Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [Feb 23 - Feb 28]

This week, 43 Indian startups raised around $222.87 million, comprising 3 growth-stage and 36 early-stage deals, while 4 startups kept their funding undisclosed.

In contrast, 29 startups had collectively secured about $1.3 billion in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth-stage startups raised $45.2 million across three deals this week, led by defence technology startup Constelli, which secured $20 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst. Creator-focused commerce platform Wishlink followed with a $17.5 million Series B round from Vertex Ventures. Meanwhile, D2C home and kitchen brand Home Essentials raised Rs 70 crore in a pre-Series B round led by 360 ONE Asset.

[Early-stage deals]

Early-stage deals dominated funding activity this week, accounting for $177.68 million raised across 36 transactions. Temple, a wearable startup founded by Deepinder Goyal, secured $54 million in its maiden funding round led by Goyal himself, with participation from Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital, Nikhil Kamath, and over 90 other investors. B2B cross-border payments startup Xflow raised $16.6 million in a Series A round from General Catalyst, followed by MSME lending platform Prayaan Capital with $12 million and pre-construction AI platform MeltPlan with $10 million. On the debt front, SIDBI backed two startups, extending Rs 5 crore to deeptech firm GalaxEye and Rs 10 crore to agritech startup Agrizy.

Other startups that secured funding this week include AI-driven B2B marketing platform Gushwork, proptech startup Spintly, nano-formulated plant-based nutraceutical brand ZeroHarm Sciences, and debt relief platform FREED.

Tech-based elder care startup MAITYS raised an undisclosed amount in its latest funding round. Meanwhile, manufacturing accelerator program Maxcel announced undisclosed investments in three deeptech startups: Enerzi, Misochain, and Quintrans.

For a detailed funding breakdown, visitTheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru topped the city-wise deal count with 21 deals, followed by Delhi-NCR which secured 11 deals. Hyderabad, Chennai, Gwalior, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai and other cities also recorded deals this week.

Segment-wise, AI and deeptech startups led the week with 7 deals each, followed by healthtech and e-commerce startups with 6 deals and 5 deals respectively. Fintech, SaaS, Agritech and others also recorded funding during the period.

[Series-wise deals]

This week seed rounds led the funding with 19 deals, followed by Series A and pre-seed with 10 and 5 deals respectively. Debt, Pre-Series A, Angel, Series B and others also recorded  deals.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding fell 83% to $222.87 as compared to around $1.3 billion raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $354 million with 32 deals per week.

[Key Hirings/ Departures]

Aakash Educational Services appointed Alka Garg as Chief Financial Officer and Kanika Kumar Nijhawan as Senior Vice President – Marketing. PRISM, OYO’s parent entity, named Ajay Tyagi as an Independent Director on its board. Global fintech platform Pine Labs appointed Shalini Pillai as Chief Marketing Officer. Dream Sports named Arpith Kanade as Head of Studio for Dream Cricket. Tartan appointed former CRIF director Subhrangshu Chattopadhyay as Chief Business Officer. Pankaj Walia joined Nexedge Capital as Co-founder after a 22-year stint at Standard Chartered Bank. Aditi Madhok-Naarden took over as Group CHRO at TBO.

Prabhkiran Singh, co-founder of D2C fashion brand Bewakoof, will step down after 14 years. He will lead the company until March-end before shifting focus to personal priorities. Home décor and interior design company Livspace has witnessed another senior leadership exit, with Chief Business Officer Lalit Mittal stepping down after the recent departure of co-founder Saurabh Jain. Separately, Mayank Jain, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, has exited the firm after a four-year stint.

[Fund Launches]

Consumer-focused early-stage venture capital firm Sauce VC has announced the final close of its Rs 750 crore Opportunities Fund, which, according to an ET report, will back four to five companies from its existing portfolio by doubling down on high-conviction bets such as Hocco, The Whole Truth, Mokobara, Innovist, XYXX, and Supertails. Info Edge launched B8 Fund-I, a new growth-stage fund with an initial commitment of Rs 250 crore, its first dedicated vehicle for later-stage investments. The fund may also raise capital from external sponsors and expand the corpus beyond Rs 250 crore.

[Mergers & Acquisitions]

Deepinder Goyal’s LAT Aerospace acquired Gurugram-based defence robotics startup Sharang Shakti for an undisclosed sum. Capillary Technologies approved a $20 million investment in its overseas arm to acquire US-based loyalty platform Session M. BillDesk signed an agreement to acquire the Indian payment operations of Worldline SA for an estimated $70.8 million. Meanwhile, upGrad acquired early-talent marketplace Internshala in a deal valued at around Rs 100 crore, with 90% of the consideration structured as a stock swap.

