[Weekly funding roundup] October ends on a high with over $1B fund flow

The month of October has closed on a high for the Indian startup ecosystem with over $1 billion of venture funding and the emergence of a new unicorn.

The last week of October saw venture funding to the tune of $1.1 billion across 32 deals as compared to $419 million in the comparable previous week.

The week saw the emergence of one more unicorn, ACKO Insurance, which is the second insurtech startup to cross the billion-dollar valuation this year. Besides, the fintech unicorn Groww further increased its valuation with the latest round of funding.

With another two months remaining till the end of the year, the venture funding into Indian startups is expected to close at the highest ever level.

Key deals

Insurtech startup ACKO Insurance raised $255 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Online trading platform Groww raised $251 million at a valuation of $3 billion in a round led by Iconiq Growth.

DeHaat, an agritech startup, raised $115 million led by Sofina and Lightrock India.

Logistics startup Porter raised Rs 750 crore led by Tiger Global Management and Vitruvian Partners.

Education infrastructure startup Teachmint raised $78 million led by Rocketship.vc and Vulcan Capital.

Fintech SaaS startup Clear raised $75 million led by Kora Capital, Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments, and existing investors.

Purplle, a D2C startup, raised $75 million led by Kedaara at an enterprise valuation of $630 million.

Zolve, the neobank startup, raised $40 million led by Partners of DST Global, with participation from Tiger Global.

Other deals

LoveLocal, a hyperlocal ecommerce platform, raised $18 million led by Vulcan Capital.

Avanti Finance, the technology-led NBFC, raised $15 million from existing investors Oikocredit, Nomura, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation etc.

Vakilsearch, the Chennai-based legaltech startup, raised $10 million from InCorp India. 

Gramophone, an agritech startup, raised a $10 million round led by Z3Partners.

Instoried, an AI startup, raised $8 million from Pritt Investment Partners and 9Unicorns.

Healofy, a femtech startup, raised $6.5 million from Celesta Capital, Omidyar Network India and others.

O4S, an IoT SaaS startup, raised $6 million led by Think Investments, with participation from Venture Highway.

Wiggles, a D2C petcare brand, raised $5.5 million led by Anthill Ventures with participation from Panthera Peak Ventures.

AI startup Light Information Systems raised $5.4 million led by Pavestone Ventures.

R for Rabbit, a baby products brand, raised Rs 40 crore from Xponentia Capital Partners.

Cloudphysician Healthcare, a healthcare startup, raised $4 million from Elevar Equity.

BASIC Home Loan, a fintech startup, raised $3.5 million led by Venture Catalysts (VCats) and Gruhas Proptech.

Fintech startup Siply raised $3.2 million in equity and debt led by LetsVenture, AngelList India and others.

Hypto, a tech startup, raised $3 million led by Stellaris Venture Partners, with participation from 3one4 Capital and Core 91.

Zenduty, a SaaS startup, raised $1.9 million led by StartupXseed Ventures with participation from Powerhouse Ventures, Titan Capital, and others.

Automobile spare parts startup Koovers raised $1.5 million from Inflection Point Ventures, JPIN-VCats, and Venture Catalysts.

SaaS startup Supplynote raised $1.2 million led by Venture Catalysts.

D2C kitchenware startup The Indus Valley raised $1.1 million from Rukam Capital, DSG Consumer, The Chennai Angels and others.

CHUPPS, a D2C footwear brand, raised $1.1 million from Venture Catalysts and angel investors.

Clean beauty marketplace Vanity Wagon raised Rs 5.5 crore led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Fintech startup Banksathi raised Rs 4 crore in funding from Hem Angels and others.

Spottabl, a SaaS-oriented HR startup, raised Rs 3.5 crore from multiple investors.

Tech startup Wobb raised Rs 2.1 crore from Titan Capital, Point One Capital, and others.

Wooden toy brand Shumee has bought on board Dia Mirza as investor.

India connect

Singapore and India based Blockchain startup SportZchain raised $400,000 led by Darq Capital.

India and US based enterprise software startup OSlash raised $2.5 million led by Accel Partners.

M&A

Infinity Learn, an edtech startup and part of the Sri Chaitanya group acquired Teacherr, a Hyderabad based company.

Betterplace acquired OLX People and Waah Jobs for an undisclosed value.