Wealth management company Client Associates has announced the first close of its maiden fund at about ₹300 crore. The fund said it has garnered interest and participation from domestic family offices and UHNIs.

The Client Associates Alternate Fund (CAAF) is a SEBI-registered Category-II AIF and is targeting commitments of ₹500 crore by exercising ₹200 crore green shoe options and closing the fund by the end of FY25.

The new fund will focus on startups from Pre-Series A to Series B stages of growth, in the consumer and consumer-related sectors along with financial services. The fund will look to back 12-15 startups, with investments ranging from ₹10 crore to ₹50 crore per company. CAAF will also selectively explore pre-IPO investments, where “it feels there could be value creation opportunities for its Limited Partners (LPs),” the company said in a statement.

Lendingkart raises $10 million for onward lending activities for MSMEs

Fintech company Lendingkart has raised $10 million by way of external commercial borrowing from a fund managed by a global impact investment manager and member of the Schroders Group ‘BlueOrchard’.

“We see this investment as a testament to our unwavering dedication to supporting Indian MSMEs. It is a validation of our mission to democratise access to finance and champion entrepreneurship,” Harshvardhan Lunia, Founder and CEO of Lendingkart Group, said in a statement.

The company said that this funding will be used for onward lending activities for MSMEs. Lendingkart clocked a net profit of ₹116 crore at a group level for FY23 and had raised ₹200 crore in long-term debt funding from growth-stage debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital in June 2023.

Parseable raises $2.75M from Surge and NP-Hard Ventures

Log analytics startup Parseable has received $2.75 million in its seed funding round led by Surge and NP-Hard Ventures to accelerate its innovation in managing the increasing amount of log data generated by today’s digital businesses.

Unlike traditional log management systems that may struggle to scale or incur high costs as data volumes grow, Parseable leverages fundamental cloud components like storage and compute that allow it to dynamically adjust resources to meet demand.

“We see a foundational shift of moving away from siloed data infrastructure. The rise of open table formats like Iceberg and Delta Lake, with S3 as persistence on one side; and open application log formats like OpenTelemetry on the other side are a clear testament to this shift,” said Nitish Tiwari, founder of Parseable.

BharatRohan secures $2.3 million in Pre-IPO round from Villgro and others

BharatRohan, an agtech firm specializing in drone-based hyperspectral remote sensing, has secured $2.3 million in a pre-IPO round from Villgro Innovation Foundation, Caspian, RevX, and Venture Garage (with a group of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals as investors). The funding round has been a mix of debt and equity financing.

The startup currently supports 50,000 farmers covering 2,00,000 acres in 5 states with its advanced Drone-based Decision Support System (DSS) — BharatRohan CropAssure — that identifies diseases, pests, and nutritional deficiencies in the early stages, enabling Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies for residue-free crop cultivation.

With the newly secured funding, the company said its primary focus will be on developing proprietary edge computing drones specifically for precise crop monitoring and variable pesticide application. These drones will be made available to rural entrepreneurs through franchise-based models. Additionally, the company plans to design and develop compact hyperspectral and multispectral sensors for drones.

Omnivore leads seed funding round in Cornext

Cornext, which is building a fodder ecosystem to support dairy cattle farmers, has received $2.2 million in a seed funding round from Omnivore.

The startup is solving the fodder deficit through its patented silage baling technology, where nutrient-rich green fodder is cut fresh, chaffed, and tightly packed, allowing it to be used year-round without spoilage. Cornext has launched 400+ fodder entrepreneurs across India and has begun exporting its silage baling machines across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

“With this round of funding, we aim to ramp up the yearly silage production to 1 million MT by 2026 and invest in R&D in baling technology. Our institutional clientele to date includes AMUL, SUMUL, BANAS, MILMA, KMF, and many other large dairies and cooperatives,” said Madhav Kshatriya, Co-founder, Cornext.

Knit raises $1 million from Endiya Partners and others in seed round

Knit, a unified API platform for SaaS businesses, has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Endiya Partners, along with participation from Axilor Ventures and angel investors.

The funding will be utilized to enhance the product capabilities and incorporate Gen AI technologies to further streamline integration processes. Additionally, the investment will fuel Knit’s expansion efforts, with a focus on scaling its customer base in the US market and beyond.

