[Weekly funding roundup] Venture investments into Indian startups decline

For the third week of November, venture funding into Indian startups dipped as compared to the previous week due to the absence of large deals.

The total funding into the startups during the week stood at $267 million across 27 deals as compared to $554 million in the comparable second week of the month.

However, the third week was very eventful for the Indian startup ecosystem, with a tepid listing by fintech major Paytm while a new unicorn emerged in the shortest period of time in the form of Mensa Brands.

The year 2021 is set to close in another five weeks and it will be remembered as a record year for the Indian startup ecosystem — both in terms of funding and creation of unicorns.

Deal of the week

Mensa Brands, the D2C house of brands, raised $135 million in a Series B round at a valuation of over a billion dollars.

Wonderchef Home Appliances raised Rs 150 crore from Sixth Sense Ventures, Godrej Family office, Malpani Group, and HNIs.

Other deals

Fintech startup Velocity raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

Packaged food retailer Wingreens Farms raised $17 million from Investcorp and Omidyar Network India.

Ecommerce enablement firm GoKwik has raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India and RTP Global.

GuardianLink, a NFT focused startup, raised $12 million from Kalaari Capital and other private investor groups.

GenLeap, a startup that combines HR and education tech capabilities, raised Rs 60 crore in a seed round from a group of angel investors.

Defy, a fintech startup that aims to create social crypto exchange, raised $5.5 million from Goat VC, JAM Fund, Goodwater Capital, and others.

Tech startup Petpooja raised $4.5 million from Aroa Ventures, GVFL and angel investors.

Healthtech startup K&L Wellness raised Rs 30 crore from Vimal Kedia and Surendra Kedia of Manjushree Ventures, and Narendra Firodia.

Fintech startup SalaryBox raised $4 million from Y-Combinator, AME Cloud Ventures, Soma Capital, and 2AM Ventures. 

Clinikk, an insurtech and healthtech startup, raised $4 million from MassMutual Ventures and angel investors.

Digivriddhi, a dairy industry-focussed neo-banking startup, raised $3.1 million from Info Edge Ventures and Omnivore.

EyeMyEye, an online platform for the eyewear market, raised Rs 20.5 crore from angel investors and high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

SaaS startup Toplyne raised $2.5 million from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Together Fund, and angel investors.

Bombay Hemp Company raised $2 million from the family offices of Achin Kochar, Riteesh Mohan Bakshi and Raghav Mohan Bakshi.

Marine robotics company Planys Technologies raised $1.6 million from Kieretsu Forum, Lets Venture, and Shell.

Edtech startup Inzpira raised Rs 2.3 crore from angel investors.

D2C furniture brand Boingg! raised Rs 2.2 crore led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Knocksense, a content startup, raised $150,000 from angel investors.

Edtech startup Valuationary raised $100,000 from angel investors.

The following startups have raised undisclosed funding round: Zenpay, VideoForm, Urban AI, IOTRL, and GOVeva.

India connection

Fintech startup Doola raised $3 million from Nexus Venture Partners, YCombinator, Hustle Fund and others.

Tech startup CatalyzeX raised $1.64 million from Unshackled Ventures, Darling Ventures, Kepler Ventures and others.

Disprz, an enterprise skilling startup, raised $13 million from Dallas Venture Capital and Mars Growth Capital.

M&A

Credlix, the digital supply chain financing platform from Moglix, has acquired NuPhi marking its entry into EXIM financing space.

G.O.A.T Brand Labs acquired 11 direct-to-consumer brands from various categories.

Insurtech startup Turtlemint acquired cloud data analytics company, IOPhysics Systems.