Every Monday, I sit with my team to review the funding activity of the previous week. From that list, I pick out three companies that I would have loved to invest in or find founders that are doing similar things. Click here to know about my rationale behind this weekly exercise.
While the funds raised by India’s startup ecosystem (barring Jio) fell, it was heartening to note that we continued to maintain 2 deals per day average with 13 startups raising $27 million. Out of the 13 deals, 10 were in the early-stage (compared to 13 last week) rounds, which made the cut for my weekly analysis.
After sifting through the news (aggregated from Tracxn, Inc42, and YourStory), I pick out these three as my favorite funding news from last week!
Name: Myelin Foundry
Amount Raised: Undisclosed from Pratithi
What does Myelin Foundry do?
Edited from Traxcn: Myelin Foundry is a video distribution solution provider. It helps to deliver ultra HD zero-rebuffering streaming, on any network and reduce the time and cost to market and deliver AI-powered content.
Why do I like Myelin Foundry?
At first look, Myelin reminded of Pied Piper from the show Silicon Valley. However, after checking out their products page, I am very excited about the tech stack that Myelin is attempting to build. If they can stream HD content through EDGE network – it could be a game-changer!
Name: Ameliorate Biotech
Amount Raised: ₹2cr from Friends of PadUp, Villgro USA, Vinners, LetsVenture, SINE IIT Bombay, and DERBI
What does Ameliorate Biotech do?
Edited from Traxcn: Ameliorate Biotech develops recombinant therapeutic proteins and diagnostic kits. They have developed their technology to produce a recombinant protein in an antibiotic-free process. They are developing biosimilar products for treating oncology, Autoimmune disease, ophthalmology, and nephrology.
Why do I like Ameliorate Biotech?
I am not a fan of biotech startups because of the long development cycle and high mortality rates of these companies. However, I like the experience the team of Dr. Rashbehari Tunga & Dr. Binit Tunga has in this field, and I’d want them to succeed.
Name: YoloBus
Amount Raised: $3.3M from Nexus Venture Partners and India Quotient
What does YoloBus do?
Edited from Tracxn: YoloBus is an online platform for travelers that provides intercity bus services. Travelers can select their route, choose pickup/destination, enter travel date & make bookings via the app by making an online payment. Their app is available for iOS & Android devices.
Why do I like YoloBus?
This one deserves another mention as I had shortlisted this deal in February 2020. Intercity travel must start once again, and I expect domestic tourism to boom first. However, the quality will trump cost when it comes to matters of health, and YoloBus has a great chance to capitalize on this new trend!
