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Monday blues hit the Indian startup ecosystem as it woke up to news of layoffs across companies like Dunzo, ShareChat, Rebel Foods.

This was only aided further by the total funding amount which crossed just over $11 million.

The third week of January did not see any Indian startup raising a significant amount of capital, with most deals announced belonging to the seed stage category.

Locad, a Singapore-headquartered startup focused on the logistics industry with technology driven solutions raised $11 million in a Series A funding round. Funds from the round will be primarily used to strengthen its talent pool in India. The funding round was led by Reefknot Investments, Kuehne & Nagel. Sequoia India Febe Ventures, Antler, Access Ventures, JG Summit, and WTI.

On a more positive note, Singapore-headquartered wealth and asset management firm Lighthouse Canton announced the first close of its maiden venture debt fund in India at Rs 155.4 crore. The Rs 550 crore fund has an additional green shoe option of Rs 550 crore and will focus on investing in Indian technology enabled startups. The fund has seen participation from Indian and offshore family offices and institutional investors.

Deals

Zlade raises $1.5 million from family offices

Men’s personal care brand Zlade raised $1.5 million in funding from multiple family offices which includes Shivanssh Holdings and Amit Kalyani of Bharat Forge. The products of this startup are available as an omnichannel platform across various marketplaces and 10,000 retail outlets in 13 states, the company said.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for men’s grooming products, IMARC said. It was valued at $1.86 billion in 2021 and has a projected compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.93% during 2022-2027. It also signed an exclusive partnership with BIC, a leading manufacturer of shavers and razor blades to introduce a complete portfolio of razors for men and women to India.

“Our investment in Zlade is in line with our thesis of investing towards branded consumer products that are catering to problems of new India, scaling consistently and high recall value,” said Yash Poddar, co-principal Shivanssh Holdings.

SheerDrive closes Pre-Series A round of funding

SheerDrive, a startup focused on the used car segment, has closed its Pre-Series A round of funding of an undisclosed value led by JITO Angel Network. The round also saw participation from INSEAD Angels, Group Landmark, Volrado Venture Fund, and other individual investors.

SheerDrive will use this capital for technology development and market expansion. It has a presence in 19 cities and claimed that it has enabled used-car transactions worth $400 million, the company said.

SheerDrive aims to achieve a GMV ARR of $500 million and transactions for over 100,000 vehicles across 35 cities by FY2025.

Crepdog Crew raises seed round of funding

Sneaker and streetwear aggregator Crepdog Crew (CDC) raised an undisclosed amount in seed round of funding from individual investors.

The investors include fashion designers Masaba Gupta and Nikhil Mehra, Pharmeasy co-founders Dharmil Seth and Siddharth Shah, Rahul Kayan of SMIFS, Harminder Sahni of Wazir Advisors, and Ankit Solanki of Capillary Ventures.

CDC will use this capital to scale its ecommerce business and community-based retail footprint. Founded in 2019, it has an omnichannel presence with a retail outlet in Delhi and sells more than 40 streetwear brands, the company says. It also claims to receive more than six lakh visitors on its website and delivers over 500 pairs of sneakers every week.

Str8bat raises bridge round of funding

Consumertech sports company str8bat has raised an undisclosed bridge round of funding led by SucSEED Indovation Fund, Dholakia Ventures, and other Angel investors.

The freshly raised funds will be used by str8bat to ramp up the go-to-market efforts internationally, fuel product development, and accelerate consumer and partner growth. The IoT and data science based technology platform of str8bat gives budding and professional cricketers access to real-time, actionable insights by recording, analysing, and enhancing every aspect of the game and connecting them to the best coaches.

On the funding round, str8bat founder Gagan Daga said, “The funding will help us in our continuous innovation journey and will help us grow into Australia and continue to build our momentum in India and keep us on track for the next major growth curve of the company through our four-channel GTM strategy.”

ATICX raises seed round

Activewear firm ATICX has raised an undisclosed seed round of funding from LEAF and an individual investor. The startup will use this capital to launch new products for its markets in India and North America.

The activewear market has the challenges of not being able to fit in right sizes and the use of substandard fabric, the company said.

The activewear company claims its products are in the affordable price range and made of quality fabric with a computerised sewing machine. It further noted that it registers five times growth annually.