The slowdown in activity during the month of December reflected on the inflow of venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups, as no noteworthy transactions were witnessed during the week.
The total funding for the second week of December came in at $131 million across 16 deals. In contrast, the previous week witnessed an inflow of $234 million. The decline in VC funding was on expected lines, given that December generally sees lower activity as the year is coming to a close.
During this week, there were similar contributions from the early and growth stages of funding in terms of the VC funding amount. The early stage category raised $43 million, while it was $46 million in the growth stage.
The trend witnessed during the entire year has been that the early-stage funding category consistently saw higher activity in terms of deals, but the value remained low. That investors are still betting on the early-stage startups bodes well for the startup ecosystem.
Also, there is distributed VC funding in terms of sectors where the investors put in their money. This week, there was a good mix of startups from the segments of fintech, energy, edtech and direct-to-consumer (D2C).
Though overall, the total VC funding that is going to be raised by Indian startups in 2025 is likely to fall short of the 2024 number. The hope lies in 2026 being a better year.
Key transactions
Fintech startup Fibe raised $35 million from the International Finance Corporation.
Healthtech startup Inito raised $29 million from Bertelsmann India Investments and Fireside Ventures.
Renewable energy company Soleos Solar raised $12 million from GVFL, Tipsons Group and family offices.
Energy tech startup Smart Joules raised $10 million from SBI Ventures, Waaree Renewable and Spectrum Impact.
Fintech startup Skydo raised $10 million from Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital and Elevation Capital.
Edtech startup Uolo raised $7 million from Five Sigma, Blume Ventures, Morphosis, and Alicorn.
Managed office space provider iSprout raised Rs 60 crore ($6.6 million approx.) from Tata Capital.
Hardware startup Elecbits raised $5.5 million from Nexus Venture Partners, SE Ventures Energy and Riverwalk Holdings.
Fashion startup KNOT raised $5 million from 12 Flags, Kae Capital and Boundless Ventures.
