Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (March 8, 2024)

Funding

abCoffee gets $3.4M in Series A funding

abCoffee, a tech-enabled grab-and-go specialty coffee company has raised $3.4 million in a Series A funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Tanglin Venture Partners.

The fresh funds will help abCoffee accelerate its supply chain and technology stack.

abCoffee was founded in 2022 by Abhijeet Anand, an alumnus of IIT Dhanbad with over eight years of experience at Schlumberger, a leading oil and gas multinational.

"We are thrilled to partner with Nexus Venture Partners and receive continued support from Tanglin Ventures in our mission to make specialty coffee accessible and enjoyable for everyone in India. We continue to remain capital efficient, leverage supply chain optimisation and innovate new products for the masses,” said Anand.

Drivers4Me raises Rs 3 crore seed funding

Drivers4Me, an app-based driver-aggregator startup, has secured Rs 3 Crore in a seed round of funding.

Started in 2018 as a college project by Rajarshi Nag and Paramartha Saha, the company offers solutions to hire professional and trained drivers through an app instantly, based on distance, location, and duration. The driver arrives at the user's doorstep within 25 minutes of booking.

Drivers4Me has over 2.5L app downloads, and is available for both Android and Apple users, a statement from the company said.

"The funding will be used to fuel the expansion of our business operations in India. The investors' profiles include many esteemed names, including Sagar Daryani of Wow Momo, Arun Mukherjee of TABP and Manish Kumar Singh of FortWise Capital," said Nag.

Bummer raises Rs 9.25 Cr led by Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund

Bummer, a D2C innerwear startup brand has raised Rs 9.25 crore in a pre-Series A1 round of funding led by Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund.

Founded in 2020 and part of Shark Tank fame, Bummer will use this funding round to expand into Tier II and beyond locations as it aims to have more than 10,000 offline touchpoints across formats in the next five years. Besides, it will also utilise the capital for building its team.

Bummer expects to generate 50% of its revenues from key cities like Ahmedabad, Indore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bhopal, and Jaipur.

"We're embarking on an elevating chapter for Bummer, and this Pre-Series A1 funding round marks a significant milestone in our journey. In an industry marked by minimal growth and dominated by a few major players for decades, we see ourselves as a disruptor of this category," Sulay Lavsi, the Founder and CEO of Bummer, said.

Other News

UPI is Now Accepted in Nepal

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Fonepay Payment Service Ltd, Nepal’s largest payment network, have announced that Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is now live for cross-border transactions between India and Nepal.

Following the unveiling event at Global Fintech Fest 2023 in India in September, both entities are now fully operational and ready to facilitate QR-code-based person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions between the two countries. In its first phase, this partnership will enable Indian consumers to make instant, secure and convenient UPI payments across various business stores in Nepal by using UPI-enabled Apps. Merchants acquired by the participating members of Fonepay Network can seamlessly accept UPI payments from Indian customers.

“This initiative not only signifies our commitment to innovating the digital payments space but also reflects our dedication to creating new avenues for trade, strengthening the bond between the two nations. We envision this partnership as a catalyst for greater financial inclusion and economic prosperity in the region, and we are excited to embark on this journey of transformation together,” said Ritesh Shukla, Chief Executive Officer, NIPL.

Navana.ai launches Bodhi streaming speech recognition API for Indian AI

Navana.ai has announced the launch of ‘Bodhi’, its second-generation Multilingual Voice AI model, designed to cater to businesses across the country. The new LLM (Large Language Models) of Navana Automatic Voice Recognition (ASR) will support 11+ different languages in India. The plug-and-play methodology of the current version of Navana ASR software simplifies adoption and implementation while offering enhanced customisation and above 85% accuracy with faster reaction times.

Navana.ai's flagship deployment, Hello Ujjivan App, developed in collaboration with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, recently completed a year of deployment.

"The Indian landscape, with its myriad languages and dialects, poses unique challenges to digital accessibility. Recognising that nearly 75% of the population prefers voice,-based interactions, Navana.ai is dedicated to bridging communication barriers and facilitating online engagement, particularly among non-English speaking internet users," said Raoul Nanavati, Co-Founder, Navana.ai.

NAB Innovation Centre India expands with new office opening

National Australia Bank (NAB) opened its second office in DLF Downtown, a move that will strengthen the bank’s technology teams and improve its operational services to support customers.

The new 8-storey block 3 building is the bank’s third office space in India, with more than 9,000 square metres on the third floor designed to support more than 700 colleagues working in technology and operations teams. NAB Innovation Centre India Executive and Country Head Neeraj Goyal said the new office would allow NAB to increase its expertise across important areas including cyber security, technology, lending services and payments.

“With more than 93% of customer interactions now taking place online, the need to invest in technology, operations and digital capabilities has never been greater,” said Goyal.

SignDesk wins Bootstrapped SaaS Startup of the Year Award at SaaSBoomi Awards

SignDesk, a RegTech company, has been recognised as the 'Bootstrapped SaaS Startup of the Year' at the SaaSBoomi Awards.

The SaaSBoomi Awards celebrate exemplary SaaS startups in India, recognising their contributions to innovation, growth, and excellence in the SaaS industry.

"This recognition is incredibly special to us, coming from the largest SaaS community in India. Starting up is hard, bootstrapping is harder, and scaling a bootstrapped startup is even harder. But it is possible to achieve all of this and build a highly capital-efficient B2B SaaS company," said Krupesh Bhat, Founder of SignDesk.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)