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Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

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Indian food delivery startup Swiggy raises $1.25B at $5.5B valuation

Indian food delivery startup said Tuesday that it has raised a $1.25 billion Series J funding round led by and (formerly Naspars Ventures) at a $5.5 billion post-money valuation. The new funding includes $800 million disclosed to employees of the Bangalore-based company earlier this year.

The capital will be used to expand into nonfood delivery, the company said, noting that it has experienced significant growth in the past 15 months amid pandemic lockdowns in the country, which is battling a catastrophic surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

鈥淥ur biggest investments will be in our non-food businesses that have witnessed tremendous consumer love and growth in a short span, especially in the past 15 months of the pandemic,” Swiggy CEO said in a statement. “I believe the next 10-15 years offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies like Swiggy as the Indian middle class expands and our target segment for convenience grows to 500 million users.鈥�

Other investors in the new round include the , , , and as well as existing investors and .

As notes, Swiggy’s funding comes as rival delivery service prepares to go public on the Indian stock market this week.

鈥� Marlize van Romburgh

JOKR lands $170M for grocery delivery

, a grocery and retail delivery platform with operations in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, announced the completion of a $170 million Series A funding round.

, and led the financing for the New York-headquartered company, which rolled out operations in early June. The company says it currently operates hubs worldwide in cities including New York, S茫o Paolo, Mexico City, Bogota, Lima, Warsaw and Vienna.

The company offers customers delivery of an assortment of grocery and retail items to their doorstep in less than 15 minutes.

— Joanna Glasner

MURAL draws up $50M Series C for visual collaboration software

San Francisco-based , a visual workplace collaboration SaaS platform, closed a $50 million Series C funding led by existing investors and . The latest round follows MURAL’s $118 million Series B in August.

The company said it tripled annual recurring revenue over the past year and now has more than 600 employees, all remote and spread across 30 countries, and plans to grow its headcount to 900 by year-end 2021. It also appointed founder and Executive Chairman as a senior adviser and founder and former and executive as executive chairman of its board.

— Marlize van Romburgh

Paro lands $25M for finance professional matchmaking

, a Chicago-based startup that matches companies with teams of remote financial professionals, raised a $25 million Series B funding round led by , with participation from existing investors , and .

Paro said the funding will be used for growth and international expansion, as well as investment in its AI-driven professional services marketplace. The company’s platform matches businesses with specialized freelance finance talent, including CFOs, controllers and accountants.

As part of the funding, Madrona Venture Group Managing Director will join the Paro board.

— Marlize van Romburgh

Enterprise software

SmartRecruiters closes $110M Series E: San Francisco-based raised a $110 million Series E led by with participation from existing investors and 1. The new round gives the company a $1.5 billion valuation.

SmartRecruiters, with a platform that helps companies with talent acquisition, will use the new funding to add more automated and conversational interface features to its solution.

The company has raised $205 million to date.

The round is another example of the heat the human resources tech space is seeing, as employers seek new ways to recruit, hire and retain their workforces. According to Crunchbase data, the sector has seen more $3.6 billion in venture funding for 260 deals so far this year. That dollar amount already surpasses all of last year, which saw less than $2.2 billion invested in 500 funding deals.

鈥� Chris Metinko

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