[Weekly funding roundup] VCs infuse over $800M into Indian startups in January; last week sees $31M in startup investment

The first month of 2021 saw venture funding into Indian startups amounting to $836 million. This bodes as a good sign for the Indian startup ecosystem as 2021 rolls out.

January had its ups and downs in terms of funding into startups, but the pace of activity has expanded with unicorns taking the acquisition route, and established corporates keen on partnering with these young companies.

The last week of January witnessed a total venture funding of $31 million, much lower than $128 million recorded in the previous week. There were 14 deals during the week, with 13 of these transactions reported in the early-stage category and one in the late stage.

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Now, the attention turns to the Union Budget 2021, which will be presented on February 1. And, the Indian startups hope Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will provide the necessary boost to the third-largest startup ecosystem.

Key deals

Makers Hive, a Hyderabad-based startup that has developed and built a bionic arm, raised $9 million from Starfish Growth Partners and Investpad.

Reckitt Benckiser led a Rs 45 crore funding round into Bombay Shaving Company. The HNIs who were part of this include Rajesh Sud, Anjali Bansal, and Kuldeep Jain.

Other transactions

Saveo Healthtech, a B2B ecommerce platform for pharmacies, raised $4 million in seed funding co-led by Matrix Partners India and RTP Global, with participation from Incubate Fund and India Quotient.

Headfone raised Rs 22 crore as part of its Series A round led by Hashed, a South Korea-based VC firm, and Seung Yoon Lee, Founder of Radish Fiction. 

VenWiz raised $3 million in a seed funding led by Accel India and Nexus Venture Partners. Other investors who participated in the round include Titan Capital, Anand Chandrasekaran, and Rajendra S Mehta.

Alternate debt assets platform GrowFix raised $2 million in seed funding led by Zerodha's fund — Rainmatter Capital — with participation from Better Capital.

Vista Rooms raised Rs 10 crore in funding led by DSG Consumer Partners. CA Holdings, Artha India Ventures, and Anand Ladsariya also participated in this round.

Ruptok Fintech raised Rs 10 crore in an angel funding round from Wurk — a Canadian investment firm.

Junio, a children-focussed fintech startup, raised $1 million angel funding led by startup founders - Kunal Shah, Ashneer Grover, Yashish Dahiya, Pravin Jadhav, Deepak Abbot, and Amit Lakhotia.

SeeVC raised $100,000 in seed funding from Jimmy Singh — a Sweden-based angel investor.

Vegan lifestyle brand Zouk raised an undisclosed seed investment led by Titan Capital, founders of Beardo and Mamaearth.

RevFin raised an undisclosed amount from Shell Foundation, in partnership with electric vehicle operator SmartE.

KIKO TV raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-Series A funding round led by SOSV.

India connect

Fintech platform MPOWER Financing raised $25 million from Tilden Park Capital Management. MPOWER Financing has a centre in Bengaluru.

LottieFiles, a community platform for designers and developers, raised Series A funding of $9 million led by Microsoft's M12 venture fund, with participation from existing investor 500 Startups.

Biomedical molecular data firm Elucidata raised $5 million led by IvyCap Ventures. It also saw participation from Hyperplane Venture Capital and a few angel investors.

Indonesia-based startup Ula raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Quona Capital and B Capital Group. Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital India also participated in the round.