Tracking Deals

Mumbai-based Dr Sheth’s, a celebrity dermatologist backed vegan, luxury skincare line, has raised ₹4 crore from investors, including ₹3 crore from Mumbai Angels Network. Founded in 2016, Dr Sheth’s range of personal care products is designed exclusively for the Indian skin and embraces the clean beauty movement. The company will use the money to scale operations, build brand awareness, develop new product line and launch in international markets.

GUVI, an online skill acceleration and hiring platform, has raised ₹1 crore from US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital. The IIT Madras-incubated EdTech start-up, which trains coders in regional languages, will use the money to create one million coders by 2020. It will improve employment prospects by producing small duration technical videos in regional languages. Gray Matters Capital has made this investment through its edLABS initiative.

MyHealthcare, a digital integrated healthcare platform, has raised about ₹21 crore ($3 million) from Sixth Sense Ventures, a leading consumer centric venture capital fund, as part of its ongoing Series A fund raise. MyHealthcare works with hospitals, diagnostics and speciality health institutions in building their digital health business.

DoubtNut, a multi-lingual online learning platform that leverages artificial intelligence to offer solutions to students’ mathematics queries, has raised an undisclosed amount of funds led by Surge, an initiative of Sequoia India, with participation from existing investors WaterBridge Ventures and Omidyar Network, and new investor AET, Japan. It will use the money to widen its product offerings in terms of subjects, languages and classes and expand the team.

Leadstart Publishing, a media-tech publishing house, distributor and rights agency platform, has raised Rs 3 crore in a round led by Mumbai Angels Network, with participation from JITO Angel Network and SucSEED Venture Partners. The Mumbai-based company will use the money to scale operations, develop technology and for customer acquisition.

Private equity company Blackstone has signed an agreement to buy a majority stake in Essel Propack Ltd for up to ₹3,211 crore ($460 million). Through funds managed by it, Blackstone will buy a 51 per cent stake from Ashok Goel Trust at ₹134 a share and will make a mandatory open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent stake. The company has fixed the open offer price at ₹139.19 a share. At present, Ashok Goel Trust and its affiliates hold about 57 per cent in Essel Propack.

Enkash, run by Nehat Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd, has raised about ₹21 crore ($3 million) in a Series A round from Mayfield India and Axilor Ventures. Enkash, a business-to-business payments management and automation platform, will use the money to bolster existing technologies and for building the leadership team.

CleanMax Solar, which provides rooftop solar and open-access solar power solutions to the commercial and industrial segments, has raised about ₹275 crore ($39 million) from UK Climate Iinvestments LLP. The company will use the money to expand its business, including renewable energy purchases for corporates through the construction of a network of private solar farms across the country. The company had earlier raised a total of $115 million in two rounds from private equity player Warburg Pincus and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank.

Agri-tech platform Ninjacart, which connects farmers with retailers, has raised ₹625 crore from Tiger Global. The platform moves 350 tonnes of fruits and vegetables from a sourcing network of 4,500 farmers to 9,500 retailers in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. With this round, Ninjacart has raised ₹935 crore in all. Its investors include Trifecta Capital, Accel Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and NRJN Trust of Nandan Nilekani. The company is strengthening its platform to handle 1,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables a day.

Quess Corp, a leading business service provider, has, through its subsidiary Conneqt Business Solutions Ltd, acquired a majority stake in Allsec Technologies Ltd. The transaction involves Conneqt purchasing 35.35 per cent from the promoters, 26 per cent from First Carlyle Ventures Mauritius. Conneqt will also make an open offer to the public shareholders of Allsec to purchase up to 26 per cent shareholding. Allsec, which started operations in 2001, has expertise in providing business process solutions across various industry verticals.