[Funding Galore] From Bike Bazaar To MedGenome — $180 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

After managing to raise around $1.1 Bn in August, the first week of September saw the Indian startups community collectively raising $180.6 Mn across 19 deals. This is a 45.7% drop from $333 Mn that Indian startup raised in the last week of August

The week also lacked mega deals, neither it minted any new unicorn.

The most active investor of this week was Abhishek Goyal and Foundamental as they participated in two deals each. 

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• India-listed gaming firm Nazara Technologies has completely acquired US-based children focused gaming firm WildWorks to further strengthen its gaming presence 
• Rikhye and Sheetal Bahl founded Merak Ventures has launched a $100 Mn early-stage fund to invest in around 20 startups in the next 3-4 years 
• FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever has come up with a programme – Transform Plastics Challenge – where it will invest around INR 1.6 Cr each to five Indian startups addressing plastic waste related challenges 
• Further encouraging EV adoption, the Rajasthan government has sanctioned an INR 40 Cr fund for contribution towards EV purchases for a period of next five year. 

Key Highlights From August 

• The startup ecosystem has been witnessing a steep decline in funding since the month of February this year.
• As per an Inc42 report, not only has the late-stage funding deal been reduced, the bridge round and seed stage have relatively fallen too. 
• While the late-stage funding fell by 52% year-on-year in August, the growth stage round which are ideally Series A, Series B, and Series C nosedived to 40% YoY. 
• Bridge round and seed stage funding plummeted to 25% and 19% respectively. 
• In August, Mumbai stood top in fetching investment to the tune of $585 Mn across 35 deals.
•  The fintech sector continued to remain the favorite bet for the investors.