[Funding Galore] From DMI Finance To AVIOM Housing Finance — Indian Startups Raised $564 Mn This Week

The month of April started on a jovial note after an upsetting March-end in raising funds. Between April 3 and 8, 2023 Indian startups collectively raised $564 Mn across 18 deals. This is a 453% jump from $102 Mn raised by the Indian startups across 14 deals last week. 

This week’s funding is 213% more than $180 Mn raised by Indian startups across 10 deals between March 20 and 25, 2023.

Key Highlights From This Week’s Funding

• Mumbai-based DMI Finance raised the biggest cheque of this week with $400 Mn in a funding round led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Existing investor Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SuMi TRUST Bank) also participated in the funding round
• Cloud kitchen aggregator Curefoods raised $37 Mn in a fresh round from Binny Bansal’s Three State Ventures, making it the second largest funding of this week 
• Delhi-based AVIOM Housing Finance Corporation bagged the third biggest investment of this week with $30 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Nuveen through a mix of primary and secondary investments in tranches
• The Fintech sector topped the charts in raising the biggest funding amount and in number of deals. The sector raised $458 Mn across five deals, which is 82% of the total funding being raised this week
• Unlike the last week, B2B-focussed businesses witnessed an increase in the total funding deal count with 12 deals, raising $69 Mn investment 
• This week, Sequoia Capital Surge became the most active investor as it participated in two deals 
• Of the total $564 Mn funding this week, only $14 Mn went to early-stage investment, a mere 2.4% of the total funding raised.

Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

From The Acquisition Desk

• Edtech startup iNurture acquired Jag Bros Consultants’ brand ‘Youth4Work’ for an undisclosed amount. As part of the deal, both the companies formed a new venture –Y4W Learning
• IPO-bound SaaS startup Capillary Technologies acquired US-based Brierley for an undisclosed amount
• CarDekho’s insurance arm InsuranceDekho has acqui-hired Sequoia and Lightspeed-backed SME insurance distribution company Verak, after raising $150 Mn
• Gaming giant Nazara’s NODWIN Gaming acquired a majority stake (51%) in Singapore-based mediatech startup Branded
• Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) announced acquiring insurance web aggregator MyInsuranceClub (MIC) in an all-cash deal
• Edtech platform Imarticus acquired Hero Mindmine, the training arm of Hero Group.

Startup Fund Launches This Week

• Early-stage venture capital firm V3 Ventures forayed into India and is looking to invest up to 100 Mn euros (approximately INR 896.5 Cr) in the country, and Europe, the US. The fund will invest in early-stage digital and consumer businesses 
• Venture debt firm BlackSoil announced raising $25 Mn from multiple banks, family offices, corporate treasuries, and high-net-worth individuals
• Growth stage investor Iron Pillar closed a $129 Mn fund to invest in Series B and Series C stage SaaS startups in India
• VC firm Speciale Invest launched an INR 200 Cr growth fund to invest in spacetech, green hydrogen, robotics, green mobility, among others 
• Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) will invest INR 100 Cr to anchor the early stage fund Early Spring, set up by Spring Marketing Capital. The fund, which will have a corpus of INR 300 Cr, will participate in Seed and Pre-Series A funding rounds.