[Weekly funding roundup Oct 12-18] VC inflows continue to rise

The month of October seems to be steadily moving into a better environment, with venture capital funding showing an increase on a weekly basis driven by a few large deals from Eruditus and Purplle after a very weak start.

The total VC funding for the third week of the month came in at $342 million across 32 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw the total funding amount at $232 million. This comes after the first week of the month saw just $91 million of VC inflows.

This week, the Series F stage of funding rounds saw the highest amount of inflows at $210 million. This is a good sign for the Indian startup ecosystem, as these late stage deals bring in the higher value cheques.

It remains to be seen if this momentum is going to sustain for the remaining months of the year, as the months of November and December are generally a slow period.

At the same time, the Indian startup ecosystem continues to see interesting developments which have both negative and positive consequences. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to enforce stricter norms for fintech startups, and this has created divergent opinions.

Elsewhere, fintech startup Lendingkart saw Singapore-based Fullerton taking majority control. Additionally, Zomato has announced plans to raise a fresh round of capital. Being a publicly-listed company gives it access to a wider pool of investors.

The drive towards profitability or creating sustainable ventures saw both Licious and iD Fresh showing positive numbers. IBM acquired Bengaluru-based SaaS startup Prescinto.

These developments augur well for the Indian startup ecosystem, as companies becoming more capital efficient is expected to bring in more VC funds.

Key transactions

Edtech startup Eruditus raised $150 million from TPG’s The Rise Fund, SoftBank, Accel, Leeds Illuminate, CPP Investments, and The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

D2C startup Purplle raised Rs 500 crore ($60 million approximately) from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Premji Invest and Blume Ventures.

SaaS startup Everstage raised $30 million from Eight Roads Ventures, Elevation Capital and 3one4 Capital.

Primus Senior Living raised $20 million from General Catalyst, Nikhil Kamath, and Gruhas.

GIVA Jewellery raised Rs 255 crore ($18 million) from Premji Invest, Epiq Capital, Edelweiss Discover Fund, and the top management of GIVA.

Fashion startup Wrogn raised Rs 75 crore ($9 million) from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

Tech startup Simplismart raised $7 million from Accel, Shastra VC, Titan Capital and angel investors.

Yu Foodlabs raised Rs 55 crore ($6.5 million) from Ashish Kacholia and Asian Paints Promoter Group.

Edtech startup Suraasa raised $6 million from Reach Capital, ETS Capital, NB Ventures, TSM Ventures and TRTL Ventures.

AGNIT Semiconductors raised $3.5 million from 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock and Lakshmi Narayanan.