[Weekly funding roundup March 2-8] Indian startups see marginal decline in venture capital inflow

The first week of March saw a slight dip in venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups, but it remained steady as the total funding amount for the week crossed the $200 million level.

Indian startups raised a total of $213 million in funding in the first week of March, cutting across 23 deals. In the previous week, startups saw a total inflow of $328 million, largely due to a single $100 million transaction of Shadowfax.

Since the beginning of 2024, weekly VC funding into Indian startups has hovered around the $100 million level. Although it has seen a slight decline, VC funding crossed the $200 million mark only in the past two weeks.

This week, debt investments got the strongest traction as startups continue to rely on this financing route to raise capital. Venture debt capital is also going to those startups that have shown consistent revenue flow with a clear path towards profitability.

However, the overall environment remains challenging, and it might be some more time before we see any higher VC inflow. At the same time, there are positive signs that VC firms like Colossa and Getvantage are raising fresh capital to focus only on women-led companies.

Further, the total VC funding in February 2024 rose 21% year-on-year to stand at $890 million, cutting across 114 deals. In comparison, Indian startups raised only $734 million during the same period last year.

Key transactions

Lending platform mPokket raised Rs 500 crore (about $60.4 million) in debt capital from BPEA Credit's private credit platform.

The Ayurveda Experience raised $27 million from Jungle Ventures. SIDBI Ventures, Anicut Capital, and Sharrp Ventures.

Identity verification services provider IDfy raised $27 million from Elev8 Venture Partners and Tenacity Ventures.

Rural ecommerce startup Rozana raised $22.5 million from Bertelsmann India Investments and Fireside Ventures.

B2B startup Zetwerk raised $20 million from Wheelhouse Venture Capital, the investment arm of IndiGo Co-founder Rakesh Gangwal.

Business platform Exly raised $6.2 million from Chiratae Ventures, Mayfield India, and Venture Highway.