Fundraising activity continues to slow down; therefore, my team and I had a tough time shortlisting our favorite picks with just a handful of deals to choose from. After shortlisting all early-stage deals activity for week 18 from Traxcn, Inc42, and YourStory, we jointly picked out the following as the best funding picks for the last week:‍

Name: QuillBot

‍Amount Raised: $4 Mn in a round led by GSV Ventures and Sierra Ventures

‍What does QuillBot do?

‍Edited from Traxcn: Millions trust QuillBot's full-sentence thesaurus to get creative suggestions, rewrite content, and get over writer's block. QuillBot uses state-of-the-art AI to rewrite any sentence or article you give it.

‍Why do I like QuillBot?

‍My team and I are Grammarly power users processing tens of thousands of words for our investment notes, meeting minutes, emails, blogs, private chats, and more. I believe that there is space for a Grammarly competitor, especially one that understands the Indianized English – also, can Quillbot (or Grammarly) build a plugin for PowerPoint, please!

‍Name: YAP

‍Amount Raised: $4.5 Mn led by BEENEXT

‍What does YAP do?

‍Edited from Traxcn: YAP offers a white label program management platform. They also issue a Yap Tatkal wallet, which allows their clients to provide their customers physical or virtual prepaid cards linked to their products. They also offer a QR payment solution in the mobile wallet.

‍Why do I like YAP?

‍The lockdown caught the banks with their pants down due to unpreparedness to go digital. The post-lockdown scenario is bleak for physical banking, and banks must prepare themselves to fully service their customers from the palm of their hands. YAP is building APIs to bridge that gap hence one to look out for.

Name: Mindhouse

‍Amount Raised: ~$680K from BTB Ventures, GGV Capital, Aartieca Family Trust, and Angels

‍What does Mindhouse do?

‍Edited from Traxcn: Standalone mental fitness and wellness center brand

‍Why do I like Mindhouse?

‍The COVID19 virus reserves it's worst for those with weakened immune systems. Therefore I expect that fitness (physical or mental) will be on the priority list of most in the post-virus era. Mindhouse attempts to enter the space that mind.fit is operating in. Will it succeed?