In the first week of July investments in the Indian startup ecosystem were recorded to be $388.39Mn. A surge of 34.73% was reported from last week. Operating in the E-Commerce space the B2C-modeled Purplle raised the largest funding this week. The amount of the funding was $120M and it was secured in a Series F round. The ADIA subsidiary led the investment. It was followed by San Francisco-headquartered Sentient which raised $85M in a Seed round.
According to Infomance Research and Data Available on Public Sources, Indian startups raised $275.20 million across 23 deals this week. This included 08 growth-stage deals totaling $266.2 million and 11 early-stage deals totaling $113.19 million. Additionally, there were 04 undisclosed rounds, all of them coming in the early-stage category.
| INDEX | STARTUP NAME | FUNDING AMOUNT ($) | STAGE | ROUND | MODEL | CITY | SECTOR | LEAD INVESTOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Wify | 3M | Early | Pre Series-A | B2B | Mumbai | SaaS | Mount Judi Ventures and Capria Ventures |
| 02 | Pivot Robots | Undisclosed | Early | Seed | B2B | San Francisco | RoboTech | NuVentures |
| 03 | Cautio | 0.79M | Early | Pre-Seed | B2C | Bangalore | SaaS | Antler, 8iVentures, AU Bank |
| 04 | Purplle | 120M | Growth | Series F | B2C | Mumbai | E-Commerce | ADIA Subsidiary |
| 05 | Comet | 5M | Early | Series A | D2C | Bangalore | E-Commerce | Elevation Capital |
| 06 | Pepul Tech Pvt | 4M | Early | Pre-Series A | B2C | Chennai | Media & Entertainment | Notable Family Office & Existing Investors |
| 07 | Flutrr | 0.5M | Early | Angel | B2C | Kolkata | Social Networking | The Chennai Angels |
| 08 | Flabricore | 1.6M | Early | Seed | B2C | Jaipur | Fashion Tech | PeerCapital and Regal Fabrics |
| 09 | Supply6 | Undisclosed | Early | Series A | D2C | Bangalore | Health Tech | AB de Villiers |
| 10 | Bike Bazaar | 3M | Growth | Debt | B2C | Pune | EV | MAS Financial Services Ltd |
| 11 | Amocare | 0.4M | Early | Pre-Seed | B2C | Gurugram | Wellness | FAAD Netowrk & AngelBay Holdings |
| 12 | Hoop | Undisclosed | Early | Angel | D2C | Gurugram | Wellness | PV Sindhu |
| 13 | Matter Motors | 35M | Growth | Series B | B2B | Ahmedabad | EV | Helena Venture Capital |
| 14 | Dice | 5M | Early | Series A | B2B | Pune | FinTech | Dallas Venture Capital |
| 15 | Sentient | 85M | Early | Seed | B2C | San Francisco | AI | Founders Fund & Pantera Capital |
| 16 | OYO | 50M | Growth | Series Unknown | B2C | Gurugram | Hospitality Tech | InCred Financial Services Ltd |
| 17 | Arya.ag | 29M | Growth | Pre-Series D | B2C | Noida | AgriTech | Existing Investors |
| 18 | Fabrito | Undisclosed | Early | Pre-Seed | B2B | Gurugram | Fashion Tech | Green Tunk Ventures |
| 19 | Lobb | 2.9M | Early | Pre-Series A | B2B | Bangalore | Logistics | Rajesh Voddiraju, Sharada Nandakumar |
| 20 | Awign | 24.5M | Growth | SeriesC | B2C | Bangalore | HR Tech | Mynavi Corporation |
| 21 | Watch Your Health | 5M | Early | Series A | B2B | Mumbai | Health Tech | Cornerstone Ventures |
| 22 | Riipir | 4.7M | Growth | Debt | B2B | Bangalore | Logistics | Northern Arc |
| 23 | College Dekho | 9M | Growth | Series B | B2C | Gurugram | EduTech | Existing Investors |
[Stage-Wise Analysis]
Growth Stage Deals
Among the growth-stage deals, 08 startups raised $266.2Mn in funding this week. The biggest amount was raised by Mumbai-based online shopping company Purplle which led the list with $120M funding in Series F round. Second among the growth-stage startups was OYO, an Indian multinational hospitality chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes, and living spaces which raised $50M. The investment was led by InCred Financial Services Ltd. Matter Motors, working in the Electronic Vehicle(EV) space raised $35M in Series B round. The Gurugram-headquartered agritech sectored Arya.ag secured $29M, the deal was led by its existing investors. The B2C-modeled Awign managed to raise $24.5M in the Series C round.
Working in the logistics management space Rippir secured $4.7M in debt round. Pune-based Bike Bazaar also secured $3M, the leading investors were MAS Financial Services Ltd. This weekend, Edutech startup Collegedekho raised $9M from its existing investors in Series B.
