$10B+ funding, 14 unicorns: Q1 2022 sets the tone

With 1,633 deals, $38.3 disclosed funding inflow and 54 startups entering the coveted unicorn club, FY 2022 was a record fiscal year for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Tuesday April 05, 2022 , 3 min Read

With 1,633 deals, $38.3 disclosed funding inflow and 54 startups entering the coveted unicorn club, FY 2022 was a record fiscal year for the Indian startup ecosystem.

The funding momentum of FY 2022 is bound to spill over to the current fiscal as well, since 14 of the 54 startups that crossed the billion-dollar valuation mark, during FY 2022, upscaled in the January-March 2022 quarter.

According to YourStory Research, this period saw 482 funding deals — nearly double that of the comparable quarter last year. With a disclosed funding inflow of over $10 billion, the quarter saw a significant jump in activity, as compared to the same period last year, which recorded $3.71 billion raised.

While the fintech and financial services sector saw an 80 percent increase in deal count (81) as compared to Q1: 2021, edtech and education services more than doubled the funding amount raised — $1.14 billion across 34 deals.

The early-stage funding saw a big jump with 361 deals worth $1.51 billion, and growth-stage startups raked in over $3 billion in funding value — 404.9 percent higher than Q1: 2021.

The Interview

India’s electric vehicle (EV) sector is dynamic and fast-paced with various initiatives taking off and innovative startups venturing into the industry.

Watch as Anupam Jalote, CEO, iCreate, speaks about EVangelise, its recently concluded EV innovation challenge. Also, joining the panel are the founders of the winning EV startups.

Editor’s Pick: Techie Tuesday

When Radha Ramaswami Basu decided to pursue engineering in 1966, she was among only 17 women studying alongside 2,800 boys.

Today, she is widely known for establishing Hewlett-Packard's (HP) India business and growing its electronic business software division to a $1.2 billion operation. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Making nutrition organic

The nutraceuticals market in India is expected to grow from an estimated $18 billion by the end of 2025 as preventive health has become the focus for all in the current pandemic.

Founded in 2019 by Avnish Chhabria, Mumbai-based Wellbeing Nutrition is a research-based wholefood nutrition startup that uses plant-based ingredients to provide organic vitamins and minerals. Read more.

News & Updates

Agritech venture capital firm Omnivore launched its third fund with a target corpus of $130 million (Rs 1,000 crore) to invest in early-stage startups, developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and the rural economy.

Gupshup, a conversational commerce enabler, is bullish on digital personalised shopping even as India enters the post-pandemic era where people are not under lockdown and don’t have to depend on online shopping alone.

A week after asking his social media followers if they believed Twitter adhered to free speech, Elon Musk bought a 9.2 stake in the microblogging social media platform, becoming one of its biggest shareholders, filing from the US SEC showed.

Beleaguered social commerce startup Trell has sold a nearly 10 percent stake in Bengaluru-based product studio company AppsForBharat in a secondary transaction.

India's largest private lender HDFC Bank and its largest shareholder, HDFC Ltd, said they will merge in a deal that will make the combined entity the country's second most valuable listed company.