[Weekly funding roundup] For the second week in a row, venture investment cross $1B

The month of October has begun on a very positive note for the Indian startup ecosystem as for two weeks in a row, the venture funding has sustained above $1 billion, with the week seeing the emergence of three unicorns.

The second week of October saw the startup ecosystem receiving venture funding to the tune of $1.1 billion across 29 deals, which is almost equal to that of the previous week.

The week also saw the emergence of three unicorns – CoinSwitch Kuber, Licious, and Rebel Foods. This takes the total number of unicorns emerging from the Indian startup ecosystem this year to 31, and the expectation is that there will more startups that will be valued at $1 billion and above.

Besides, the funding this week also witnessed interesting merger and acquisition activity, which lends a further vibrancy to the ecosystem.

Key highlights

Edtech startup BYJU'S raised close to $300 million from Oxshott Capital Partners, XN Exponent, Edelweiss, Verition Master Fund, IIFL, and Time Capital.

Crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber raised $260 million from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures, and others.

B2B marketplace OfBusiness raised $200 million from Tiger Global, Matrix Partners India, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Falcon Edge Capital.

Cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods raised $175 million from Qatar Investment Authority, Coatue and Evolvence, at a valuation of $1.4 billion.

Licious, the D2C fresh meat brand, raised $52 million led by IIFL AMC's Late-Stage Tech Fund at a valuation of $1 billion.

Other deals

Public transport technology company Chalo raised $40 million led by Lightrock India and Filter Capital.

Fintech startup Progcap raised $30 million from Tiger Global, Creation Investments and Sequoia Capital India.

Edtech startup Sunstone Eduversity raised $28 million from WestBridge Capital, Saama Capital and Alteria Capital and Work10m.

Social media platform Chingari raised $19 million from multiple investors.

Rural insurtech startup GramCover raised $7 million from Siana Capital, Inflexor Ventures, Stride Ventures, and Omidyar Network India.

Fintech startup Mobileware raised $4.75 million from Kvanto Payment Services of Denmark.

Kaar Technologies raised $4.03 million from BlackSoil Capital.

PazCare, an insurtech startup, raised $3.5 million from BEENEXT and 3one4 Capital.

SaaS startup ProfitWheel raised $3 million in seed round.

ANS Commerce, an ecommerce enablement startup, raised $2.2 million from Gokul Rajaram and Venture Catalysts.

EV startup kWh Bikes raised $2 million from Lets Venture, Better Capital, and Cloud Capital.

SaaS startup Attentive raised $2 million led by Info Edge Ventures and angel investors.

Deeptech startup Log 9 Materials raised $2 million from Petronas Ventures.

Fintech startup Hyperface raised $1.3 million from Kunal Shah of Cred, Better Capital and GFC.

IBSFINtech raised $1 million from a group of high networth individuals.

Ishitva, a robotic startup, raised $1 million led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Home fashion brand D’Moksha Homes raised $575,000 from Venture Catalysts and others.

Transteel, a D2C brand for office furniture, raised Rs 4 crore from multiple investors.

Ice cream brand Cold Love raised Rs 2.5 crore in angel funding.

The following startups raised undisclosed rounds of funding: Phool, mHealth, LeadSquared and Kissan Pro.

India connect

Esper, India and US-based startup, raised $60 million from Insight Partners, Scale Venture Partners, and Madrona Ventures.

India and Singapore based SaaS startup Qapita raised $15 million co-led by East Ventures and Vulcan Capital.

Ozonetel, India and US based tech startup, raised $5 million from Stakeboat Capital.

M&A

Blue-collar workforce management platform Betterplace acquired California-based microlearning platform Oust Labs in an all-cash deal.

Digital brands aggregator GlobalBees acquired andME, a femtech startup.

Ride-hailing unicorn Ola acquired Pune-based geospatial services startup Geospoc.

Dairy.com, a US-based dairy technology company, has acquired Gurugram based Mr Milkman.

The Good Glamm Group, previously known as MyGlamm acquired mom and baby direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand The Moms Co.