Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [09 - 14 Dec]

During the week, as many as 40 Indian startups raised around $787.28 million in funding. These deals include 16 growth-stage deals and 23 early-stage deals. While one early-stage startup kept the transaction details undisclosed.

Last week, 30 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised around $296 million in funding.

Growth-stage deals

Among the growth-stage deals, 16 startups raised $733.27 million in funding this week. Foodtech firm Rebel Foods led with $210 million in funding. Supply chain financing firm Mintifi raised $180 million followed by digital automotive solutions provider CarDekho SEA ($60 million), industrial robotics maker Haber ($44 million), solar startup SolarSquare ($40 million), and custom solutions provider for school operations K12 Techno Services ($40 million) among others.

Early-stage deals

Further, 23 early-stage startups secured funding worth $54.01 million during the week. AI platform for business transformation RapidCanvas led the list followed by quick commerce platform FirstClub, integrated skilling firm FinX, allogeneic cell and gene therapy provider East Ocyon Bio, and security solutions startup VergeCloud.

The AI-powered no-code platform Fuzen.io also raised a sum but didn’t disclose the amount raised. 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 17 deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Segment-wise, Fintech startups are at the top spot with 9 deals. Edtech, SaaS, E-commerce, Healthtech, and EV startups followed the list among others.

Series-wise deals

During the week, Seed funding deals led with 11 deals followed by Series B, Grants, Series B, Series A, Debt funding, and Series C deals.

Week-on-week funding trend

On a weekly basis, startup funding jumped nearly 166% to $787.28 million as compared to around $296.05 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $325.52 million with 24 deals per week.

Fund launches

This week five startup-focused funds launched namely GrowX Ventures, Equentis Angel Fund, Stride Ventures, Makia Capital, and Amazon’s pledge to help manufacturing startups.

Shutdowns

During the week, Coca-Cola-funded foodtech startup Thrive shut down its operation, its co-founder and CEO Krishi Fagwani announced it on LinkedIn.

Key hirings and departures

The startup ecosystem witnessed 10 notable hires this week. Elevation Capital onboarded Krishna Mehra as a Partner, Super.money hired Kaushik Mukherjee as the CTO, Swiggy elevated Sidharth Bhakoo as the CBO-food marketplace, and AiDASH welcomed Dr Vishal Jain as its Head of AI.

Additionally, Smriti Handa and Ritesh Mohan Srivastava resigned from BharatPe in their respective positions. Visit TheKredible for more information.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Gaming firm MPL announced the acquisition of CloudFeather Games, Veefin Solutions acquired 50% stakes in Walnut AI while MVM Entertainment purchased a ticketing platform Flite.

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

New launches

▪️ Blinkit to deliver food in 10 min via Bistro

▪️ Zepto to launch a separate app for 10-min cafe service 

▪️ PayU and AWS launches accelerator programme for fintech startups

▪️ Railways to launch a super app for booking unreserved tickets

▪️ Swiggy to launch “Scenes” to enter events and ticketing biz

▪️ Glance and Airtel partner to launch Glance TV

Potential Deals

▪️ Zetwerk to raise $67 Mn at $3 Bn valuation

▪️ Jar set to raise $50 Mn funding

Financial results this week

▪️ Zepto spent Rs 5,747 Cr to earn Rs 4,454 Cr in FY24

▪️ Clear’s revenue spikes 93% to Rs 210 Cr in FY24, cuts losses

▪️ Amazon-backed ToneTag turns profitable after 10 years of operations

▪️ Scripbox reports Rs 84.33 Cr revenue in FY24, employee costs cut by 38%

▪️ Redcliffe crosses Rs 350 Cr revenue in FY24, narrows losses significantly

▪️ BookMyShow profit nears Rs 110 Cr in FY24, event biz bleeds

▪️ CASHe’s profit declines 95% in FY24, revenue grows 16%

▪️ Myntra’s FY24 turnaround: From massive loss to Rs 31 Cr profit

News flash this week

▪️ Zomato receives Rs 803 Cr demand notice from GST

▪️ Bluestone files DRHP for Rs 1,000 Cr IPO; Saama, Kalaari to exit

▪️ Groww nears 13 Mn active users in Nov, INDmoney overtakes Paytm Money

▪️ Amazon India pilots quick commerce service in Bengaluru

▪️ PhonePe, G-Pay lead UPI in Nov; super.money overtakes Amazon Pay

▪️ IndiQube takes key step towards IPO, becomes a public company

▪️ Aye Finance gets a nod for the IPO: Report

Conclusion

On a weekly basis, startup funding bounced back with nearly 166% surge to $787.28 million as compared to around $296 million raised during the previous week. The week saw five startup-focused fund launches namely GrowX Ventures, Equentis Angel Fund, Stride Ventures, Makia Capital, and Amazon’s pledge to help manufacturing startups.

Keeping the pace up, more startups are announcing their IPO plans. During the week, MobiKwik saw a huge demand for its IPO among investors meanwhile Bluestone filed its DRHP. Protech firm IndiQube and fintech platform Aye Finance are also in the process of filing their IPO papers soon.

As of November, Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn Groww achieved a milestone of 12.88 million active users (investors) with a 26.35% market share. Outpacing Paytm Money and Sharekhan, INDmoney captured the 11th spot, with 7,32,437  users (1.50% market share). Notable players such as PhonePe’s Share.Market and FYERS, are contributing to the vibrant competition in the space.