[Weekly funding roundup April 25-May 1] VC inflow records a sharp rise

The final week of April and the beginning of May brought relief to the Indian startup ecosystem, as venture capital (VC) activity rebounded sharply, driven largely by several deals exceeding $20 million.

Total funding for the week reached $219 million across 18 deals, a significant jump from the previous week, when startups raised just $81 million.

This is certainly a welcome development given that VC funding on a weekly basis in the preceding two weeks was under $100 million. The rise in funding this week largely came from the reasonably sized transactions from startups such as Snabbit, Sahi, Kimbal Technologies.

During this week, deal activity was spread across multiple funding stages, with startups from a diverse range of sectors securing investments.

However, this would not mean that VC funding would regain its upward momentum as the external macro-economic conditions still remain challenging.

The only hope for the increased funding into Indian startups would depend on the restoration of normalcy in the Middle East and the expectation that the AI segment of startups in India would start gaining the attention of the investors.

Key transactions

Quick home services startup Snabbit raised $56 million from Susquehanna Venture Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, Bertelsmann India Investments, Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed.

Stock broking platform Sahi raised $33 million from Accel and Elevation Capital.

Energy engineering company Kimbal raised $22 million from GEF Capital Partners and Niveshaay.

Sports gaming startup Metasports Interactive raised $20 million from London-based growth financing firm Metica under a user acquisition (UA) model.

Battery-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Battery Smart raised $15 million from Mirova.

HyugaLife, a marketplace for proteins and supplements raised Rs 100 crore ($10.5 million approx.) from IvyCap Ventures and First Bridge Fund.

Fintech startup Novio raised Rs 100 crore ($10.5 million) from Cornerstone Ventures, Shepherd’s Hill Private Equity, ESV-Arthya AIF, Roots Ventures, Innoven Capital and Alteria Capital.

Fintech platform Sahamati raised Rs 50 crore ($5.2 million) from over 30 financial sector institutions.