Weekly Funding Report [June 17 – June 22, 2024]: Indian Startups Raised $1.02B This Week – Analysis, Highlights, and Breakdown

Indian startups raised $1.02B this week, with an impressive 181.64% surge in investments. India’s first Q-Commerce startup Zepto secured the largest funding in Series F. It was followed by FinTech startup UGRO Capital which raised $151.1M. Overall, 34 investments were made this week.

According to Infomance Research and Data Available on Public Sources, Indian startups raised $1.02B across 34 deals this week. This included 07 growth-stage deals totaling $967.1 million and 18 early-stage deals securing $59.24 million. Additionally, there were 09 undisclosed rounds, predominantly in the early-stage category.

[Stage-Wise Analysis]

Growth Stage Deals

The number of deals in the growth stage increased to 34 from 11 last week. The amount raised is $967.1M across 7 deals. The largest amount was secured by B2C-modeled Zepto which led the list with $665M funding. Mumbai-based firm UGRO Capital raised $151.1M in debt round. Another FinTech startup Ummed Housing Finance raised $76M in Series F. Aye Finance, headquartered in Gurugram, raised $30M. FMCG sectored Bira 91 managed a $25M funding led by Kirin Holdings. E-commerce startup WROGN raised $15M in equity.

Early Stage Deals

Shivalik Small Finance Bank secured maximum funding among early-stage deals. It secured $12M in equity.  OrbitShift, a SaaS sectored startup raised $7M as seed funding. AgriTech firm Balwaan Krishi managed $4.79M as funding in Series A. The Plant Project, a startup headquartered in Mumbai secured $4.75M. Sorin Investments led this investment. Some of the other startups to receive early-stage funding were Distil, Quidich, EUME, and Prosperr.io.

Round-Wise Analysis

A total of 12 deals were secured as seed funds. It includes startups like OrbitShift, ChemTech sectored Distil, Bangalore-based startup Asaya, Unikon.ai, Gryelabs AI, and Ayna. Prosper.io raised $1.55M in Pre-Series A. The no of fundings in Series A are 6 this week, including startups such as Alyve Health, The Plant Project, and fintech startup SuperMoney. A total of 3 fundings were raised in equity, strategic round, and debt each. While, this week there were 2 fundings in Series F, Pre-Series A, and Angel rounds.

Business Model-Wise Analysis

The B2B-modelled startups led the list by securing a total of 19 fundings. B2C-modelled firms with 11 investments followed it. The remaining 4 fundings were done in startups following the D2C model.

City-Wise Analysis

Mumbai-based firms closed in on a maximum of 14 deals. Bangalore headquartered firms secured 6 funding. Delhi and Gurgram-centered startups raised 4 funds each. An investment was made in startups headquartered in cities like Ahmedabad, Noida, and Chennai.

Sector-wise Analysis

FinTech raised the maximum no of deals i.e. 11. The E-commerce sector followed closely with 5 deals. There were 4 fundings done in SaaS sectored startups. AI and FMCG sector, each raised 3 funds. An investment was made in ChemTech, AgriTech, Social Networking, DeepTech, SportsTech, and TravelTech.

UNDISCLOSED DEAL

There were a total of 9 undisclosed deals. All of them were done in early-stage. The funding amount in deals secured by Lazy Cocktails, B2B-modeled LEO1, SaaS sectored Fanisko, Nirwana.ai, ThriveCo, Praan, Mumbai-based TaxGenie, Quidich, and Landeed remained undisclosed.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Ananta Capital’s wellness and beauty arm Guardian acquired 55% stakes in personal care startup Anveya Living. The amount of the deal remains undisclosed. Anveya Living will use the fresh capital to develop skincare products.

Yatra Online solidified its presence in adventure tourism by acquiring a 49% stake in Adventure and Nature Network Private Limited. The transaction was valued at Rs.98,04,704. With the completion of the deal, Yatra Online will own a 99% stake in ANN.

MANAGEMENT  DEPARTURE & LAYOFFS

Delhi-based ReshaMandi, a marketplace specializing in silk and yarn products laid off 80% of its working personnel. The financial stress including Rs.300Cr+ debt and failure in securing Series B funding are the reasons for such a huge layoff.

Cleartrip, a global online travel agency appointed Anuj Rathi as chief business and growth officer. He will be replacing Ayyappan R. The former marketing officer at Jupiter Money will oversee the market expansion strategies and business development plans in his new role. The announcement was made through LinkedIn.

Vidyakul, a B2C online marketplace for educational services announced the elevation of Akhil Hari Angira as its new Chief Business Officer. He was previously the Head Of Academics in the firm. Akhil comes with an experience of more than a decade in the IT industry. The new CBO will look to increase the profitability and improve the strategic partnerships of the startup.

Paytm on last Monday announced the appointment of Rajeev Krishnamuralila Agarwal as its non-executive independent director. He will be replacing Neeraj Arora who resigned from the role. Neeraj cited pre-occupation and personal commitments as the reason for his resignation.

VC Fund Launched

VentureSoul Partners marks the close of the first debt fund valued at Rs.600Cr. The fund is sector-agnostic but will primarily target tech startups across various domains.  VentureSoul aims to achieve the first close of the fund by the end of June.

VC firm GVFL launched Rs100Cr for its new seed fund Prarambh with a total corpus of Rs.200Cr. The firm plans to invest in 20-30 seed-stage startups this year. Covering sectors like Saas, HealthTech, DeepTech, and ClimateTech.

Early-stage VC firm 8XVentures on 19 June announced the first close of its 2nd DeepTech fund at Rs.200Cr. The fund aims to back 15-20 early-stage Indian DeepTech startups in the upcoming few years.