ETtech Deals Digest: A week of SaaS and Super App ambitions

Tata Digital, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's largest conglomerate, wrapped up two startup deals this week, while SaaS startups clocked the biggest funding rounds.

Whatfix’s $90 million funding

SoftBank Vision Fund II has led a $90-million funding round in Whatfix.


Valuation quadruples: The new funding round values the Bengaluru- and US-headquartered software-as-a-service provider at around $600 million, up from $150 million when it raised funding a year ago, Khadim Batti, co-founder and chief executive officer at Whatfix, told ET. “Around $90 million of the total funding is primary capital, while a small portion is towards secondary deals,” Batti said.

ET was the first to report on the SoftBank-Whatfix deal on April 20. This is SoftBank’s second bet on the enterprise technology space after MindTickle, a cross-border sales enablement platform it invested in November 2020.

Zenoti raises $80 million

Zenoti, which makes software for large spas and salon chains, has raised $80 million in a funding round led by US-based private equity firm TPG.

The fundraising values the Bellevue, Washington- and Hyderabad-based startup at around $1.5 billion. The SaaS company became a unicorn in December 2020 at $1 billion valuation when it raised $160 million in its Series D round from US-based private equity firm Advent International and existing investors Tiger Global and Steadview Partners.

Zenoti has raised around $350 million to date, including the latest capital infusion.

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Tata Digital deals

Tata Digital Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Group, will invest $75 million in Curefit. ET was the first to report on the Tata-Curefit deal on May 27. Mukesh Bansal, the co-founder and chief executive officer of the Bengaluru-based fitness startup, will join Tata Digital as president and continue to lead his company.

Meanwhile, Curefit acquired Tread to beef its fitness hardware business.

Separately, Tata Digital announced the acquisition of 1mg, at a time of consolidation in India's e-pharmacy space. Reliance Industries recently acquired Netmeds while PharmEasy absorbed smaller rival Medlife with itself ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO).

These deals are seen as building blocks for a Tata super app.

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Other key deals

■ Slintel, a startup that builds sales intelligence platforms for enterprises, has announced the close of its $20 million Series A funding round, led by GGV Capital. Existing investors Accel, Sequoia Capital India and Stellaris Venture Partners also participated in the round.

■ Salary app Refyne has picked up $16 million in a Series A funding round, which saw participation of new and existing investors, such as DST Global, RTP Global, QED Investors, XYZ Capital and Jigsaw VC.

Acquisitions

■ BharatPe has acquired 100% of Payback India, a multi-brand loyalty programme, from American Express and ICICI Investments Strategic Fund for an undisclosed amount.

■ Neobanking startup Niyo has acquired Bengaluru-based personal finance startup Index for an undisclosed amount, marking its second acquisition in less than a year. The fintech company had acquired Goalwise, a mutual fund investment platform, in a cash-and-stock deal in late July last year.