From Garuda Aerospace To Jewelbox— Indian Startups Raised $65 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Between April 14 and 19, startups cumulatively raised a meagre $65.3 Mn across 22 deals, a 67% drop from the $195.1 Mn raised via twenty deals in the preceding week

Deeptech emerged as the most funded sector this week, with four startups cumulatively raising $22.9 Mn

Five startups at the seed stage raised $2.3 Mn this week, a sharp decline from the $10.1 Mn raised at this stage last week

In a week marred with instances of corporate misgovernance in the Indian startup ecosystem, investment activity across new-age tech companies nosedived under $100 Mn.

Between April 14 and 19, startups cumulatively raised a meagre $65.3 Mn, a 67% drop from the $195.1 Mn raised by startups in the preceding week.

As many as 22 startups managed to raise funds this week, a mere two more than the 20 funding deals struck in the previous week .

Here is a recap of what happened over the past week in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Apr 14 – Apr 19 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
16 Apr 2025	Garuda Aerospace	Deeptech	Spacetech	B2B	$11.7 Mn	Series B	Venture Catalysts	Venture Catalysts
16 Apr 2025	OfBusiness	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$11.7 Mn	–	Cornerstone Ventures	Cornerstone Ventures
17 Apr 2025	Varthana	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2C	$8.7 Mn	Debt	OfBusiness, Oxyzo	OfBusiness, Oxyzo
14 Apr 2025	Optimized Electrotech	Deeptech	Defencetech	B2B	$6 Mn	Series A	Blume Ventures, Mela Ventures, Venture Catalysts, 100Unicorns, Rajiv Dadlani Group, Sandeep Shah	Blume Ventures, Mela Ventures
16 Apr 2025	Magma	Enterprisetech	Enterprise Services	B2B	$5 Mn	Series A	Capria Ventures, Avinya Ventures, Sanjiv Rangrass, General Catalyst, Accion Venture Lab, WEH Ventures	Capria Ventures
16 Apr 2025	Peppermint Robotics	Deeptech	Robotics	B2B	$4 Mn	Series A	Indian Angel Network, JDSS, Enrission India Capital	–
16 Apr 2025	Jewelbox	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$3.2 Mn	pre-Series A	V3 Ventures, Atrium Angels, Dexter Ventures, Infinyte Club, Samarthya Capital, JIIF	V3 Ventures
17 Apr 2025	IPEC	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2B	$3 Mn	–	Gruhas	Gruhas
16 Apr 2025	Nothing Before Coffee	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2.3 Mn	Pre-Series A	Prath Ventures, SYL Investments	Prath Ventures
15 Apr 2025	CENTA	Edtech	Online Certification	B2C	$2.3 Mn	Series A	Colossa Ventures, Discovery Asset Management	Colossa Ventures
18 Apr 2025	Good Monk	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2 Mn	Pre-Series A	RPSG Capital Ventures, Multiply Ventures, Sharrp Ventures, ThinKuvate	RPSG Capital Ventures
14 Apr 2025	PujaShree Products Global	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.5 Mn	Seed	–	–
14 Apr 2025	EON Space Labs	Deeptech	Spacetech	B2B	$1.2 Mn	Pre-Series A	MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh	MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh
17 Apr 2025	That Sassy Thing	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$703K	Seed	Inflection Point Ventures, Bala Sarda, Saurabh Munjal, Kirti Jangra	Inflection Point Ventures
14 Apr 2025	NOTO	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$700K*	Pre-Series A	Equentis Angel Fund, Inflection Point Ventures, JITO, Signal Ventures	Equentis Angel Fund
14 Apr 2025	Cura Care	Healthtech	Home Healthcare	B2C	$586K	Pre-Seed	Zeropearl VC, Shripad Nadkarni, Rohan Mirchandani	Zeropearl VC
16 Apr 2025	Iyaso	Edtech	Skill Development	B2C	$500K	Pre-Seed	Malpani Ventures	Malpani Ventures
15 Apr 2025	BeastLife	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$222K	–	Rinku Singh	Rinku Singh
17 Apr 2025	JetSynthesys	Media & Entertainment	Gaming	B2C	–	–	KRAFTON	KRAFTON
14 Apr 2025	uppercase	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Jasprit Bumrah	Jasprit Bumrah
14 Apr 2025	SportsSkill	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	–	Pre-Seed	Waimea Bay Investments	Waimea Bay Investments
15 Apr 2025	Ochre Spirits	Alcoholic Beverages	Alcoholic Beverages	B2C	–	–	ah! Ventures	ah! Ventures
	Source: Inc42 Part of a larger round *Included this week as it was skipped last week Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Despite recent debate over a lack of investor interest in the deeptech space, the sector saw the highest capital infusion this week. Startups in the sector raised $22.9 Mn across four deals, including the week’s largest funding round raised by Garuda Aerospace.
Trailing deeptech really close, ecommerce saw a fund infusion of $22.3 Mn across nine deals this week.
Venture Catalysts and Inflection Point Ventures were the most active investors this week, backing two startups apiece.
Five startups at the seed stage raised $2.3 Mn this week, a sharp decline from the $10.1 Mn raised at this stage last week.

Startup IPO Developments This Week

Walmart-owned fintech major PhonePe took the first step towards listing this week by converting into a public company.
Similar to PhonePe, fintech unicorn Razorpay also converted into a public company this week. It also said that it will be eyeing a public listing in the upcoming two years.
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s Wonderchef is planning for an IPO this year. Sources told Inc42 that it will be eyeing a valuation of INR 1,800 Cr.
Edtech startup Imarticus Learning is planning to file for an IPO within 4-5 months to raise around INR 750 Cr in a combination of fresh issue and offer for sale of existing shares.

Other Developments Of The Week

SaaS major Clevertap acquired promotion automation solutions platform rehook.ai to provide a complete suite of offerings to its clients.
Wow! Momo is said to be in talks with Haldiram’s promoter Kamal Agrawal and Malaysia’s wealth fund Khazanah Nasional to raise a fresh funding round.
Kunal Shah-led fintech major CRED is reportedly eyeing the raise of $100-200 Mn in a new funding round that would value it at $4 Bn, a near 60% cut from its last valuation.
Sportswear startup Agilitas is said to have roped in cricketer Virat Kohli as an investor to charge up its global expansion plans.
MoEngage plans to raise $150-180 Mn in a fresh funding round that will value it in the range of $800-850 Mn.
Logistics startup Porter is said to be in discussions with private equity firm Wellington Management to raise a mega funding round that can potentially propel it to the unicorn club.