Monthly funding report: Indian startups raised $4.1 Bn in Oct; added 6 unicorns

Indian startups continued to witness a funding spree during the festive season as the ecosystem saw $4.1 billion pour into deals across 41 growth and 96 early-stage startups in October. During the month, half a dozen startups—Licious, CoinSwitch Kuber, Rebel Foods, MobiKwik, CarDekho and Acko—made it into the coveted club of unicorns.

In Entrackr’s second edition of a monthly funding report, here are details of the top 10 deals in both the growth stage and early-stage investments during October:

Growth-stage deals

A total 41 startups in growth and late-stage mopped up around $3.7 billion in October, a 27% jump from $2.9 billion in the previous month. The top 10 list includes PharmEasy’s mega-round of $350 million followed by Byju’s, CoinSwitch Kuber, Acko and CRED — all of which scooped up $296 million, $260 million, $255 million and $251 million, respectively.

This list also includes Groww’s $251 million Series E round at a three-fold premium in its valuation whereas CarDekho and fintech app Tala picked up $250 million and $145 million, respectively. 

Details of the 160 funding rounds can be found here.

Early-stage deals

In early-stage deals that were disclosed in October, a total of 96 startups raised funds worth $365 million. Neobanking startup Zolve spearheaded the funding round for early-stage startups with $40 million in its Series A round followed by ReshaMandi, SaaS Labs, Qapita which scooped up $30 million, $17 million and $15 million in their Series A rounds, respectively.

In September, the number of early-stage deals were higher at 114, and the amount raised was also significantly higher at $467 million.

Undisclosed deals

In October, close to two dozen startups did not disclose their transaction details. The list includes Kissan Pro, Attentive, Phool.co, LeadSquared, Sunfox, mHealth, Karat Farms, among others.

Notably, Bengaluru-based startups have led the show as 10 out of the top 15 startups that raised funds in October are from India’s Silicon Valley. 

Overall, 60 startups from Bengaluru have raised funds across growth and early-stage including the undisclosed rounds in October. Delhi-NCR is at second place with 40 startups followed by Mumbai which contributed with 30 startups from the city. 

Segment-wise, SaaS, fintech and D2C startups have recorded the most number of funding with 18, 17 and 16 rounds, respectively. The edtech segment was the fourth highest in the list with 14 startups including one undisclosed round.

*Back next month with another deal roundup