According to recent reports, during February 3 to February 8, 2025, Indian startups collectively raised close to $137 million in funding within 23 deals. This funding round includes five growth-stage investments and 20 early-stage deals. Meanwhile, the previous week recorded a total of 30 deals with around $241 million, reflecting a significant fall in funding.
PC: 123RF
Growth-Stage Funding Highlights
Several key players made it to the front page in the growth-stage funding segment:
- Cashfree: Digital payments enabler Cashfree raised $53 million in a Series C round led by KRAFTON. This is a testament to the strong investor confidence that exists in the ability of Cashfree to grow well in the digital payments landscape.
- Shadowfax: The logistics firm bagged $16.8 million through two tranches from Mirae Asset and Nokia Growth Partners, thus witnessing a huge demand for logistics solutions in India’s growing e-commerce market.
- Apex Kidney Care: This dialysis service provider earned $9 million from Blue Earth Capital, demonstrating health care’s need for improving patient care services.
- Nua: The women’s wellness and hygiene brand raised $4 million, reflecting the growing market of female-focused health products.
– Auxilo: This education-focused non-banking financial company (NBFC) secured a debt of $5.7 million with Motilal Oswal.
Early-Stage Funding Updates
The early-stage funding environment recorded 13 startups that successfully raised a cumulative amount of $48.43 million.
The key mentions include:
- TrueFoundry: The AI startup dominated the early-stage funding, as it brought in $19 million in its Series A round. This has demonstrated the interest that is increasingly growing in artificial intelligence technologies.
- Cognida AI: The other AI firm, Cognida AI, was on the list, though the actual funding amount is unknown.
Others with funding included direct-to-consumer hair extensions and wig brand HairOriginals as well as others, representing an interest in a wide variety of consumer goods.
Astra Security is one that continues to draw attention and builds on the trends of more companies focusing on solutions for digital security.
Dreamfly Innovations represents a battery tech startup and illustrates innovation in solutions for energy.
Other startups that managed to raise undisclosed amounts include COLUXE, a lab-grown diamond brand, and Vahan AI, an AI-powered hiring platform. Thus, a good interest in the different sectors can be noted.
City and Segment
Bengaluru was the front runner with total deal completions of 10 transactions in the week. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad also contributed to the funding landscape.
Starting with the deal segments, AI and Healthtech both led the charge with five deals each. Fintech followed with three deals in place, logistics and e-commerce, and SaaS also registered notable investment.
Another big leadership change was also witnessed in the startups this week.
Shrinking Shadowfax strengthened its governance structure by appointing Bijou Kurien and Ruchira Shukla as its independent directors along with Pirojshaw Sarkari on board.
- Aisle, a dating app, named Chandi Gaglani as the Head of Aisle Network, aiming to enhance user engagement.
- Livspace restructured its top management, promoting COO Ramakant Sharma to CEO, while the co-founder transitioned to Chairman of the Board.
- Delhivery, backed by SoftBank, appointed Vani Venkatesh as its Chief Business Officer, further solidifying its leadership team.
Notable Acquisitions
Several acquisitions were reported this week:
- Perfios, a SaaS-based B2B fintech firm, acquired the fraud detection platform CustomerXPs for an undisclosed amount, indicating a strategic move to enhance its offerings.
- The Adar Poonawalla family office acquired 20% of premium auction house AstaGuru, showing interest in the luxury market.
- Veefin Group acquired UAE-based trade finance marketplace TradeAssets, showing cross-border expansion strategies.
Total funding declined by 43.15% from last week, marking a significant decline in the funding landscape for Indian startups. Despite this, there were a number of decent funding rounds for startups in growth and early-stage segments. The trend suggests that venture capitalists are not broadly investing across sectors but are selective, focusing on industries such as fintech, AI, and healthtech. This is because as the startups adapt to the market demands, the forthcoming weeks will be very crucial in determining funding and growth trajectories in the Indian startup ecosystem.
