From BluSmart To Pando — Indian Startups Raised $174 Mn This Week

The month of May started on a slightly positive note after a disappointing fundraising month of April. Between May 1 and May 5, 2023, Indian startups collectively raised $174 Mn in funding across 19 deals. This is a whopping 324% jump from the previous week when the Indian startups raised a mere $41 Mn across 16 deals. 

This week’s funding is a further 159% higher than the $67.2 Mn raised by nine startups between April 17 and April 22, 2023. 

Key Startup Funding Deals Of This Week

• Electric mobility startup BluSmart raised $42 Mn in a mix of equity and debt funding round from BP Ventures  – making it the biggest fundraise of the week 
• Enterpristech topped the startup funding charts this week both in terms of funding and deal count. The sector with five deals bagged $70.6 Mn funding, which is 40.5% of the total fund raised this week 
• Early-stage startups just received $6.5 Mn this week
• Stride Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners were the busiest investors this week as they participated in two deals each.

Startup Acquisitions Of This Week

• Foodtech startup Pluckk acquired DIY meal kit platform KOOK at $1.3 Mn in a combination of cash and equity
• Healthtech startup Bonatra acquired women’s health and wellness startup MyAva for an undisclosed amount
• Thriwe acquired digital health and financial wellness platform – UCare Health in an all-cash deal to foray into the prepaid card space
• SaaS unicorn Mindtickle acquired Enable Us to offer personalised content experiences.

Startup Fund Launches This Week

• Early-stage VC firm Chiratae Ventures announced final close of ‘Growth Fund I’, at INR 1,001 Cr. It will be a sector-agnostic fund and deployed in 15-20 growth stage startups
• PE firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management announced the first close of its Fund IV with a subscription of over $640 Mn