Indian Startup Funding Hits A New Low — Just $4.4 Mn Raised This Week

SUMMARY

The Indian startup ecosystem secured $4.4 Mn across 7 funding deals in the third week of August

Speech AI startup Contiinex raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A from YourNest and Refex Capital, making it the biggest fundraise of this week

India’s first unicorn – InMobi has acquired San Francisco-based adtech company Quantcast Choice – a consent management platform (CMP) for an undisclosed amount

During the third week of August, a significant decline in capital inflow hit the Indian startup ecosystem. Funding for Indian startups in this week amounted to only $4.4 Mn across seven deals, indicating a possible nadir in weekly funding not witnessed since 2020.

This week’s funding marks a staggering 95% drop compared to the collective $95 Mn raised by startups in the previous week across 17 deals.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Aug 14 – Aug 19]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Round Size	Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
17 Aug 2023	Contiinex	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$2 Mn	Pre-Series A	YourNest, Refex Capital	YourNest, Refex Capital
16 Aug 2023	Vegapay	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2C	$1.1 Mn	Seed	Eximus Ventures, DS P HMK, Capri Global, Upsparks Capital, MGA Ventures, Climber Capital	Eximus Ventures
17 Aug 2023	Aretto	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$550K	Seed	Hardik Pandya, Abhineet Singh, Shyam Raichura, Raunak Munot, Vinayak Shrivastav, Kunal Sumaya
17 Aug 2023	Teleport	Enterprisetech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$500K	Seed	–
17 Aug 2023	Plus	Fintech	Investment Tech	B2C	$350K	Seed	EvolveX, WFC, VCats, JITO, Vineet Saxena, Abhishek Gupta, Sunil Singhvi, Vijay Rajagopal, Abhay Tandon, Shiva Mohandas, Sachin Shetty
15 Aug 2023	EcoSoul Home	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	Seed	Bhumi Pednekar
17 Aug 2023	BizPay	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2B	–	Seed	IPV	IPV
	Source: Inc42 *Part of a larger round Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Speech AI startup Contiinex raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round from YourNest and Refex Capital, making it the biggest fundraise of this week.
This week, the enterprisetech sector secured $2.5 Mn funding, making it the most funded sector.
Fintech emerged as the frontrunner with the highest deal count, securing $1.4 Mn across three deals.
After recording $11.4 Mn last week, the seed funding plummeted to $1.9 Mn across three deals.

Startup Acquisitions Of This Week

Logistics unicorn Xpressbees acquired New Delhi-based courier firm Trackon in an all-cash transaction to enter the SME courier space.
InMobi has acquired San Francisco-based adtech company Quantcast Choice – a consent management platform (CMP) for an undisclosed amount.
Former BharatPe cofounder Bhavik Koladiya-led venture capital firm Finix Partners has reportedly acquired fintech startup Slash.

Other Major Developments From This Week

Bengaluru-based hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo is in advanced talks to raise $100 Mn in its Series G round of funding.
Nazara Technologies has invested $500K (about INR 4.15 Cr) in Israel-based game developer Snax Games Ltd via its wholly-owned Singapore-based subsidiary Nazara PTE Ltd.
BHIVE is launching a new coworking-focussed category II alternative investment fund (AIF) of INR 400 Cr.
Singapore-based healthech investor HealthXCapital (HXC) has merged with marquee venture capital (VC) firm Jungle Ventures.
Weeks after completely exiting Flipkart with $1 Bn – $1.5 Bn, Binny Bansal is planning to launch a startup in cross-platform ecommerce space.
Peak XV Partners has signed ten term sheets in the first ten weeks since the split from its US-based parent Sequoia Capital.
Serial entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal is in talks to raise $50 Mn in Series A funding from Peak XV Partners for his new venture in the premium fashion space.