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 |
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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.
Update | 21st August, 13:20
Headline updated to include the value of the funding.
