[Weekly funding roundup] The funding buzz is back with early-stage startups raising capital

This week, the Indian startup ecosystem saw positive movement in funding, with venture capital firms and marquee investors putting in their capital in startups in the early-stage category.

Indian startups raised $217 million in funding in the second week of January, lower when compared to the previous week's $251 million, where a single $100 million transaction provided the much-needed funding boost.

More importantly, marquee investors, including Sequoia Capital, Accel, and Matrix, to name a few, have started to put their money into Indian startups.

The funding during this week is a continuation of the trend witnessed in the second half of last year, which is of capital flowing into the early-stage category. This momentum is likely to sustain in the near future.

Key transactions

Furniture and home improvement brand Wakefit.co raised $40 million from Investcorp, Sequoia Capital India, Verlinvest, and SIG.

Edtech startup LEAD raised $20 million in debt from Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank.

VilCart, a B2B startup, raised $18 million from Asia Impact SA, Nabventures Fund, and Texterity Private Limited.

Edtech startup Toddle raised $17 million from Sequoia Capital India, Tenacity Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Matrix Partners, Beenext, and Better Capital.

Park+, a Gurugram-based super app for car owners, raised $17 million (Rs 140 crore) from Epiq Capital, Matrix Partners India, and Sequoia Capital India.

Food brand The Whole Truth (TWT) raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, Sauce.VC, and angel investors.

Agritech startup CropIn raised $13.8 million (Rs 113 crore) from Google, JSR Corporation, ABC Impact, and Chiratae Ventures.

WorkIndia, a job portal, raised $12 million from SBI Holdings, Tokyo, the founding family of Nintendo, Yamauchi No.10 Family Office, Persol, and Insitor.

Brick&Bolt, a construction startup, raised $10 million from Accel and Celesta Capital.

Senior care services provider Athulya raised $9.3 million (Rs 77 crore) from North Haven India Infrastructure Partners.

Healthcare edtech startup Virohan raised $7 million from Blume Ventures, Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, Rebright Partners, and Lesing Artha Limited.

Actyv.ai, a SaaS startup with financial services on offer, raised $7 million from 1Digi Ventures, a family office based out of Singapore.

Live-commerce platform Peepul Tree, which connects Indian artisans and their craftsmanship to global consumers, raised $6 million led by Elevar Equity.

ApnaKlub, B2B wholesale firm, raised $6 million from TrueScale Capital and ICMG Partners.