From Bizongo To Mensa Brands — Indian Startups Raised $119 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Indian startups raised $119 Mn across 11 funding deals, marking a 38% week-on-week decrease

After receiving an RBI approval, fintech unicorn slice will be merging with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB)

Fuelled by Bizongo and Mensa Brands’ fundraise, the ecommerce sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, securing $91.4 Mn across four deals

The month of October got off to a sluggish start in terms of funding for the Indian startup ecosystem. During the first week of the month, Indian startups have secured $119 Mn across 11 deals, marking a 38% decrease to the previous week when the ecosystem collectively bagged $194 Mn across 34 deals.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Oct 2 – Oct 7]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
4 Oct 2023	Bizongo	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$50 Mn	Series E	Schroder Adveq, IFC, Chiratae Ventures, B Capital, British International Investment	Schroder Adveq
5 Oct 2023	Mensa Brands	Ecommerce	Roll Ups	B2C	$40 Mn	Debt	EvolutionX Debt Capital
5 Oct 2023	Bolt. Earth	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2B-B2C	$20 Mn	Series B	Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners, ITIGO Funds
4 Oct 2023	DPDzero	Fintech	Fintech SaaS	B2B	$3.25 Mn	Seed	Blume Ventures, India Quotient, Sunil Gulati, Nikhil Kumar	Blume Ventures, India Quotient
4 Oct 2023	ClearFeed	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$2.7 Mn	Seed	Peak XV’s Surge, 8VC	Peak XV’s Surge
3 Oct 2023	The Cube Club	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.1 Mn	Seed	Harsh Jain, Salagaocar Family Office, Siddharth Ladsariya, Rajeev Sahney
3 Oct 2023	Roopya	Fintech	Fintech SaaS	B2B	$601K	Seed	100X.VC
4 Oct 2023	Altitude	Fintech	Investment Tech	B2C	$500K	Seed		–
5 Oct 2023	Answer Genomics	Healthtech	Fitness & Wellness	B2C	$500K	Pre-series A	IPV	IPV
5 Oct 2023	Dressfolk	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$397K	Seed	All-in Capital, Sidhant Keshwani, Sidesh Chauhan, Riju Jhunjhunwala	All-in Capital
4 Oct 2023	YouVah	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$210K	Seed	CIIE. CO

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

B2B vendor management startup Bizongo raised $50 Mn in a Series E funding led by Schroder Adveq, making it the biggest funding deal of the week.
Fuelled by Mensa Brands & Bizongo’s fundraise, the ecommerce sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, raising $91.4 Mn. The sector also secured the most number of deals i.e. 4, making it the funded sector overall.
Seed funding activity saw a marginal dip this week with $8.75 Mn in infusion across 7 deals. Last week, $9 Mn was raised in a seed funding across 17 deals.

Startup Acquisitions This Week

Listed caller identification app Truecaller acquired Bengaluru-based TrustCheckr, to help businesses verify customer information and detect the risk of fraud based on phone numbers.
This week, Inc42 exclusively reported that gaming unicorn Dream11’s acquisition of fantasy cricket platform Sixer for an undisclosed amount.
Nazara Technologies’ NODWIN Gaming acquired a 100% stake in PublishME for $2 Mn.
After receiving an RBI approval fintech unicorn slice will be merging with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB).

Other Major Developments From This Week

GVFL, formerly known as Gujarat Venture Finance Limited, has launched an accelerator programme – Xcelerate Program, in partnership with Marwari Catalysts for seed stage startups. The programme, will provide mentorship and investment in the range of INR 75 Lakh to INR 2.5 Cr
Bengaluru-based car rental startup Zoomcar is eyeing to list on the American stock exchange Nasdaq in the ongoing quarter through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal.
Chairman of Manial Group – Ranjan Pai is reportedly in talks to make a major investment in the beauty ecommerce unicorn Purplle.
Everest Fleet has given 18.8X and 19X exits to its early backers – Rockstud Capital and Artha Venture Fund respectively after securing investment from Uber and Paragon Ventures