Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [01 - 06 July]

This week, 24 Indian startups raised around $270.3 million in funding. These deals count 4 growth-stage deals and 20 early-stage deals.

In the previous week, over 25 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised more than $211 million in funds.

[Growth-stage deals]

Among the growth-stage deals, 4 startups raised $234.2 million in funding this week. E-commerce company Purplle topped with its $120 million Series F round. Hospitality firm OYO, EV startup Matter and agritech brand Arya.ag followed with $50 million, $35 million and $29.2 million funding respectively.

[Early-stage deals]

Moreover, 20 early-stage startups secured funding worth $36.13 million during the week. D2C brand Comet spearheaded the list followed by health startup Watch Your Health, fintech startup Dice, logistics tech firm Ripplr, and media & entertainment startup Pepul.

Automotive tech Bike Bazaar, SaaS startup Wify, and logistics firm Lobb also raised funding among others.

For more information, visit TheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]

In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with seven deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad among others.

Segment-wise, e-commerce startups grabbed the top spot with four deals. Healthtech, proptech, agritech, and logistics startups followed this list.

[Series-wise deals]

During the week, Seed funding deals led the list with 6 deals followed by 4 Series A and pre-Series A deals each. Pre-seed and debt funding also saw 3 deals and 2 deals respectively.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding surged 34.5% to $270.33 million as compared to around $201 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $397 million with 28 deals per week.

[Fund launches]

Japanese automaker Suzuki is diving into Indian social impact investing with Next Bharat Ventures. This Rs 340 crore fund targets early-stage startups tackling challenges in rural areas and the informal economy. Focusing on sectors like agriculture tech and financial inclusion, Next Bharat Ventures will invest Rs 1 crore to Rs 8 crore per startup, aiming to support up to 20 ventures annually over the next few years.

[Key hirings]

Here's a summary of the key hirings and departures:

Among key hirings, Mandar Vaidya, formerly of OYO, took the helm as CEO at Cloudphysician. The investment world welcomed Ajay Mittal to ValuAble as a General Partner and Investment Manager, transitioning from Ascent Capital. Paytm saw a shift with  Swati Rustagi taking on a Vice President role at Adobe. Leaving Pickrr, Kunal Bariwal joined as Lead Product at CaptainBiz. Finally, Softbank appointed Lydia Jett as an Independent Director for Flipkart.

[M&A]

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has fully acquired BitOasis, a Middle Eastern virtual asset platform. Both teams will merge, with BitOasis retaining its brand. In the HR tech space, the US-Indian platform Phenom gobbled up Tydy, a human resources tech firm, in its fifth acquisition. While Nodwin Gaming, the esports arm of Nazara Technologies, is acquiring German esports agency Freaks 4U Gaming in a two-part share swap deal worth Rs 271 crore, solidifying its position in the esports market.

[Layoffs and shutdowns]

Edtech giant Unacademy has laid off 250 employees in a restructuring effort aimed at streamlining operations and boosting efficiency. The company seeks to achieve sustainable growth and profitability. While the exact number of impacted employees is undisclosed, Unacademy assures support for those affected during this transition.

Koo, the Indian microblogging platform that focused on local languages, is shutting down. Founder Apramyea Radhakrishna announced the closure on LinkedIn, stating they couldn't find a buyer. Radhakrishna expressed his vision for a local language platform in India but acknowledged the high costs of running a social media app.

[Potential deals]

Bengaluru-based logistics and distribution platform Ripplr is close to securing Rs 40 crore (around $4.7 million) in debt financing from Northern Arc. Meanwhile, B2B sweets supplier Scandalous Foods, backed by investors like Anthill Angel Fund and EvolveX, is reportedly seeking fresh capital to fuel its growth.

Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights.

[New launches]

▪️ Zomato stops Xtreme delivery service; relaunches intercity food delivery

[Financial results this week]

▪️ Ixigo posts Rs 656 Cr revenue and Rs 73 Cr PAT in FY24

▪️ Mylab’s op revenue nosedives to under Rs 100 Cr in FY23, slips into losses

▪️ NoBroker in FY23: Op revenue grows 87% to Rs 609 Cr; losses up by 64%

▪️ Akumentis’ income crosses Rs 400 Cr in FY24; posts Rs 57 Cr profit

[News flash this week]

▪️ DPIIT recommends removal of angel tax; Finance Ministry to take final call

▪️ Zerodha set to stop zero brokerage model after SEBI’s new circular

▪️ SoftBank-backed FirstCry, Unicommerce get SEBI approval for IPO

▪️ Zomato receives Rs 9.5 Cr demand notice from GST

▪️ Swiggy's two-punch for users: Eatlists and UPI Payments on the Menu

▪️ Karnataka cracks down on illegal bike taxis after driver protests

▪️ Delhivery's drone dream takes flight with MCA nod

[Conclusion]

The weekly funding bounced back and went up nearly 35% to $270.33 million. Only fund startup-focused fund launched this week namely Next Bharat Ventures.

The Commerce Ministry has proposed removing the "angel tax" on startups in India. This tax, currently at 30%, is levied on investments exceeding the fair market value of the startup. Many argue the angel tax stifles startup growth and innovation. The government implemented it in 2012 to combat money laundering, but its effectiveness is debated. While DPIIT-registered startups were exempted last year, many still received tax notices. The Commerce Ministry's recommendation is a positive step for startups, but the final decision lies with the Finance Ministry.

SoftBank-backed startups FirstCry and Unicommerce received approval from SEBI to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs). FirstCry, a kids' retailer, initially filed its IPO application in December 2023 but faced delays due to SEBI requesting more financial data (beyond Q1 FY24). Unicommerce, an e-commerce software company, filed its IPO application in January 2024 and will only offer existing shares for sale, with no new issuance of shares.

Food delivery giant Zomato recently shut down its intra-city logistics service "Xtreme" due to a lack of customer demand. Meanwhile, Zomato's woes deepened with another Goods and Services Tax (GST) demand notice of Rs 9.45 crore from Karnataka authorities. This adds to previous notices exceeding Rs 585 crore, all stemming from a dispute over GST on delivery charges. Zomato argues they only collect these charges on behalf of partner restaurants and shouldn't be liable for GST. In a separate move, Zomato is relaunching its intercity food delivery service "Legends.”

IPO-bound Swiggy is piloting new features. The first feature "Eatlists" allows users to create and share curated lists of their favorite dishes within the app, similar to creating music playlists. Secondly, Swiggy is testing a new in-app UPI payment system developed in collaboration with Yes Bank and Juspay.