Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [June 16 - June 21]

During the week, 17 Indian startups raised a total of approximately $197.71 million, including 7 growth-stage and 8 early-stage deals, while 2 startups kept their funding undisclosed.

In comparison, the previous week saw 20 startups across early and growth stages secure around $184.75  million.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth and late-stage funding totaled $138.7 million this week, led by cross-border fintech firm Aspora raising $53 million in a round co-led by Sequoia and Greylock. Telecom startup WIOM followed with a $35 million fundraise led by Accel and Prosus. Spinny also secured $30.6 million from WestBridge Capital, while Chennai-based NBFC Mahaveer Finance raised Rs 200 crore ($23.1 million). Other notable fundraises came from CLR Facility, RenewBuy, and electric two-wheeler company Okinawa.

[Early-stage deals]

Further, 8 early-stage startups collectively raised around $24 million in funding. NBFC startup Techfino led the early-stage funding with a $7.5 million (Rs 65 crore) round followed by EV manufacturer Oben Electric, fintech Dugar Finance, Saswat Finance, edtech illumine, among others.

Creative media agency One Hand Clap Media and logistics startup Xportel also raised a sum but did not disclose the amount raised.

For a detailed funding breakdown, visit TheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]

In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 6 deals followed by Delhi-NCR with 5 deals. Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune based startups also bagged deals.

Segment-wise, fintech startups are at the top spot with 6 deals. EV startups followed with 2 deals. Telecom, cybersecurity, mobility, Insurtech, edtech and others also bagged the deals.

[Series-wise deals]

During the week, Series B and Seed funding led with 3 deals each followed by Series A, pre-Series A, Series F  and others.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding rose by 7% to $197.71 million as compared to around $184.75  million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $228.35 million with 22 deals per week.

[Key Hirings & Departures]

This week saw notable hirings across companies. Honasa Consumer Limited, the parent company of Mamaearth, has appointed Yatish Bhargava as Chief Business Officer. Education financing platform GyanDhan has elevated Aman Jain to the role of Co-founder. Pocket Entertainment, the parent company of Pocket FM, Pocket Toons, and Pocket Novel, has elevated Umesh Bude to Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

There were a couple of departures as well with Gaurav Jain, the Chief Business Officer of social media platform ShareChat has resigned from his role and Shalabh Shrivastava, the senior vice president of Driver Org at Swiggy, also quit the company

Visit TheKredible for more details

[Mergers and Acquisitions]

POP, a rewards-first UPI payments app, has raised $30 million from Razorpay to expand its payments and commerce platform. The deal gives Razorpay a majority stake in the Bengaluru-based startup. InCred Money, the retail wealthtech arm of InCred Group, is set to acquire trading platform Stocko for Rs 300 crore ($35 million). Bhavish Aggarwal-led AI startup Krutrim has acquired BharatSahAIyak, a company focused on public-sector AI solutions, from technology consulting firm Samagra.

Visit TheKredible for more details

[Fund Launches]

Investors from the early-stage angel network JIIF have invested in a Rs 350 crore fund by Atomic Capital, a newly launched consumer-focused venture capital firm. Quadria Group, a healthcare-focused private equity platform, has announced the launch of HealthQuad Fund III with a proposed raise of up to $300 million. Steptrade Capital has announced the first close of its third Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), Steptrade Revolution Fund-II (SRF-II), with a total deployment target of Rs 1,000 crore.

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

[Potential Deals]

▪️ Get My Parking to raise fresh funds at 90% valuation surge

[New Launches and Partnerships]

▪️ ZOFF Foods forays into the ready-to-cook segment through a partnership with Reliance Retail

▪️ Bhindi AI partners with WarpSpeed Hackathon to advance conversational AI

▪️ Simplilearn launches SimpliMentor GPT, an AI-powered career coach

▪️ The Trade Desk partners with Zepto to launch a new retail media ad model on the Open Internet.

▪️ NODWIN Gaming partners  with Chess.Com and ChessBase India

▪️ Swiggy pilots travel and lifestyle concierge app Crew

▪️Virohan Partners with Orange Health Labs to Place Skilled Medical Laboratory Technologists Across 76 Indian Cities

[Financial result this week]

▪️ Capillary Technologies turns profitable in FY25

▪️ Urban Company posts Rs 1,144 Cr revenue and Rs 28.5 Cr PBT in FY25

[News flash this week]

▪️ Delhivery to take on Porter and Uber with on-demand intracity shipping app ‘Delhivery Direct’

▪️ Capillary Technologies files DRHP; to raise Rs 430 Cr via fresh issue

▪️ SEBI eases IPO norms for startups with ESOP, reverse-flipping reforms

▪️ GlobalBees faces insolvency plea from directors of Kuber Industries

▪️ MakeMyTrip to raise $2.5 Bn to halve Chinese investor Trip.com’s stake

▪️Auric, ISAK, Fix My Curls named winners of Amazon’s Propel Global Business Accelerator Season 4; Season 5 announced

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding rose by 7% to $197.71 million as compared to around $184.75  million raised during the previous week.

Delhivery, the integrated logistics provider, has officially launched its on-demand intracity delivery service, Delhivery Direct, in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru after a successful pilot in Ahmedabad.

Capillary Technologies has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for an IPO comprising a fresh issue of Rs 430 crore and an offer for sale of 1.83 crore equity shares.

SEBI has eased IPO norms for startups by allowing founders to retain and exercise ESOPs if granted at least a year before filing the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). Previously, promoters had to forfeit ESOPs before going public. The move also supports reverse-flipping, offering greater flexibility and incentives for founders.

Food delivery and quick commerce platform Swiggy has entered the travel concierge and lifestyle management space with a new app called Crew.

Virohan has partnered with Orange Health Labs to offer MLT students internships and jobs across 76 cities, including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru. With India’s diagnostics market set to hit USD 44.87 billion by 2030, the tie-up aims to meet rising demand as Orange Health plans to scale hiring from 300 to 1,000 annually. Virohan has already trained over 10,000 allied healthcare professionals.

Amazon India has announced Auric, ISAK Fragrances, and Fix My Curls as winners of Propel Global Business Accelerator Season 4, awarding them a collective $100K equity-free grant to boost their global expansion. Founded by Deepak Agarwal, Vidushi Vijayvergiya, and Anshita Mehrotra respectively, these D2C brands will benefit from Amazon’s support in scaling via ecommerce exports. Building on the program’s success, Amazon also launched Propel Season 5, with applications open until July 15, 2025, aiming to support up to 100 promising D2C brands.