Weekly Funding news

 Indian start-ups raised close to $250M in the first week of May: The Indian
startup ecosystem in the week ending May 3 raised close to $250 million in
equity across 18 deals, a 11 percent drop from last week.Of the total deals,
almost half of them were early-stage rounds (comprising Series A and pre-
Series A funding) that raked up a total of $112.1 million. There were only
three late-stage deals (Series C, Series D, and Series E), which raked up a total
of $134 million.
 Gurugram-based co-living startup Housr raised an undisclosed amount of
funding for expansion.
 Fintech startup Chqbook announced that veteran cricket commentator
Harsha Bhogle has invested an undisclosed amount in the startup. The family
office of Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal, on Thursday, announced an
investment in a smart and efficient motor-based home appliance company,
Atomberg Technologies.
 Online travel ticketing major MakeMyTrip (MMT) Limited on Tuesday
announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based
Quest2Travel India Private Limited (Q2T), an internet-based corporate travel
management company.
 Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky just raised another $200 million for his
newest company, Tempus
 Japan’s SoftBank is reportedly grappling with raising money for its latest fund
o In a bid to raise $100 billion for its next fund, Japanese conglomerate
SoftBank has faced a lukewarm reception from some of the world’s
largest investors, the Wall Street Journal reported
o SoftBank Group shares tanked in Monday trade, plunging 6.22% on
the day.
 Foursquare buys Placed from Snap Inc. on the heels of $150M in new funding
 Bharat Forge acquires additional stake in EV startup Tork Motor
 eSigning and digital workflow startup Leegality raises funding
o The fresh funds will be used to improve technology, scale operations,
and for future growth.
 MilkBasket raises $10.5M funding led by Unilever Ventures
o Launched in early 2015, Milkbasket enables customers to order from
a limited selection of grocery items and milk all day until midnight
 Bira raises $10M in debt funding, to ramp up output
o This also comes on the heels of B9 Beverages closing $4.3 million in
bridge financing from consumer-focused venture capital firm Sixth
Sense Ventures last month.
 Lending startup Avail Finance raises $9M from Matrix Partners India
o The technology-enabled startup, founded by Ankush Aggarwal and
Tushar Mehndiratta, will use the funds to foray into a neo-banking
platform.
 Agara Labs raises $2.5M funding led by Blume Ventures and RTP Global
o The startup will use the capital raised to establish its sales team in the
North American continent and for future product development
 Pristyn Care raises $4M Series A funding led by Sequoia India
o The company plans to use the funds raised to improve its medical
capabilities, invest in technology and expand its team of medical
professionals.
 Alibaba invests $100M in short video app VMate
o This investment comes as Alibaba aims to gain a foothold in India's
growing short video apps segment, currently led by Bytedance's
TikTok