[Funding Galore] From ShareChat To Innovaccer — Over $1.3 Bn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

The Indian startup ecosystem has regained its momentum as it raised $1.3 Bn in funding across 48 deals in the third week of December, between December 13 and 18. This is 39% higher than last week when the ecosystem racked up $908 Mn in funding across 53 deals between December 6 and 11. This week’s investment is also 151% higher than the week prior when the Indian startup ecosystem raised $535 Mn investment across 49 deals. 

The biggest investment in this week was picked up by Mohalla Tech, the parent company of social media unicorn ShareChat and Moj. The startup raised $266 Mn in Series G round led by Alkeon Capital. The second-largest funding round was raised by healthtech startup Innovaccer which mopped up $150 Mn in Series E round led by Mubadala Capital, in participation with B Capital and Microsoft, almost doubling its valuation to $3.2 Bn

The week further saw Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola securing $500 Mn in a term loan B (TLB), making it the third Indian unicorn after OYO, and BYJU’s to raise the same.

Here are all the funding rounds disclosed this week:

Indian Startup IPOs

RateGain Shares Plummet 20% Below Issue Price On Market Debut

After listing at a discount, share price of travel tech startup RateGain declined further in its first trading session on Friday 17, 2021. Shares of the startup closed at INR 340.50 on the BSE, lower by INR 84.50 or 19.88% compared to its issue price of INR 425 per share. On the National Stock Exchange, its shares closed at INR 337.55 price, lower by INR 87.45 or 20.58% from the listing price.

BYJU’s To Take SPAC Route For Its $4 Bn IPO

The edtech decacorn BYJU’s is in advanced discussions to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) of Churchill Capital, a global strategic advisory firm.

A Bloomberg report said that the startup has held talks with several potential SPAC partners and is currently working on an agreement with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital.

Indian Startup Acquisitions This Week

• Bengaluru-based edtech startup Teachmint marked its first acquisition with Vadodara-based Teachmore
• Neobanking startup Open acquired consumer banking startup Finin for $10 Mn in a cash-and-stock deal
• SaaS unicorn Browserstack acquired open-source test automation framework Nightwatch.js.
• D2C brand aggregator Mensa Brands acquired kidswear brand LilPicks
• Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development platform Polygon (formerly Matic Network) acquired Ethereum scaling startup Mir Protocol for $400 Mn.
• Jungle Venture-backed EVE WORLD acquired of Femcy, a femtech brand focused on personalised menstrual wellness solutions.