Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [Sep 29- Oct 04]

During the week, 17 Indian startups raised a total of $206.89 million, comprising 6 growth-stage and 10 early-stage deals, while one startup kept its funding undisclosed.

In contrast, 33 startups had collectively secured about $173.48 million in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth and late-stage funding reached $180.6 million across six deals this week. The largest was D2C ayurveda wellness brand Kapiva, which raised $60 million in a Series B round led by 360 ONE Asset and Vertex Growth. Debt marketplace Recur Club secured $50 million in a mix of equity and debt, led by Info Edge, while NBFC GrowXCD Finance raised about Rs 200 crore from Blue Earth Capital and Prosus Ventures. Other notable fundraisers included luxury watch retailer Art of Time, restaurant POS and management software provider PetPooja, and ice cream brand Hocco.

[Early-stage deals]

On the early-stage front, 10 startups raised about $26 million this week. The round was led by AI startup Assessli and fintech firm RUGR Fintech, which secured $5 million each, followed by enterprise messaging platform Fyno and another fintech startup with $4 million each. Other participants included virtual spiritual app Vama, climate-tech startup Climaty AI, and defense-tech venture Unmannd, among others.

Adtech  startup Wit & Chai also secured funding this week, though the amount was not disclosed.

For a detailed funding breakdown, visit TheKredible.

[City and segment-wise deals]

By city-wise deal count, Bengaluru-based startups led with 9, followed by Ahmedabad with 4 deals. Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, & Pune also saw activity with deals closed this week.

Segment-wise, fintech startups are at the top spot with 4 deals followed by E-commerce with 3 deals raising $92.7 million. SaaS, AI, enterprise tech,spiritual and other startups also bagged deals this week.

[Series-wise deals]

This week, seed and pre-seed rounds led the activity with four deals each, followed by Series B and pre-Series A with three deals apiece. Series C and Series D also saw participation.

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

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding increased by 19% to $206.89 million as compared to around $173.48 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $271.37 million with 24 deals per week.

[Key Promotions]

This week saw several leadership moves. LEAD Group elevated Moiz Saif as CFO and Deepak Hariharan as CBO, while appointing Prasad Narasimha as Head of HR and Ajay Kashyap as Chief Product & Technology Officer. boAt named Gaurav Nayyar as CEO as it gears up for growth and a public listing. Magenta Mobility appointed Sujit Cherian as its new CEO, with current CEO Maxson Lewis transitioning to founder and chairman.

VisitTheKrediblefor more details

[Fund Launches]

Japan’s Unleash Capital Partners closed its maiden Rs 300 crore fund to invest in India’s fintech sector. Backed by 35 LPs, the fund is co-managed by founder Natsuki Sugai and Gojo & Company. Investment firm Ironclad Asset Management has launched a Rs 200 crore ($22.5 million) ESOP-focused fund, Ironclad Ventures, to provide liquidity to employees in India’s startup ecosystem.

[Mergers and Acquisitions]

TBO Tek has completed the $125 million acquisition of US-based luxury travel wholesaler from investment firm The Najafi Companies. NRL Recycling Limited, a leading recycling and waste management firm, has acquired Tycod Autotech Pvt Ltd in an all-cash deal worth Rs 24 crore to support its forward integration strategy.

[Layoff]

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup Simpl Datalabs has laid off around 80 employees, with the sales and marketing teams being the most affected. The layoffs impacted multiple functions across the company.

[New Launches and Partnerships]

▪️ WinZO, IEIC, and Business Finland team up to strengthen India-Finland gaming collaboration

▪️ PhonePe, Mastercard collaborate to launch contactless payments

▪️ Zoho launches Vani, a new sub-brand offering visual collaboration tools

[Financial result this week]

▪️ Cleartrip spent Rs 608 Cr on discount and cashbacks for Rs 169 Cr net revenue in FY25 

▪️ Paper Boat posts Rs 668 Cr revenue in FY25; narrows losses by 24%

▪️ Battery Smart posts Rs 250 Cr revenue in FY25

▪️ The Sleep Company’s revenue spikes 60% to Rs 499 Cr in FY25

▪️ Three-year-old Zype’s revenue jumps 5X to Rs 101 Cr in FY25

▪️ Amazon-backed M1xchange turns profitable in FY25; revenue grows 80%

▪️ Freecharge FY25: Revenue down 35%, slips into red with Rs 42 Cr loss

▪️ D2C beauty brand Plum turns around in FY25 with Rs 25 Cr PAT

▪️ Unacademy narrows EBITDA losses by 38% in FY25, reports Rs 826 Cr income

[News flash this week]

▪️ Karnataka court bars Boult from using ‘GoBoult’ trademark

▪️ Ather surpasses Ola Electric in September 2W EV sales; TVS remained on top

▪️ Indian startup funding falls below $3 billion in September quarter: Entrackr Report

▪️ Infra.Market files confidential DRHP with SEBI for Rs 5,000 Cr IPO

▪️ UPI transaction volume dips slightly in September

▪️ Capillary Technologies secures SEBI nod for IPO

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding dropped by 52% to 173.48 million as compared to around $361.5 million raised during the previous week.

TVS Motor retained its lead in the electric two-wheeler (E2W) market in September with a 21.6% share. Ola Electric, which had climbed to second place last month by surpassing Bajaj, slipped to fourth, while Ather Energy overtook Ola with 18,109 units sold, capturing a 17.4% market share.

Funding for Indian startups fell below $3 billion in Q3 2025, totaling around $2.78 billion, according to TheKredible. The slowdown followed strong previous quarters, with notable contributions from debt rounds by PharmEasy and Eruditus, pre-IPO deals for Urban Company, IndiQube, Smartworks, and late-stage funding for Gupshup, Truemeds, Kapiva, and The Sleep Company.

UPI transactions in India remained strong in September 2025, with the platform processing 19.63 billion transactions valued at Rs 24.90 lakh crore, according to data from NPCI. While the transaction count showed a slight dip (1.9%) from August’s 20.01 billion, the total value edged higher from Rs 24.85 lakh crore.

Building materials unicorn Infra.Market has filed a confidential Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise Rs 5,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), according to sources aware of the development.