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The Venture Codex

Lightbox

Unit 4, 2nd and 3rd Floor, Brady Glady's Plaza, 1/447 Senapati Bapat Marg, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400013, India

Overview

Lightbox is an early-stage VC firm partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs who are addressing unique challenges and opportunities in India's rapidly evolving consumer landscape with technology-led insights. The Lightbox team pairs operational expertise and an understanding of product and brand building, to help build differentiated companies. Representative investments include: Inmobi, InfoEdge, Cleartrip, Embibe, Furlenco, Rebel Foods (formerly Faasos), Melorra and Droom.

Total investments
19
Lead investments
9
Investments · 12mo
1
Active investors
5

Sector focus

  • Consumer
  • Finance
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Investment portfolio

  • Amaha (formerly InnerHour)

    Participated · Series A · Mar 2026

    Amaha delivers mental health care by combining clinical expertise with technology-led tools to treat conditions including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD. The company reports over 6 million users, has delivered around 220,000 therapy sessions, counts about 50,000 community members, and has formed 120 partnerships. Founded in 2016 by Amit Malik with Neha Kirpal joining as co-founder in 2019, Amaha has raised multiple rounds including a $4.4 million round in January 2024 led by Fireside Ventures and the recent Rs 50 crore extended Series A. The latest funding is intended to support operations, team expansion, capital expenditures, and working capital. Financially, Amaha reported revenue of Rs 27.57 crore in FY25 (up from Rs 21.40 crore in FY24) while losses increased to Rs 29.80 crore in FY25 from Rs 27 crore the prior year.

  • Zeno Health

    Participated · Series C · Mar 2024

    Founded in 2017 by Siddharth Gadia and Girish Agarwal, Zeno Health runs the Generico pharmacy chain, currently comprising 49 company-branded outlets in Mumbai. The business began with a company-owned, company-operated format but has transitioned to a master-franchise model, retaining ownership of the brand and technology while franchisees manage real estate and front-end operations. Generico outlets stock both generic and branded pharmaceuticals and serve as the cornerstone of the company’s broader omnichannel healthcare ambitions. Backed by venture investors since inception, the company has amassed $16 million in equity capital to date. Recent funding is being channelled toward rapid footprint expansion, with a stated goal of reaching 150 stores by 2021. Management positions the chain as a trusted, efficient patient-care platform that can be extended into adjacent healthcare services.

  • Rupeek

    Led · Equity · Jan 2022

    Rupeek operates an online gold-loan platform that offers secured loans against gold jewellery. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka and was founded in 2015, employing between 1,001 and 5,000 people. Rupeek has raised $120.94M in total to date. It is pursuing a multi-phase capital raise and the board has approved issuing 5,801 compulsory convertible preference shares at INR 2,15,467 per share as part of a plan to raise INR 250 crore. Recent fundraising activity includes primary funding from Elevation Capital and a May investment from 360 One Large Fund, with further capital expected from Claypond Capital. Founder Sumit Maniyar, key employees and early backer Bertelsmann are also considering secondary share sales to Claypond. Despite challenges scaling operations, the company continues to attract institutional investment. Rupeek operates an asset-backed digital lending platform that digitises the process of obtaining secured credit against gold, enabling instant loans from users' homes. The company has doubled its gold loan disbursals in December 2021 compared to 2020 and reported an annual disbursement run rate of $1 billion in December 2021. Rupeek has disbursed loans worth over Rs 6,500 crores and serves customers in 35+ cities, with 55% of borrowers being first-time borrowers. It is developing a lineup of new, tech-led products currently in pilot to monetise India’s estimated $2 trillion in gold assets. The firm says the funds will be used to significantly scale and build India’s largest digital asset-backed fintech platform. Rupeek is headquartered in Bangalore. Rupeek is an asset-backed digital lending fintech founded in 2015 by Sumit Maniyar that operates a branchless online gold loan platform. The company leverages technology to reduce operating costs and pass benefits to customers. It operates across 30 cities and disburses over $69 million (≈Rs 500 crore) a month. Rupeek works with lending partners including ICICI Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, and Federal Bank. The company recently completed a Series E financing, reflected in regulatory filings showing the allotment of Series E preference shares. Rupeek Fintech is an Indian online lender that issues loans collateralized by gold jewelry and family heirlooms. The company operates a digital platform to underwrite and disburse these secured loans. Recent reporting notes the business has demonstrated sharp growth in recent months. The article states Rupeek raised $60 million from investors including GGV Capital and Binny Bansal’s BTB. No revenue, user metrics, or detailed future plans were disclosed in the article. Rupeek is a Bengaluru-based fintech startup. According to the article, it has raised $30 million in a funding round. The round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments. The article does not describe the company’s product, business model, revenue, user metrics, or intended use of proceeds. No information on prior funding rounds or the company’s founding year was provided in the piece.

