Menswear brand DaMENSCH bags $16.4M in Series B round, aims to hit 3x growth by FY23

Men’s clothing D2C brand DaMENSCH has bagged $16.4 million in its series B funding round led by A91 Partners. Existing investors Saama Capital, Matrix Partners and Whiteboard Capital also participated in the round.

As per the startup, the fresh funds will be used to make investments in technology and to strengthen and diversify the product portfolio.

“Our products are addressing a big white space in the wardrobe of the modern man. We have clocked 100Cr ARR in 2021 making us the fastest D2C apparel brand to reach this milestone, on the back of our strong consumer proposition”, said Anurag Saboo, Co- founder DaMENSCH.

Currently the company has over 200 SKUs listed across 15+ categories and claims to have made more than 10 million shipments across the country.

The firm is now targeting an aggressive growth in FY23. “We are targeting 3x growth in the coming financial year through meaningful product-market and channel expansion,” Saboo added.

Decentralized exchange Dexalot secures $7M from Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund

Decentralized exchange Dexalot has raised $7 million in a funding round led by Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund.

Other investors including Avalaunch, GSR, Muhabbit Capital, Republic Capital, Woodstock Capital, Maven Capital, Colony, IPC, Avascan, Benqi, and AVentures, also participated in the round.

The funds will help Dexalot increase its footprint in the Avalanche ecosystem and help solve some of the current inefficiencies, the firm said in a statement.

US-based Dexalot is a community-centric DEX, that operates on Avalanche and bridges the gap between DEXs and centralized exchanges. It currently operates on Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) on the C-Chain.

Open finance startup Upswing gets $4M from QED Investors & angels

Upswing Financial Technologies, an open finance B2B ecosystem enabler, has raised $4 million from marquee global fund QED Investors.

The round also saw participation from a clutch of fintech founders like Kunal Shah of Cred; Jiten Gupta of Jupiter; Rajan Bajaj of Slice; Lalit Keshre of Groww; Anurag Sinha of One Card; Shivashish Chatterjee of DMI Finance, Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, Sumit Gwalani and Sujith Narayanan of Epifi. Better Capital, Amara VC, Multiply Ventures, Capier Investments, Utsav Somani from AngelList, also pitched in.

According to the startup, the fresh capital will be used for building plug-and-play platforms for open finance and help fintechs and consumer tech players offer financial services seamlessly. The company also said it is working with a few leading banks on the stack which will go live in a phased manner in 2022.

Healthtech startup ClaimBuddy raises $3M from Chiratae Ventures & Rebright Partners

Healthtech startup ClaimBuddy has secured $3 million in a pre-series A round of investment co-led by Chiratae Ventures and Rebright Partners.

Existing investors like Titan Capital and Relentless Ventures, including other private investors, also participated in the round.

The funds will be utilised to strengthen technology framework and increase sales and marketing efforts, the startup said in a statement.

“ClaimBuddy has witnessed 10x growth over the past year and with the help of the funding amount we look forward to accelerating the company’s effort for smoother claim assistance,” Ajit Patel, Co-founder, ClaimBuddy said

The firm provides tech and financing solutions to the hospitals and doctors to improve operational and financial efficiency by at least 30%. The company claims to have processed claims of more than 100 crores and is working with 120+ hospitals.

Edtech startup OMOTEC raises $130K in Pre-Series A round from ah! Ventures

STEM education-based, Research & Innovation School of India OMOTEC has raised $130,000 in a Pre-Series A funding round led by ah! Ventures.

With subjects focussed on technical design, mechanical construction, electronics, coding, and analytics, OMOTECH provides a has 1200+ hours long tech content.

The company claims to have already achieved a total turnover of more than $1.10 million since its inception 5-years ago. It is now aiming a turnover of $0.5 million in the coming fiscal year.

D2C kids' fashion brand Hopscotch to raise $30M, aims to hit Rs 1,100 Cr in CY22

D2C kids' fashion brand, Hopscotch, has announced its plans to raise $30 million to scale up business.

With unit economics proven, the company said it is looking to invest in amplifying brand awareness, building category extensions to serve more occasions in a child’s life, and further strengthening its technology platform.

The firm has clocked 5X in the last 5 years and is now aiming to reach 10x growth in the next 5 years. Hopscotch’s current annual GMV stands at Rs 650 crores and it is expecting to hit Rs 1,100 Cr in CY22.

As per the startup, 75% of its revenues is coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns.

“We drive 80% of revenue from our owned DTC digital storefronts, and have operated at near EBITDA breakeven for 2 consecutive years,” said Rahul Anand, Founder & CEO, Hopscotch.

The firm backed by investors like RPG Ventures and India Infoline, added that the kid's fashion market expected to grow into a $22 billion TAM by FY26.