附近上门

We that India鈥檚 startup scene is pretty much unignorable at this point, but after some extra activity in Bengaluru, a city in India known for its tech scene, I thought we鈥檇 tie together some interesting deals in one post.

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Before that, let鈥檚 just get a picture of how the city鈥檚 scene has grown over time. According to 附近上门 data, both deal and dollar volume is increasing over time. Last year, Bengaluru saw a specifically cash-strong year with on-demand food delivery startup .

Now let鈥檚 start with the news, literally.

Lokal

wants to make local news in India more accessible and digitally focused, from big cities to small villages. Through an app, Lokal wants to offer multilingual local news to users in different regions around India.

It has raised $3 million in funding from , , , , and . Other investors include co-founder and .

Digitized news is a busy sector, with apps like and already comfortably powering millions of articles and users a day with local news. The key with Lokal is a localized experience right down to the language (it is unclear how many languages the company offers currently).

The Y Combinator-backed startup was founded by and in 2018. According to Pasha, Lokal is operational in three of India鈥檚 most concentrated states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. It targets more than 900 million non-english speaking users in India.

In addition to news, Lokal offers digitized classified ads, a 鈥渓arge and lucrative opportunity鈥� according to a partner at . I imagine the opportunity he鈥檚 talking about is for advertisers, who have largely lost out on classifieds in traditional news outlets.

With that under our belts, let鈥檚 move to a later stage company founded in February 2016 that is finally getting some traction from investors.

YourOwnROOM

Founded by , , and , connects millennials to rental properties, from fully furnished shared rooms to private rooms and full houses.

The company raised $1.3 million in a seed round this week, bringing its total known funding to $2.1 million,.

When I saw this startup, I immediately thought of as a San Francisco counterpart, and one one of the other startups in the growing industry of tech-enhanced rental properties. describes itself as 鈥渟martly furnished neighborhood homes for extended stays.鈥� One of Zeus鈥� gaps is that it is only in the United States in big cities for now (including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington D.C., and New York City).

I think the value proposition that a company like YourOwnROOM has, then, must be its deep relationships with Bengaluru鈥檚 residential asset owners, developers, building owners and individual homeowners. Plus, that becomes even more important as through fake documents.

There is a unicorn in the room, however. , a hotel marketplace company reportedly worth $5 billion, is pushing into the housing space through OYO living. in cities across India, including Bengaluru. As we reported previously, Gurgaon, India-based OYO has raised so much money that the company is distorting India鈥檚 venture market, accounting for the lion鈥檚 share of the past year鈥檚 total funding in India鈥檚 hospitality startups. YourOwnROOM will have its work cut out for it in order to differentiate.

Finally, let鈥檚 move on from rooms and into what is inside of them: furniture.

Urban Ladder

, launched by and in July 2012, sells furniture through an online marketplace, offering everything from sofas and beds to storage shelves and dining tables.

The company raised $2.1 million in a financing round this week. Investors in the company include SAIF Partners, Trifecta Capital, Sequoia Capital India, and Steadview Capital. , Urban Ladder has $114.9 million in known venture funding to date.

Beyond the classics, Urban ladder it offers both modern and traditional designs and 鈥減roducts that are difficult to spot elsewhere during furniture online shopping; for example room dividers, corner storage units, and more.鈥�

The company recently opened up physical stores to bring its online products to Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi.

It鈥檚 not immediately clear what differentiates Urban Ladder from IKEA – but , the startup isn鈥檛 intimidated by the behemoth expanding in its region. In the same story, , Urban Ladder鈥檚 founder and CEO, said that 鈥檚 strength is homewares, while Urban Ladder鈥檚 strength is in furniture.

鈥淕enerally speaking, IKEA is an early starter household brand, like a few fresh college graduates moving into and setting up an apartment together. And that鈥檚 an area that nobody can beat them in. That鈥檚 not a market we are present in. We believe we know how to service a customer who is starting to move forward in life,鈥� said Goel.

To Close

That鈥檚 a quick snapshot of some activity happening in Bangalore, a growing startup hub in India that has scored over in the 附近上门 data set. We have more in the works on this region鈥檚 struggles and strengths as a hub, but in the meantime send any tips to me at natasha@crunchbase.com or by tweeting me .

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