Leaf Wearables, an Indian start-up by the students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University, India, has raised US $250,000 in seed funding.
Raised to approach the safety issue of women in the country, the funding will be used to grow Leaf Wearables’ award winning product SAFER, a smart safety wearable device. Leaf Wearables were chosen amongst the top 10 innovative startups in India by Department of Science and Technology.
The funding has been raised from seasoned investors including Ajeet Khurana – Serial Entrepreneur, Mumbai Angels, Jinesh Shah – Founding Partner at Omnivore Ventures, Vikram Chachra – Co-Founder of Eight Capital, India’s leading Special Situations Investment Firm, Dr. Aniruddha Malpani – Angel Investor, Director at Solidarity Investment Advisors, Vijay Talreja – Angel Investor, Co-Founder and Director at Adapty Inc and others.
The smart safety device was developed under project ‘Guardian’ which won an Ericsson innovation award this year, resulting in a full-fledged product and led to the start of Leaf Innovation Pvt. Ltd in February 2015. The product, now known as SAFER, is a smart safety device, which can be used to trigger alarm and send signals to pre-identified phone numbers in case of emergency. The device can be used as smart jewellery in the form of a necklace; and is available in three colors.
Manik Mehta, Co-Founder, Leaf Wearables, said in a written statement, “The money will be utilised to expand the product offering. We hope to reach to the masses and contribute towards the safety of women with SAFER. SAFER has been developed to let women feel safer every time with a practical solution at an affordable cost. This seed funding will help us create an inventory. This money will also help us expand our technical team for product enhancement and improve the product offering by introducing new jewellery designs. We are also looking at the global market but India being our major focus currently.”
Image Credit: Leaf Wearables