SUMMARY
The Indian startup ecosystem secured $65 Mn funding across 42 deals in the fourth week of June
Bengaluru-based Lendingkart bagged $24 Mn in a debt round – the biggest funding round of this week
Infrastructure-focussed unicorn Infra.Market is acquiring Strata Geosystems for INR 910 Cr
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.
