Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [May 12 - May 17]

During the week, 28 Indian startups raised a total of approximately $194.22 million, including 9 growth-stage and 18 early-stage deals, while a startup kept its funding undisclosed.

In comparison, the previous week saw 27 startups across early and growth stages secure around $585.71  million.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth and late-stage funding totaled nearly $137.2 million this week led by D2C snacking brand Farmley in its Series C round led by L Catterton followed by battery tech startup VFlowTech who raised $20.5 million in its Series B round. Disposable hygiene company Nobel Hygiene secured $20 million in a mix of primary and secondary transactions. IT Service provider Celebal technologies, biopharmaceutical company Avammune Therapeutics, ice-cream brand Hocco, digital invoicing and discounting platform M1xchange, quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain Biryani Blues and omnichannel jewellery retailer also raised funding this week.

[Early-stage deals]

Further, 17 early-stage startups collectively raised a total of $57 million in funding. Oncology startup Complement1 led the early-stage funding with a $16 million seed round followed by Mixed reality startup Flam, AI startups Hyperbots, Adopt AI, Manufacturing firm TIEA Connectors among others.

Intelligent analytics and attribution platform Cryptique 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 12 deals followed by Delhi-NCR with 7 deals. Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad based startups also bagged deals.

Segment-wise, healthtech startups are at the top spot with 4 deals. Foodtech and AI startups followed with 3 deals each. Media & Entertainment, Logistics, Fintech, and others also bagged the deals.

[Series-wise deals]

During the week, Seed funding led with 12 deals followed by Series B , Series A, Series C and others.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined by 67% to $194.22 million as compared to around $585.71  million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $218.61 million with 25 deals per week.

[Key Hirings & Departures]

This week saw some notable hirings across companies. Amagi, a cloud-based media SaaS company, has appointed two independent directors in compliance with the Companies Act, ahead of IPO. Swiggy Instamart to appoint as its new SVP. 

There was a notable departure as well this week as Pankaj Goel, who joined BharatPe as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in July 2023, has stepped down from his position.

Visit TheKredible for more details

[Mergers and Acquisitions]

Capillary Technologies, an AI-powered loyalty management firm, has acquired Kognitiv, a provider of omnichannel loyalty solutions, as part of its strategic expansion into North America. Curefoods has secured the pan-India rights for Krispy Kreme, the global doughnut and coffee brand, marking its debut in North India.

Visit TheKredible for more details

[Fund Launch]

Former X India head Manish Maheshwari’s venture capital (VC) firm, BAT VC, has made a foray into India with the announcement of a $100 Mn fund to back early-stage ventures in the country. Kriscore Capital, a new VC firm targeting early-stage Indian tech startups, has announced the first close of its debut Rs 200 Cr ($23.3M) fund with an initial Rs 100 Cr corpus and a Rs 100 Cr greenshoe option.

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

[New Launches and Partnerships]

▪️ Zepto launches a subscription based data insights tool, Atom

▪️ Pine Labs and J&K Bank launch RuPay Credit Card

▪️ Phi Commerce collaborates with DGFT Japan to expand into the Japanese digital payments market

 [Financial results this week]

▪️Delhivery reports Rs 70 Cr profit in Q4 FY25; revenue jumps 6% 

▪️PB Fintech crosses Rs 1,508 Cr revenue in Q4 FY25; profit triples

▪️ Quikr posts first-ever profit in FY24 but left with only Rs 20 Cr in current assets

▪️ Ixigo posts Rs 284 Cr revenue Q4 FY25; profit jumps 2.4X

▪️ SoftBank turns around in FY25: Clocks $7.4 Bn profit, bets big on AI and chips

▪️ NoBroker reports Rs 803 Cr revenue in FY24, but 57% expenses remain unexplained

▪️ BillDesk’s growth slows in FY24; PAT drops to Rs 121 Cr

▪️ Ather Energy posts Rs 676 Cr revenue in Q4 FY25, narrows losses by 17%

▪️ DailyRounds posts Rs 568 Cr revenue and Rs 320 Cr PAT in FY24

[News flash this week]

▪️ Gensol faces insolvency as IREDA moves NCLT over Rs 510 Cr loan default

▪️ OYO wins relief as Delhi HC rejects Zostel stake award

▪️ Ahead of IPO, PayU receives final Payment Aggregator license

▪️PhonePe and G-Pay lead UPI volume in April, CRED targets high-value transfers

▪️ leap.club halts operations due To funding crunch, retention challenges

▪️ Swiggy pilots student rewards initiative in more than 200 cities

▪️ Pine Labs to power J&K Bank’s UPI-linked revolving credit instrument.

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined nearly 67% to $194.22 million as compared to around $585.71  million raised during the previous week.

PayU has received final authorization from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online Payment Aggregator. The nod will also allow the fintech firm to onboard new merchants onto its platform.

Women-only community startup Leap.club is shutting down its operations, citing high customer acquisition costs and difficulties with user retention.

PhonePe further cemented its dominance in India’s UPI ecosystem in April 2025, maintaining the top spot in both transaction volume and value. The fintech unicorn processed 8,362.31 million UPI transactions worth Rs 12.05 lakh crore. This gave it 46.73% of the total volume and 50.32% of the total value among the top 10 UPI apps.

Quick commerce firm Zepto has launched Zepto Atom, a subscription-based platform offering brand partners real-time market data, consumer behavior insights, repeat purchase trends, and predictive analytics. The platform will be accessible via a separate website and mobile app.