 "The launch of the startupXSeed fund. Image via Tech in Asia")
Startupxseed Ventures announced the launch of Aaruha Technologies today. Aaruha is a $4.5 million seed fund that focuses on early stage technology investments within India and is Startupxseed Ventures’ first fund. Its first investment went into bot prevention product ShieldSquare.
ShieldSquare protects companies from “web scraping,” an epidemic that duplicates website content either manually or through a scraper program. Not all web scraping is bad: For example, Google and other search engines scrape content from websites to create the metrics behind their SEO. When web scraping is used maliciously, however, it poses a serious threat to intellectual property and website quality. Bots can use the information that they’ve duplicated to find contacts, track website changes and reproduce content.
Usually, the easiest way to prevent these bots is to manually block IP addresses or use CAPTCHA services. Instead, ShieldSquare allows users to create algorithms that will automatically detect and deter bots.
ShieldSquare has already raised a round of angel funding of $300,000. Its previous investors include Freshdesk’s Girish Mathrubootham and the three co-founders of RedBus. Aaruha Technologies has invested an undisclosed amount for the next round.
Incubators to promote ecosystem
Startupxseed also announced partnerships with two separate incubators in Bengaluru.
The first is at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B). This is an incubator that conducts exits within three to five years.
The second is the eHealth technology incubator. It is angel funded by Blue Sky Angels and is located at the PES university in Bangalore.
Seed stage funding means more than money
Startupxseed has also partnered with later stage venture capital funds, including Aarin Capital, partially founded by Startupxseed co-founder and ex-CFO of Infosys Mohandas Pai, and technology-focused Exfinity Ventures.
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.
