Every Monday, I sit with my team to review the funding activity of the previous week. Then, I pick out a few companies that I would have loved to invest in or find founders doing similar things from that list. Here is my rationale behind this weekly exercise. 

Last week 30 startups raised $293 million; while the total funding amount fell, most heartening is the number of deals closed in the previous week. After a very long time, we see a 4+ deal/day average, a thermometer check showing tremendous momentum in our ecosystem.  

This week, 25 deals were in the early-stage rounds, making my weekly analysis cut. After sifting through the news (aggregated from Tracxn, Inc42, and YourStory), I picked three as my favorite funding news from last week! 

Name: Apnaklub 

Amount Raised: Undisclosed amount from Blume Ventures and Whiteboard Capital 

What does Apnaklub do? 

Edited from Tracxn: Apnaklub is a social product discovery and reselling platform. The company allows users to browse, share, and sell products on social media platforms. In addition, it will enable the user to set up their retail and sales businesses by providing delivery services. 

Why do I like Apnaklub? 

Apnaklub is an exciting take on the social selling of FMCG products with a robust logistics platform. However, I believe the actual use case for this service could be for the B2B segment wherein purchase managers for HORECA, SMEs, etc., could reduce OPEX by cutting out the wholesalers.   

Name: Wellbeing Nutrition 

Amount Raised: $2.2 million from Fireside Ventures and ACG. 

What does Wellbeing Nutrition do? 

Edited from Yourstory: Wellbeing Nutrition got launched to provide organic, non genetically modified vitamins and minerals that weren't synthesized with chemicals. It is currently present across 600 offline stores in India. Its products are available across daily wellness, sleep, headaches, gut health, hair loss, and skincare segments.   

Why do I like Wellbeing Nutrition? 

The healthy drink market is the fast-growing segment in the overall beverage market slated to reach ₹15,000 crores by 2023. Therefore several startups have created their niche in this segment. However, the logistics cost, especially reverse logistics, is prohibitive. Besides, expecting customers to carry bottles while they commute to work or travel could get cumbersome. 

Therefore delivering the drink in a pill or strip format, i.e., the customer can consume on the go, is an interesting take. I am not well-versed in the science, but with ACG taking an investing interest, they would ensure that Wellbeing exceeds the guidelines.   

Name: Rocketlane 

Amount Raised: $3 million from in seed funding led by Matrix Partners India, Nexus Venture Partners and angels. 

What does Rocketlane do? 

Edited from Tracxn: Rocketlane provides a customer onboarding solution for cloud-based companies. It offers collaborative customer onboarding solutions that allow SaaS and cloud services companies to improve the onboarding experience of enterprise customers. 

Why do I like Rocketlane? 

When site visits to onboard customers are out of the question because they work from home (and so are you). A platform that makes this collaboration easy from both sides makes a whole lot of sense.  

I have forwarded their link to some of our B2B companies to get a proper review. Once we have their feedback, we'd love to have Rocketlane as a part of the Artha Assist program! 

Name: BimaPe 

Amount Raised: $545k from Lightspeed India Partners, Titan Capital, iSeed, and Gemba Capital. 

What does BimaPe do? 

Edited from Tracxn: Card-based online insurance platform for consumers. It offers quotes for life insurance, accident insurance, gadget protection insurance, purchase insurance, flight delay insurance, and more. In addition, it provides a Know Your Insurance platform to explains insurance policies to individuals. 

Why do I like BimaPe? 

Navigating the various insurance coverages can be tricky, confusing, and cumbersome. I've forever complained that there must be a platform that makes policy management easy, and BimaPe does just that. I signed up as a customer yesterday and was surprised by the insrance coverages on my credit cards that I was unaware of until then!  

I am hoping that these guys could suggest (or sell) a life insurance policy that meets my requirements!