Ethereal Machines, two others raise early-stage funding

Deeptech startup Ethereal Machines, lending platform Varashakti Housing Finance and business-to-business marketplace Redbasil have secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Monday. 
 
Ethereal Machines
 
Precision engineering components maker Ethereal Machines has raised $7.3 million (Rs 59.8 crore) in an undisclosed funding round from Peak XV’s Surge, Blume Ventures, Finvolve, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts and T2D3 Capital.

The round also saw participation from a clutch of angel investors including Ganapathy Subramaniam (Celesta Capital), Mathew Cyriac (ex-Blackstone India) and Lip-Bu Tan (Cadence Design Systems).

The fresh proceeds will be deployed to set up manufacturing factories across India.

Founded in 2014 by Kaushik Mudda and Navin Jain, Ethereal Machines produces precision engineering components via its proprietary computerised numerical control (CNC) machines. 

It caters to industries such as aerospace, defence, automobile and healthcare. The startup claims to reduce costs from their manufacturing solutions by 30% and production lead times by 40%.  

“The new funds will enable us to scale our operations and cater to more high-end engineering applications locally and internationally,” said Mudda.

Financial services startup Varashakti Housing Finance has secured $4.3 million (Rs 35 crore) in a Series A funding round from Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management’s India Progress Fund.     

Founded by C.V. Sankar and Sahaana Sankar in 2017, VHF focuses on the rural housing finance market. VHF offers home loans, home improvement loans, loans against property, small ticket business loans nd it has its presence in three South Indian states. It claims to have Rs 119 crore in assets under management (AUM) with 28 branches and aims to reach an AUM of Rs 1,750 crore by catering to 30,000 borrowers in the next 5-7 years. It claims to have catered to 4,200 borrowers till date.  

“This funding allows us to expand our business, scale up the organization and impact the lives of the rural underserved segment,” said Sahaana Sankar, co-founder and director, VHF.  

B2B marketplace for restaurants Redbasil has secured an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by South Asia Tech Partners. The round also saw participation from the angel network Mumbai Angels. 

The startup will use the fresh funding to expand its B2B sales team and ground operations along with developing its technological stack. 

Founded by Naman Dayal, Redbasil is a marketplace for wholesale food supply in restaurants. It has a catalog of 10,000 ingredients and food suppliers that are vetted by chefs and kitchens.  

The company claims to have grown by more than 4X in the past 14 months. 

“We press on to drive quality, transparency and price discovery for restaurants and offer suppliers a digital storefront to grow their business. The funds raised will help our growth further,” said Dayal.