(Weekly funding roundup July 11-17) Sharp rise in VC inflow led by AI deals

Venture capital funding into Indian startups saw a sharp rise this week after two weeks of subdued inflow as investors spread their bets across sectors, with AI leading the way.

The total funding for the third week of July came was $431 million across 23 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw VC funding of just $107 million. This funding increase should also be seen in the context of number of deals. The previous week saw a total of 27 transactions but this week there were 23, which shows that higher value transactions is the real determinant of fund inflow.

The VC funding this week was the fourth highest on a weekly basis garnered by Indian startups for the year till now.

The fundraise by AI startup Emergent is a welcome sign, indicating that Indian AI startups have come under the radar of investors. Other startups Reo.Dev and Groyyo, which are fundamentally driven by AI, also raised funding this week.

This sharp increase in funding comes as a big relief for the Indian startup ecosystem, which now expects a brighter future going forward.

Key transactions

B2B platform Udaan raised $160 million in a financing round, through the issuance of fresh equity and debt, as well as conversion of existing debt into equity.

AI startup Emergent raised $130 million from Creaegis, MNI Ventures, Claypond Capital and Sentinel Global, with participation from Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, and Y Combinator.

Wealth and asset management firm Neo Group raised Rs 350 crore ($36.3 million approx.) led by Peak XV Partners.

Institutional laundry infrastructure company Quick Clean raised $14 million from Stakeboat Capital, Alkemi Growth Capital, and Blue Ashva Capital.

AI startup Reo.Dev raised $11.3 million from Elevation Capital, Heavybit, India Quotient, Foster Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Naturis Cosmetics raised Rs 100 crore ($10.3 million approx.) from Sharrp Ventures, Mirabilis Investment Trust, Anicut Capital, Niveshaay, and angel investors.

EV startup E3 Electric Ai raised Rs 100 crore ($10.3 million approx.) led by BluVenture Holdings, a global venture capital firm.

AI-driven fashion supply chain platform Groyyo raised Rs 90 crore ($9.3 million approx.) led by Cornerstone Ventures.

AI startup SwitchOn raised $8 million from IvyCap Ventures, SIG Tattva, and Trifecta Capital.

Spacetech startup Dhruva Space raised Rs 60 crore ($6.2 million approx.) under Antariksh Venture Capital Fund.

Healthy snacking brand Open Secret raised Rs 50 crore ($5.1 million approx.) led by Desai Brothers Group.