Celebrities invest in SARVA

Yoga and wellness brand SARVA has raised funds from global investors, including Hollywood and Bollywood stars and celebrities from sports and business. The investors include pop star Jennifer Lopez, American basketball legend Alex Rodriguez, Bollywood star Malaika Arora, and Zumba, the largest branded fitness programme. SARVA has about 90 studios in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi and plans to have 500 studios by 2022, including in about 15 cities in the country.

BlackBuck, an online marketplace for trucking, has raised about ₹1,050 crore ($150 million) in a Series D round led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Accel. Other new investors are Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet. Existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation too participated in the round, which takes the total funds raised by the company to over $230 million.

Oyo Hotels and Rooms will acquire Amsterdam-based vacation rental firm @Leisure Group for about $415 million (₹2,885 crore), from media and technology company Axel Springer. @Leisure manages holiday homes, parks and apartments in Europe. The @Leisure group offers over 30,000 fully managed holiday homes in 13 countries in Europe through Belvilla, DanCenter and Danland brands. Through the Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, it offers a subscription-based home management service with more than 85,000 homes in 50 countries.

Facilities management company Updater Services Pvt Ltd (UDS) has bought a majority stake in Matrix Business Services, which is into business assurance and background verification services. The Chennai-headquartered Updater Services has bought a 75 per cent stake in Matrix, including purchasing the entire 19.77 per cent stake of Kotak Mahindra Investments and 2.67 per cent of Mahindra & Mahindra Contech. The balance 52.56 per cent stake has been bought from other shareholders, mainly from non-executive shareholders.

Matrix Partners India has invested an undisclosed amount in Pesto, a career accelerator for India’s top software engineering talent. The round also saw participation from Swiggy founders Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani and Nandan Reddy; Innov8 founder Ritesh Malik; Posist founder Ashish Tulsian; and, Jack Yeung of OIC Capital.

Happy, a digital non-bank lending start-up, has raised about ₹140 crore, through a mix of equity from Indian and US investors, and financing lines from institutions. The company will use the money to grow small business lending.

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has invested an undisclosed amount in fintech start-up ChqBook.com, a curated marketplace for artificial intelligence based personalised financial services. The Gurgaon-based ChqBook allows customers to explore, compare and buy personal financial products such as personal loans, home loans and credit cards.

Suvarna Technosof, a hospital information management system solutions company, has acquired laboratory information management solutions copany MedPrecinct Solutions for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will give Suvarna access to over 200 laboratories.

Dvara KGFS (formerly Pudhuaaru Financial Services Pvt Ltd), a non-banking finance company, has raised ₹97 crore in a Series E round led by Stakeboat Capital. Existing investors LeapFrog Investment and Dvara Trust participated in the funding round. The company will use the money to increase the number of branches, invest in technology, and to increase staff strength. It is looking to raise ₹600 crore of debt.

Global non-profit Accion has led a ₹50 crore Series A round in fintech lending and payment start-up ftcash. Dutch development bank FMO and VC fund IvyCap Ventures participated in the funding round. The company, which provides cash advances to micro-merchants, will use the money to accelerate product development and expand into new geographies.

Medlife, an online pharmacy and a holistic healthcare platform, has bought Bengaluru-based medicine delivery start-up Myra Medicines. The acquistion will help Medlife strengthen its pharma business.

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in Ola Electric Mobility, as part of the company’s Series A round. Tata is an early investor in ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Ola’s parent company. Ola Electric, which is running several pilots involving charging solutions, battery swapping stations and deploying vehicles, raised ₹400 crore from investors, including Tiger Global and Matrix Partners India.

Kalpavriksh, the Centrum’s group private equity fund, has invested ₹15 crore in two companies – The Ayurveda Experience and Dunzo. It has invested ₹10 crore in The Ayurveda Experience, an online, direct-to-consumer ayurveda content and products company. It has invested ₹5 crore in Dunzo, a mobile app based concierge services provider.

Peel-Works has raised about ₹35 crore ($5 million) in a round led by Equanimity Ventures and HDFC Bank. The Series B round also saw participation from Bruno Raschle, Vice-Chairman and Founder, Schroder Adveq Holding AG, and existing investors Unilever Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and Inventus Capital India. The company will use the money to strengthen its retail management platform.

Laymen Agro ventures, which operates under the VilFresh brand, has raised ₹1.15 crore in angel funding in a round led by Native Angels, with participation by Upaya Social Ventures and Sangam Ventures.

The Coimbatore-based Vilfresh supplies farm-fresh produce to people living in urban areas. Founded in 2016 by academician-turned-entrepreneur Selvakumar Varadarajan, the company started off by purchasing milk from dairy farmers and selling it to customers. The company now delivers nearly 40 agro-based products. VilFresh will use the money to expand operations to five cities, with plans to enter Tirupur and Madurai next.

Native Angels facilitates angel investments in tier 2 and 3 towns, Upaya Social Ventures is a US-headquartered impact investment firm and Sangam Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture fund. Our Bureau

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