[Funding Galore] From ShareChat To FanClash — $844 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

This week, the Indian startup ecosystem has managed to raise $844 Mn across 31 deals. This is a 51.5% jump from the last week, when the startup ecosystem managed to raise $557 Mn in investment across 39 deals.

After a couple of weeks, this week saw two funding rounds crossing the $200 Mn ballpark. While ShareChat raised its much anticipated funding round $255 Mn after adding Google to its captable, edtech giant upGrad raised $225 Mn in a new round of funding from Lupa Systems, Temasek, among others.

Most active investor this week was BEENEXT as it had invested in 4 deals followed by Better Capital which participated in 3 deals.

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

SoftBank Backed Meesho Eyes IPO In 12-24 Months

Ecommerce startup Meesho has now joined the long lists of Indian startups gearing towards public listing. Vidit Aatrey-led ecommerce giant Meesho is trying to turn profitable within this 12-24 months time period before hitting the public bourses. 

“In the next one to two years, we would be cash flow positive, which means we would be adding more and more money in the bank,” he said, adding that unlike other companies, Meesho has never lost money. 

From The Startup Acquisition Desk

• Zomato-backed logistics SaaS startup Shiprocket has acquired rival Pickkr for a $200 Mn deal to consolidate its footprint in the sector.
• D2C roll up ecommerce giant Mensa Brands has marked its fourth acquisition in 2022 by acquiring Noida-based wearable brand Pebble
• US-based revenue operations platform Clari has acquired Bengaluru-based Software-as-a-Service (Saas) platform Wingman for an undisclosed amount.
• According to media reports, D2C roll up giant GlobalBees is said to have invested in five brands–HealthVit, Top Gummy, UrbanGabru, Urban Yog, and Kuber Industries

Startup Funds This Week

• Early-stage venture capitalist (VC) firm Multiply Ventures has closed its maiden fund at INR 260 Cr, crossing its target of INR 250 Cr. The VC firm will further increase its focus in four sectors – fintech, edtech, retail, and healthcare.
• Mumbai Angels has signed an MoU with DLabs Incubator Association to identify and back startups.

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal has sold his stake worth $264 Mn to Chinese tech giant Tencent
• Early-stage venture capital fund, 8i Ventures has announced a partial exit from fintech startup, M2P Fintech at a return on investment (ROI) of 36X. 
• D2C meat and seafood startup FreshToHome is likely to raise $100 Mn from its existing investors at an unicorn valuation, sources told Inc42
• Zilingo’s investors are in talks with various buyout firms for liquidating the Ankiti Bose’s startup
• Fintech startup Raise Financial Services plans to invest up to $500K in early-stage startups in the investech and wealthtech space in the country.