New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- Fleet management company Carrum Mobility, subscription platform Circolife, gaming technology startup ARC, and deep-tech cybersecurity firm QNu Labs have secured funding in separate early-stage rounds, the companies said on Wednesday.
Carrum Mobility
Carrum Mobility, a B2B fleet management technology-led mobility platform, has raised $10 million (around Rs 96 crore) in a Series B funding round led by Uber, following the ride-hailing giant's initial $7 million investment in January.
The fresh capital will be deployed to accelerate the company's expansion across existing and new geographies, strengthen its technology platform, and scale operations. The funding will also support the continued growth of Carrum Mobility's core mobility offerings and Uber Black services across India.
As of September, Carrum Mobility operates a fleet of over 5,000 vehicles across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Kolkata, with Chennai expected to commence operations this month. The company has also onboarded over 18,000 driver partners.
Founded by Karan Jain, Carrum specialises in building efficient and sustainable fleet operations through CNG and electric vehicles. The company is currently operating at an annualised revenue run rate of over Rs 400 crore.
Circolife
Circolife has raised $4.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Bharat Jaisinghani, joint managing director of Polycab India Ltd.
The round also saw participation from individual, fund, and family office investors such as Nitish Mittersain (founder of Nazara Technologies), Intelliquity Ventures, investment banker Sumit Jalan, Siddharth Ladsariya (founder of Everest Fleet), and Anand Ladsariya, among others.
The startup plans to use the fresh capital to expand its fleet and geographic footprint, scale in-house installation and services, and advance its AI-augmented IoT predictive-maintenance and digital twin platform.
Founded by Abhishek Murarka, Tushar Patil, and Devanshu Mishra, Circolife creates "ownership" through its air conditioner subscription platform. Since launching operations in Mumbai in late 2023, Circolife has spent roughly two-and-a-half years building a fleet across five Indian cities, and serving businesses across sectors including restaurants, hotels, gyms, salons, and co-living operators.
ARC
ARC, a gaming technology company building integrated hardware and software systems, has raised Rs 10.5 crore in pre-seed funding led by Chimera VC and MIXI Global Investments, with participation from Dhruv Vohra, APAC director at META.
Founded by Jobin Joseph and Kaustubh Jadhav, ARC is building an integrated gaming technology platform combining hardware, software and gaming experiences. Its first product, ARC X1, is a portable gaming system designed to make dedicated gaming more accessible to Indian gamers.
The startup plans to use the capital to develop and commercialise ARC X1, with investments directed towards hardware engineering, product validation, manufacturing, supply chain readiness, and the continued development of OWL OS and ARC's gaming software platform.
QNu Labs
QNu Labs, a deep-tech cybersecurity company building quantum-safe solutions, has raised Rs 200 crore in a Series A1 round led by the National Quantum Mission and Speciale Invest, with participation from Sony Innovation Fund, Gaja Capital and Artha Ventures, among other investors. The round takes QNu Labs' total capital raised to Rs 375 crore.
The fresh capital will be deployed to accelerate R&D, deepen QNu Labs' technology leadership, and scale its sales and go-to-market capabilities across India and global markets. The investment will also enable the company to further extend its quantum-safe technology stack by expanding into quantum sensing and AI.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.