  • Dunzo

    Participated · Equity · Jan 2022

    Dunzo is a Bengaluru-based, six-year-old hyperlocal delivery and quick-commerce service operating in seven Indian cities. Its platform enables customers to buy groceries, perishables, pet supplies, medicines, meals and to send items around the city. Last year it entered instant delivery in Bengaluru promising 15–20 minute deliveries and said it is seeing over 20% week-on-week growth. The company announced a fresh round that values it at $775 million and plans to use the funds to expand to eight additional cities and broaden its quick-commerce offering. Dunzo counts investors such as Google (previous Series E), Blume Ventures, Lightbox and others, and positions itself as a challenger to Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto. Dunzo operates an eponymous hyperlocal delivery platform across nearly a dozen Indian cities, connecting users to neighborhood stores and restaurants for groceries, perishables, pet supplies, medicines and ad-hoc pickups. The service is used for a wide range of use-cases, from grocery delivery to moving items such as chargers, wallets or lunch boxes across town. Dunzo positions itself as a partner in merchants' digital transformation and says it is focused on building sustainable unit economics and capital responsibility. The company reported an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of about $100 million. The article notes that GMV is an imperfect growth metric and has traditionally signaled companies that are not close to profitability, which it says is true for Dunzo. Management frames future plans around deepening merchant relationships and continuing platform expansion to serve local commerce needs. Dunzo operates a hyperlocal delivery platform focused on making cities more accessible by connecting users, merchants, and delivery partners. The company says its mission includes empowering local businesses with e-commerce capabilities and improving product and user experience. Dunzo emphasizes creating a thriving ecosystem that benefits users, merchants and delivery partners. The firm has recently pursued additional capital as part of that effort. According to regulatory documents, Dunzo has secured new funding as it continues to develop its platform and merchant-facing offerings. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Dunzo operates a hyperlocal delivery service in India that competes with food and grocery delivery businesses and e-commerce players. The company is positioned as a growing rival to established food and grocery delivery firms and larger e-commerce giants. It recently secured new financing to support an expansion of its hyperlocal delivery operations across India. The raise was reported as Google-backed, indicating investment or support from Google. The funding is intended to accelerate Dunzo's growth and geographic expansion within India. The article did not disclose revenue, user metrics, or other financial details. Dunzo Digital runs the Dunzo task management app, which fulfils grocery and restaurant deliveries, instant local courier and home services. The company was founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha and is Bengaluru-based. Filings show Dunzo allotted 2,000 Series E non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Rs 1 lakh each to existing investor Alteria Capital to raise Rs 20 crore in debt. The company raised Rs 34.56 crore in the last month from Alteria Capital via debentures and preference shares. With the recent additions, total debt raised by Dunzo stands at Rs 56 crore. TechCircle estimates Dunzo's valuation between $63 million and $65 million.

  • Furlenco

    Participated · Series D · Jul 2021

    Founded in 2012, Furlenco operates a subscription-led furniture platform that allows customers to rent, buy, or acquire refurbished furniture for their homes. The company reports serving more than 150,000 active subscribers and claims to have furnished over one million homes across India. Its model emphasizes convenience and flexibility, enabling monthly payments instead of large upfront purchases. Furlenco turned profitable in FY25, generating Rs 240 crore in revenue and Rs 3 crore in profit, a swing from a Rs 139 crore loss in FY24. To date, the firm has secured about $313 million in equity and debt backing from investors such as Sheela Foam, Lightbox Ventures, Crescent Ventures, and Eagles. The newly raised capital will be deployed to broaden the product portfolio, bolster omnichannel distribution, and scale operations. Management has indicated that these initiatives are part of a multiyear roadmap aimed at positioning the business for an eventual IPO.

Team