[Weekly funding roundup March 23-29] VC inflow drops to lowest level for the year

Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups has dropped to its lowest level on a weekly basis so far this year so far, exposing challenges faced by the ecosystem in terms of weakened capital inflow as well as absence of credible AI startups.

The decline in capital comes at a time when AI company Anthropic has raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion. Data compiled by YourStory research reveals that between 2022 and till May 2026, the total funding raised by Indian startups comes to around $62 billion. In other words, Anthropic has managed to surpass capital raised by the Indian startup ecosystem across four years with a single transaction.

The total VC funding raised by Indian startups for the last week of May came in just $66 million from 16 transactions. This is the lowest level reached on a weekly basis by the Indian startup ecosystem and this is the fifth time that total amount has dropped to below $100 million.

This week was quite dismal in terms of fund raise as there was not a single transaction which crossed $15 million.

These developments reveal the deep structural challenges faced by the Indian startup ecosystem where these companies are really not attracting capital. Also with much of the investors’ attention being focused on AI startups, there are no credible names from India as yet. This has led to a slowdown in the funding momentum.

Key transactions

Fairdeal.Market, a B2B quick commerce platform raised $15 million from Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), WaterBridge Ventures and Incubate Asia Fund.

Biotech startup StrainX Bioworks raised $13 million from Prime Venture Partners, Leo Capital, Good Startup, Sparrow Capital, Sun Icon Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, and WindT Angels.

Hardware startup Tiea Connectors raised Rs 77 crore ($8 million approx.) from IvyCap Ventures, Jamwant Ventures and 8X Ventures.

Coffee chain outlet abcoffee raised Rs 61 crore ($6.3 million approx.) from Kliff Ventures, Hero Enterprise Partner Ventures, Merisis Venture Fund, and Stride Ventures.

Home salon and wellness startup Yes Madam raised Rs 50 crore ($5.2 million approx.) from the growth fund launched by Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led Info Edge.