Game Theory, Toystack.ai, and Moxie Beauty Raise Early-Stage Funding The Indian startups listed below have disclosed investment rounds.

Game Theory Secures Investment from Sports Celebrities Pullela Gopichand, Saurav Ghosal, and Sharath Kamal

Game Theory, a Bengaluru-based sports gamification tech platform, raised funds from sports icons Pullela Gopichand, Saurav Ghosal, and Sharath Kamal.

This investment from celebrated athletes highlights Game Theory's goal to enhance sports in India, aiming to elevate athletes from foundational skills to elite competitive levels using the world's leading technologies brought to everyday play.

Prequate Advisory acted as Game Theory's sole strategic and financial advisor on this transaction. Notably, in October 2023, Game Theory raised USD 2 million from Rainmatter, Rohan Bopanna, WEH Ventures, and angels like Balakrishna Adiga.

Pullela Gopichand, renowned badminton coach and Chief National Coach for the India national team, said, "By investing in this venture, I hope to contribute to building a robust sports ecosystem that nurtures talent from the grassroots level. With Game Theory's technology, we'll not only be able to deliver a great program but also scout future talents, helping us win in the sport on a global scale. We can now create a structured and highly personalised pathway that guides young athletes to excel globally, particularly at the Olympics."

Toystack.ai Raises USD 325K in Pre-Seed Round

ToyStack.ai, a deployment platform that enables developers and technology teams to deploy their code to the cloud, has raised USD 325k in pre-seed funding from angel investors, including D Devaraj, founder of SDU LLP Chartered Accountants, and Asit Shetty, founder of Aveda Ventures.

The raised funds will be used for product development, talent acquisition, sales, and marketing.

Torun Mathias, Co-founder of ToyStack, said, "Our mission at ToyStack was to create an automated infrastructure toolchain that can simplify the cloud deployment process for developers and companies. This investment further bolsters our mission and will help us in our next phase of product development and customer growth."

Founded in 2023 by Mukund Gandlur, Sravan Aditya, Arun Gandlur, and Torun Mathias, ToyStack.ai is an automated deployment tool that allows developers and software teams to deploy to the Toystack cloud in minutes with a couple of clicks.

ToyStack eliminates the time-consuming tasks of server setup, CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) pipelines, orchestration tools, and extensive configuration and security. The platform was built by developers for developers to automate the complexities involved in the cloud deployment process.

The startup claims to have integrated a Large Language Model (LLM) to streamline its deployment process, reducing build times by analysing data from past builds and error reports. The AI optimises tasks and dependencies and automates repetitive processes.

Haircare brand Moxie Beauty Raises INR 17.3 Cr Funding Led by Fireside Ventures

Gurugram-based D2C haircare brand Moxie Beauty has raised INR 17.3 crore (USD 2.1 million) funding led by Fireside Ventures.

The round also saw participation from a distinguished group of angel investors, including Samir Singh (Ex Unilever CMO Personal Care, Chair Unilever Asia), Arjun Purkayastha (Regional CEO at a top MNC), Suhasini Sampath (Founder, Yoga Bar), Navin Parwal, and Sangeet Agrawal (Founders, Mokobara).

The raised capital will be allocated towards product innovation and research, hiring talent, and expanding distribution channels.

Launched in 2023 by Nikita Khanna and Anmol Ahlawat, Moxie Beauty makes salon-quality hair care products that are tailored for Indian hair textures. Besides essentials like shampoo and conditioner, their range includes leave-in products and styling products that help tackle dryness and frizz.

"India is not on the R&D roadmap for most global brands; they don't formulate their products for Indian hair types, weather, or habits, which are very different from Western ones," said Khanna. "For so long, we have been taught to see our hair as 'unruly' and 'unmanageable'—but"For so long, we have been taught to see our hair as 'unruly' and 'unmanageable'—but there is no such thing as bad hair, only unsuitable routines that tools, not made for us. There is no such thing as bad hair; there are only unsuitable routines that were not made for us. Moxie's mission is to empower people with the right products, tools, and knowledge to care for and feel confident in their natural hair texture," she added.