[Funding Galore] From Signzy To FourKites — $64 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

The last week of September marked the beginning of the festive season in the country, however, it failed to have any positive effect on the Indian startup ecosystem as the funding raised by it slowed down further. Between September 26 and October 1, 2022, Indian startups merely raised $64 Mn across 18 deals. 

The weekly fundraise was one of the lowest in a long time. It was a 66.6% drop from the already-low $192 Mn that the startup ecosystem raised in the previous week across 27 deals. 

Fintech startup Signzy raised the highest funding this week with its $26 Mn round which saw participation from Gaja Capital, Vertex Ventures, Arkam Ventures, among others. 

We Founder Circle, Better Capital, and Supermorpheus were the most active investors this week as they participated in two deals each.  

Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On IPO Of Indian Startups 

Nykaa’s Board To Consider Issuance Of Bonus Shares

The board of beauty ecommerce giant Nykaa will meet next week to consider and approve issuance of bonus shares to the equity shareholders of the company. Bonus shares are additional shares issued by a company on the basis of the existing shares held by a shareholder. 

IPO-Bound Capillary Technologies Appoints New CEO

IPO-bound SaaS startup Capillary Technologies, which is heading for INR 850-Cr IPO, saw its cofounder Aneesh Reddy step down from the role of CEO to take the role of vice chairman and managing director of the firm. Reddy will be replaced by Sameer Garde, who was an independent director on the board of the Warbug Pincus-backed startup till now. 

From Startup Acquisition Desk

• Fintech unicorn startup Razorpay has acquired PoshVine – a reward management solution provider– for an undisclosed amount.
• IT giant HCL has picked up a majority stake in edtech startup GUVI for an undisclosed amount.
• IT startup Aarav Solutions announced acquisition of AI startup Froot Research for $4 Mn. 
• Medi Assist announced 100% acquisition of Mumbai-based Medvantage for an undisclosed amount.
• Blockchain-based data exchange platform VeriSmart has acquired conversational AI platform DolphinChat. VeriSmart claimed that it will be investing $4 Mn in DolphinChat in the next two years. 

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Bengaluru-based fintech startup M2P has added American financial services giant Visa to its cap table.
• Axis Bank confirmed that it will pick up 9.94% stake in Go Digit Life Insurance for INR 49.9 Cr to INR 69.9 Cr.
• Mahindra Logistics said it will acquire the B2B express business of logistics startup Rivigo.
• Elev8 Venture Partners has launched a $200 Mn fund that will invest across sectors with a ticket size ranging from $5 Mn to $15 Mn.