October Startup Funding Report: The Rise of Hardware

The month of October was expectedly bland when it came to funding activity this year. Historically, October has not fared very well in this category, falling close to the bottom of the pile for the last three years in deals struck and total funding received. In fact, the figures from last October were almost identical to this year. There were 85 startups that received funding, grossing a total of $259 Mn.

There was, however, a jump in M&A’s (14) during this month – a trend that 2016 has been consistently witnessing when compared to similar months from the previous years. This is a definite sign of consolidation and maturity of the Indian startup economy.

Bengaluru and Delhi fought neck and neck to lead the number of deals struck. However, Bengaluru emerged overwhelmingly victorious when it came to total funding received for the month, grossing a 5x higher number than Delhi.

Bengaluru’s funding dominance was led by YuppTV, FirstCry, Furlenco, Ather Energy, and DailyHunt. There has been a lot of activity in the baby care e-tailing segment, with FirstCry acquiring BabyOye from Mahindra Retail.

Change In Funding Allocation, Hardware Startups Come Home To Roost

Another interesting observation is the increased funding allocation towards early- and late-stage funding. Compared to October last year, seed funding received a 122% hike and late-stage funding managed an above par increase of 89% as well. Although Pre-Series A rounds numbered more and the largest funding of the month (YuppTV) was a Series A round, both of these stages did not manage to outdo last year’s numbers.

A pleasant surprise was thrown our way when we saw the sector allocation in deals struck this month.

India had been lagging behind the world when it came to hardware startups coming to prominence, however, this month saw eight deals in this sector. Ather Energy, Actofit, RoboVac, 3Dexter, Graviky Labs, Ray IOT, Aura Semiconductor, and GOQii received funding in the hardware sector this month, an encouraging sign for a sector which has been historically tough to invest in.

[Infographic by Satya Yadav]