India DealBook: Aviom India, Food memories raise funds; lenskart to invest more in John Jacobs

While Aviom India Housing Finance and Food Memories have raised funds, online eyewear firm Lenskart is investing $4 million more in its affordable-premium eyewear brand John Jacobs.

Aviom India Housing raises $2.3m from Insitor Impact Asia Fund

Aviom India Housing Finance has raised Rs 15 crore ($2.3 million) from Cambodia-based impact investor in its Series-A round of funding, according to in The Economic Times.

As per the news report, the Delhi-based investor plans to use this latest funding to increase its branches and expand operations in tier-II and tier-III towns in existing states, and subsequently expand to other states.

Avoim provides loans to low-income individuals and families, and currently has 14 branches in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The company already has a debt line of Rs 17.5 crore and plans to raise another Rs 100 crore in the next six months, said the report.

Food Memories raises seed round

Food Memories, an online marketplace for Indian foods has raised seed funding of an undisclosed amount from a group of eight investors.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the round was led by Delhivery co-founders Bhavesh Manglani and Suraj Saharan; and Darshan Upadhyay and Sanjay Notani, Partners at Economic Laws Practice, Mumbai.

The other investors in the round include Vaishali Patel from Ahmedabad, Vivek Pabari, Prateek Nijhawan and Kapil Bhushan- Investment Bankers from Mumbai and Abhishek Bhalla, from Delhi.

Sachin Khandelwal, Founder of Bangalore-based Corporate Gifting major – Kirti Sales & Services, has also joined the investor group, said the report.

This latest funding will be used to expand Food Memories’ current business segments as well as to help the company to establish a physical retail footprint in the top cities across India.

Lenskart to invest $4m more in its John Jacobs brand

Online eyewear firm is investing $4 million more in its affordable-premium eyewear brand John Jacobs to set up more stores in metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

According to a company statement, John Jacobs is expected to grow ten times to become a Rs 500-crore business by 2020, with around 50 stores across tier-I and II cities in India.

At present John Jacobs has five stores, which is likely to be increased to 20 this year. The company is also said to be looking to partner with large format retail stores to sell the John Jacobs range.