New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- HairOriginals, Mealawe, Fitspire and three other startups have secured early-stage funding cheques from various investors, the companies said Wednesday.

HairOriginals

HairOriginals, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand making hair extension products, has raised $5 million (Rs 43.6 crore) in a Series A round led by 12 Flags Consumer Holdings and Anicut Growth Fund, with participation from Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal.

12 Flags Consumer is an investment firm founded by Rakesh Kapoor, former global CEO of Reckitt Benckiser.

HairOriginals said in a statement it aims to use the funds to expand its try-at-home services by bringing on-demand hair extension home service to 40 cities, establish 25-30 company-owned "experience centres" in the next 12 months and strengthen its R&D capabilities.

The company was founded by Jitendra Sharma and Piyush Wadhwani. It says it has partnered with over 1,400 salons.

To date, the Gurugram-headquartered firm has secured $7.2 million in total funding. The startup had previously raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Anicut Capital and other investors.

Mealawe

Food-tech startup Mealawe has raised $1 million in funding led by a co-founder of a US-based supply chain management firm, who contributed around $500,000 in the early-stage round. It didn't name the investor.

The company, which operates in Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Kota, said a clutch of Shark Tank founders and angel investors associated with companies such as Goldman Sachs and Oracle also participated in the round.

"This funding will drive the company's expansion into 14 cities over the next 10-12 months, with a target of delivering 1 million meals per month," Mealawe said in a statement.

The company was founded by Rupesh Kumar, Pratap Haldar and Nikhil Jain. It began as a platform connecting home chefs with customers, providing homecooked meals.

Dreamfly Innovations

Dreamfly Innovations, which is developing high-power-density battery technology for drones and aviation and aerospace sector, has raised $1.4 million in its seed funding round led by Avaana Capital. Sunicon Ventures and some existing investors also joined the round.

The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to scale production capabilities, team expansion and accelerate R&D.

The company was founded by Kajal Shah and Saurabh Markandeya in 2022. It counts Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, General Aeronautics and Neosky India Ltd among its clientele.

Fitspire

Nutrition brand Fitspire, which provides nutrition and protein supplements for families, has secured $1 million in a pre-Series A round of funding at a valuation of over Rs 100 crore.

The Delhi-based startup said the funding was led by the promoter of McDonald's franchisee for northern and eastern India, Anant Agarwal, MM Agrawal Group and angel investors from AKG financials.

It aims to use the fresh funds to strengthen its ecosystem and increase the pace of market expansion, build the brand, and create new revenue streams.

Fitspire was founded in 2020 by Vipen Jain, Nidhi Jain and Hinah Sawhney. It caters to various segments, including sports nutrition, vitals, healthy snacking and personal wellness.

Quicklend

Secured lending platform Quicklend has raised Rs 6.75 crore in a pre-seed funding round as it unveils a financial product which provides loans against users' mutual funds.

The investment round was led by Inuka Capital, Eximius Ventures, Upsparks Capital, GrowX, and a group of angel investors, the Bengaluru-based startup said in a statement.

The company said the new product is launched in collaboration with Bajaj Finance and a group of prominent NBFCs.

It aims to use the funds to scale its operations, enhance its technological capabilities, and introduce new features to improve its lending experience.

Quicklend was founded in 2024 by Arunkumar Jadhav, Abhishek Uppala, and Raghuram Trikutam.

Presage Insights

Presage Insights, a deeptech startup which provides AI-based predictive maintenance services, has bagged Rs 5.6 crore in a seed round led by YourNest Venture Capital, as it scales its presence and operations in the manufacturing sector.

The company offers a platform that combines internet of things (IoT) sensors and a cloud-based software solution, enabling real-time monitoring of machine health, providing AI-driven insights to predict and prevent equipment failures.

The Noida-based startup was founded in 2021 by Aman Bhambra, Atul Sharma and Kamalpreet Singh Sidhu.

Origamis AI

Bengaluru-based Origamis AI has raised $500,000 in seed funding from Vikas Gautam, former CEO and head of international business at Aditya Birla Sunlife AMC Ltd in Dubai, and Naveen Agarwal, CFO at Merrill Wealth Management at Bank of America in New York.

It intends to utilize the funds to accelerate development of the orchestration platform and expand its presence globally.

The company was founded by Manas Agrawal, Ankit Agarwal, and Alexander George. The AI startup offers a platform that orchestrates Generative AI components to build scalable enterprise applications.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.