From Lendingkart To Scapia — Indian Startups Raised $65 Mn This Week

The month of June ended on a bleak funding front. Between June 26 and July 1, 2023, Indian startups managed to raise a mere $65 Mn across 42 deals. This is a 56% fall from the $149 Mn funding the Indian startup ecosystem raised across 20 deals in the past week. 

This week’s funding is a further 65.7% drop in funding when compared to the $190 Mn raised by Indian startups collectively across 21 deals between June 12, and June 17, 2023. 

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based lendingtech startup Lendingkart bagged the biggest cheque worth $24 Mn in a debt round from EvolutionX Debt Capital 
• The fintech sector topped the chart with $33 Mn in funding raised this week across three deals 
• Next, the ecommerce sector bagged 14 deals – the highest in terms of deal count – with a just $9.4 Mn funding 
• Early-stage startup funding saw an incremental rise in raising funds this week with $25.3 Mn investments; a whopping 200% jump from the $8.1 Mn raised last week. 

Startup Fund Launches This Week

• Early stage VC Good Capital launched its second fund with a target corpus of $50 Mn with a green shoe option of $25 Mn to back startups working with AI to solve distribution, personalisation, and business operations
• RTP Global, which backs Indian unicorns including CRED, Rebel Foods, among others, announced its latest fund – RTP IV with a corpus of $1 Bn. The fund will invest in Asia, Europe, and the US 
• Mumbai-based agri-focussed VC Omnivore announced closure of its third fund – the Omnivore Agritech & Climate Sustainability Fund – at $150 Mn
• Epiq Capital announced the closing of its fund – Epiq Capital II at $225 Mn. The VC firm will be participating in ten deals with a check size between $20 Mn- $25 Mn 
• Arkam Ventures launched a second fund with a target corpus of $180 Mn
• Dallas Venture Capital (DVC) announced securing INR 60 Cr commitments from Self Reliant India Fund and NewcrestImage for its INR 350 Cr India-focussed fund.

Startup Acquisitions Of This Week

• Coromandel International will pick up an additional 32.68% stake in drone manufacturer Dhaksha Unmanned Systems in an all-cash deal worth INR 204 Cr.
• Construction materials unicorn Infra.Market is acquiring a majority stake in Strata Geosystems for INR 910 Cr ($110 Mn) from the US-based Glen Raven Technical Fabrics

Other Major Developments From This Week

• Gurugram-based founders’ community PedalStart launched One-to-N, a 6-9 months long domain agnostic cohort. The selected startups will further receive $100K as a direct investment from PedalStart
• Six  Indian startups have received grants from Maruti Suzuki’s Nurture program, Grand Idea Hunt. Here’s a list of all the winners. 
• Rajesh Sawhney-led GSF has invested around INR 1- 2 Cr each in five Indian startups as part of its winter cohort. Click the link here to read more on this
• Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad is reportedly in talks to acquire US-based Udacity to further strengthen its foothold in the foreign land.
• The Netherlands-based Prosus has written off its entire investment worth $38 Mn in the troubled BNPL startup ZestMoney.