[Weekly funding roundup] Venture investments continue to remain lacklustre; Indian startups raise $113M

Venture funding into Indian startups in the second week of March has more than doubled as compared to the previous week. However, the momentum is still lacklustre as total investments crossed just above $100 million.

The total venture funding for the week stood at $113 million as compared to the $49 million reported in the previous week, owing to the absence of any large deals.

A total of 10 deals were signed, of which six were in the early-stage, and the rest in the late-stage.

However, venture debt funding has beaten the venture equity segment in terms of total investment. For the second week, debt funding stood at $210 million as compared to venture equity investment of $113 million.

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Key transaction

Insure tech startup Turtlemintraised a fresh round of growth financing from Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, bringing its Series D funding to $46 million.

Other deals

NODWIN Gaming — a subsidiary of Nazara Technologies — raised Rs 164 crore (about $22.5 million) from Krafton, the South Korean developer of PUBG.

Logistics startup Ecom Expressraised $20 million from CDC Group, the UK government’s development finance institution and impact investor.

Small business lender Kinara Capital secured Rs 52 crore from Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) for the advancement of women entrepreneurs in India.

Juicy Chemistry, a personal care brand startup, raised $6.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest.

Insuretech startup Riskcovryraised $5 million in Series A funding led by Omidyar Network India (ONI).

Captain Fresh, a B2B marketplace for the seafood supply chain, raised $3 million in seed capital led by Matrix Partners India and Ankur Capital. It also saw participation from Incubate Fund and angel investors.

Oncology technology startup 4baseCareraised $2 million in a pre-Series A round led by Mount Judi Ventures, growX ventures, Season Two Ventures, First In Ventures, and angel investors.

Stylework, a co-working aggregator platform, raised Rs 4 crore in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).

Student housing community startup Ezstays raised $400,000 in a seed round from Richard Rekhy, former CEO of KPMG, and other private investors.

OTT platform STAGE raised Rs 3.5 crore in an angel round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, along with investors. Sprout Investments Fund and Giri Malpani (Malpani Ventures) also participated in the round.

Nexprt, a cross-border digital commerce platform, raised $200,000 funding from Titan Capital and other angel investors.

India connect

Edtech startup quizizz, which has a presence in India and the US, raised $12.5 million in a Series A round led by Eight Roads Ventures, along with GSV Ventures and Rocketship VC. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Prime Venture Partners also participated.

Cloud technology startup Aqua Security Software, which has its R&D centre in Hyderabad, has become a unicorn following the completion of a $135 million Series E funding round. The round was led by ION Crossover Partners, along with existing investors.

Icertis, a SaaS unicorn with a presence in India and the US, raised $80 million in a Series F round, taking its valuation to over $2.8 billion. This round was led by B Capital Group, with participation from Greycroft, Meritech Capital Partners, Premji Invest, PSP Growth, and e.ventures.

M&A

VerSe Innovation, the digital and social media unicorn, has announced its second acquisition in two weeks by acquiring Vebbler, a community-focussed photo and video sharing app, for an undisclosed value.