[Weekly funding roundup Dec 16-22] A positive week for VC inflow

The month of December has turned out to be a positive one for Indian startups as venture capital continues to pour in a period generally considered quiet in terms of activity given the upcoming holiday season.

Startups secured around $198 million across 25 deals this week compared to the $498 million raised last week.

So far this month, startups have raised a total of around $800 million.

While the capital raised this week is lower than last week, companies saw other funding developments that have a direct positive impact on the Indian startup ecosystem.

The homegrown ecommerce company Flipkart continues to receive financial support from its parent firm Walmart with a $600 million infusion. On the other hand, robotics startup GreyOrange, which was founded in India and later shifted its headquarters to the US, also raised $135 million.

In essence, the money raised by these companies will mean investment into India's geography.

On the other hand, fintech startups got a fresh lease of life with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifting the embargo on their payment aggregator business.

However, the ecosystem continues to face challenges as unicorn startups like ShareChat and Udaanannounced one more round of employee layoffs. In addition, the recent move by RBI to put certain curbs on alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) to check certain malpractices of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) has had an unintended negative impact on the VC community as they predominantly use this route for the funding activity.

The only hope is that next year will turn out better for Indian startups in terms of venture capital inflow but the optimism remains guarded.

Key transactions

Bengaluru-based cloud kitchen startup Kitchens@ raised $65 million in Series C funding from London-based growth investment firm Finnest.

Private equity firm Bluestone Equity Partners made a growth investment in VideoVerse, the maker of Magnifi—an AI-powered video editing solution for an estimated $45 million.

Mobility startup BluSmart raised $24 million (Rs 200 crore) from existing investors, founders, and the leadership team.

Agritech startup Fasal raised Rs 100 crore ($12 million approx) from TDK Ventures, British International Investment (BII), ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, and others.

Snack brand Farmley (TechnifyBiz) raised $6.7 million from BC Jindal Group, DSG Consumer Partners, Omnivore, and Alkemi Partners.

Lithium-ion battery recycling company Batx Energies raised $5 million from Zephyr Peacock, Lets Venture, JITO Angel Network, and other family offices.