[ESOP Buyback]

Edtech company Unacademy has initiated a Rs 50 crore ESOP buyback programme to provide liquidity to employees. Announcing the development on X, co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal said eight employees are set to receive over Rs 1 crore each through the buyback, 17 will get more than Rs 50 lakh, and 38 are likely to earn upwards of Rs 10 lakh.

[New Launches and Partnerships]

▪️ Clove Dental launches 48 clinics in a day 

▪️ Toing launches in Delhi NCR; now operational in 11 cities

▪️ Pluckk launches guilt-free tomato ketchup, makes clean-label choices easier for everyday Indian homes

▪️ Vivriti Group launches Vivriti Next as its operating and holding company

▪️TransportOne by Delhivery to Digitise & Optimise Style Bazaar’s Logistics

[Financial result this week]

[News flash this week]

▪️ Coronation Fund Manager hikes stake in Ixigo to over 5%

▪️ Urban Company’s InstaHelp hits 50,000 daily bookings

▪️ BRND.ME shifts domicile to India from Singapore

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding fell 83% to $222.87 as compared to around $1.3 billion raised during the previous week.

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd, a South Africa-based asset manager, increased its stake in Le Travenues Technology (Ixigo) after acquiring 1,83,322 equity shares from the open market, according to a regulatory filing. The purchase lifted its shareholding above 5%.

Urban Company’s quick-service housekeeping vertical InstaHelp crossed 50,000 daily bookings, less than a year after its pilot launch in March 2025.

BRND.ME (formerly Mensa Brands) completed a cross-border composite merger within 10 months, shifting its domicile from Singapore to India through the merger of Mensa Singapore with its Indian holding company and the subsequent consolidation of seven Indian group entities into the same entity.

Pluckk, a fresh food and clean-label brand in India, has expanded its everyday essentials portfolio with the launch of Guilt-Free Tomato Ketchup. With this addition, the company extends its focus on honest ingredients to urban households, offering the familiar taste of classic ketchup without preservatives, artificial thickeners, or refined sugar.

Vivriti Group, a mid-market focused financial services firm, has launched Vivriti Next, a new operating and holding company to consolidate its businesses and drive future growth, with Founder and Managing Director Vineet Sukumar committing Rs 200 crore in personal equity to the venture.

TransportOne by Delhivery, a leading provider of autonomous Transportation Management Systems (TMS), has announced its strategic expansion into the fast-growing value retail segment through a partnership with retail major Style Bazaar. The collaboration marks another milestone in the company’s ongoing growth journey.

In contrast, 29 startups had collectively secured about $1.3 billion in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth-stage startups raised $45.2 million across three deals this week, led by defence technology startup Constelli, which secured $20 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst. Creator-focused commerce platform Wishlink followed with a $17.5 million Series B round from Vertex Ventures. Meanwhile, D2C home and kitchen brand Home Essentials raised Rs 70 crore in a pre-Series B round led by 360 ONE Asset.

[Early-stage deals]

Early-stage deals dominated funding activity this week, accounting for $177.68 million raised across 36 transactions. Temple, a wearable startup founded by Deepinder Goyal, secured $54 million in its maiden funding round led by Goyal himself, with participation from Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital, Nikhil Kamath, and over 90 other investors. B2B cross-border payments startup Xflow raised $16.6 million in a Series A round from General Catalyst, followed by MSME lending platform Prayaan Capital with $12 million and pre-construction AI platform MeltPlan with $10 million. On the debt front, SIDBI backed two startups, extending Rs 5 crore to deeptech firm GalaxEye and Rs 10 crore to agritech startup Agrizy.

Other startups that secured funding this week include AI-driven B2B marketing platform Gushwork, proptech startup Spintly, nano-formulated plant-based nutraceutical brand ZeroHarm Sciences, and debt relief platform FREED.

Tech-based elder care startup MAITYS raised an undisclosed amount in its latest funding round. Meanwhile, manufacturing accelerator program Maxcel announced undisclosed investments in three deeptech startups: Enerzi, Misochain, and Quintrans.

For a detailed funding breakdown, visitTheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru topped the city-wise deal count with 21 deals, followed by Delhi-NCR which secured 11 deals. Hyderabad, Chennai, Gwalior, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai and other cities also recorded deals this week.

Segment-wise, AI and deeptech startups led the week with 7 deals each, followed by healthtech and e-commerce startups with 6 deals and 5 deals respectively. Fintech, SaaS, Agritech and others also recorded funding during the period.

[Series-wise deals]

This week seed rounds led the funding with 19 deals, followed by Series A and pre-seed with 10 and 5 deals respectively. Debt, Pre-Series A, Angel, Series B and others also recorded  deals.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding fell 83% to $222.87 as compared to around $1.3 billion raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $354 million with 32 deals per week.

