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upGrad raises Rs 300 Cr in internal rights issue

Edtech startup upGrad on Wednesday confirmed the completion of an internal rights issue of Rs 300 crore from existing shareholders and founders.

Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairperson of upGrad, contributed Rs 212 crore and existing shareholder Temasek contributed Rs 81 crore in this internal round, while other minority stakeholders completed the balance, as per a statement from the company.

Confirming the round, an upGrad spokesperson said, “The company is focused on its organic and in-organic growth across multiple verticals of formal education via degree, diploma and doctorate courses in partnership with the best universities in India and globally.”

Founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli in 2015, upGrad spans several segments—from test prep and study abroad to undergrad degrees and campus courses in 250 universities.

The Souled Store raises $16.4M in Series C

Mumbai-based lifestyle and fan merchandise startup The Souled Store has raised Rs 135 crore ($16.4 million approximately) in a Series C round. The deal was led by Xponentia Capital Partners with participation from returning investors Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital.

The company said it will use the capital to expand into new categories and plans to launch over 100 stores across the country in the next two years. It will also offer a 100% buyback of vested employee shares as part of its ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) programme.

As of May last year, the company had allocated 3.7% shares to its ESOP plan according to data platform Tracxn, at an unrealised value of Rs 29.7 crore.

The Souled Store was founded in 2013 by Vedang Patel, along with Rohin Samtaney, Aditya Sharma, and Harsh Lal. It has since raised nearly $13.1 million in funding, according to data from Tracxn.

BYJU’s likely to raise $250M in funding

Edtech company BYJU’S is likely to close a $250 million equity funding deal in April at a $22 billion valuation, sources aware of the development told PTI. The company last raised $250 million in October at the same valuation.

“BYJU’S is in the process of raising $250 million. The term sheets are expected to close in about 2-3 weeks,” a source told PTI. Another source said the fundraising is an equity deal and happening at a flat valuation of $22 billion.

It attained a valuation of $22 billion in the funding round of $800 million announced in March 2022. The edtech company hopes to turn profitable by the end of this month. It booked a loss of Rs 4,588 crore for the fiscal ended March 2021—19 times more than the preceding fiscal.

DesignCafe raises Rs 40 Cr in Series B round

Bengaluru-based home interiors startup DesignCafe has raised a follow-on Series B round of Rs 40 crore.

The round was led by WestBridge Capital, Mirabilis Investment Trust, and venture debt fund Alteria Capital. DesignCafe’s existing investors including Sixth Sense Ventures also participated in the round.

The startup said it will use the funds to expand across the country.

“In the last year, we have made significant progress towards profitability. Our margins have increased significantly and we are operationally profitable across all cities,” said Shezaan Bhojani, Co-founder and CEO of DesignCafe in a statement.

Founded in October 2015 by Gita Ramanan and Bhojani, DesignCafe is a hometech brand that provides interior and home decor for customers. The company has raised over Rs 250 crore in capital, so far.

Fintech platform Vitraya Tech raises $5M in Series A round

Mohali-based Vitraya Technologies has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by B2B Venture Capital fund StartupXSeed, Season Two Ventures, Cactus, Xceedance, and the family office of Mankind Pharma.

The startup said it will use the fund for hiring and scaling its existing products and technology.

Founded in 2019, Vitraya helps automate real-time payouts and claim settlements between hospitals and insurers who offer health insurance products.

“Having faced deep trouble with claim settlement, we developed the Vitraya platform to connect hospitals, insurers, clinics and patients on a single platform facilitating faster claim settlements and payout, easy fraud detection and reduced operational costs,” said Mrinal Sinha, CEO and Co-founder of Vitraya.

According to Sinha, the firm has scaled to 4,000 large and mid-size hospitals one year since its launch.

(The story will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)