Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups saw a sharp decline in the first week of April as the clear absence of high value deals brought the value down.
The total funding for the first week of April came in at $117 million from 20 transactions. In contrast, the previous week saw a total amount of $328 million from 22 deals. Comparing the two weeks, it clearly shows that the number of deals were almost similar but there was a big difference in the amount raised. This can be attributed to a lower number of high value transactions in this week.
This decline in VC funding also reveals the challenge the startup ecosystem continues to face in terms of capital inflow as the ongoing battle in the Middle East has cast a dark shadow on overall transactions. There is an uncertainty on what will be the impact of this war and how long it would take for a recovery.
Also, this is the third lowest amount raised by Indian startups on a weekly basis. Previously, the lowest funding amount was $77 million in the month of January followed by $90 million in March.
During this week, VC funding was spread across sectors of D2C, aerospace and fintech. Also, the pre-Series A and Series A saw the highest traction in terms of number of deals.
Given this trend, it remains to be seen if the current momentum is likely to sustain or there will be a change in the direction of the fund flow.
Key transactions
Spacetech startup Bellatrix Aerospace raised $20 million from Cactus Partners. Hero Investment Office, 35 North Ventures, Indusbridge Ventures, Monarch Holdings, Inflexor, Pavestone, GrowX, Startup Xseed, and Survam Partners.
Savings platform Bachatt raised $12 million from Accel, Lightspeed & Info Edge Ventures.
Gnani. ai, a voice AI startup raised $10 million from Aavishkaar Capital and Info Edge Ventures.
NowPurchase, a marketplace for metal manufacturers raised Rs 80 crore ($8.5 million approx.) from Bajaj Finserv, Info Edge Ventures and Orios Venture Partners.
