[Weekly funding roundup] Indian startup ecosystem is buzzing with IPO, M&As, and a new unicorn

The fourth week of July was truly momentous for the Indian startup ecosystem, with one of its leading members going public, another making entry into the unicorn club, and an edtech decacorn going on an inorganic quest.

Amidst these defining moments, the venture funding during the week stood at $547 million which was more than double the amount recorded in the comparable previous week. There were 28 deals during the week, with an overwhelming number of them in the early-stage deals.

Zomato, the food tech unicorn, went public on Friday and received a good response on the stock exchanges, with its share price gaining 66 percent on day one. On a different note, edtech decacorn BYJU'S acquired one more company, and this time in the US, for $500 million. Lastly, we had BlackBuck entering into the unicorn club.

The expectation is that the Indian startup ecosystem will continue to buzz with activity right through the year.

Key deals

Lenskart, the omnichannel D2C eyewear brand, raised $220 million led by Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital.

Spinny, the used car retail platform startup, has raised $108 million in a Series D round of funding led Tiger Global, Avenir Growth, and others.

HealthifyMe, an AI-driven health and fitness app startup, has raised $75 million in a Series C round led by LeapFrog and Khosla Ventures.

Logistics startup BlackBuck raised $67 million in Series E round at a $1 billion valuation led by Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund, and VEF.

Other transactions

Agritech startup Vegrow raised $13 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital.

Captain Fresh, the B2B tech marketplace for seafood, raised $12 million in a Series A round from Accel Partners and Matrix Partners India.

Otipy, the community group buying platform for fresh produce, raised $10.2 million in a Series A round led by SIG.

Sea6 Energy, a marine startup, raised $9 million in a Series B round from Aqua-Spark and Silverstrand Capital.

Healthtech startup Dozee raised Rs 44 crore in Series A round from Prime Venture Partners and other investors.

Healthcare startup Even raised $5 million in a seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund and others.

Healthtech startup Eka.Care raised $4.5 million from a clutch of leading angel and early-stage investors.

Mynvax, a healthcare startup, raised $4.2 million in a Series A round led by Accel. LetsVenture, 1Crowd, Kotak Investment Advisors, and others.

Ayurveda doctor platform NirogStreet raised $2.5 million in a Series A round from Gokul Rajaram, Pureland Venture, and Wavemaker Partners.

Mailmodo, a SaaS startup, raised $2 million in seed round from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, and existing investors.

Edtech startup Edvizo raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Instrucko, an edtech startup, closed a seed round of $1 million led by MVK Group.

HR tech startup RiseBird raised Rs 4.1 crore from SAB Holdings.

D2C brand Beco raised Rs 4 crore in a seed round led by Climate Angels Fund and other investors.

Mobility tech startup Automovill raised $500,000 in a bridge round from Mumbai Angels Network.

Fintech startup GalaxyCard raised $4,50,000 in an angel round led by JITO Angel Network and other angel investors.

Uvi Health, a healthtech startup for women, has raised $330,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Titan Capital and others.

Proxgy raised a $250,000 pre-seed round led by Lexical Systems and angel investors.

Braingroom, an edtech startup, raised Rs 1.5 crore from IAN, Social Alpha, and Startup Oasis.

The following startups raised undisclosed rounds of funding: SuperBeings, NFTically, Hyreo, Godi Energy, Flow Club, and CareerNinja.

India connect

Mesh, an HRtech startup, raised $5 million led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, RTP Global, Y Combinator Continuity, and Emles Venture.

pinBox, a pensiontech platform, raised $1 million in seed round led by Venture Catalysts and 9unicorns.

Cybersecurity startup Safe Security raised $33 million led by British Telecom (BT) and existing investors.

Multi-channel sales engagement platform Outplay raised $7.3 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital India.

Julia Computing raised $24 million in a Series A round led by Dorilton Ventures, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, and HighSage Ventures.

Prodigal raised a $12 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures. Existing investors Accel, Y Combinator, and MGV also participated.

M&A

Venture Catalysts, an integrated incubator and accelerator acquired India operations of the early-stage fund, and accelerator Z Nation Lab.

PE giant Blackstone acquired the majority stake in edtech startup Simplilearn for $250 million.

YouTube will acquire Delhi-based social commerce startup Simsim for an undisclosed value.

Tinychef, which counts celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor among its co-founders, acquired foodtech startup Zelish for an undisclosed amount.

Edtech unicorn BYJU'S acquired US-based startup Epic for $500 million.

Recruitment portal Naukri.com parent company Info Edge acquired Bengaluru-based DoSelect for Rs 21 crore.