LeadSquared is latest SaaS unicorn🦄, Matrix Partner's $450 Mn India fund💰, Foxconn to make EVs🏍️

LeadSquared turns unicorn, Matrix Partners to raise $450 million fund, Foxconn looks at manufacturing EVs in India, Funding Deals and more.

Jun 22, 2022

1 Mail | 2 Minutes | 3 Stories

Want this in your inbox?

LeadSquared turns unicorn after raising $153 million from WestBridge Capital🦄

Sales and marketing automation platform LeadSquared has raised $153 million in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital.

The funding values the company at $1 billion, founder and CEO Nilesh Patel told us, making it the latest software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm to join the unicorn club amid a broader slowdown in startup funding.

LeadSquared is the sixth SaaS startup of 2022 and the 18th overall to join the club.

Founded in 2011 by Nilesh Patel, Prashant Singh and Sudhakar Gorti, the company is headquartered in Bengaluru and Silicon Valley.

It provides sales and marketing automation software to businesses, helping them with lead management and analytics among other things. It claims to have more than 1,000 clients, including Byju's, Dunzo, Kotak Securities, Vedantu, Acko and Practo.

Let Twitter know!

Matrix Partners to raise $450 million fund for Indian startups💰

Matrix Partners India, an early investor in companies such as Ola, Razorpay and Dailyhunt, among others, will raise a $450 million India fund, according to a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

This will be the firm’s fourth India-dedicated fund, through which it will back startups in India and other South Asian markets.

The size of the fund is significant, given that bigger funds such as SoftBank and Tiger Global, among others, have indicated there will be a slowdown in dealmaking and have asked their portfolio firms to conserve cash and brace for a downturn.

The news comes as Matrix’s peers such as Accel, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed have raised or are in the process of raising larger funds for the Indian market.

Share on WhatsApp

Hot Shorts⚡

Vahak, a Bengaluru-based road transport logistics startup, has raised $14 million from Nexus Venture Partners, Fundamental, iSeed Ventures, Leo Capital, RTP Global, & Titan Capital.
Biotech startup Immuneel Therapeutics has raised $15 million in a funding round co-led by Eight Roads Ventures, True North and F-Prime Capital.
Castler, a global escrow banking solution provider, has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Zerodha’s venture capital arm Rainmatter, with participation from Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, Faad Network and LetsVenture.

➡️ Check out our LinkedIn space for more on the funding deals.

Foxconn looks at manufacturing EVs in India🏍️

Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn is looking at making electric vehicles in India, according to people at the contract phone maker for Apple.

Foxtron—the company’s EV venture—may consider manufacturing in India in addition to other locations in South East Asia such as Vietnam and Indonesia. This would be part of a larger plan to expand its Asian manufacturing supply chain beyond China.

Electric vehicles are a relatively new segment for Foxconn.

Last year, it bought a factory in the US to produce electric vehicles for the North American market and will also use the plant to contract-manufacture for customers like hybrid EV brand Fisker.