[Weekly funding roundup] Venture investments remain muted for third week of October

Venture investments into Indian startups for the third week of October declined as compared to the previous week.

However, it is no reason for alarm for the Indian startup ecosystem as beauty care startup Nykaa and fintech giant Paytm are readying for the IPO. The successful listing of these two IPOs should create a new benchmark for the Indian startup ecosystem.

The total venture investments in the third week of October stood at $419 million as compared to $705 million in the previous week, showing a decline of 40 percent. There were a total of 25 transactions during the week.

The absence of large venture deals during the week brought down the quantum of total investments into Indian startups.

Key deals

Fintech unicorn CRED raised $251 million co-led by Tiger Global and Falcon Edge, with participation from Marshall Wace and Steadfast.

EV energy infrastructure firm Sun Mobility raised $50 million from Vitol, an energy trader and investor in zero-emission and renewable energy.

Other transactions

Fintech firm CredAble raised $30 million co-led by Plutus Wealth Management and Oaks Asset Management.

IDfy, an ID verification and onboarding solutions startup, raised Rs 86 crore led by TransUnion and Blume Ventures.

InnoDesigns, a new online furniture marketplace, raised funding of Rs 75 crore from the PAN Group.

SaaS startup FarMart raised $10 million led by Matrix Partners India. Innoven Capital, Omidyar Network India, and Avaana Capital also participated in the round.

Fintech startup AVIOM India raised $8 million from Sabre Partners.

Martech startup Wondrlab raised $7 million led by Pi Ventures, Tanas Capital, Prodapt Holdings, and angel investors.

Edtech startup Questt raised $6.75 million from Celesta Capital and Premji Invest.

MarketWolf, an intra-day options only trading app, raised $5.5 million from individual investors.

Edtech startup ConveGenius raised $5 million led by BAce Capital, Heritas Capital and 3Lines Venture Capital.

Fintech startup RevFin raised $4 million from individual investors.

Eyewear brand ClearDekho raised $4 million led by Aroa Ventures, with participation from other angel investors.

Social gaming app Tamasha raised $3 million led by Chiratae Ventures. 

Sourcewiz, a platform for exporters, raised $3 million co-led by Blume Ventures and Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI).

Tech startup Numadic raised $2.5 million led by 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts.

Onato, an agri-focused startup, raised $2.2 million led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Omnivore.

Totality Corp, a mobile gaming startup, raised Rs 13.5 crore from Leo Capital and Mayfield Fund.

SaaS startup Bookingjini raised $1.2 million from Mumbai Angels Network.

Consumer food brand Yu Foodlabs raised $1 million from multiple investors.

Devnagri, a language translation startup, raised $600,000 from Venture Catalysts, Inflection Point Ventures, and others.

Investment banking marketplace MergerDomo raised $500,000 from multiple investors.

Tvasta, a 3D printing startup, raised Rs 3 crore from Habitat for Humanity International.

Biotech startup Mestastop raised Rs 1.3 crore from CIIE.CO and IKP Knowledge Park.

Kafqa Academy, a performing arts academy, raised $1.3 million from multiple investors.

SaaS Labs, a cloud startup with global offices, raised $17 million from Base 10 Partners and Eight Roads Ventures.

M&A

UpScalio has acquired gaming chair and furniture maker Green Soul Ergonomics.

The Good Glamm Group acquired ScoopWhoop, a digital media and lifestyle content platform.

US-headquartered fintech startup Stripe valued at $95 billion acquired Bengaluru-based startup Recko for an undisclosed value.

Scaler Academy acquired Coding Minutes for $1 million.

Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods acquired seven new food brands.

Nykaa acquired skincare brand Dot & Key Wellness.