[Weekly funding roundup] Indian startups raised close to $250M in the first week of May

The Indian startup ecosystem in the week ending May 3 raised close to $250 million in equity across 18 deals, a 11 percent drop from last week.

Of the total deals, almost half of them were early-stage rounds (comprising Series A and pre-Series A funding) that raked up a total of $112.1 million. There were only three late-stage deals (Series C, Series D, and Series E), which raked up a total of $134 million.

Also read: [Weekly funding roundup] Tiger Global bets big on agritech with Ninjacart

Debt funding

When it comes to debt, Mumbai-based digital lending startup Happy, which was founded by banking veteran Manish Khera, raised $20 million as equity and debt from a clutch of Indian and US strategics as well as DMI, an Indian non-bank finance company.

Apart from this, the Indian startup ecosystem saw two other debt deals. This includes Gurgaon-based hyperlocal delivery startup MilkBasket, which raised $2.8 million in debt from Sachin Bansal's BACQ, as well as retail chain 1-India Family Mart, which raised around $2.8 million from NBFC APAC Financial Services.

Early stage investments are 50 pc of total deals

Among startups that raised Series A funding, Mumbai-based digital lender and NBFC InCred topped the list, raising $86 million led by Dutch development finance institution FMO.

Next was Mumbai-based ftcash, which raised $7.2 million led by Accion, FMO, and existing investor IvyCap Ventures. Pune-based industrial IoT platform Altizon Systems raised $7 million from TVS Motor Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited,  The Hive, Wipro Ventures, and Lumis Partners.

Kolkata-based regional voice platform Mihup announced that it had raised $1.7 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners and Ideaspring Capital.

Among the pre-Series A fund raises, there was Mumbai-based star-studded yoga and wellness brand SARVA, which raised capital from celebrity couple Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez. The amount invested was reportedly in the tune of $6 million. 

Career accelerator startup Pesto raised funds from Matrix Partners India. Sources who requested anonymity said that the investment was around $2 million. 

Gurgaon-based cleantech startup ZunRoof raised $1.2 million from Godrej. New-Delhi based Progcap raised $1 million from GrowX Ventures. 

Late-stage investments

Topping the list on the late stage investments was Bengaluru-based online marketplace for trucking BlackBuck. It closed its Series D with $150 million (Rs 1,050 Cr) led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel.

However, YourStory reported in April that approximately $80 million of this $150 million round came in last month itself. 

This week, New York-based fund Tiger Global Management also wrote another cheque leading the $50 million in Series C round in Hyderabad- and Bellevue-based enterprise cloud platform provider, Zenoti. 

Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services Private Limited has raised Rs 97 crore ($14 million) in a fresh round of funding from Stakeboat Capital and existing investors Leapfrog Investments and Dvara Trust participating. 

Also read: [Weekly funding roundup] – Startup funding activity declines this week, but early-stage deals catch investor attention

Other investments

Gurugram-based co-living startup Housr raised an undisclosed amount of funding for expansion.

Fintech startup Chqbook announced that veteran cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has invested an undisclosed amount in the startup. The family office of Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal, on Thursday, announced an investment in a smart and efficient motor-based home appliance company, Atomberg Technologies.

Bengaluru-based WorkIndia, a geo-positioning app which helps in connecting blue and grey collar workers with employers, raised funding of $3.5 million this week from BEENEXT, Singapore, and Mamoru Taniya, Chairman of Asuka Asset Management, Japan.

AccioJob, a Gurugram-based startup that provides placement solution for students, colleges, and companies also raised funds this week along with jewellery e-marketplace, Plushvie. 

This week also saw US-based robotic process automation company, UiPath, which has its development centre in India, close its Series D investment round raising $568 million at a post-money valuation of $7 billion this week. 

Cloud computing software startup Aryaka also announced that it has raised $50 million in a Series F funding round this week.

Acquisition this week

Online travel ticketing major MakeMyTrip (MMT) Limited on Tuesday announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based Quest2Travel India Private Limited (Q2T), an internet-based corporate travel management company.

In addition, Hotel aggregator Unicorn, OYO, on Wednesday also announced that it has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group.