Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [5 - 10 Aug]

During the week, 29 Indian startups raised around $177.68 million in funding. These deals count 8 growth-stage deals and 19 early-stage deals while 2 early-stage startups kept their transaction details undisclosed.

During the previous week, 32 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised $334 million in funding.

[Growth-stage deals]

Among the growth-stage deals, 8 startups raised $104.8 million in funding this week. Telehealth and wellness platform Visit Health spearheaded with its $30 million worth Series B round. Wealth and asset management company Neo, vernacular social media platform ShareChat, D2C dairy and daily essential brand Country Delight, and e-commerce solution provider ShopDeck followed with $26.5 million, $16 million, $8.45 million, and $7.85 million, in funding, respectively.

[Early-stage deals]

Further, 19 early-stage startups secured funding worth $9.8 million during the week. B2B agri-processing platform Agrizy led the list followed by platform for sourcing and manufacturing of specialty chemicals Scimplify, personal care e-commerce startup Kindlife, stock broking platform Punch, and extended reality (XR) startup Metadome.ai among others.

As many as 2 startups did not disclose the funding amount raised are; IppoPay and FlexiBees. 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 11 deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Udaipur, and Chandigarh.

Segment-wise, Fintech and Healthtech startups shared the top spot with 5 deals each. E-commerce, Foodtech, Biotech, SaaS, and Agritech startups followed this list among others.

[Series-wise deals]

During the week, Series A funding deals are on top with 10 deals followed by 7 Seed, 4 Series B, 3 pre-Series A, and 3 Debt deals. Series C and Angel round deals are next on the list.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding slipped 46.81% to $177.68 million as compared to around $334.04 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $297.56 million with 29 deals per week.

[Fund launches]

Three startup-focused funds launched this week. Consumer-focused VC firm Sauce VC closed its third fund at Rs 365 crore. Simultaneously, O'Neil Capital Management India launched a new quant fund aiming for stable returns. Pantomath Capital Management also secured a significant initial close for its second fund, focusing on value investing.

[Key hirings and departures]

Equivalent to 11 key hirings took place this week including Sairam Krishnamurthy by Swiggy Instamart, Ramesh Padmanabhan by Core Integra, Shashank Ranjan by EvenFlow, Ramesh Gururaja by Flipkart and Gaurav Kejriwal by Smart Joules among others.

While, Amazon’s head of operations in India, Manish Tiwary resigned after an over eight-year stint with the company.

[Mergers and Acquisitions]

As many as six merger and acquisition deals were witnessed this week. Gaming firm Nazara acquired Fusebox Games, Instawork took over Able Jobs, Nazara’s Absolute Sports acquired DeltiasGaming.com, Shobitam acquired IsadoraLife, Exicom acquired Tritium, and Apax Partners picked up 52% stakes in greytHR.

[Layoffs]

BeepKart, a used two-wheeler retailer, let go of over 100 employees, constituting more than 20% of its workforce. Additionally, social media platform ShareChat announced a 5% reduction in its staff as part of its performance review process.

[ESOP buyback]

Fintech firm Propelld is conducting an ESOP buyback worth Rs 7.05 crore, benefiting 18 employees. In addition to the buyback, the company has increased its ESOP pool and granted additional ESOPs to its workforce.

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

[New launches]

▪️ Flipkart’s 10 min delivery service Minutes goes live in Bengaluru

▪️ Niyo expands travel services with flight booking and visa Options

[Financial results this week]

▪️ PB Fintech reports 7.5% dip in Q1 FY25 revenue; maintains profit

▪️ Mamaearth hits all-time high profit during Q1 FY25

▪️ Fasal reports Rs 34 Cr revenue in FY24; earns 91% from fruit sales

[News flash this week]

▪️ UPI daily transactions cross 500 Mn mark

▪️ No appraisal for Unacademy employees in 2024

▪️ Namma Yatri expands zero-commission cab service to Delhi-NCR

▪️ After a muted listing, Ola Electric’s share price surged 20%

▪️ Tech IPOs subscription: Unicommerce 168X, FirstCry 12X

▪️ Astroyogi accuses Astrotalk of trademark infringement

▪️ SaaS unicorn Postman's valuation takes a hit: Report

[Conclusion]

The weekly funding again shrank down by 46.81% to $177.68 million this week. Meanwhile, three startup-focused funds launched this week namely Sauce.vc, ONeil India Quant Fund, and IIOT.

Edtech giant Unacademy has announced that there will be no appraisals for its employees in 2024. The decision comes after the company failed to meet its growth targets for the year, despite overall performance being described as "above average." CEO Gaurav Munjal emphasized the company's financial stability and resilience in a challenging market.

Ride-hailing service Namma Yatri, known for its lifetime zero-commission model, has expanded its operations to Delhi NCR. The service, now branded as 'Yatri,' is part of the ONDC network. This follows the successful launch of the service in Bengaluru earlier this year.

Ola Electric's shares experienced a strong rally on their debut day despite a flat opening. The stock price surged nearly 20%, reaching a high of Rs 91.20, from its initial listing price of Rs 76. This positive performance comes after the company's IPO was oversubscribed 4.27 times.

Meanwhile, FirstCry, a kids-focused omnichannel brand, saw a 12.22X oversubscription led by qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Meanwhile, enterprise tech startup Unicommerce witnessed an overwhelming response of 168X overall subscription rate from investors

Astroyogi has filed a lawsuit against its competitor, Astrotalk, alleging unauthorized use of the 'Astroyogi' trademark. The company claims that Astrotalk has used the trademark name within its horoscope categories, leading to potential confusion among customers. Astroyogi has emphasized its commitment to protecting its brand and intellectual property rights.

As per a media report, SaaS platform Postman has seen a significant decline in its valuation, with recent secondary deals happening at a 30-40% discount compared to its peak valuation of $5.6 billion. This sharp drop is attributed to the overall decline in valuations for SaaS companies. Angel and early-stage investors have partially cashed out their stakes in the Bengaluru-based API development platform.