From Udaan To VeGrow — Indian Startups Raised $527 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Indian startups raised $527 Mn in funding across 21 deals, a 520% week-on-week markup

Fintech startup M2P acquired big data analytics and intelligence platform Goals101 for $30 Mn in a cash-and-equity deal

This week, the ecosystem witnessed a mega deal with Udaan raising $340 Mn in its Series E funding round

Continuing with its upward momentum in the second week of December, the Indian startup ecosystem managed to secure $527 Mn across 21 deals, marking one of the highest funding weeks in the past two years, ever since the funding winter set in early 2022. This marks a 520% jump from $85 Mn raised across 18 deals in the preceding week.

Besides, the week also witnessed a mega deal in the ecosystem with Udaan raising $340 Mn in its Series E funding round.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Dec 11 – Dec 16]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
14 Dec 2023	Udaan	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$340 Mn	Series E	M&G Prudential, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DSG Global	M&G Prudential
13 Dec 2023	VeGrow	Agritech	Market Linkage	B2B-B2C	$46 Mn	–	GIC, Prosus Ventures, Matrix Partners India, Elevation Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners	GIC
13 Dec 2023	Aye Finance	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2B	$37.3 Mn	Series F	British International Investment, The Waterfield Fund of Fund, A91 Partners
14 Dec 2023	Exponent Energy	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2B	$26.4 Mn	Series B	Eight Road Venture Partners, TDK Ventures, Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Pawan Munjal’s Family Office	Eight Road Venture Partners
15 Dec 2023	Ather Energy	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2C	$16.8 Mn	–	Hero Motocorp
13 Dec 2023	Snitch	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$13.19 Mn	Series A	SWC Global, IvyCap Ventures	SWC Global, IvyCap Ventures
13 Dec 2023	Agilitas Sports	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$11.9 Mn	–	Nexus Venture Partners
12 Dec 2023	Nat Habit	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$10.2 Mn	Series B	Bertelsmann India Investments, Fireside Ventures, Amazon India Fund, Mirabilis Investment Trust and Sharrp Ventures	Bertelsmann India Investments
14 Dec 2023	QNu Labs	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$6.5 Mn	Pre-Series A	Ashish Kacholia, Speciale Invest
15 Dec 2023	GoApptiv	Healthtech	Healthcare SaaS	B2B	$5 Mn	–	Cipla
14 Dec 2023	Pirimid Fintech	Fintech	Fintech SaaS	B2B	$3 Mn	–	Infibeam Avenues
11 Dec 2023	HairOriginals	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2.75 Mn	Pre-Series A	Anicut Capital, Kesh Kala Family Office, Lets Venture, Dexter Angels, JITO Angel Fund, Pankaj Chaddah, Ahana Gautam
13 Dec 2023	Absolute Brands	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2.5 Mn	Seed	Capstone Vetntures	Capstone Ventures
14 Dec 2023	SimYog	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$2.4 Mn	Pre-Series A	Mela Ventures, 1Crowd, IdeaSpring	Mela Ventures, 1Crowd
12 Dec 2023	Twyn	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$1.25 Mn	Pre-Series A	ah! Ventures, JITO Incubation	ah! Ventures
12 Dec 2023	Aliste Technologies	Deeptech	Hardware & IoT	B2C	$1 Mn	–	YourNest Venture Capital, Artha Venture Fund, Dholakia Ventures, KRS Jamwal, Anikarth Ventures	YourNest Venture Capital
13 Dec 2023	ofScale	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$375K	Seed	First Cheque, Matrix Partners India DeVC, Relentless VC, Abhishek Goyal, Mekin Maheshwari, Revant Bhate
12 Dec 2023	ChargeZone	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2B-B2C	–	–	Macquarie Capital
14 Dec 2023	BurgerSingh	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Delivery	B2C	–	Pre-Series B	Turner Morrison Ltd, Homage Ventures LLP
15 Dec 2023	Delta X Automotive	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2C	–	–	ah! Ventures
13 Dec 2023	GRM Foodkraft	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Sauce vc

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce giant Udaan raised $340 Mn in its Series E financing round led by UK-based M&G Prudential, with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global, making it the biggest funding deal of the week.
Fuelled by Udaan’s funding, the ecommerce sector not only emerged as the most funded sector this week with $380.9 Mn funding but also witnessed a maximum number of deals with eight deal counts.
Lightspeed Venture Partners emerged as the busiest investors as it participated in two deals each.
Seed funding took a backseat this week with a mere $2.8 Mn across two deals.

Startup Acquisitions This Week

US-and India-based CareStack, a cloud-based dental practice management platform acquired Kerala-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Waybeo for an undisclosed amount.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) superfood brand Nourish You acquired Bengaluru-based One Good (erstwhile Goodmylk) for an undisclosed sum.
Fintech startup M2P acquired big data analytics and intelligence platform Goals101 for $30 Mn in a cash-and-equity deal.
Kunal Shah-backed Anq Finance acquired healthcare-focussed lending startup Kiwimoney for an undisclosed amount.
Indian mobile gaming company Octro acquired Israel-based DGN Games for an undisclosed amount.

Other Major Developments From This Week

Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries will invest INR 800 Cr to set up a battery foil manufacturing facility in Odisha’s Sambalpur district.
Climate-focused Asha Ventures marked the first close of its debut fund at $50 Mn, which will have a total corpus of $100 Mn.