Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [10-15 Oct]

This week, 27 Indian startups raised funding of which 25 received a total of about $103 million. Pillow and Assiduus Global were the top fundraisers which scooped up $18 million and $15 million respectively. Last week, 19 homegrown startups raised funding worthabout $183.2 million. 

Meanwhile, the details of two of the total funded startups remained undisclosed. 

Growth/late-stage deals 

This week only Flickstree’s $5 million pre-Series B round is in the growth stage funding list. Edtech startup Adda247 also announced its $35 million funding round which was already included in October 1 edition.

Details of the 27 funding rounds can be found here.

Early-stage deals 

In the early-stage, 26 startups have raised funds including two undisclosed rounds. Crypto startup Pillow was on top of the list with $18 million Series Around. The list also includes AI cross-border e-commerce startup Assiduus Global, Good Health Company and co-living Isthara.

Undisclosed deals    

Sharry Harry and Electriq did not disclose their financial details.   

City and segment-wise funding   

This week, Bengaluru-based startups were on top in terms of the number of startup deals and the amount raised by them. According to Fintrackr’s data, 15 Bengaluru-based startups have raised funds this week amounting to $58.4 million or 56.98% of the total funding. During the week, Delhi-NCR-based startups raised $11.3 million across 5 deals. 

The complete breakdown of deals across cities and segments in the first half can be seen below: 

D2C brands were the top segment in terms of the number of deals as startups in this space raised $16.1 million across 5 deals. Foodtech, healthtech, fintech, Edtech, crypto and EV startups were next on the list. 

Mergers and acquisitions

Apart from the fundraisings, the week also saw a clutch of merger and acquisition deals. The list includes the acquisitions of edtech startup Deeksha by Vedantu and PrepOnline, Altis Vortex by PhysicsWallah.

Fund launch

This week, four venture capital firms have launched funds for early-stage startups. The list includes Fireside Ventures’ $225 million fund, Artha Grroup’s $54 million, BlackSoil’s $30 million and Kettleborough VC’s $5 million.

Layoffs and shutdowns

Apart from acquisitions and fund launches, the week also saw two layoffs. Edtech major Byju’s on Wednesday said that it would cut about 5% of its 50,000-strong workforce across departments such as product, content, media and technology in a phased manner. 

FrontRow, which is focused on non-academic learning, has sacked 130 employees (almost 75% of its workforce), across marketing, sales, engineering, and product.

Another edtech startup Qin1 said that it is shutting down its operations due to cash crunch.

*Back next week with another deal roundup