The week witnessed investments and strategic acquisitions by 21 startups from the Indian startup ecosystem; a massive movement of about $144.46 million. Despite the temporary breakdown mishap, activity still remains at a considerable rate, witnessing a reduction of 66.57% as against the previous week’s $432 million raised.
PC: Bloomberg Linea
Growth-Stage Deals
This week, five other growth-stage deals were noted, where these startups collectively raised $91 million. Rounding off the list is Livpure, known for making water purifiers and air conditioners, which is marking its presence within the D2C space with $28 million raised in Series C funding. Following is Hangyo, a D2C ice cream brand, getting a scoop of $25 million. Other notables include Axio with $20 million, and FlexiLoans, an online lending platform being operated for $9 million under its MSME-focused fintech lending. Similarly, D2C luggage brand Uppercase obtained $9 million during its funding round.
Early Stage: Ventures with a Variety of Innovations that Stand Out
In this sector, 13 startups at early stages raised 7%, which is worth $53.46 million of the fund. Being at the top spot on this list was healthtech startup Even; in close pursuit were equity investment platform InvestorAI and D2C spice brand Zoff. The others in this bracket applied to sports-tech startup Legends League Cricket, featuring senior cricketers; fintech startup TransBnk; whilst it was the turn to unveil the three that operate in stealth mode, PadelPark, NxtQube, and TailBlaze.
City and Segment-Wise Funding Dynamics
Top cities with signed deals include Bengaluru and Delhi NCR, tied at seven each. Following this, there were Mumbai, Mangalore, Chennai, Raipur, and Nashik. Fintech startups were leading the fray with seven deals to their name. The segment saw sustained investor interest and the numbers truly reflect the growth and investor confidence the sector has seen over the years. Other segments included e-commerce, sportstech, agritech, AI, aquatech, and dronetech.
Series-wise funding trends
The instances of such funding include: seven series-wise deals in seed funding, followed by five Series A, two pre-Series A, two Series B, and one debt deal. This diversity of funding stages underlines the maturity of the ecosystem, many of which must be startups at different levels of growth.
New Fund Launches: Bolstering the Startup Ecosystem
The week also saw the launch of a number of startup-focused funds. Titan Capital Winners Fund, backed by Snapdeal Co-Founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, has closed its target corpus of Rs 200 crore. The fund will target follow-on investments for stand-out companies from the existing seed portfolio. Volt VC launched its first fund, Volt VC Fund-1, which will make it a vehicle with a mission to bridge the pre-seed funding gap that exists today across India.
Arka Investment Advisory Services also saw the final closing of the Arka Credit Fund I, which is a diversified credit fund supporting mid-market corporates. Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah launched the PW School of Startups (SOS), with a Rs 100 crore fund corpus to inculcate entrepreneurial skills and to handhold 100 startups for the next five years.
Strategic Acquisitions and Leadership Movements
In what could only be classified as an acquisition, Zomato announced a deal to purchase Paytm’s movie and ticketing business for Rs 2,048 crore ($244 million), thereby obviously entering into that strategic space beyond the purview of food delivery. Zappfresh, an online fresh fish and meat retailer, acquired Bonsaro, a Mumbai-based company that deals in chicken, goat, and seafood delivery, to grow its brand presence in the west.
Key Leaders on the Move: Brij Bhushan, Co-Founder and ex-COO Magicpin, Joins Prime Venture Partners As a Full-Time Venture Partner; Perfios Hires New CFO Rajesh Kini; Veefin Group Appoints Shantanu Bairagi As CEO of Veefin Capital.
Conclusions
Despite the slight dip in weekly funding, the Indian startup ecosystem has remained vibrant, spurred by strategic investments, innovations, and dynamic shifts in leadership. This brings it possibly closer to another forecast for growth and reshaping following new fund launches and acquisition reconfigurations of the market. This is reflective of resilience and adaptability in a quick-changing landscape.