Early Stage Deals
Subsequently, 11 early-stage startups secured funding worth $113.9 million during the week. Among the early-stage startups, Sentient raised the maximum funding. It raised $85M in a seed round, the investment was led by Pantera Capital. HealthTech startup WatchYourHealth secured $5M in series A from Cornerstone Ventures. The B2B-modeled Dice also raised $5M, the deal was led by Dallas Ventures Capital. Operating in the E-Commerce space Comet managed to raise $5M in a Series A round. Media and Entertainment-based Pepul Tech Pvt raised $4M in the Pre-Series A round. Wify, a Mumbai-headquartered firm secured $3M from Mount Judi Ventures and Capria Ventures.
The FashionTech sectored Fabriclore secured $1.6M. The Bengaluru-based Lobb raised $2.9M in the Pre-Series A round. Software as a Service (SaaS) based startup Cautio raised $0.79M. Other early-stage startups to raise funds from investors this week were Pivot Robots, Social Networking app Flutrr, Supply6, Amocare, Hoop, and Fabrito.
Round-Wise Analysis
Among the 23 deals done this week, the maximum number of deals were done in the Series A round, including startups like WatchYourHealth, Dice, Comet, and Supply6. There were 3 investments made each in Pre-Series A, Pre-Seed, and Seed rounds. While 2 deals were closed each in debt, Angel, and Series B rounds. Additionally, there was an investment made each in Series F, Pre-Series D, and Series C.
Business Model-Wise Analysis
Maximum deals were closed by B2C-modeled firms, the number of deals being 12. It was followed by 08 deals by B2B companies and 03 deals were secured by D2C-modeled firms.
City-Wise Analysis
Bengaluru-based startups led the list by closing in on 6 deals, followed by 5 deals from Gurugram-headquartered companies. There were 3 investments made in startups from Mumbai. Both Pune and San Francisco-based firms secured 2 deals. Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Noida-headquartered startups also closed in on a deal each.
Sector-Wise Analysis
Sector-wise, there was no separation to be noticed in the number of deals secured. Sectors like FashionTech, EV, SaaS, E-Commerce, Wellness, Logistics, and HealthTech reported 2 investments each. While there was an investment made in all other sectors such as AI, FinTech, RoboTech, Social and Networking, Hospitality Tech, AgriTech, HR Tech, and EduTech.
UNDISCLOSED DEALS
There were a total of 04 deals this week where the amount remain undisclosed . All of them were done among the early-stage startups. RoboTech sectored company Pivot robots raised an undisclosed amount of funding from NuVentures. Bengaluru-based D2C startup Supply6 also managed to raise fund from famous sports personality Ab De Villiers , the amount remain undisclosed. Gurugram-based Hoop and FashionTech sectored Fabrito were the other two startups securing undisclosed deals.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Artificial Intelligence(AI) powered talent experience platform, Phenom has made its 5th acquisition by acquiring Tydy, a human resources technology company. With this integration US-based Phenom aims to create an end-to-end seamless journey from job earch to employee off-boarding.
A few days back Dubai-based company BitOasis was acquired by Indian cryptocurrency exchange giant CoindDCX. The amount of the deal remain undisclosed. With this announcement , CoinDCX marks its entry in into the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of CoinDCX expects a 30-40% increase in firm’s spot trading volumes from the current $8 million per day following the merger.
MANAGEMENT DEPARTURE & LAYOFFS
Cloudphysician, an AI-driven healthcare startup, has announced the appointment of Mandar Vaidya as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for India. Mandar has previously worked with OYO where he was the regional CEO and led operations across Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Japan, brings extensive leadership experience to his new role.
ValuAble , India’s first purpose led venture debt fund on Thursday announced the appointment of Ajay Mittal as its new General Partner and Investment Manager. Ajay joins to expand the venture debt fund, bringing a vast network within the ecosystem, institutional investor connections, institutional fundraising experience, and an equity lens to the team.
Kunal Bariwal, an ex IIT Guwahati graduate to Lead Product for FinTech-SaaS platform, CaptainBiz. Kunal has previously ed multiple initiatives to improve delivery success rates and enhance buyer communication tools, thereby increasing merchants’ visibility and gross merchant value (GMV) realization at Pickrr. With CaptainBiz he is expected to lead product management in transforming its invoicing, inventry, and tax filling products into a comprehensive platform offering a wide range of essential services for MSMEs to run their business.
Lydia Jett, former SoftBank managing partner has joined Flipakart’s board. This would be her second stint with the E-Commerce platform having previously joined Flipkart’s board as a representative of SoftBank in 2017.
Former Chief Human Resources officer of Paytm, Swati Rustagi has been hired as Vice President of Adobe . As the new head of India EX, Swati will be directly responsible for Employee Experience reporting to Gloria Chen, Chief People Officer.
EduTech giant Unacademy, recently laid off 250 employees in order to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Last year in March the firm laid off 10% of its working personnel.
VC Fund Launched
Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer Suzuki aims to back early-stage startups with a venture investing vehicle- Next Bharat Ventures with a total corpus of ₹340Cr or around $40M. The unit will begin with its investment in October 2024 through a residency program similar to that of Antler and YCombinator with a special focus on firms that aim for social impact through their business.
