My Funding Picks For Last Week (W38)
Every Monday, I sit with my team to review the funding activity of the previous week. From that list, I pick out three companies that I would have loved to invest in or find founders that are doing similar things. Click here to know about my rationale behind this weekly exercise.
Last week, the ecosystem bounced back with over 3 equity deals/day average, with 17 startups raising $673 million. September is an excellent month for startups as the amount of capital raised crossed $500 million in a week for just the second time year (last week was the first). As the global economies recover and the Indian economy continues to unlock – this is a trend that should continue.
This week 12 deals were in the early-stage rounds (compared to 5 last week), which made the cut for my weekly analysis. After sifting through the news (aggregated from Tracxn, Inc42, and YourStory), I pick these three as my favorite funding news from last week!
Name: Pitstop
Amount Raised: $1.2 million from Acko
What does Pitstop do?
Edited from Tracxn: PitStop is a closed marketplace for car service providers. They provide an estimated cost of service, doorstep pickup and delivery, and status tracking after booking. They also claim to have the service completed in 2 hours. Pitstop has expanded to several locations including Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and others.
Why do I like Pitstop?
While there are many platforms like GoMechanic, Carvolution, and Zippity that are in this space, the exciting thing about this deal is that Pitstop is the strategic investment by Acko. Acko is a challenger insurance company backed by Barings, DSP, Ascent, Amazon, Accel, and Saif. Their association with Pitstop will create a symbiotic relationship between the companies. Acko can provide leads to Pitstop for car servicing, etc. and Pitstop can provide insurance leads to Acko. I would not be surprised if Acko went on to acquire Pitstop in the next 3-5 years.
Name: Deepsync
Amount Raised: $300k from Anicut Angel Fund and angels.
What does Deepsync do?
Edited from Tracxn: Deepsync provides deep learning-based technology to clone and augment human voice. It allows users to clone their voices from previous audios and synchronize them with videos and other media.
Why do I like Deepsync?
Voice AI is not new. Several players exist in the space, but most of them utilize Google or Amazon’s voice libraries to build their solutions. Deepsync is interesting in that they’re taking anyone’s voice and cloning it. For example, I could clone my voice and record this blog as a podcast but without speaking the whole thing out. If it works – this is neat technology.
Name: CustomFit.ai
Amount Raised: Undisclosed from Java Capital, Upsparks, FirstCheque, and LetsVenture
What does CustomFit.ai do?
Edited from Tracxn: CustomFit.ai offers a B2B website personalization solution. The solution enables marketers to convert existing traffic to leads and change any website elements using the visual editor without coding, irrespective of the platform.
Why do I like CustomFit.ai?
Following the trend of my other picks, CustomFit.ai is also present in a space with existing competition. I like CustomFit.ai because it offers businesses the opportunity to learn a lot more about the way their users interact with their website with detailed heatmaps. Their customer can use A/B testing for different customers, customize the site for each visitor based on their preferences, and increase conversion rates.
