[Weekly funding roundup] No late-stage funding deal; Few early-stage deals take total amount above $100 million this week

With no bellwether deal this week, the highest individual funding deal amount was less than $30 million.

Funding this week trickled down to just over $120 million spread across 11 deals. There were eight early-stage deals that saw more than $50 million being raised amongst them. The rest was covered by debt and other funding.

A quick look at key early-stage deals this week 

1. Design Café raises Rs 200 crore

Bengaluru-based home interiors startup Design Cafe raised Series B of Rs 200 crore ($28.5 million) led by private equity firm WestBridge Capital along with existing investor Fireside Ventures. The startup plans to use this fund to expand its operations in six cities including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad.

2. Bloom Hotels to expand operations 

Delhi based Bloom Hotels raised Rs 100 crore ($14.3 million) from investment firm Samena Capital. This is the second round of funding from Samena Capital, which had earlier invested another Rs 100 crore in April. The company plans to use this for expansion.

3. Parent company of fashion startup FabAlley raises third round of equity

Noida-based online fashion store High Street Essentials, the parent company of western wear brand FabAlley and ethnic-fusion brand Indya, raised Rs 60 crore ($ 8.54 million) in its Series B round led by SAIF Partners. This marks the third round of equity funding raised by the NCR-based women-centric apparel brand.

4. AI startup Tranzmeo to accelerate its R&D

Kochi-based Tranzmeo raised an undisclosed amount in its Pre Series A round from Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) this week. It plans to use it to accelerate R&D of its advanced, proprietary technology and product line-up.

5. Poker platform Pocket52 raises Pre Series A

Bengaluru-based poker startup Pocket52 raised an undisclosed sum in a seed funding round that was led by early-stage venture capital firm Speciale Invest. Other investors like Abhigya Sagar and Pranjal Batra also participated in the round.

Debt and other funding:

- Northern Arc Capital, which lends to impact focused companies and also facilitates debt financing, raised $28.5 million (Rs 200 crore) from Dutch development bank FMO via rupee denominated non-convertible debentures.

- Jaipur-based solar power developer and EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) company, Rays Power Infra closed its first round of Rs 200 crore ($28.5 million) funding from DMI Finance (DMI), a New Delhi-based NBFC. It was a mix of debt and equity deal.

- Zinka Logistics Solutions Private Ltd, which operates B2B tech-enabled logistics startup Blackbuck, raised $12.4 million in a funding round from its existing investors.

- US-based impact investment firm Gray Matters Capital invested a total of $375,000 in three startups under its edLABS initiative. The three startups are Delhi-based education financing marketplace GyanDhan ($125,000), Hyderabad-based English language training organisation Ignis Careers ($150,000) and Cuttack-based social enterprise providing ‘School-in-a-Box’ solution ThinkZone ($104,000).

Exits and Acquisitions:

UK-based thread manufacturer Coats Global Services (CGS) acquired Singapore's cloud-based digital applications provider Threadsol for $12 million. Founded in Delhi in 2013, ThreadSol focuses on fabric usage optimisation in apparel manufacturing and helps customers reduce fabric waste and cost using algorithms built on artificial neural networks.