From Zepto To HealthKart – Indian Startups Raised $580 Mn This Week

After months of speculations, Zepto finally sealed its third mega funding deal of the year this week. The quick commerce unicorn’s $350 Mn funding round fuelled overall funding momentum in the Indian startup ecosystem during the third week of November.

Between November 18 and 23, startups cumulatively raised $579.5 Mn across 18 deals. This marked a 212% increase from the $185.8 Mn raised across 21 deals in the preceding week. 

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Nov 18 – 23 ]

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• Quick commerce major Zepto reaffirmed its position as the most heavily backed startup of the year. Bagging a mega cheque of $350 Mn from investors like Motilal Oswal, Sachin Tendulkar, Mankind Pharma Family Office this week, Zepto’s cumulative fundraise for the year now stands at $1.3 Bn.
• On the back of Zepto’s fundraise, the consumer services sector emerged as the investor favourite sector this week. Startups in the space bagged $354 Mn across three deals.
• Besides Zepto, the week also saw another mega funding round materialise in the form of HealthKart’s $153 Mn fundraise. With this, the ecommerce sector saw the second highest capital infusion this week. Startups in the space raised $163 Mn across three deals.
• Venture capitalist firm Blume Ventures was the most active investor this week, backing fintech startup Zopper and Mayank Bidawatka’s latest venture Billion Hearts.
• Seed funding continued its upward movement this week, with startups at this stage cumulatively bagging $10.9 Mn. This marked an 85% jump from the $5.9 Mn raised by startups at this stage last week.

Mergers & Acquisitions This Week

• The Good Glamm Group completed the acquisition of D2C mom and baby care brand The Moms Co this week. However, it did not disclose the terms of the transactions.
• Moglix bought eco-friendly paper products manufacturer Khatema Fibres for $9.4 Mn to bolster its sustainable packaging portfolio.

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

• Reports this week said that B2B marketplace startup OfBusiness has roped in Axis Capital, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America for a near $1 Bn IPO in 2025.
• With its public issue seeing an oversubscription of 1.86X, shares of logistics major BlackBuck got listed on the BSE and NSE this week at a premium of 2.9%.
• Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Consumer initiated its IPO journey this week by receiving its shareholder nod to drop the word “private” from the company’s name.

Other Developments Of The Week

• IN-SPACe’s chairman Pawan Goenka told Inc42 that the Centre-led INR 1,000 Cr spacetech fund is set to become operational by the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26 (Q1 FY26).
• Solar solutions startup SolarSquare plans to raise $30 Mn at a $130 Mn valuation. This marks a 2.7X jump from its previous valuation of $47.7 Mn.
• A secondary share sale at omnichannel eyewear unicorn Lenskart is likely to value $6 Bn, up 20% from its last valuation of $5 Bn.
• Hospitality unicorn OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal is looking to infuse $65 Mn to increase his stake in the startup.
• Listed online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip will be acquiring fintech unicorn CRED’s expense management platform Happay in a bid to become the go-to platform for comprehensive corporate travel and expense management solutions.
• Former International Finance Corporations’s executive Sayan Ghosh launched his own VC firm Ortella Global Capital (OG Capital) this week along with a $36 Mn fund.
• IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE) will be launching its maiden VC fund with a target corpus of $11.8 Mn. Through the fund, it aims to back 1,000 startups over the next 10 years with an average ticket size of INR 2-15 Cr.

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