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Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [26 - 31 Aug]

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During the week, 31 Indian startups raised around $490.32 million in funding. These deals count 7 growth-stage deals and 19 early-stage deals while 5 startups kept their transaction details undisclosed. During the previous week, 21 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised $144.46 million in funding. [Growth-stage deals] Among the growth-stage deals, 7 startups raised $443.8 million in funding this week. Quick commerce brand Zepto spearheaded with a $340 million Series F round. Specialty coffee retailer Blue Tokai Coffee raised $35 million followed by lending firm Yubi, agri-inputs platform AGRIM, post-sales service firm Servify, beauty and personal care D2C firm Pilgrim, and Robotics startup Miko with $30 million, $17.3 million, $10 million, $9 million, and $2.5 million in funding, respectively. Swiggy also raised undisclosed funding this week from Amitabh Bachchan’s Family Office. [Early-stage deals] Further, 19 early-stage startups secured funding worth $46.52 million during the week. Full stack marketplace for resale home HouseEazy led the list followed by conversation intelligence platform Convin, energy storage solutions startup Clean Electric, fintech firm Finarkein Analytics, and edtech startup Kreedo among others. As many as 4 startups that did not disclose the funding amount raised are; Metaman, Better Nutrition (Greenday), BiUP Technologies, and OneMoney. 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 8 deals followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Dehradun, Jodhpur, and Lucknow. Segment-wise, E-commerce and Fintech startups are in the top spot with 6 deals each. SaaS, Edtech, Foodtech, Healthtech, Proptech, and Agritech startups followed this list among others. [Series-wise deals] During the week, Seed funding deals are on top with 11 deals followed by 6 Series A, 4 pre-Series A, 3 Series C, 2 Series B, 2 pre-Seed, and 1 Series F deal. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding tripled and went up 239.42% to $490.32 million as compared to around $144.46 million raised during the previous week. The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $254.80 million with 26 deals per week. [Fund launches] Two new funds launched this week to support startups in India. Velocity, a cash flow-based financing platform, has introduced a Rs 400 crore fund to assist D2C and e-commerce brands during the upcoming festive season sales. Meanwhile, Whiteboard Capital, a sector-agnostic early-stage venture capital firm, has successfully closed its second fund at Rs 300 crore. [Key hirings] Sumer Juneja, formerly with Softbank, has joined OYO as a non-executive director. Swiggy Instamart onboarded former Flipkart executive Amitesh Jha as CEO, Medikabazaar appointed Dinesh Lodha as the Group CEO, Sukoon Health onboarded Dr. Vipul Rastogi as Clinical Regional Head, and 3i Infotech hired Raj Ahuja as CEO. Evera and Zalon appointed Saurabh Kumar and Abhiishekk Rakj Pandey respectively as their Independent Director and Co-founder and CEO. [Mergers and Acquisitions] Several significant acquisitions have taken place this week in the Indian tech industry. VerSe Innovation, the parent company of Dailyhunt and Josh, has acquired Valueleaf Group, a digital marketing firm. In the SaaS space, Browserstack has acquired Bird Eats Bug, a bug detection and reporting platform, for $20 million. ANSR, a business consulting company, has acquired hrEntries, an HCM platform, to strengthen its global team management capabilities. Yudiz Solutions, a listed blockchain and IT development company has acquired a majority stake in ABCM App Private Limited, a consultancy and technology solutions company. In the FMCG sector, GRM Overseas has acquired a 44% stake in Rage Coffee, a D2C food and beverage brand. [Shutdown] Two significant shutdowns have occurred this week in the Indian tech industry. My Tirth India, a spiritual tech startup, has announced its closure due to a funding crisis. This is surprising given the growing popularity of the spiritual tech sector. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has decided to discontinue its music streaming app, Wynk Music, although it will retain the employees involved. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [New launches and partnerships] OPEN launches Bharat Billpay for business Zoho forays into payment space with the launch of a payment gateway BharatPe ventures into the consumer payments space CarDekho Group partners with SaaS platform BiUP Technologies [Potential Deals] Eruditus to raise $150 Mn at $2.3 Bn valuation [Financial results this week] Rebel Foods posts Rs 1,420 Cr revenue in FY24; losses down by 42% Square Yards posts Rs 261 Cr revenue in Q1 FY25; projects Rs 1,500 Cr in FY25 CaratLane crosses Rs 3,000 Cr revenue in FY24; remains profitable [News flash this week] Customer conversation platform Exotel suffers data breach BigBasket to completely pivot to quick commerce Amazon India to enter quick commerce D2C meat delivery startup Zappfresh files DRHP Ola Electric’s products to hit ONDC next week Infra.Market lined up 8 investment banks for its $700 Mn IPO: Report Moglix initiates next-day delivery to join the rapid delivery bandwagon [Conclusion] The weekly funding jumped over 3X to $490.32 million this week. Meanwhile, two startup-focused funds launched this week namely Velocity and Whiteboard Capital. Ola Electric’s co-founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced that all of the company’s electric scooters, including the S1 X series, S1 Pro, and S1 Air, will be available on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) starting next week. This move aims to expand Ola Electric’s market reach and make its products more accessible to consumers across India by leveraging ONDC’s infrastructure. Aggarwal has been a strong advocate for ONDC, comparing it to the revolutionary impact of UPI on digital payments. D2C meat delivery startup Zappfresh has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for an IPO on the BSE SME platform. The IPO will consist solely of a fresh issue of 59.06 lakh equity shares and will not include any offer for sale. Zappfresh intends to utilize the proceeds from the IPO to fund potential acquisitions, marketing and capital expenditure, working capital requirements, and general corporate purposes. Several major e-commerce players are entering the quick delivery space in India to cater to the growing demand for faster delivery of goods, especially among small and medium-sized businesses. Moglix, a B2B platform, has launched a next-day delivery service for industrial goods, expanding its reach to 12 cities and aiming to expand further to 40 cities in the coming months. Amazon, Flipkart, and Tata Digital-owned BigBasket are also making significant moves in this market. Amazon plans to enter the quick commerce space in early 2025, while Flipkart and BigBasket have already launched their own quick delivery services.