[Weekly funding roundup April 13-19] VC funding hits record high for the year

The third week of April 2024 saw the highest amount of venture capital (VC) funding flow into the Indian startup ecosystem so far this year, with the push coming in from larger volumes of deals.

The total VC funding for the week stood at $339 million cutting across 34 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw a VC amount of just $66 million across 15 deals.

This is the highest VC funding that Indian startups have raised for the year so far, overtaking the previous figure of $328 million registered in the last week of February.

The sharp rise in VC funding certainly comes as a booster shot for Indian startups as reasonably sized deals—in the range of $40 million and above—saw an uptick. The week also saw the participation of private equity players in venture-backed startups.

This week saw heightened activity not only in terms of VC inflow but also in startups' expansion plans. Dailyhunt announced the acquisition of Magzter while Sharechat said it aims to soon become an operationally profitable entity.

Amid this environment, new venture funds are flowing into the Indian startup ecosystem from the likes of Bizdateup Technologies, Caret Capital, Inviga Healthcare and Nikhil Kamath.

The sharp rise in venture funding is certainly a welcome development and there is hope this momentum will continue in the near future.

Key transactions

Parsons Nutritionals raised Rs 700 crore (about $84 million) from Lighthouse Funds, IFC, HDFC AMC's Fund of Funds, and other family offices.

Biofuels startup GPS Renewables raised $50 million in debt from Punjab National Bank, HDFC, Yes Bank, HSBC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, and others.

Altum Credo, a digital housing finance company raised $40 million from Z3 Partners, Oikocredit, British International Investment, Aavishkaar Capital, and others.

ProcMart, a B2B digital marketplace raised $30 million from Fundamentum Partnership, Edelweiss Discovery Fund and Paramark Ventures.

Agritech startup Ecozen raised $30 million from Nuveen, InCred Credit Fund and the US International Development Finance Corporation.

Digital lending startup RING, formerly Kissht, raised Rs 100 crore ($12 million approx) in venture debt from Trifecta Capital.

Aerospace components manufacturer JJG Aero raised $12 million led by CX Partners.

HR tech startup Beyond Odds Technologies raised $11 million from Matrix Partners India, Lightspeed and others.

Education-focused non-banking finance company (NBFC) Varthana Finance raised $10 million from a fund managed by BlueOrchard Finance Ltd.

Uniqus Consultech raised $10 million from Nexus Ventures and Sorin Investments.

Gaming startup LightFury Games raised $8.5 million from Blume Ventures, Mixi Inc, and Gemba Capital.

Wow! MomoFoods raised Rs 70 crore ($8.4 million) from Z3Partners.