SUMMARY
Indian startups raised $288 Mn across 24 funding deals, marking a142% week-on-week rise
Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath launched WTF Fund, a funding and mentorship programme for entrepreneurs under the age of 22
Fuelled by Zolve’s funding, the fintech sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, raising $206.7 Mn across six deals
Continuing the funding momentum from the previous week, the second week of October witnessed Indian startups bagging $288 Mn across 24 deals. This week’s funding marks a 142% increase from the $119 Mn secured by Indian startups in the previous week across 11 deals. Additionally, this week also saw a mega deal, as fintech startup Zolve bagged $100 Mn in a debt funding round.
Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Oct 9 – Oct 14]
| Date | Name | Sector | Subsector | Business Model | Funding Round Size | Funding Round Type | Investors | Lead Investor |
| 11 Oct 2023 | Zolve | Fintech | Banking | B2C | $100 Mn | Debt | Community Investment Management (CIM) | |
| 11 Oct 2023 | InsuranceDekho | Fintech | Insurtech | B2C | $60 Mn | Series B | MUFG, BNP Paribas Cardif, TVS Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Avataar Ventures | |
| 10 Oct 2023 | Krutrim SI Designs | Deeptech | IoT & Hardware | B2B | $24 Mn | Debt | Matrix Partners India | |
| 9 Oct 2023 | Onsurity | Fintech | Insurtech | B2B | $24 Mn | Series B | IFC | IFC |
| 12 Oct 2023 | Oro Money | Fintech | Lendingtech | B2C | $12.5 Mn | – | Singularity Ventures, Three State Capital, 021 Capital, PI Opportunities Fund | |
| 10 Oct 2023 | SuperOps. ai | Enterprisetech | Horizontal SaaS | B2B | $12.4 Mn | Series B | Addition, March Capital, Matrix Partners India | Addition |
| 13 Oct 2023 | Age Care Labs | Healthtech | Fitness & Wellness | B2C | $11 Mn | Pre-Series B | Rainmatter Capital, Gruhas | |
| 9 Oct 2023 | Shiprocket | Logistics | Ecommerce Logistics | B2B | $11 Mn | Bridge Round | McKinsey & Company | |
| 11 Oct 2023 | Lavie | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $9 Mn | – | First Bridge India Growth Fund | |
| 12 Oct 2023 | Jiraaf | Fintech | Investment Tech | B2C | $8.7 Mn | Series B | Accel Partners, Harmony Partners | Accel Partners, Harmony Partners |
| 9 Oct 2023 | Pep | Media & Entertainment | Social Media & Chat | B2C | $2.5 Mn | Seed | India Quotient, Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal, Kunal Shah, Farooq Adam, Parag Bhide, Sambhav Mehrotra, Sridhar Subhramanian, Ravindra Yadav, Sargun Gulati | |
| 14 Oct 2023 | Imagimake | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $2.3 Mn | – | Pidilite Ventures | |
| 10 Oct 2023 | Meolaa | Ecommerce | B2C Ecommerce | B2C | $2 Mn | Seed | Turbostart | |
| 12 Oct 2023 | Proxgy | Deeptech | IoT & Hardware | B2B | $2 Mn | Pre-Series A | LetsVenture, Planify Angel Fund, March Tech Fund, Cogniphy Angel Fund, Madhuram Papers Family Office, AKGVG & Associates | |
| 12 Oct 2023 | KiVi | Agritech | Financial Services | B2B-B2C | $1.7 Mn | Seed | Caspian Leap, Piper Serica Angel Fund, YAN Angel Fund, Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation | |
| 9 Oct 2023 | Oyela | Ecommerce | Social Commerce | B2B-B2C | $1.6 Mn | Seed | Prime Venture Partners | Prime Venture Partners |
| 10 Oct 2023 | AuditCue | Fintech | Fintech SaaS | B2B | $1.5 Mn | Seed | Kalaari Capital, Java Capital | Kalaari Capital |
| 10 Oct 2023 | Eske Bags | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $1.5 Mn | Pre-Series A | Mistry Ventures, Fluid Ventures | Mistry Ventures |
| 12 Oct 2023 | OORJA | Cleantech | Electric Vehicle | B2B | $635K | Pre-Series A | IPV, Vinners Platform, Soonicorn Ventures | |
| 11 Oct 2023 | Curelo | Healthtech | Healthcare Services | B2C | $100K | CIIE. CO | ||
| 10 Oct 2023 | Greto | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | – | – | Yuvraj Singh | |
| 13 Oct 2023 | Divine Foods | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | – | – | Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan | |
| 10 Oct 2023 | Nawgati | Enterprisetech | Vertical SaaS | B2B | – | Seed | All in Capital |
Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week
- Fintech neobank startup Zolve raised $100 Mn in a debt funding round from the US-based impact investor Community Investment Management (CIM), making it the biggest funding deal of the week.
- Fuelled by Zolve’s funding, the fintech sector emerged as the most funded sector this week, raising $206.7 Mn across six deals
- Ecommerce sector witnessed the most deals this week. The sector saw seven deals with $16.4 Mn of funding.
- Seed funding activity saw a marginal upswing this week, rising to $9.3 Mn across six deals.
- Matrix Partners India was the busiest investor as it participated in two deals this week.
Other Major Developments From This Week
- Warner Music India acquired E-Positive, an artist management company, to strengthen its presence in the country’s independent music space.
- Singapore-based Jungle Ventures launched First Cheque@Jungle programme to back early stage startups in idea to seed stage.
- Delhi NCR-based healthtech startup Zivov is in advanced talks to raise around $5 Mn in its pre-Series A funding round, sources told Inc42.
- Nikhil Kamath, the cofounder of bootstrapped unicorn Zerodha, launched WTF Fund, a funding and mentorship programme for entrepreneurs under the age of 22.
- Kunal Shah’s CRED is in talks to acquire investech platform Kuvera to enter the fast-growing stock and mutual fund broking market.
- WestBridge Capital has acquired a stake in Meesho in a secondary transaction from its early and long-term backer, Venture Highway.
