Grip Invest has raised $10 million in a Series B round led by Stride Ventures, while Gruhas has partnered with Collective Artists Network to form a new investment fund. Separately, One97 Communications has announced an investment of Rs 100 crore in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City to build a global financial ecosystem.
Grip Invest raises Series B funding led by Stride Ventures
Alternative investment platform Grip Invest has raised $10 million in a Series B funding round led by Stride Ventures.
Of the total amount, $1.5 million was venture debt, while $8.5 million was raised via fresh equity and convertible notes.
The round also saw participation from new investors LC Nueva and Multiply Ventures along with existing investors Venture Highway, Anicut Capital, and AdvantEdge.
Founded by Nikhil Aggarwal and Vivek Gulati, Grip Invest is a fintech platform that helps investors invest their money in new-age, asset-backed investment options. It plans to use the funding proceeds to strengthen its application programming interface (API) stack, making it available to more distributors, Aggarwal told The Economic Times.
Gruhas, Collective Artists fund to invest $18m in consumer startups
Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai-founded investment firm Gruhas has partnered with Mumbai-based creative talent management firm Collective Artists Network to form a new investment fund that will back 10-15 consumer startups.
The Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund will look to invest around Rs 150 crore in areas such as fashion and lifestyle, health and wellness, coffee and beverages, personal care, and food services.
In addition to Gruhas and Collective Artists Network, the fund will also raise capital from limited partners.
“We are bringing together the technical know-how of Bengaluru and the distribution capabilities of Mumbai in a more cohesive form than has happened before. Normally, these two layers interact via intermediaries, and we are trying to eliminate that,” Kamath, who is also the co-founder of Zerodha, told The Economic Times.
Paytm to invest $12m in GIFT City
One97 Communications, which owns India’s leading payments and financial services company Paytm, announced an investment of Rs 100 crore in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to build a global financial ecosystem.
The company will make the investment over some time and will seek requisite approvals for the same, the firm said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
“GIFT City is set to become a global financial hub, further putting India on the world map for innovation. The strategic investment in GIFT City represents a pivotal step towards building an artificial intelligence-driven cross-border remittance and payments technology landscape, presenting global opportunities,” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm.