Fintech company GrayQuest, IoT-based Probus, others raise early funds
Fintech startup GrayQuest, smart grid automation platform Probus and SaaS startups Houseware and I-CampusBuddy have raised early-stage funding, according to their respective statements on Thursday.
GrayQuest raised $7 million (Rs 56 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Pravega Ventures. The Weizmann Group, Telama Family Office and Apurva Parekh (Pidilite Family Office) also participated in the round.
Existing investors such as the family offices of Ashok Wadhwa (Ambit Capital) and Yogesh Mahansaria also invested in the funding round.
The Mumbai-based startup plans to use the proceeds for product development and scaling distribution.
Founded in 2017 by Rishab Mehta, GrayQuest is a fintech platform focused on providing payment solutions for educational institutions by providing a unified payment platform to digitize and enhance their fee collection. It enables parents to pay their wards’ annual education fees in up to 12 monthly installments at no extra cost.
The company claims to serve 5,000 schools across India and handle up to 3 million students in the same manner.
Internet-of-things (IoT)-based smart grid automation startup Probus raised $3 million (Rs 24.5 crore) in a Series A funding round led by existing investor Unicorn India Ventures. The round also saw participation from undisclosed angel investors based out of the US.
This is Unicorn India Ventures’ third investment round in Probus. In 2020, the early stage venture fund invested an undisclosed amount in the seed funding round of the IoT startup.
The New Delhi-based company plans to ramp up its product development, hire talent and build partnerships with ecosystem partners.
Founded in 2017 by Singh, Probus is an IoT-enabled platform that develops integrated hardware and software solutions for electricity distribution providers and helps digitize their distribution network along with faster power restoration after power outages.
Besides expanding further in India, it will also look to start operations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Southeast Asia (SEA) in the next 12-18 months. The company claims to have achieved profitability at profit after tax (PAT) level.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Houseware raised $2.1 million (Rs 17.2 crore) in a seed funding round led by Singapore-based, Tanglin Venture Partners. GTMfund, Better Capital and undisclosed angel investors also participated in the round, with a focus on the SaaS area.
The San Francisco-based company plans to use the new funding to expand its customer base, hire talent and increase strategic alliances with partners such as Snowflake.
Founded in 2021 by Divyansh Saini and Shubhankar Srivastava, Houseware enables SaaS businesses to create customer relationship management (CRM) built on the cloud data warehouse for the modern world. It’s a platform that helps commercial and revenue teams use data to drive sales and growth and identify hidden market opportunities.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup I-CampusBuddy has secured $500,000 (Rs 4.1 crore) in a strategic funding round from payment gateway platform IppoPay Technologies.
The education sector-focused start-up plans to expand its product range after the fund infusion.
Founded by Arun Solanki, I-CampusBuddy provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions to the education industry. It offers end-to-end solutions through a set of modules, such as CRM, finance, academics, communication, collaboration, productivity, e-learning, assessment and asset management.
This marks IppoPay’s first investment in 2023. Last year, the Chennai-based fintech startup acquired fintech-focused IT products and services firm Roamsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd in a cash deal, for an undisclosed amount. Before that, it had also acquired risk management startup Tutelar for an undisclosed amount.
