From Ripplr To Agrizy — Indian Startups Raised $72 Mn This Week

After an encouraging start of the month, funding again declined in the second week of May. Between May 8 and May 13, Indian startup ecosystem raised $72 Mn in funding across 17 deals. This is a 59% drop compared to the last week when startups collectively raised $174 Mn across 19 deals. 

However, this is 76% more from the $41 Mn raised between April 24 and April  29, 2023 by the Indian startups. 

Key Startup Funding Deals Of This Week

• Bengaluru-based distribution and logistics startup Ripplr raised $40 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Fireside Ventures – making it the biggest fundraiser of the week 
• Logistics sector topped the funding charts this week with $46 Mn investment across three deals 
• Enterpristech continued to bag the most number of deals. This week, the segment took home three deals
• Early-stage startups saw a drop in funding as compared to last week. This week this  stage of startups collectively raised $5.2 Mn
• 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, and Agility Ventures were the busiest investors this week as they participated in two deals each.

Startup Fund Launches This Week

• Bengaluru-based venture capital (VC) 3one4 Capital has closed its fourth early-stage investment fund, the Fund IV, at $200 Mn to invest in deals ranging from Pre-Seed to Series-A, with cheques worth between $0.5 Mn to $5 Mn
• Early-stage VC fund AdvantEdge has unveiled its third fund worth $100 Mn to invest in seed stage, mobility solutions startups
• Venture debt firm Stride Ventures announced the first close of its third venture debt fund at $100 Mn fund to invest in fast-growing startups with strong unit economics. 

Other Major Developments From This Week

• Investment firm Invesco slashed the valuation of one of its major Indian portfolio companies Swiggy to $5.5 Bn. This is the second time within a span of five months, Invesco has cut down the foodtech’s valuation
• Listed gaming startup Nazara Technologies is increasing its stake in its subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia (Nextwave) to 71.88% by investing INR 15.5 Cr 
• US-based investment firm Vanguard Group trimmed Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola’s valuation by 35% from $7.4 Bn to $4.8 Bn
• NY-based Neuberger Berman marked down the valuations of two of its major Indian portfolio companies – PharmEasy and Pine Labs. The investment firm has slashed Pine Labs’ valuation by 38% to $3.1 Bn from $5 Bn, PharmEasy’s valuation was trimmed by 21% to $4.4 Bn from $5.6 Bn
• Aditya Kothari, the cofounder of social short video platform Chingari, has quit the startup without disclosing his future plans.