroll down for details of the Top 15 funded early stage companies from the first six months of 2013:
1. SnapDeal | Ecommerce | $50 million
Delhi-based SnapDeal, the apparel-to-home products etailer owned by Jasper Infotech, raised $50 million in a Series D round of funding led by eBay. Technically, this would qualify as a growth round rather than an early stage round of funding. Fresh investors in the company include Intel Capital, Ru-net and Saama Capital. Existing investors who participated include Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. This takes the total venture capital raised by the company till date to more than $102 million, though eBay may be considered more of a strategic investor.
2. Caratlane | Ecommerce | $15 million
The Chennai-based Caratlane, which specializes in etailing jewellery, raised $15 million in a Series C round from its existing investor Tiger Global. The deal has not been confirmed by the company. The round comes nearly a year after the company raised a Series B round from the same investor. This takes the total estimated funding raised by the company till date to around $27 million.
3. ScaleArc | Software/ Big Data | $12.3 million
Santa Clara, California-based ScaleArc is another of Nexus Venture Partners’ outings in Silicon Valley. The database infrastructure software company raised a $12.3 million Series C round of funding from Accel Partners, Trinity Ventures and Mumbai-based Nexus. The round was led by Accel Partners. The company had earlier raised a $5.33 million round from Trinity and Nexus.
4. Yebhi | Ecommerce | $12 million
Delhi-based lifestyle products etailer Yebhi raised what has been reported as a $12 million bridge round of funding from existing investors Fidelity Growth Partners India, Qualcomm Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners and Catamaran Ventures. The company was reportedly in the market to raise $40 million. This takes the total capital raised by the company so far to $40 million.
5. BabyOye | Ecommerce | $12 million
Mumbai-based baby products etailer BabyOye raised $12 million in a Series B round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global. The round followed the merger of Bangalore-based baby products etailer Hoopos, backed by Helion, with BabyOye. The merger was one of several investor-driven consolidation deals that have been in evidence in the ecommerce market since last year. The fresh $12 million round of funding came nearly two years after BabyOye raised its Series A round from Accel and Tiger Global.
6. Ivy Hospitals | Healthcare | $12 million
Mohali-based super specialty hospitals chains Ivy Hospitals raised a $12 million round (the stage has not been specified but this looks more like a growth stage deal) from German developmental finance institution DEG. DEG or German Investment and Development Corporation is a member of KfW Bank Group, an arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. It invests in private companies in developing and emerging economies.
7. Perfint | Medical Devices | $11 million
Chennai-headquartered medical devices company Perfint raised $11 million in a Series D or growth round of funding from Norwest Venture Partners. The venture capital firm had earlier invested $7.2 million in the company in 2010. The company raised its first round of funding, $3.5 million, from IDG Ventures India and Erasmic (later merged with Accel Partners) in 2007.
8. Zomato | Restaurant Listings | $10 million
Gurgaon-based restaurant listings and reviews site Zomato raised $10 million in a Series D or growth round of funding from existing investor Info Edge. With this investments, Info Edge’s total investment in Zomato stands at $15.79 million (Rs 86 crore) and its stake stands at 57.9 per cent, up from the earlier to 48 per cent. That effectively makes Zomato a quasi subsidiary of Naukri promoter Info Edge, which has been investing from its balance sheet.
9. Excellence4u | Skills Assessment | $10 million
Bangalore-based skills assessment company Excellence4u reportedly raised $10 million in Series A funding from a Swiss investor whose identity has not been disclosed. The company, according to CrunchBase, is also backed by a group of angels from Silicon Valley. Not many more details available either on the latest funding round or the company.
10. Apalya | Mobile Video Streaming | $10 million
Hyderabad-based mobile video streaming company Apalya Technologies raised a $10 million Series C round of funding from Cisco Systems and existing investors IDG Ventures India, Kalaari Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. The company has raised a total of $21 million till date. It raised its first institutional round of funding in 2008 with a $500,000 seed stage investment from Mumbai Angels.
11. Grameen Koota | Microfinance | $10 million
Bangalore-based microfinance company Grameen Koota, which lends to the rural poor and low income households, particularly women, in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, raised a $10 million in what appears to be a Series C round of funding from Creation Investments and existing investors Incofin Investments and Microventures. The deal was one of several that marked the long-awaited return of equity financing to the troubled microfinance sector in the country this year.
12. Valyoo | Ecommerce | $9.65 million
Ronnie Screwvala’s early stage investment firm Unilazer Ventures led a $9.65 million Series B round of funding Valyoo Technologies, the Bangalore Delhi-based ecommerce company that owns a number of niche sites including LensKart, BagsKart, WatchKart and JewelKart. The deal marks Unilazer’s entry into the ecommerce sector. Existing investor IDG Ventures India also participated in the round.
13. MyDentist | Healthcare | $9.1 million
Mumbai-based MyDentist, which runs a chains of affordable dental clinics, raised $9.1 million in a Series B round led by new investor Asian Healthcare Fund. Existing investor Seedfund also participated in the round. While Seedfund invested $1.8 million, Asian Healthcare Fund brought in the remaining $7.3 million. MyDentist has so far raised $12 million.
Also read MyDentist founder Vikram Vora’s post-funding interview…
14. Hector Beverages | Retail/ Energy Drink | $8 million
Gurgaon-based Hector Beverages, which retails the energy drink brand Tzinga, has raised a $8 million in a second round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India. Existing investors Catamaran Ventures and Footprint Ventures have also participated in the round. Sequoia reportedly invested $5 million in the round. The company had a little over $1 million in its first round from Catamaran, Footprint and angel investors in March 2011.
15. Pepperfry | Ecommerce | $8 million
We end our list predictably with ecommerce. Mumbai-based furniture and home focused etailer Pepperfry raised $8 million in its Series B round of funding from existing investor Norwest Venture Partners. This follows its Series A round in late 2011 from the same investor. Unlike the other ecommerce companies in this list, Pepperfry was born as a marketplace, a model that has become trendy in the domestic ecommerce space in the past 6-8 months.
Also read Pepperfry founder Ambareesh Murty’s post-funding interview…
Valyoo is Delhi based, not Bangalore.
For sure the lure of investing in Snapdeal is the prospect of a take-over by the likes of ebay, Amazon.
The mix of investments also supports/ reinforces my earlier read of the investment trend… when i said, “Investor sentiment in India is very strong towards Commerce, strong towards Services & Analytics and weak towards Products”
My above article of March 2013 can be accessed at the following link
http://vishrasayan.blogspot.in/2013/03/it-ites-enterprise-in-india-outsider.html
Gr8 info share…
eCommerce is booming like anything in India