[Weekly funding roundup] Venture investments move back into positive territory

The third week of May has lifted the spirits of the Indian startup ecosystem as venture funding moved into positive territory. The week also saw the emergence of a new unicorn.

In the first two weeks of May, venture funding touched a new low as the total amount raised in these 14 days was a mere $30 million.

The third week saw the total venture funding rising to $285 million, cutting across 19 deals. This period saw Moglix, a B2B ecommerce marketplace, turning into a unicorn and eyewear startup Lenskart getting backing from global investment firm KKR.

During the week, there were 15 early-stage deals, three in the late-stage category, and one from growth stage. There were no deals in the debt category.

Key deals

Moglix, the B2B industrial goods ecommerce marketplace, has turned into a unicorn following its $120 million in Series E round led by Falcon Edge Capital and Harvard Management Company (HMC). Existing investors including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India and Venture Highway also participated.

Omnichannel eyewear startup Lenskart raised $95 million from global investment firm KKR via a secondary stake acquisition.

Other transactions

Electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions company Magenta EV Solutions raised $15 million in Series A round from Dr Kiran C Patel.

Consulting firm ANSR raised $15 million in Series B financing round from Sistema Asia Fund and Evolvence India Fund.

Spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Greenko Group founders Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli. It also saw the participation of other angel investors.

Spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Mayfield India. Existing investors Pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and Artha Venture Fund also participated.

Mental health platform Wysa raised $5.5 million in a Series A round led by W Health Ventures. Google Assistant Investment programme, Pi Ventures, and Kae Capital also participated.

Fashion house brand High Street Essentials (HSE) raised Rs 25.50 crore led by existing investors Elevation Capital, India Quotient, Dominor Holding, and family offices.

Health education startup Virohan raised additional funding from Rebright Partners, summing up its Series A round at $3 million.

BlissClub, a women's activewear brand, raised $2.25 million in seed funding led by Elevation Capital and angel investors.

Karbon Card, a fintech startup, raised $1.2 million in a pre-Series A round from Orios Venture Partners along with MyAsiaVC.

Deep tech startup Fabheads raised Rs 8 crore in a pre-Series A round from Inflection Point Ventures. Keiretsu (Chennai chapter) and Vijay Kedia, MD, Kedia Securities also participated.

Edtech startup ClassMonitor raised Rs 3.5 crore in pre-Series A funding round led by PATH India and investors based out of the Gulf.

Reccy Adventures, an adventure sports startup, raised Rs 3 crore in a seed round from founders of cloud-kitchen startup Rebel Foods. 

Proptech startup BricSpaces raised $350,000 in a pre-seed round from a group of angel investors.

Fintech startup BankSathi Technologies raised $200,000 in a seed funding round from a group of angel investors.

Extracurricular edtech startup Spark Studio raised its first round of undisclosed investment from Better Capital.

Smart parking management platform ParkSmart raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Campus Fund and angel investors.

Enterprise AI startup Keito has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from LetsVenture and angel investors. 

India connect

NextBillion.ai, the Singapore-headquartered AI spatial data SaaS startup with centres in India, raised $6.25 million in Series A round from M12.

Esper, an Android DevOps platform with offices in India and the US, raised $30 million in Series B round led by Scale Venture Partners and other investors.

M&A

Hospital-focused supply chain platform Aknamed acquired Vardhman Health Specialties (VHS) for $35 million.