Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [08-13 Jan]

The second week of January saw a record jump in the number of startup funding deals. This week, as many as 31 Indian startups raised funding amounting to $157.3 million. These deals include nine growth stage and 19 early stage deals. The transaction details of three startups remained undisclosed.

Last week, around 17 growth and early stage startups collectively raised nearly $88.7 million, including two undisclosed deals.

[Growth-stage deals]

As mentioned above, nine growth stage startups raised $97.5 million in funding this week. Retail SaaS startup Impact Analytics topped the list with $40 million fundraise followed by dental care platform Toothsi’s parent makeO which raised $16 million.

School and student loan solution provider Varthana, D2C dairy products brand Akshayakalpa Organic, fixed income investment firm Grip Invest and D2C children-focused snacking and meal brand Slurrp Farm scooped up $14 million, $12 million, $10 million and $7.2 million, respectively.

Wealthtech startup Fisdom, insurance company Riskcovry and Electric mobility startup Yulu also raised capital this week.

[Early-stage deals]

Among the early stage startups, as many as 19 deals recorded this week amounting to $45.77 million. Edtech firm ConveGenius spearheaded the chart with $7 million followed by custom manufacturing platform Karkhana.io, satellite-based surveillance provider PierSight, mental health platform Amaha and D2C bakery brand The Baker’s Dozen.

Further, the list includes fitness tech firm Fittr, D2C consumer intimacy startup MyMuse, SaaS enabled B2B beauty marketplace Glamplus and warehouse robotics startup Accio Robotics among others.

During the week, community-driven platform for ordering food, Amealio, intimate care and wellness brand Lemme Be and biomass and biofuel platform BiofuelCircle raised capital but did not disclose the funding amount details. For more information, visit TheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]    

In terms of city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru and Mumbai-based startups topped the list with nine deals each. This was followed by Delhi-NCR and Pune-based startups with six and three deals, respectively.

Moreover, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai and Hyderabad-based startups joined the list with one deal each.

The complete breakdown of the city and segment can be found at TheKredible.

[Series wise deals]

This week, seed stage deals grabbed the top spot again with 11 deals followed by pre-Series A and Series A with 5 and 4 deals, respectively.

Among the growth-stage startups Series C and Series B stand next with 5 and 3 deals.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding surged 77.3% this week to $157.3 million as compared to $88.7 million in the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands around $267 million with 22 deals per week.

[Fund launches]

This week also saw four startup focused fund launches including cash flow-based financing platform Velocity, Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai-led Gruhas, alternative-financing fintech platform GetVantage and SaaS-focused accelerator fund Upekkha.

[M&A]

IT services exporter Infosys Ltd is all set to acquire semiconductor design firm InSemi in a cash deal amounting to Rs 280 crore or $33.7 million. Edtech firm Veranda Learning Solutions is acquiring Tapasya Educational Institutions for a sum of $43.6 million.

[Departures]

This week, Sidharth Satpathy, who is the vice president at Swiggy Instamart, has resigned after working for more than four years at the company while DealShare’s one of the co-founders, will step down from his position, and has appointed Kamaldeep Singh as the company’s new chief executive officer.

[Layoffs/Shutdown]

The InMobi group is planning to let go of more than 100 employees, making it the company’s second layoff within a year. The advertising technology unicorn will let go of 125 employees from its global workforce of 2,500.

ByteDance’s music streaming app, Resso to shutdown its service in India by the end of January.

Visit TheKredible to see series wise deals and amount breakup, and more insights.

[New launches]

▪ EaseMyTrip forays into insurtech space

[Financial results this week]

▪️ Zoomcar India posts Rs 237 Cr loss on Rs 69 Cr revenue in FY23

▪️ Digit Insurance’s profit zooms 6X to Rs 338 Cr in FY23

▪️ SaaS unicorn Amagi posts Rs 680 Cr revenue in FY23

▪️ Despite RBI crackdown, Slice income grows 3X to Rs 847 Cr in FY23

▪️ Uber India made Rs 679 Cr from ride hailing in FY23

▪️ Fintech unicorn Incred posts Rs 109 Cr profit in FY23

[News flash this week]

▪️ Google Play to start supporting more real-money game apps

▪️ BlackRock slashes Byju’s valuation by 95% to $1 Bn

▪️ BluSmart Mobility introduces ‘rush hour’ pricing in new fee structure

▪️ Meesho outperforms competitors during Diwali ecommerce sales, says Bobble AI report

[Entrackr’s analysis]

After a slow movement in the final week of December 2023 and first week of this month, there appears to be a resurgence in capital inflow in the ecosystem. At over $140 million, the weekly funding has grown more than 60% week-on-week. 

The upward trend is good news for the ecosystem as it’s just the second week of 2024. Moreover, around 5 firms have launched their funds to back the startups. Additionally, Japanese investor SoftBank is reportedly preparing to resume capital infusion in Indian startups again this year.

Meanwhile, Byju’s struggles continue in 2024 as well. This time around the edtech giant is facing a massive valuation - by 95% to $1 billion - by one its early backers, Blackrock. 

That said, BluSmart, the EV-focused ride hailing company, has come under the spotlight for its new pricing structure, which includes a ‘rush hours’ tier. As the term implies, during rush hours customers will have to pay more than what the company charges during ‘relaxed hours’. Interestingly, the company has long tried to differentiate itself from its competitors by not charging ‘surge prices’.