“We are poised to accelerate our product development endeavours and extend our global footprint, enabling SaaS companies to navigate integrations with unparalleled ease and efficiency,” said Yasharth Mishra, Founder, Knit.

Suniel Shetty-backed Regrip gets $2 million in fresh funding round

Actor and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty-backed re-engineered tyre startup Regrip, has bagged $2 million in funding from Qatar-based venture capital SiriusOne, Inflection Point Ventures, and Let’s Venture.

Angel investors such as EaseMyTrip Co-Founder Rikant Pitti, Shobitam Co-Founder Aparna Thyagarajan, Bombay Chemical & Rubber Product’s Managing Partner Vishal Jhunjhunwala, and TIE Angels Chairman Mahavir Pratap Sharma, also participated in the round.

With this, the startup also announced a successful exit to seed investor IIMA Ventures. The funds will be used to fuel the expansion of the company’s technology deployment with tyre companies and further enhance Regrip’s collection network for discarded tyres.

trackNOW secures seed funding from GI Ventures and BluSmart’s Anmol Jaggi

trackNOW, a fleet management and telematic tracking solution company, has raised undisclosed funds in its seed round from GI Ventures and BluSmart co-founder Anmol Jaggi.

With this fresh capital, the company said it aims to accelerate the expansion of its already profitable business and proprietary product development. trackNOW also intends to allocate the funds towards furthering its research and development initiatives.

The platform helps optimise turn-around time through trend analysis and advanced reporting. Industries such as Coal, Oil & Gas, FMCG Logistics & Cold Chain, Schools and Colleges, Agriculture & Construction, Hospitals and Pharma have benefitted from its services, a statement said.

Classplus invests in edtech platform Gyan Live

Gyan Live, an educational platform dedicated to state-level government exam preparation in Gujarat, has raised strategic investment from Classplus, a B2B edtech platform. The funding will be used for business expansion and growth, the firm said.

Gyan Live said it has been profitable since inception and would use the funding to scale their business further. With this undisclosed amount, the startup plans to expand its offerings to include central government and school exam preparation in regional languages.

This strategic funding will also enable the firm to leverage Classplus’ technology, enhancing the learning experience of their students and boosting their reach, it added.

Sinton and Agribid announce strategic partnership; to raise $50 million

Singapore-based commodity trading company Sinton and Agribid, an agritech startup, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at revolutionising the procurement of commodities in the agriculture sector. The partnership will raise up to $50 million in equity and debt for building warehousing and bringing facilities in the top 4 seaports in India.

The firms have launched Sinton Agribid Indonesia, which will assume the role of supplying and delivering high-quality agricultural commodities to the Indonesian Government linked companies for the next five years.

“This partnership represents a convergence of strengths, as we combine our expertise in agricultural commodities with Sinton’s innovative solutions. Together, we aim to drive positive change and contribute to the sustainable development of Indonesia’s and South East Asia’s agricultural sector,” said Agribid Chief Executive Officer, Ashutosh Mishra.

SoftBank leads $1 billion funding for UK self-driving startup Wayve

British self-driving technology startup Wayve has raised $1.05 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank Group to accelerate the development and launch in production-model vehicles of its Embodied AI technology that can learn from and adapt to human behaviour.

Nvidia also contributed to the Series C funding round as a new investor, as did existing investor Microsoft. The latest funding brings Wayve’s total funds raised to just over $1.3 billion and marks the largest investment yet in a British startup focused on artificial-intelligence technology.

“This will enable automakers and fleets to accelerate their transition from assisted to autonomous driving,” Wayve CEO Alex Kendall told Reuters.

Apple co-founder Wozniak’s space startup raises $56.5 million

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s space data startup, Privateer, has raised $56.5 million and also acquired the analytics firm Orbital Insight, a merger that will add mapping and intelligence services to Privateer’s space data offerings, Privateer’s CEO told Reuters.

Privateer, founded in 2021 to help satellite operators navigate in Earth’s increasingly crowded orbit, closed its Series A funding round in April, led by space-focused venture capital firm Aero X Ventures with other investors including Luxe Capital, Boca, Starburst, and the Winklevoss twins. The news is expected to be announced later on Monday.

The new funding allowed Privateer to close a deal to buy Palo Alto-based Orbital Insight on April 14, Privateer’s CEO, Alex Fielding, said.