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Drone startup Garuda Aerospace raises pre-Series A round

Chennai-headquartered Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) provider Garuda Aerospace raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round led by Ocgrow Ventures and other HNIs, where Instarto acted as the financial advisor.

Founded in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, the startup will utilise the funds for global expansion. 

The drone manufacturer supplies over 30 different types of drones to over 750 clients in multiple industry verticals and services. It is engaged in long-term contracts with the likes of Survey of India, Godrej, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Vedanta, and others.

Recently, it partnered with Swiggy for drone delivery trials in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR.

Consumer debt settlement platform FREED raises pre-Series A round

FREED, a Gurugram-headquartered consumer debt settlement platform, raised $2.8 million in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from Multiply Ventures, Chandigarh Angels Network, Lead Angels, Hyderabad Angels, The Chennai Angels, and HNIs. 

The startup will use the funds to strengthen its team, build its technology stack, and roll out new and differentiated debt relief products and services. It will also invest part of the capital to scale up customer acquisition and brand promotion. 

Founded in August 2020 by serial entrepreneur Ritesh Srivastava, FREED helps customers with budgeting, spend analytics, repayment simulations, debt pay-off strategies, and credit education to repay unsecured loans and avoid the debt trap.

The FREED Debt Settlement Programme helps people who have large amounts of unsecured loans and are struggling to pay them back due to financial hardship. The platform claims to work with over 6,500 customers with over Rs 350 crore in retail debt. 

ah! Ventures leads funding in edtech company Immersive Vision 

Pune-headquartered edtech company ImmersiveLabz, which offers virtual 3D science laboratories to schools, colleges, and hospitals, has raised $600,000 from a group of investors led by ah! Ventures. Other investors in the round included serial angel investors and networks, and other HNIs. 

The company — founded in 2021 by Navin Mandal, Amit Ranjan, and AK Sharma — claims to have sold 1,600 licenses to colleges in Pune. In the next 12 months, it is targeting a revenue of more than Rs 20 crore by selling 1.25 lakh licenses. 

The platform offers a virtual 3D mobile or PC lab for students in classes 11 and 12 under the brand Simulab and a human-size virtual dissection table for medical colleges under the brand Cadaviz. 

BHIVE.fund raises strategic investment

Alternative investment platform BHIVE.fund has raised an undisclosed funding round from Nikhil Kamath and Abhijit Pai backed Gruhas Proptech and Blume Ventures. The round also saw participation from Sreeram Reddy Vanga of Kofluence, Leadsquared founders Nilesh Patel and Prashant Singh, Kazi Arif Zaman, CFA, and other HNIs.

The startup will be closing its pre-Series A round of $1 million soon, it said in a press release. 

Founded in 2021 by Shesh Paplikar, Sandeep Gupta, and Monnappa Bayavanda, BHIVE.fund was launched as a new initiative of the co-working space provider BHIVE.

The fund lets individual investors back asset classes, including commercial and international real estate projects, and other business investments through primary and secondary markets. 

Organic food brand Nutty Yogi raises seed round from Multiply Ventures

Bengaluru-headquartered clean-labelled organic food brand Nutty Yogi has raised $655,485 (according to current exchange rates) led by Multiply Ventures.

The startup will use the capital to expand its footprint beyond the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model by launching with major brick and mortar retailers. At present, it sells through major ecommerce channels and its website.

The brand — launched in 2017 by Pallavi Gupta and Gaurav Jain — offers over 200 organic food products across categories, including daily essentials, healthy snacking, condiments, breakfast mixes, and immunity-enhancing products. 

60Plus India raises funding from Accelerating Asia

Chennai-headquartered elderly care platform 60Plus India raised $100,000 from Accelerating Asia through safe notes.

The startup will utilise the funds to enter new markets and strengthen its technology team besides launching its mobile app.

The platform claims to have a network of over 150 service providers in Chennai, offering home healthcare to elderlies within a year of incorporation.

Founded in 2021 by Arasi Arul, Oli Arul, and Vivek Raja, 60Plus India also offers doctor visits, nurse visits, physiotherapist visits, phlebotomy sample collection, and other services through its network. It also operates its ecommerce platform for products targeting senior citizens.