[Key Hirings/ Departures]

Aakash Educational Services appointed Alka Garg as Chief Financial Officer and Kanika Kumar Nijhawan as Senior Vice President – Marketing. PRISM, OYO’s parent entity, named Ajay Tyagi as an Independent Director on its board. Global fintech platform Pine Labs appointed Shalini Pillai as Chief Marketing Officer. Dream Sports named Arpith Kanade as Head of Studio for Dream Cricket. Tartan appointed former CRIF director Subhrangshu Chattopadhyay as Chief Business Officer. Pankaj Walia joined Nexedge Capital as Co-founder after a 22-year stint at Standard Chartered Bank. Aditi Madhok-Naarden took over as Group CHRO at TBO.

Prabhkiran Singh, co-founder of D2C fashion brand Bewakoof, will step down after 14 years. He will lead the company until March-end before shifting focus to personal priorities. Home décor and interior design company Livspace has witnessed another senior leadership exit, with Chief Business Officer Lalit Mittal stepping down after the recent departure of co-founder Saurabh Jain. Separately, Mayank Jain, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, has exited the firm after a four-year stint.

[Fund Launches]

Consumer-focused early-stage venture capital firm Sauce VC has announced the final close of its Rs 750 crore Opportunities Fund, which, according to an ET report, will back four to five companies from its existing portfolio by doubling down on high-conviction bets such as Hocco, The Whole Truth, Mokobara, Innovist, XYXX, and Supertails. Info Edge launched B8 Fund-I, a new growth-stage fund with an initial commitment of Rs 250 crore, its first dedicated vehicle for later-stage investments. The fund may also raise capital from external sponsors and expand the corpus beyond Rs 250 crore.

[Mergers & Acquisitions]

Deepinder Goyal’s LAT Aerospace acquired Gurugram-based defence robotics startup Sharang Shakti for an undisclosed sum. Capillary Technologies approved a $20 million investment in its overseas arm to acquire US-based loyalty platform Session M. BillDesk signed an agreement to acquire the Indian payment operations of Worldline SA for an estimated $70.8 million. Meanwhile, upGrad acquired early-talent marketplace Internshala in a deal valued at around Rs 100 crore, with 90% of the consideration structured as a stock swap.

[ESOP Buyback]

Edtech company Unacademy has initiated a Rs 50 crore ESOP buyback programme to provide liquidity to employees. Announcing the development on X, co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal said eight employees are set to receive over Rs 1 crore each through the buyback, 17 will get more than Rs 50 lakh, and 38 are likely to earn upwards of Rs 10 lakh.

[New Launches and Partnerships]

▪️ Clove Dental launches 48 clinics in a day 

▪️ Toing launches in Delhi NCR; now operational in 11 cities

▪️ Pluckk launches guilt-free tomato ketchup, makes clean-label choices easier for everyday Indian homes

▪️ Vivriti Group launches Vivriti Next as its operating and holding company

▪️TransportOne by Delhivery to Digitise & Optimise Style Bazaar’s Logistics

[Financial result this week]

[News flash this week]

▪️ Coronation Fund Manager hikes stake in Ixigo to over 5%

▪️ Urban Company’s InstaHelp hits 50,000 daily bookings

▪️ BRND.ME shifts domicile to India from Singapore

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding fell 83% to $222.87 as compared to around $1.3 billion raised during the previous week.

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd, a South Africa-based asset manager, increased its stake in Le Travenues Technology (Ixigo) after acquiring 1,83,322 equity shares from the open market, according to a regulatory filing. The purchase lifted its shareholding above 5%.

Urban Company’s quick-service housekeeping vertical InstaHelp crossed 50,000 daily bookings, less than a year after its pilot launch in March 2025.

BRND.ME (formerly Mensa Brands) completed a cross-border composite merger within 10 months, shifting its domicile from Singapore to India through the merger of Mensa Singapore with its Indian holding company and the subsequent consolidation of seven Indian group entities into the same entity.

Pluckk, a fresh food and clean-label brand in India, has expanded its everyday essentials portfolio with the launch of Guilt-Free Tomato Ketchup. With this addition, the company extends its focus on honest ingredients to urban households, offering the familiar taste of classic ketchup without preservatives, artificial thickeners, or refined sugar.

Vivriti Group, a mid-market focused financial services firm, has launched Vivriti Next, a new operating and holding company to consolidate its businesses and drive future growth, with Founder and Managing Director Vineet Sukumar committing Rs 200 crore in personal equity to the venture.

TransportOne by Delhivery, a leading provider of autonomous Transportation Management Systems (TMS), has announced its strategic expansion into the fast-growing value retail segment through a partnership with retail major Style Bazaar. The collaboration marks another milestone in the company’s ongoing growth journey.