[Weekly funding roundup Jan 2-6] Venture investments get a strong start in 2023

The first week of the year began on a firm footing for Indian startups, with the ecosystem raising a quarter of a billion dollars in venture capital.

Indian startups raised $252 million in the first week of January with the big boost coming from fintech startup KreditBee which garnered $100 million. In comparison, the previous week saw total funding of $124 million.

The expectations are modest for the year from a venture funding perspective as the investors are still in the wait-and-watch mode. The startups that raise funding in the present environment are the ones that are well-managed and have a clear growth path ahead.

Key transactions

Fintech startup KreditBee raised $100 million from Advent International and this funding is part of its $200 million Series D round.

SarvaGram, a fintech startup, raised $35 million from Elevar Equity, Elevation Capital, Temasek, and TVS Capital Funds.

Tech startup SirionLabs raised an additional $25 million in Series D funding from Brookfield Growth, taking the total raised to $110 million.

Rural commerce startup VilCart raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Asia Impact, with participation from Nabventures Fund and Texterity Private Limited.

Mumbai-headquartered fintech firm Jupiter raised $12.12 million (Rs 100 crore) in a venture debt funding round from Alteria Capital.

Bengaluru-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) Varthana raised $7 million (approximately Rs 56 crore) from MicroVest.

ElectricPe, an EV charging aggregation platform raised $5 million from Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures, and Micelio Fund.

Delhi-based OTT platform STAGE has raised Rs 40 crore ($4.8 million) from Blume Ventures, NB Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, TSM Ventures, WeFounderCircle.

Bengaluru-based gamified savings platform Fello raised $4 million from Courtside Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Y Combinator, Kube Venture, and Upsparks.