During the week, 24 Indian startups raised a total of approximately $181.21 million, including 6 growth-stage and 13 early-stage deals, while 5 startups kept their funding details undisclosed.
In comparison, the previous week saw 30 startups across early and growth stages secure around $357.29 million.
[Growth-stage deals]
This week in growth-stage funding, payment technology company Juspay secured $60 million in its Series D round led by Kedaara Capital. Digital payments company Easebuzz has raised Rs 240 crore ($30 million) in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Indian wearable brand Noise secured another round of funding from global audio giant Bose. Parent company of Bare Anatomy Innovist, Live social entertainment platform eloelo and solar energy startup Sadhav Future Tech also bagged funding this week.
[Early-stage deals]
Further, 13 early-stage startups collectively raised a total of $37.52 million in funding. Cross-border logistics startup Xindus led the early-stage funding with $10 million Series A round followed by edtech startup SigIQ.ai, genz women-focused fashion brand Outzidr, nanotechnology startup Vimano, D2C snacks brands Let’s Try, Eat Better and others.
Membership based sports club Drive FITT, refurbished iPhones marketplace Grest, data protection startup Data Safeguard and others also raised a sum but did not disclose the amount raised.
For a detailed funding breakdown, visit TheKredible.
[City and segment-wise deals]
In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 12 deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Segment-wise, e-commerce startups are at the top spot with 4 deals. Fintech, consumer electronics, edtech, foodtech startups followed with 2 deals each. Spiritual Tech, AI, logistics ,and others also bagged the deals.
[Series-wise deals]
During the week, Seed funding deals led with 10 deals followed by pre-Series A, Series A, Series B, and others.
[Week-on-week funding trend]
On a weekly basis, startup funding declined by nearly 50% to $181.21 million as compared to around $357.29 million raised during the previous week.
The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $246.87 million with 24 deals per week.
[Key Hirings & Departures]
This week saw some notable leadership changes across companies. NimbusPost, a logistics tech platform under Xpressbees, has appointed Irwin Anand as its new CEO. TiE Mumbai has announced Apoorva Ranjan Sharma as its new President, starting April 2025 for a two-year term. Visa processing platform Atlys has appointed Ananth Iyer as its Chief Financial Officer. Claypond Capital, the family investment office of Ranjan Pai, has named Sekhar Garisa as its Managing Director.
There were a couple of notable departures: Thampy Koshy resigned as MD and CEO of ONDC, while Myntra’s CPTO, Raghu Krishnananda, stepped down after a five-year stint.
[Mergers and Acquisitions]
Arihant Academy, an NSE-listed edtech firm, has fully acquired Carmel Classes and Carmel Tuitions in a $1.2 million deal. Creativefuel has acquired MissMalini Entertainment from The Good Glamm Group in a deal worth Rs 6 crore.
Visit TheKredible for more details
[Fund Launches/Expansion]
Neo Asset Management has announced the first close of its second private credit fund, NSCOF II, at Rs 2,000 Cr. Launched 3 months ago, the fund targets a total corpus of Rs 5,000 Cr. Asha Ventures, an investment firm based in Mumbai, has received $10 million from British International Investment (BII), the UK government’s development finance institution. US-based VC firm Expert Dojo has launched its third global fund targeting $100 Mn, with $15 Mn earmarked for Indian startups.
Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights.
[New Launches and Partnerships]
▪️ Kazam partners with Yuma to bring battery swapping to park, charge hubs
▪️ Grahm, a real estate advisory platform, makes its debut in Bengaluru
[Potential Deals]
▪️ Mosaic Wellness raises $20 Mn at $400 Mn valuation
▪️ Seekho set to raise $25 Mn, hits $4 Mn monthly revenue
▪️ Agrostar raises fresh funds from existing investors
▪️PhysicsWallah in talks to acquire Sarrthi IAS
▪️Zolostays sells college accommodation biz to Good Host Spaces for Rs 108 Cr
[Financial results this week]
▪️ Five year old Eloelo reports zero revenue and Rs 99 Cr loss in FY24
▪️ Ecom Express records Rs 1,912 Cr revenue in first 9 months of FY25
[News flash this week]
▪️ Urban Company board approves Rs 528 Cr primary fundraise via IPO
▪️ Bluestone and Aye Finance get SEBI nod for IPO
▪️ boAt files draft red herring prospectus via confidential route
▪️ Wakefit targets $200+ Mn IPO, ropes in three investment bankers: Axis Capital, IIFL Capital & Nomura
▪️ BharatPe secures RBI nod to operate as a payment aggregator
▪️Omnivore & Nucleate unveil landmark BioWave Report: India’s Life Sciences startups secure $1.9B in over Five Years
▪️PhonePe widens lead over G-Pay in March; CRED’s UPI ranking slips to 7th
[Summary]
On a weekly basis, startup funding declined by nearly 50% to $181.21 million as compared to around $357.29 million raised during the previous week.
Consumer electronics brand boAt has submitted its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) via the confidential filing route.
Omnichannel jewellery retailer Bluestone and microlending platform Aye Finance have received final approval from market regulator SEBI for their public listings. Bluestone aims to raise Rs 1,000 crore through fresh equity issuance, while Aye Finance plans to raise Rs 885 crore, with both offerings also including an Offer for Sale (OFS) component.
Home services marketplace Urban Company has received shareholders’ approval to raise Rs 528 crore (approximately $60.6 million) in primary capital for its initial public offering (IPO).
Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah is on an acquisition spree, with the Noida-based firm now in final-stage talks to acquire Sarrthi IAS.
India’s leading sustainability-focused VC firm Omnivore, in partnership with Nucleate, released the “India Life Sciences Startup Investing Report – A Five-Year Review” at BioWave. Covering 2020–2024, the report highlights $1.9B invested across 465 deals, signaling strong momentum and a growing focus on biotech innovation in India.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) saw a 13.6% rise in transaction volume in March, reaching 18.30 billion transactions. The top five UPI apps — PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Navi, and Super.money — held their rankings, while Axis Bank moved ahead of CRED, pushing it down to seventh place.