Sunny days for venture investments

Good morning!

The second week of July keeps the momentum going for venture funding into Indian startups, with total investments standing at $847 million. 

This was primarily due to $600 million raised by fintech unicorn Pine Labs in a round led by Fidelity and BlackRock, and Tiger Global leading a $144 million round in social commerce startup Deal Share.

There were 27 deals during the week, with 22 of these transactions in the early-stage category followed by three in the late-stage and two in growth.

Venture funding in the Indian startup ecosystem has already crossed $10 billion within the first six months of the year, across 543 deals from around 990 active investors in the ecosystem. 

This is already more than the $9.94 billion raised in the whole of last year, with 2021 on track to become the year with the highest-ever funding raised.

The Interview

Even though BYJU'S was initially taken aback by the pandemic, the team realised that the definition of a classroom had started to change and rolled out several initiatives to help teachers and students to adjust to the new normal.

Pravin Prakash, Chief People Officer, BYJU’S discusses the importance of listening to employees and understanding their needs, the evolving BYJU’s culture, redefining school classrooms and much more.

Editor’s Pick: Sameer Nigam recalls PhonePe’s journey

PhonePe is one of the largest digital payments players in the country. As of March this year, it had 15 million merchants on its platform, which it looks to scale to 25 million by the end of the year. 

In a conversation with Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, Sameer Nigam, Co-founder and CEO, PhonePe, spoke about the journey of the digital payments startup. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Bringing café-like experiences to homes

Upon her return from the UK, Aditi Somani Satnaliwala realised flavoured coffees were not easily available in India. In 2017, she launched Country Bean that offers coffee flavours like caramel, hazelnut, and coconut.

The Kolkata-based brand now has seen 200 percent growth compared to pre-pandemic sales. Read more.

News & Updates

• Ecommerce firm Myntra registered a 60 percent growth in the 14th edition of its 'End Of Reason Sale' compared to last year, with over 18 million products being ordered by 4.2 million customers across the country.

• Non-profit organisation ARTPARK is in the process of setting up a $100 million fund to nurture deep tech startups in India and help them in becoming part of the global ecosystem. It has received a $22 million seed fund from the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

• Gurugram-based co-working startup Skootr has launched a new vertical 'Skootr FinSave' to offer a complete office solution for corporates. It has already booked business worth Rs 30 crore.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman offered to share India's vaccine distribution platform CoWIN with other nations for free. Earlier, Dr R S Sharma, Chairman of the empowered group for COVID-19 vaccine administration, had said that over 50 countries were interested in CoWIN.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“One major factor (for the growth) in my opinion is the emergence of startups founded by second-time entrepreneurs. These founders are already experienced and know how to scale-up and this is exactly the reason why the ticket-size for early-stage funding is getting larger.” 

— Anuj Golecha, Co-Founder, Venture Catalysts 

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