From Zepto To GradRight — Indian Startups Raised $231 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

The Indian startup ecosystem secured $231 Mn across 16 funding deals in the fourth week of August

Quick commerce startup Zepto raised $200 Mn in Series E funding round, making it the biggest fundraise of this week

Tata’s Titan is acquiring the remaining 27.18% stake in omnichannel jewellery startup CaratLane for a sum of INR 4,621 Cr, making it one of the biggest exits in the Indian D2C space

The startup ecosystem in India has experienced a significant funding resurgence this week, following its lowest weekly funding levels since 2020.

From August 21 to 26, Indian startups collectively secured $231 Mn across 16 deals, marking a staggering 5,151% increase compared to the previous week’s modest $4.4 Mn raised over seven deals.

This week also put an end to an 11-month dry spell without a new unicorn, as Zepto secured $200 Mn in a Series E round, becoming the first startup of 2023 to achieve a billion-dollar valuation. We had previously reported that Zepto was on track to enter the exclusive unicorn club last month.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Aug 21 – Aug 26]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Round Size	Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
25 Aug 2023	Zepto	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Delivery	B2C	$200 Mn	Series E	StepStone Group, Goodwater Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Lachy Groom	StepStone Group, Goodwater Capital
24 Aug 2023	GradRight	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2C	$6 Mn	Series A	IvyCap Ventures
23 Aug 2023	SuperBottoms	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$5 Mn	Series A1	Lok Capital, Sharrp Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capital	Lok Capital, Sharrp Ventures
23 Aug 2023	Kombai	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$4.5 Mn	Seed	Stellaris Venture Partners, Foundation Capital	Stellaris Venture Partners, Foundation Capital
22 Aug 2023	Wootz.work	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$3.5 Mn	Seed	Matrix Partners India, Nexus Venture Partners, AdvantEdge, Mars Shot Ventures, Ramakant Sharma	Matrix Partners India, Nexus Venture Partners
23 Aug 2023	Portkey.ai	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$3 Mn	Seed	Lightspeed	Lightspeed
25 Aug 2023	Weekday	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$2.2 Mn	Seed	Venture Highway	Venture Highway
22 Aug 2023	Yummy Plate	Ecommerce	B2C Ecommerce	B2C	$2 Mn	–	K12 Techno Services
22 Aug 2023	Boxs	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.6 Mn	–	Peak XV Surge, Titan Capital, Amrit Acharya, Rahul Sharma, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Vishal Chaudhary	Peak XV Surge
22 Aug 2023	Square Insurance	Fintech	Insurtech	B2C	$1 Mn	–	Recur Club
24 Aug 2023	13SQFT	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$1 Mn	Pre-Series A	IPV	IPV
21 Aug 2023	Hypergro.ai	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$846K	Seed	Silverneedle Ventures, Huddle, TDV Partners, HME Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, FiiRE, Arjun Vaidya, Ankit Kedia, Rajesh Sawhney	Silverneedle Ventures
21 Aug 2023	Car Easy	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	–	Seed	ah! Ventures, EvolveX, We Founder Circle, Alaka Capital
23 Aug 2023	ZEVO	Cleantech	Electirc Vehicle	B2B	–	–	Agility Ventures
24 Aug 2023	Ecowrap	Cleantech	Waste Management	B2B-B2C	–	–	JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation
25 Aug 2023	Codevidhya	Edtech	Skill Development	B2C	–	–	–	–
	Source: Inc42 *Part of a larger round Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Quick commerce startup Zepto raised $200 Mn in a Series E round from StepStone Group, Goodwater Capital, making it the biggest fundraise of this week.
This week, the consumer services sector secured $200 Mn in funding across two deals, making it the most funded sector.
Ecommerce emerged as the frontrunner with the highest deal count, securing $13.1 Mn across five deals.
After recording a low of $1.9 M in seed funding the seed funding rose to $14 Mn.
This week, Nexus Venture Partners was the busiest investor as it participated in two deals.

Other Major Developments From This Week

Tata-owned watchmaking giant Titan acquired an additional 27.18% stake in omnichannel jewellery startup CaratLane for a sum of INR 4,621 Cr, thus valuing the startup at around $2 Bn. This acquisition will result in Caratlane employees receiving INR 340 Cr to INR 380 Cr from ESOP buyback.
Bengaluru-based early stage VC – Veda VC announced the first close of its INR 250 Cr fund led by family offices and startup CXOs. It will invest in technology and tech-enabled startups.
Japan’s SoftBank has sold INR 435 Cr worth of its stakes in FirstCry to Manipal Group’s Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office, Marico’s Harsh Mariwala’s investment office Sharrp Ventures and the DSP family office of Hemendra Kothari.
Westbridge Capital picked majority stake in digital investment platform FundsIndia for an undisclosed amount.
According to media reports, PharmEasy is raising INR 3,500 Cr through a rights issue to repay a large portion of its debt to Goldman Sachs.
Qatar Investment Authority is investing INR 8,278 Cr ($1 Bn) into Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) for 0.99% stake.
Ahead of IPO, Mamaearth is raising about $120 Mn – $150 Mn in a new funding round at a valuation of $1.5 Bn. The unicorn is in talks with SoftBank, Singapore’s GIC, Qatar Investment Authority, and Fidelity Investments for this fundraise.

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