Weekly rundown: Swiggy invests in Rapido, SoftBank backs Observe.ai

Food delivery decacorn Swiggy made a key strategic investment in Bengaluru-based bike taxi start-up Rapido on Friday. It led a $180 million Series D round into the seven-year-old company with a contribution of about $125 million. 

Other investors in the round include TVS Motor Company, Westbridge, Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures. The round valued the start-up at over $800 million. With 1.5 million driver-partners, Rapido operates a two-wheeler and three-wheeler ride-sharing service besides an intracity pick and drop vertical. 

Swiggy is building a number of new verticals in the neighbourhood convenience market and Rapido's fleet network, spread across the country, will be a massive asset to this approach.

Also Read: Rapido raises $180 mn in latest round from Swiggy, TVS Motor

Close collaboration and integration offer both companies more use cases for effective utilisation of their delivery fleet and reduce the cost of delivery. 

Observe.AI, an intelligent workplace platform, secured $125 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation of video conferencing firm Zoom and various other investors. The four-year-old start-up also onboarded SoftBank Partner Priya Saiprasad as its board member. The company said it will utilise the fresh funds for the expansion of its product. 

Business-to-Business (B2B) medical supply chain platform MedikaBazaar raised $65 in a fresh round of funding led by Lighthouse India Fund III. Returning investors include Creaegis, British International Investment (formerly CDC), Ackermans & van Haaren, KOIS Holdings and Health Quad. 

Also Read: Why Swiggy's investment in Rapido is a masterstroke

The fresh funds will go into boosting its tech infrastructure, supply ecosystem, and distribution channels besides expanding global operations. 

Omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart scooped up Rs 760 crore (or nearly 1$00 million) in new funding round from Alpha Wave Ventures. The company is likely to close the ongoing round at around $200-250 million ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO).

Last year, it raised $315 million from investors including KKR, Temasek and Alpha Wave Ventures. The eyewear retailer had entered the unicorn club in 2019 with a SoftBank-led $231 million funding round. 

On the mergers and acquisition front, IPO-bound merchant commerce platform Pine Labs announced a significant majority acquisition in Mosambee, an end-to-end payments solution provider. 

This investment by Pine Labs will value Mosambee at over $100 million. The leadership team at Mosambee will continue to operate independently and use its proprietary tech platform.

Also Read: Workplace platform Observe.AI raises $125 mn in funding round led by SoftBank