[Weekly funding report] Venture investments continue to remain lacklustre in March; Indian startups raise $166M

The third week of March reported no appreciable increase in venture funding into the Indian startup ecosystem, largely due to the absence of large deals. In February, venture funding into Indian startups had crossed $1 billion.

The total venture funding during the week stood at $166 million, rising marginally as compared to $113 million in the previous week.

During the week, a total of 18 deals were signed, of which 14 were in early-stage startups, followed by four in growth, and one in the late stage. Only a single transaction was reported in the debt portfolio, with the transaction value amounting to $4.8 million.

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Key transactions

Fintech unicorn PolicyBazaarraised $75 million in a round led by Falcon Edge Capital to expand its business in the UAE and the Middle East.

D2C beauty startup MyGlamm raised Rs 175 crore in Series C funding with investments from Ascent Capital, Amazon, and Wipro Consumer - Ventures.

Other deals

Leap India, the overseas education assistance platform, raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Jungle Ventures. It also saw participation from Sequoia Capital India and Owl Ventures.

Oziva, the plant-based nutrition brand, raised $12 million Series B funding led by Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital and Matrix Partners India.

Technology startup YAP, which provides an API platform focussed on the financial services sector, raised $10 million in a Series B round co-led by Flourish Ventures and Omidyar Network India.

Space tech startup Pixxel raised $7.3 million in a seed funding round from Omnivore and Techstars with participation from Lightspeed Ventures, Blume Ventures, growX, Ryan Johnson, and others.

Livve Homes, a real estate-focused startup, raised $5 million in a second funding round from angel investors.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) fashion brand Bewakoofraised $4 million from IvyCap Ventures.

Prescinto, a tech startup focused on the solar industry, raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Venture Catalysts. Other investors include Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Mumbai Angels, and Lets Venture.

Venture debt firm BlackSoilCapital raised Rs 22 crore by issuing secured debentures to family offices and high net worth individuals on a private placement basis.

EV startup Euler Motors closed its Series A funding round at $9.5 million, with additional investments of $2.6 million raised from new investor ADB Ventures and existing investor Blume Ventures.

EV startup BLiveraised $1 million as part of the follow-on capital of the pre-Series A round. The funding, which was a combination of debt and equity, was led by LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO, and Credit Wise Capital.

Insure tech startup Bimaplan raised a $500,000 seed round from Titan Capital and other marquee investors.

Cultural startup Indic Inspirations raised Rs 2.5 crore in an angel round from investors in India, the US, and Singapore.

Chirrup, a social gaming startup, raised a pre-seed round of $300,000 from Titan Capital, iSeed, First Cheque, and 3.0 Fund.

Wysa, a mental health startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Google via its assistant investment programme.

Say Cheese, a woman welfare startup, raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round from an angel investor.

Firmway, the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India (ICAI) incubated startup, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round.

M&A

WealthtechCashRich firm acquired WealthApp mutual fund distribution business for an undisclosed value in an all-cash deal.

Square Yards, a real estate startup, acquired AI-based platform PropVR for an undisclosed value.