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Top News of the week: 1. Fundings: - During the week, 20 Indian startups raised a total of approximately $184.75 million, including 5 growth-stage and 14 early-stage deals, while a startup kept its funding undisclosed. - Growth and late-stage funding reached $135 million this week, led by Kunal Shah-led CRED which raised $72 million from Lathe Investment, RTP Global, Sofina Ventures, and QED Innovation Labs. - MSMEs-focused fintech lender FlexiLoans also raised $44 million in Series C funding while Vecmocon closed its $18 million Series A in which $8 raised this week in a mix of primary and secondary transactions. QSR chain Wow! Momo and dronetech Garuda Aerospace also raised funding this week. - 13 early-stage startups collectively raised a total of $49.75 million in funding. Aerospace and defence startup Sanlayan Technologies led the early-stage funding with a $22 million round followed by wealthtech startup PowerUp, fintech startups Piston, Zype, Microdrama OTT platform FlickTV among others. - Zee Entertainment acquired a minority stake in OTT platform Bullet, but the deal amount was not disclosed. 2. Key Hirings & Departures: - Ahead of its planned IPO, Wakefit appointed Sudeep Nagar, Sandhya Pottigari, Aridam Paul, Gunender Kapur, and Alok Chandra Misra as independent directors in line with regulatory requirements. Edtech unicorn upGrad appointed Ferzad Palia to head its D2C business. - Greaves Electric Mobility appointed Vikas Singh as its new Managing Director. - There were a couple of departures as well with Sujay Choubey has stepped down from Peak XV Partners and Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral will be stepping down from his role. 3. M&As: - Byju’s, once considered India’s leading edtech company, has sold two major US acquisitions, Epic sold to China’s TAL Education for $95 million, while Tynker was acquired by CodeHS for just $2.2 million in cash in distressed deals. - Japanese financial major Mizuho Financial Group to acquire KKR-backed Avendus Capital in a deal valuing the Indian investment bank at Rs 6,000 crore ($700 million). - Digital marketing startup Wubba Lubba Dub Dub (WLDD) has acquired Bengaluru-based creative agency Imagined Studio. - House of brands company BRND.ME (formerly Mensa Brands) has sold India Lifestyle Network (ILN), the parent company of MensXP to RPSG Group. 4. Other Developments: - GIVA to raise $53 Mn led by Creaegis at $465 Mn valuation - Snapmint set to raise $40 Mn led by General Atlantic - Durlabh Darshan set to raise $2 Mn led by Prime VP - Elevation Capital to lead $5 Mn round in Rumik.ai - CoinDCX launches automated crypto trading feature for both new and experienced traders - Ola, Uber, Rapido bike taxi ban continues in Karnataka - PhonePe, G-Pay reach peak UPI volumes in May; Super.money maintains lead over CRED - FIR against fantasy platform Sportasy under new Haryana gambling law; pressure mounts on Dream11, My11Circle, others Stay Updated. Stay Informed. Stay Ahead. Share the Medial App with your network, colleagues, and friends. Let's brainstorm, discuss together and help each other achieve our goals. And don't forget to rate us on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store to help us reach even more amazing people like you.