[Funding Galore] From Zepto To Open — Over $548 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

After low funding throughout the month of April, the month of May started with a slight uptick in the funding. Between May 2 and May 6, the startup ecosystem managed to raise close to $548 Mn across 22 deals. This is a 76% rise from the previous week’s funding where startups across the sectors managed to raise $309 Mn across 29 deals.

After a dry month of April in terms of unicorn(s) produced, the first week produced the country’s 100th unicorn as neobanking startup Open raised $50 Mn at a billion-dollar valuation.

The busiest investor of this week was Tiger Global who have invested in 3 deals followed by Sequoia Capital India, IIFL and Multiply Ventures, who have invested in 2 deals each.

Accel Partners which has roled out 4 cheques. Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and 3one4 Capital have participated in two deals during the week. 

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

Ahead Of IPO, ixigo Gets A New CFO

Ahead of its INR 1,600 Cr IPO, travel aggregator ixigo has appointed Rahul Gautam as its Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective from May 5, 2022, Inc42 exclusively reported. Gautam, who earlier led corporate finance and investor relations at PVR, will replace the startup’s existing Group CFO Ravi Shankar Gupta.

Delhivery Reduces IPO Size By 30% To Go Public On May 11

Logistics startup Delhivery’s initial public offering (IPO) will open for the public on May 11 and close on May 13. 

Delhivery would reduce its issue size from INR 7,460 Cr to INR 5,200 Cr to better suit the current market conditions. Logistics unicorn’s backers SoftBank and Carlyle were likely to reduce their offer for sale (OFS) allocations in line with the reduced issue size. 

Mahindra Retail To Offload Part Stake During FirstCry’s IPO

Mahindra Retail has received board approval to sell up to 2% of its stake in BrainBees, the parent company of marketplace FirstCry, via an Offer For Sale (OFS) as part of a share sale during the startup’s IPO.

From The Startup Acquisition Desk

• Mumbai-based edtech unicorn upGrad has acquired the International School of Engineering (INSOFE) in a $33 Mn share swap deal.
• Bhago Mobility Solutions, a green energy focussed startup has acquired equity stakes in Pastiche Energy Solutions.
• Big Band Food Tech, a food brand aggregator has announced the acquisition of Puran Singh Ka Mashoor Vishal Dhaba for an undisclosed amount.
• SatSure, a deeptech SaaS startup has announced the acquisition of SaaS application startup CropTrails.
• Interior design tech startup Flipspaces has announced the acquisition of Renomania, a platform to discover and engage with architects, interior designers, and brands.

Startup Funds This Week

• Gurugram-based Startup Buddy’s parent has announced a launch of “Real-Time Accelerator Fund” with a corpus of INR 100 Cr with a greenshoe option of another INR 100 Cr.
• Homegrown venture fund –Tykhe Block Ventures has announced the launching of a $30 Mn crypto fund.
• Venture Capital firm Quona Capital is likely to seal its third fund at $325 Mn – $350 Mn, significantly higher than the target corpus of $250 Mn.
• Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Gemba Capital marked the initial close of its micro VC fund at $10 Mn, but considering the response, the fund has received, the Bengaluru-based VC & private equity firm expects it to close at $13 Mn.
• London-based venture capital company, JPIN has launched an India-focussed strategic fund, JPIN India Fund with a corpus of $20 Mn. The fund aims to back Indian startups and SMEs in the country and help scale their business globally.

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Newly minted unicorn Oxyzo is launching an ESOP pool worth close to INR 380 Cr for its employees, Inc42 exclusively reported.
• Online food aggregator, Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal is donating worth $90 Mn proceeds received after vesting his ESOPs into Zomato Future Foundation (ZFF).