Indian Startup Funding — Startups Raised $55 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Between April 28 and May 3, Indian startups managed to raise a mere $54.7 Mn across 15 deals, down 46% from the $100.3 Mn raised by 18 startups last week

This marked the lowest week of private investment in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2025, barring the first week of January

With funding deals for QNu Labs, Satleo Labs, and Vividibots materialising this week, investor interest in the deeptech sector showed continued momentum

The ghosts of alleged financial mismanagement and corporate governance lapses continued to dent private investor sentiment in the world’s third largest startup ecosystem this week. Between April 28 and May 3, Indian startups managed to raise a mere $54.7 Mn across 15 deals, down 46% from the $100.3 Mn raised by 18 startups last week.

This marked the lowest week of private investment in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2025, barring the first week of January. However, the week saw Urban Company becoming the first company to file for an IPO this year. Meanwhile, Ather Energy’s IPO closed this week with a lukewarm investor interest. With this, Ather will become the first startup to get listed on the bourses this year.

With that said, here’s a look at what happened in the Indian startup ecosystem over the week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Apr 28 – May 3 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
30 Apr 2025	HexaHealth	Healthtech	Healthcare Services	B2C	$12 Mn	Series A	Orios Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital, Enzia Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network India	Orios Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital
29 Apr 2025	Metafin	Fintech	Lending Tech	B2B-B2C	$10 Mn	Series A	Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Northern Arc, AU Small Finance Bank, Prime Venture Partners, Varanium Capital	Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India
30 Apr 2025	QNu Labs	Deeptech	–	B2B	$7 Mn	Series A	National Quantum Mission, Lucky Investment, Speciale Invest, Tenacity Ventures, Singularity AMC	National Quantum Mission
30 Apr 2025	Anveshan	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$6 Mn	Series A	Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Titan Capital, Force Ventures, Aman Gupta, Sameer Mehta	Wipro Consumer Care Ventures
2 May 2025	Kaleidofin	Fintech	Lending Tech	B2B	$5.3 Mn	–	IDH Farmfit Fund	IDH Farmfit Fund
30 Apr 2025	Stimuler	Edtech	Skill Development	B2C	$3.8 Mn	Pre-Series A	Lightspeed, SWC Global, M Venture Partners, Rebright Partners, Force Ventures, gradCapital, Operators Studio	Lightspeed, SWC Global
30 Apr 2025	SatLeo Labs	Deeptech	Spacetech	B2B	$3.3 Mn	Pre-Series A	Merak Ventures, Huddle Ventures, GVFL, Java Capital, IIMA Ventures, PointOne Capital	Merak Ventures
28 Apr 2025	Mugafi	Media & Entertainment	Digital Contnet	B2B	$3 Mn	Seed	StartupXseed, Auxano Capital, Proneur Network, Mars Shot Ventures, Beyond Venture Partners, We Founder Circle	StartupXseed
29 Apr 2025	Primebook	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2 Mn	Pre-Series A	Inflection Point Ventures, Auxano Capital, nexG Devices, Rikant Pittie, Bhavesh Gupta	–
1 Apr 2025	EZStays	Travel Tech	Accommodation	B2C	$1 Mn	–	Finvolve, India Accelerator	–
28 Apr 2025	Malaki	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$675K	Seed	Venture Catalysts, Maarc Ventures, Dadachanji Family Office	Venture Catalysts
29 Apr 2025	Scandalous Foods	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$237K*	Seed	New Age India Fund	New Age India Fund
30 Apr 2025	IVANA Jewels	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$237K	Seed	Avinya Ventures	Avinya Ventures
30 Apr 2025	Vividobots	Deeptech	Robotics	B2B	$174K	Seed	Inflection Point Ventures	Inflection Point Ventures
29 Apr 2025	Beat22	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	–	Pre-Seed	SucSEED Indovation Fund, Chandigarh Angel Network, Prateek Toshniwal	SucSEED Indovation Fund
	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

With Metafin raising $10 Mn and Kaleidofin’s $5.3 Mn fundraise, fintech emerged as the most funded sector this week.
Deeptech sector saw a capital infusion of $10.5 Mn this week, making it the third most funded sector this week. Important to note that the sector has been seeing a heightened investor interest since a debate was triggered over the sector’s state last month post commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks.
Over the past week, Inflection Point Ventures and Auxano Capital emerged as the most active investors, backing two startups apiece.
Six startups at the seed stage managed to raise $3.4 Mn this week, down 79% from last week’s $16.1 Mn raised by 9 startups at this stage.

Startup IPO Developments This Week

Ather Energy’s public issue closed with an oversubscription of 1.43X, with investors bidding for 7.65 Cr shares as against 5.34 Cr shares on offer.
Urban Company filed its draft red herring prospectus for an INR 1,900 Cr IPO. The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of up to INR 429 Cr, a near 19% reduction from the limit set by the company’s board.

M&As During The Week

Fashion brand Souled Store bought Indie clothing label Redwolf to consolidate its dominance in the pop culture merchandise space.
Marking its third acquisition this year, fintech unicorn Perfios bought healthcare platform IHX to strengthen its claims management in the healthcare insurance sector.

Other Developments Of The Week

IPO-bound PayU bagged $120 Mn from parent company Prosus via a rights issue this week.
Ahead of putting its reverse flipping plan in motion, Livspace saw a fresh capital infusion of $50 Mn from its Singapore-based parent entity.
Zepto is said to be in advanced talks with Edelweiss Alternative Asset, domestic family offices and smaller credit funds to raise a debt of $175.6 Mn.
Networking platform Medial is in advanced discussions to raise $4 Mn to $5 Mn in its Series A round from investors OG Capital and two major VC firms.