In total, this week, 11 startups raised $136.5Mn funding and three startup acquisitions took place.

One of the biggest funding rounds in the Indian startup ecosystem was Seattle and Pune-based software company Icertis. It raised $115 Mn in a funding round led by US-based venture capital firm Greycroft and PremjiInvest.

With this round, the company has achieved a valuation above $1 Bn and joins the ranks of SaaS unicorns such as Freshworks and Druva.

The company said it will utilise the capital to strengthen its product, invest in new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning and expand its global footprint.

Gurugram-based online grocery delivery startup Grofers received an infusion of $14.2 Mn from its Singapore-based entity, Grofers International. With this investment, Grofers International has been allotted 812 equity shares in the grocery delivery startup. The company has also raised an additional $10 Mn in its ongoing Series F round. This investment has come from an Abu Dhabi-based entity Capital Investment LLC.

Noida-based ecommerce platform Paytm Mall raised an undisclosed amount from US-based ecommercecompany eBay. In a strategic partnership, eBay picked up a 5.5% stake in the Indian ecommerce marketplace. Through this partnership, eBay inventory will be made accessible to the active customer base of Paytm Mall, a subsidiary of the Indian fintech unicorn Paytm. It would also enable eBay sellers to reach new customers in the rapidly growing Indian market.

Bengaluru-based online premium tea brand Teabox raised an undisclosed amount of funding. Teabox founder Kausshal Dugarr told Inc42 that Dubai-based NB Ventures, the family office of Neelesh Bhatnagar has invested in the round. The company’s existing investors such as Accel partners also participated in the round.

Electronics maker, boAt received a commitment of $2.9 Mn in venture debt from BAC Acquisitions, which was cofounded by the Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal. boAt claims to have acquired over 1.2 Mn consumers, and is currently selling over 8K units per day at an average of 5 units per minute.

New Delhi-based all-in-one procurement platform Procol raised a seed round of $1Mn from Blume Ventures and Rainmatter Capital (Zerodha). The funding will help Procol scale their procurement platform and start deploying other applications around it. Procol helps food retail and FMCG companies reduce their procurement and related supply chain costs.

Moving on to acquisitions:

Mumbai-based data analytics firm Ugam has been acquired by the US-based data-driven marketing agency Merkle, which is owned by the digital marketing multinational Dentsu Aegis Network. Post acquisition, Ugam will become a Merkle company and the company’s cofounder and CEO Sunil Mirani will report to Merkle’s America head. Further, reporting structures for the rest of the management team of Ugam will remain unchanged.

US-based software company Ebix and Gurugram-based travel and ticket booking platform, Yatra Online have signed a definitive agreement for a merger. For the merger, each ordinary share of Yatra will be entitled to receive 0.005 shares of a new class of preferred stock of Ebix. Following the completion of the transaction, Yatra will become part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio alongside Via and Mercury and will continue to serve customers under the Yatra brand.
What else caught our eyes?

Ola Electric becomes India’s newest unicorn with new $250 million investment from SoftBank

India’s Ola is further widening its lead over Uber in the nation — and getting the help it needs from their mutual investor. Ola Electric has raised $250 million from SoftBank as India’s largest ride hailing firm pushes to scale its electric vehicles business in the country.
The infusion comes as New Delhi looks to take a serious step in electrifying the existing fleet of cabs and scooters in the country as it attempts to curtail air pollution and carbon emissions. The country has set an ambitious goal to convert 40% of the fleet to electric by 2026.