Indian Startup Funding — Startups Raised $14 Mn This Week

From Aye Finance To Klassroom – Indian Startups Raised $14 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Between December 30 to January 4, Indian startup funding stood at $14 Mn via 5 deals, a 46% decrease from the past week

Pertinent to mention that similar downturn in capital influx in the first week of January in 2024

As we enter the year, investors and founders both are projecting an upturn in funding trends in the world's third largest startup ecosystem

While optimism is high when it comes to funding trends in the year 2025, the deals that materialised in the first week are indicative of an opposite year-long fate. Between December 30 and January 4, Indian startups managed to raise a meagre $14 Mn across five deals. This marked a 46% dip from the $26 Mn capital raised across six deals in the preceding week.

Pertinent to mention that a similar downturn in capital influx was seen in the first week of January last year. In the first week of 2024, startups raised just $58 Mn across just nine deals.

As we enter the year, investors and founders both are projecting an upturn in funding trends in the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. According to Inc42’s Annual Investor Survey 2024 “The Pulse Of Tech”, 91% of over 75 investors surveyed expressed increased confidence in startup investments for 2025, surpassing the 82% optimism shown by about 100 founders.

With that said, let’s take a look at the grim funding week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Dec 30 – Jan 4 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
2 Jan 2025	Aye Finance	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2B	$12.8 Mn	Debt	Northern Arc, ASK Financial Holdings, MAS Financial Services, CredAvenue	–
2 Jan 2025	CargoFL	Logistics Tech	Logistics SaaS	B2B	$787K	Seed	YourNest Venture Capital, Real Time Angel Fund, Peaceful Progress Angel Fund, Sanchi Connect Accelerator,Dinesh Chandra Agarwal, Dinesh Gulati, Murugavel Janakiraman, Rajesh Sawhney	YourNest Venture Capital
30 Dec 2024	NumberOne Academy	Edtech	Skill Development	B2C	$350K	–	Santosh Nair	Santosh Nair
2 Jan 2025	Klassroom	Edtech	K12	B2C	–	pre-Series A	ah! Ventures, LetsVenture, Hem Securities, Meteor Ventures, Growth Sense Fund	ah! Ventures
30 Dec 2024	Flo Mobility	Deeptech	Electric Vehicles	B2B	–	Seed	JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation, Saurabh Runwal, Debjyoti Paul, Vikram Raichura	JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation
	Source: Inc42 *Part of a larger round Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

This week, IPO-bound non banking financial company Aye Finance raised $12.8 Mn in debt from a clutch of investors, including Northern Arc, ASK Financial Holdings. This was the largest funding round of the week.
Edtech emerged as the most funded sector this week. While Klassroom secured an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series A funding round led by ah! Ventures, NumberOne Academy also raised $350K from angel investor Santosh Nair.
Two startups at a seed stage, CargoFL and Flo Mobility, raised $787K this week.

Other Developments Of The Week

In what seemed to be a tumultuous week for hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo, the startup is reported to look for a distress sale as the company to address its financial woes as cofounder Kabeer Biswas looks to jump ship.
US-based venture capital firm Accel raised $650 Mn for its eighth India fund from 131 undisclosed investors.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cleared Ather Energy’s INR 3,100 Cr IPO this week.
D2C brand Minimalist is likely to be acquired by FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) in a deal that will value the startup at $350 Mn, about 5X its last private valuation.
Healthcare unicorn Pristyn Care is reported to be in preliminary discussions to raise between $50 Mn to $100 Mn in a fresh funding round.