[Weekly Funding Roundup] Investment inflow into Indian startups continues to remain steady

The investment momentum into the Indian startup ecosystem continued to remain steady in the second week of January, which also witnessed the emergence of a new unicorn from the edtech segment.

The second week of January reported total funding of $410 million, cutting across 38 deals, as compared to $509 million in the previous week.

As has been the trend in the last year, the majority of the deals were in the early stage, accounting for 29 such transactions, followed by five deals in the growth category and four in the late category.

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While no large capital was raised, the third-largest startup ecosystem welcomed edtech startup Lead, formerly known as Lead School, as the member of the coveted unicorn club.

Key transactions

Edtech startup Lead raised $100 million from WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures at a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Fintech startup Refyne raised $82 million from Tiger Global, DST Global, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital, RTP Global and Digital Horizon.

NBFC DMI Finance raised $47 million from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

Fintech startup Rupeek has raised $34 million in funding led by Lightbox.

EVage, a four-wheeler EV startup, raised $28 million from RedBlue Capital.

E-sports focused startup Rooter raised $25 million from Lightbox, March Gaming, Duane Park, leAD Sports, 9Unicorns, and others.

B2B startup Recykal raised $22 million from Morgan Stanley India, Circulate Capital, and Murugappa Family.

Beverage startup Lahori raised $15 million from Verlinvest.

Gaming community startup Turnip raised $12.5 million co-led by Greenoaks and Elevation Capital. 

Neobank Kaleidofin raised $10 million from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Oiko Credit, Flourish Ventures, and others.

Nutraceutical startup Power Gummies raised $6 million from 9Unicorns, Vcats, DSG Consumer Partners, WIPRO Consumers, and others.

Electric aircraft startup The ePlane Company raised $5 million from Speciale Invest, Micelio, Naval Ravikant, 3one4 Capital, UTEC, and others.

Mensa Brands acquired the majority stake in Florona, a digital-first aromatherapy brand.

Flipkart acquired Yaantra, a recommerce company, for an undisclosed value.