SUMMARY
Indian startups raised $237 Mn across 20 funding deals, a decline of 18% week-on-week
Video editing platform provider VideoVerse acquired AI-powered design system Optikka for an undisclosed amount
Fuelled by Zetwerk’s funding, the enterprisetech sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, raising $127 Mn across two deals
Following two weeks of growth in funding, the Indian startup ecosystem witnessed a decline in the third week of October. From October 16 to October 21, 2023, the startup ecosystem raised $237 Mn across 20 deals, marking a 18% downfall compared to $288 Mn raised across 24 deals last week.
Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Oct 16 – Oct 21]
| Date | Name | Sector | Subsector | Business Model | Funding Round Size | Funding Round Type | Investors | Lead Investor |
| 18 Oct 2023 | Zetwerk | Enterprisetech | Enterprise Services | B2B | $120 Mn | Series F | Avenir Growth Capital, Lightspeed, Greenoaks Capital, Steadview Capital | Avenir Growth Capital |
| 18 Oct 2023 | Neo | Fintech | Investment Tech | B2B | $35 Mn | – | Peak XV Partners | |
| 17 Oct 2023 | Agnikul Cosmos | Deeptech | Spacetech | B2B | $26.7 Mn | Series B | Celesta Capital, Rocketship. vc, Artha Venture Fund, Artha Select Fund, Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, Mayfield India | |
| 19 Oct 2023 | Freight Tiger | Logistics | Freight | B2B | $18 Mn | Tata Motors | ||
| 17 Oct 2023 | Leucine | Enterprisetech | Vertical SaaS | B2B | $7 Mn | Series A | Ecolab, Pravega Ventures, Axilor Ventures, Techstars | Ecolab |
| 16 Oct 2023 | Freyr | Cleantech | Solar Tech | B2B-B2C | $6.9 Mn | Series B | EDFI ElectriFI, Schneider Electric Energy Asia Fund (SEEAA), Lotus Capital LLC, Maybright Ventures, VT Capital | EDFI ElectriFI |
| 19 Oct 2023 | Showroom B2B | Ecommerce | B2B Ecommerce | B2B | $6.5 Mn | Pre-Series A | Jungle Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, Saison Capital, ICMG Partners | Jungle Ventures |
| 20 Oct 2023 | BharatAgri | Agritech | Market Linkage | B2B-B2C | $4.3 Mn | Series A | Arkam Ventures, Capria Ventures, India Quotient 021 Capital, Omnivore | Arkam Ventures |
| 19 Oct 2023 | Mokobara | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $3.6 Mn | – | Saama Capital, Sauce VC, Alteria Capital | |
| 17 Oct 2023 | Game Theory | Consumer Services | Hyperlocal Services | B2C | $2 Mn | Pre-Series A | Ranimatter, Rohan Bopanna, WEH Ventures, Prequate Advisory, Balakrishna Adiga | |
| 18 Oct 2023 | Tap Invest | Fintech | Investment Tech | B2B | $2 Mn | Seed | Turbostart, Snow Leopard Ventures, Kunal Shah, Kashyap Shah | |
| 18 Oct 2023 | Alwrite | Fintech | Fintech SaaS | B2B | $1.2 Mn | Seed | Apurva Parekh, Viral Thakker, Amit Sheth, Sanjay Bhagat, Shrenik Shah, Sumit Bohra | |
| 17 Oct 2023 | Omnivio | Logistics | Logistics SaaS | B2B | $1.02 Mn | Seed | Caret Capital, Blume Ventures, Eximius VC, SuniconVenture Fund, Misfits | Caret Capital |
| 19 Oct 2023 | HiWi | Fintech | Payments | B2B-B2C | $870K | Pre-Seed | Unicorn India Ventures, Unmaj Group Family Office | |
| 17 Oct 2023 | Done Deal | Fintech | Investmen Tech | B2B | $800K | Pre-Seed | Gruhas, WFC Capital, Capital-A, Dezerv Innovation Fund, ICE. VC | |
| 16 Oct 2023 | P-TAL | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $520K | Seed | Titan Capital, Anicut Capital, Ghazal Alagh, Sandeep Aggarwal, Vishesh Khurana, Ashutosh Valani, Priyank Shah, Bala Sarda, Deep Bajaj, Mohit Bajaj, Ashish Tulsian, Arjun Vaidya | Titan Capital |
| 19 Oct 2023 | Smarter Dharma | Ecommerce | B2B Ecommerce | B2B | $500K | Seed | Rainmatter, Gruhas, Anthill Ventures | |
| 19 Oct 2023 | Welcome Cure | Healthtech | Telemedicine | B2C | $480K | Pre-Series A | IPV | IPV |
| 20 Oct 2023 | Niyo | Fintech | Neobank | B2C | – | – | Spring Marketing Capital | |
| 17 Oct 2023 | InsurStaq. ai | Fintech | Insurtech | B2B-B2C | – | – | Faad Network |
Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week
- Enterpritech startup Zetwerk raised $120 Mn in a Series F funding round from Avenir Growth, making it the biggest funding deal of the week.
- Fuelled by Zetwerk’s funding, the enterpristech sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, raising $127 Mn across two deals.
- The fintech sector witnessed the most deals this week. The startups in the sector raised $40 Mn across seven deals.
- Seed funding activity saw a significant decline this week, falling to $5.2 Mn across seven deals from $9.3 Mn last week.
- Gruhas was the busiest investor as it participated in two deals this week.
Other Major Developments From This Week
- Video editing platform provider VideoVerse acquired AI-powered design system Optikka for an undisclosed amount.
- Singularity Growth announced the first close of its second fund – Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund II – at INR 500 Cr. The second fund’s total corpus is INR 1,500 Cr.
- Beleaguered healthtech startup Mojocare’s board decided that the startup will shut its operations and return remaining capital to investors.
- Fintech SaaS startup Perfios conducted an ESOP buyback worth INR 154 Cr, turning 62 of its employees millionaires.
