Indian startup Faaso’s has just secured $15 million from an investor consortium that includes Sistema Asia Fund, one of the corporate venturing vehicles of the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, Ru-Net, an international fund led by Russian venture magnate Leonid Boguslavsky, as well as Sequoia Capital India, Lightbox and Evolvence India.
The news was reported this morning by Russian business daily Vedomosti, which cited exchanges with representatives the startup and three of the investors. Neither the investors’ respective contributions nor the details of the deal were disclosed.
The move comes just weeks after DST Global, a major global venture fund managed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, led a $210 million round for Swiggy, another Indian food delivery startup.
Founded in 2011, Faasos touts itself as “a revolutionary new food ordering app” with “easy ordering, accurate delivery time, multiple payment modes.” The startup, which operates in the 15 of the largest cities in India, expects to generate some $50 million in revenues and reach breakeven next year, as reported by Vedomosti.
Initially backed by Sequoia Capital, Faaso’s has raised $64 million in total since its inception (before the latest funding), according to Crunchbase. Ru-Net led two of its round of financing, in 2015 and in 2017. In 2015, Boguslavsky’s fund also took part in a funding round for Delhi-based grocery delivery startup PepperTap.
Founded in 2009, Ru-Net is more active outside Russian than within, like many other funds with Russian backers or management. Thus, the fund started investing in Indian startups as early as 2012, and its latest investments in the country took place last year, when it participated in a $55 million funding round for e-medicine startup Practo. Ru-Net has also backed startups from other countries, including recently in CupoNation, a coupon startup based in Munich, and Learn 2 Play, a Russian eSports company registered in Cyprus.
On its side, Sistema Asia Fund targets essentially startups operating in the technology and niche consumer retail segments in India and Southeast Asia. The fund has established its headquarters in Singapore and an office in India. Since its inception in early 2016, Sistema Asia Fund has participated in a $12 million funding round for Seclore, led a $10 million round for QwikCilver, put some $3 million in Wooplr, and participated in a $14 million round for the Indian healthcare startup Netmeds.
More recently, in February this year, Sistema Asia Fund led a $12 million Series B round for HealthifyMe, a leading Indian e-health and fitness platform.
