Fountain9, CoRover, BLive raise early-stage capital

Mumbai-headquartered predictive inventory planning solution provider Fountain9 has raised $1.9 million (Rs 14.18 crore according to current exchange rates) from Binny Bansal backed 021 Capital, YCombinator, Titan Capital, Globevestor, Harvard Seed Fund and German venture fund Blue Impact Ventures.  

Marquee angel investors and former YCombinator partners Holly Liu, Tracy Young and Carnegie Mellon Alumni were also a part of the round.  

The company will utilise the funds to strengthen its AI-powered demand sensing engine, strengthen its product offering and expand into global markets.   

Focussed on food and beverage, ecommerce and retail space in India, Fountain9 offers its AI-powered inventory optimisation solution Kronoscope to customers which reduces wastage and maximises return on investment for customers.  

The company was founded in January 2019 by former Google executives, Niki Khokale and Rajas Lonkar.   

CoRover

Bengaluru-headquartered conversational AI company, CoRover Private Limited has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Empower India Fund, the sixth fund of Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd. Canbank Venture Capital Fund is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Bank.  

The company will utilise the capital to enhance its proprietary AI-platform and in research and development, a statement issued by the fund said.  

Founded in 2016 by Ankush Sabharwal, Manav Gandotra and Kunal Bhakhri, CoRover offers its chatbot-as-a-service platform to IRCTC, ITC subsidiary Asian Tobacco Company and Indraprastha Gas Plant.  

The company has previously raised a seed round in 2019 and claims to support over 12 local Indian languages and over 100 foreign languages.   

CoRover offers its bot services across channels including website, app, WhatsApp, IVR, SMS, Microsoft and others.  

BLive

Panaji-based electric vehicle tourism platform BLive has raised $100,000 (Rs 74 lakh approximately) as part of a pre-Series A round of funding from ah! Ventures Angel Platform and Marwari Angels.  

The company had previously raised $1 million (Rs 7.46 crores according to current exchange rates) in funding in March from LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO and Credit Wise Capital.   

Founded in 2018 by Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, BLive provides experiential guided tours on electric bikes across 15 cities in nine states and has partnered with hospitality firms such as Club Mahindra, Taj Hotels, Grand Hyatt and Airbnb.  

“This year we are looking at growing the EV tours to over 30 locations and expand our EV portfolio of partner brands and retail footprint through online and offline channels,” said Kholkar and Mukherjee in a joint statement issued by BLive.   

In 2020, BLiver launched an online electric vehicle marketplace offering brands of e-cycles and e-scooters and has also introduced an exchange and upgrade programme for two-wheeler owners to exchange their petrol driven vehicles to new electric vehicles.