The last week of March turned out to be positive for the Indian startup ecosystem as venture capital (VC) funding remained high with reasonably sized deals continuing the momentum.
The total funding for the week came in at $328 million across 22 deals. In contrast, the comparable previous week saw funding of $358 million from 27 deals. The massive $155 million Weaver Services provided a boost in the startup ecosystem but this week, transactions were spread across stages.
The heartening aspect is that VC funding on a weekly basis has remained in the $300 million plus zone for two weeks in a row. This is a big positive as for the year till now as the average amount raised on a weekly basis was just around the $100 million range.
During this week, startup funding was across stages and it was spread across sectors like SaaS, electric vehicles, consumertech, healthtech and deeptech. The other noticeable trend has been the growing number of AI led investments into startups Rocketlane and Deccan AI. The hope is that the trend continues.
However, the challenges remain in terms of sustained capital inflow into Indian startups as the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region is certainly not a comforting factor. This will have a bearing on VC funding into Indian startups.
Key transactions
Saas startup Rocketlane raised $60 million led by Insight Partners.
Food delivery startup Swish raised $38 million from Hara Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Accel, Alteria Capital and Stride Ventures.
Fullife Healthcare raised Rs 300 crore ($31.8 million approx.) led by Elev8 Venture Partners.
Plum Insurance raised Rs 193 crore ($20.5 million approx.) from Peak XV Partners, Tanglin Venture Partners and GMO Venture Partners.
Deeptech startup Pranos Fusion raised $6.8 million from pi Ventures, Ankur Capital and Industrial47.
B2B startup BIDSO raised Rs 63 crore ($6.7 million approx.) from Blume Ventures, Alteria Capital, Peer Capital and Sadev Capital.
Quick commerce startup OZi raised $6.2 million from RTP Global, Blume Ventures, Huddle Ventures, Zeropearl VC and angel investors.
Speciality restaurant chain Burma Burma raised over Rs 38 crore ($4 million approx.) from Negen Capital, Endurance Capital and Coheron Wealth.
