From Fibe To Astrotalk- Indian Startups Raised $97 Mn This Week

During the week of the Indian elections, funding momentum in the world’s third largest startup ecosystem saw a significant decline. Between June 3 and 8 startups raised a total of $97.3 Mn across 10 deals. This represents a nearly 55% decrease from the previous week, when startups secured $217.84 Mn across 31 deals.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ June 3 – June 8 ]

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• The week’s largest funding round saw lending tech startup Fibe (erstwhile EarlySalary) raise $90 Mn in its Series E funding round led by TR Capital, Trifecta Capital and Amara Partner. In this, the startup bagged only $65.5 Mn in primary capital and the rest came through secondary transactions. 
• Buoyed by Fibe’s funding, the fintech sector topped the funding charts in terms of amount raised. The lending tech startup’s funding was the lone deal in the sector this week.
• Enterprisetech saw the highest three deals materialise this week. Startups in the segment bagged $12 Mn via three deals. 
• Continuing on its downward trajectory of the past few weeks, seed funding went down by 67% this week to $3 Mn.

Other Major Developments Of The Week

• Despite the lagging primary funding infusion of the week, the period was rich in terms of secondary transactions. Peyush Bansal-led Lenskart saw Temasek and Fidelity buy $200 Mn worth stakes from undisclosed stakeholders. With the investment, Temasek effectively doubled down its investment in the startup. On the other hand, Fidelity now joins the startup’s cap table. 
• The week saw Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal completely exit two-wheeler electric vehicle maker Ather Energy. He sold his 2.2% of his shareholding in the EV major to Hero MotoCorp for $14.8 Mn, while Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath lapped up his remaining 5.3% stake for $33.7 Mn.
• CarDekho’s insurance arm InsuranceDekho is looking to acquire a majority stake in the wealthtech startup BankSathi in a share swap deal. The move will help the insurtech platform build its credit products portfolio.
• In a bid to become one of the leading sports and entertainment focus publishers in the US market, Nazara Technologies’ subsidiary Absolute Sports (parent of Sportskeeda) will be acquiring all the assets of Pennsylvania-based entertainment news site Soap Central for $1.4 Mn in an all-cash deal.
• Amazon’s acquisition of MX Player from Times Internet is in its final stages, Inc42 has learnt. The ecommerce giant has confirmed that it has signed an agreement to purchase some assets of the video streaming platform. 
• Adding on to the string of initial public offerings (IPOs) coming out of the Indian startup ecosystem this year, online travel aggregator ixigo is set to make its public debut on June 10. At a price band of INR 88-93 per equity share for its public issue, it is expected to raise a total of INR 740 Cr at the upper end. Ahead of its IPO, it raised over INR 333 Cr from 23 anchor investors at INR 93 per equity share. 

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