5 rising startups in India – Nov 24, 2016

Definitely not as easy as it used to be. Photo credit: Senorset Jahnsen.

Demonetization is an added bonus for a funded healthcare ecommerce startup, while three companies centered on lending a hand to businesses also nab some money. Finally, a networking app for millionaires tries to ease the pressure of being a high achiever in today’s society.

Netmeds

Photo credit: Treasure

Healthcare ecommerce portal Netmeds has acquired Delhi-based Pluss, a hyperlocal health and medical supplies delivery app.

The deal involves an undisclosed amount of Netmeds stock. Some Pluss senior staff will relocate to Chennai and work out of their new parent’s headquarters. The acquisition brings Netmeds’ staff count to 450.

The acquisition will enable Netmeds to scale and improve efficiency in first-tier cities, said its founder and CEO Pradeep Dadha in a statement. He added that demonetization and India’s move toward a cashless economy are fueling the company’s growth.

Founded by Atit Jain and Madhulika Pandey, Pluss has IDG Ventures India as one of its advisors.

See: Airtel Bank opens its doors as India grapples with demonetization crisis

Betterplace

Data analytics-enabled background verification startup BetterPlace Safety Solutions has raised an undisclosed investment amount from Venture Highway through VH Capital.

Venture Highway has previously backed companies including Plabro, Tracxn, Deal4Loans, and Gingercrush.

Founded in January last year by Uday Singh and Pravin Agarwala, BetterPlace provides personal, employment, educational, criminal, and training verification services. It claims to have created over 200,000 profiles since its launch and is aiming to have a million profiles by next year. The startup looks at Aadhaar information (India’s national identification system), tracks a person’s digital information, and crowdsources social media data in addition to a traditional background check.

To pull up someone’s information, employers can search by name, mobile number, or a valid ID. Users may also create profiles that BetterPlace will then verify.

Unitus Seed Fund invested in the company in February.

See: Meet the Indian startup offering freelancing with a surprise twist

Udaan

Udaan, a business marketplace for other businesses, has secured US$10 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The early-stage funding round closed in October.

Udaan was co-founded this year by former Flipkart employees Vaibhav Gupta, Amod Malviya, and Sujeet Kumar. It staffs 20 people, half of whom also worked with Flipkart. Vaibhav worked in product management and finance, and Amod was CTO. Sujeet was senior operations executive.

The co-founders invested US$1.5 million in Udaan as part of the company’s seed round.

See: Who says India can’t love electric cars? Just ask this startup

InfiSecure

Mumbai-based bot detection and protection startup InfiSecure has secured US$600,000 in seed funding from IDG Ventures and Axilor Ventures.

The investment will go toward research and global business development, as well as expanding its tech to cover more areas of website protection.

Founded in December last year by Abhilash Pandey and Sandeep Singh, the service helps protect sites from bot abuse, fake traffic fraud, content theft, and form spam. It also helps improve a page’s business metrics. Abhilash and Sandeep have previously worked for Microsoft.

See: This startup secures data for NASA, Fujitsu, Deloitte. Here’s how it got there

Nodd

For many, networking is an acquired taste. Mumbai-based Nodd wants to help “achievers” find each other, and it’s bagged US$145,000 from Just Dial CTO Sandipan Chattopadhyay, IKYA Global associate partner Jaison Jose, and other investors.

Besides scaling operations, its team, and its technology, the company aims to use the funds to expand across major cities like New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

Founded by Shubham Rai, Praleed Suvarna, Rohan Haval, and Arpit Bajpai in December 2015, the app helps people discover and meet others through curated experiences, data analytics, experiences, and algorithms. Users can add photos and interests, add people to their circles, and peep in on others’ activities. It adds users by references and targets millionaires, entrepreneurs, and other achievers.

See: How doodling can make you a millionaire with Line

Converted from Indian rupees. US$1 = INR 68.76

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