[Weekly funding roundup Aug 1-7] Sharp rise in VC inflow led by River Mobility

The first week of August was a welcome relief for the Indian startup ecosystem as venture capital rose sharply with the major lift coming in from the $120 million fund raise of EV startup River Mobility.

After VC funding dropped to below $100 million in the last week of July, the first week of August saw total funding of $323 million from 25 deals. In contrast, the funding in the previous week was just $67 million.

This week there were funding deals across stages and segments. The funding came across segments such EV, insuretech, fintech, and D2C. This shows that investors are keen to place their bets across different segments.

In terms of stage wise funding, the transactions were spread across different stages. This week even the Series A stage of funding saw a funding amount of $64 million.

Media reports indicate that Sarvam AI, one the leading artificial intelligence (AI) from the country, continued to raise funding with participation from Nvidia. This is a welcome sign that investors are keen to invest in Indian AI startups.

However, the number of large deals especially those in the category of $100 million plus still remain few for the Indian startup ecosystem. For the year till now, there were just 10 such transactions.

The expectation is that this momentum will sustain but it is difficult to predict given the uncertain macro economic environment.

Key transactions

EV startup River Mobility raised $120 Million from Elev8 Venture Partners, Claypond Capital, Singularity AMC, Anicut Capital, 360 ONE Asset, JIF Capital, HDFC AMC, Yamaha Motor Corporation, Al Futtaim Group, Mitsui & Co., Alteria Capital, Innoven Capital and Stride Ventures.

Insuretech startup InRisk Labs raised $27 million from Bessemer Venture Partners and Northpoint Capital.

BlissClub, an athleisure brand raised Rs 160 crore ($16.8 million approx.) from Singularity AMC, Meesho co-founder Vidit Aatrey, Elevation Capital and Eight Roads Ventures.

Quick commerce startup HomeRun raised $12 million from Nexus Venture Partners, Sorin Investments, Titan Capital, Sparrow Capital and Consumer Collective by Atrium.

Home décor and furnishings marketplace Vaaree raised Rs 65 crore ($6.8 million approx.) from Hero Enterprise, Cap Alpha Ventures, Peak XV’s Surge, PeerCapital, All In Capital, Better Capital, OTP Ventures, and Kunal Shah.

Fintech startup GetVantage raised Rs 63 crore ($6.6 million approx.) Rajeev Ahuja, SanRaj Group, Chiratae Ventures, Varanium Fintech Fund, and VCMint.

Deeptech robotics startup Solinas Integrity raised $5.5 million from Hero Enterprise Partner Ventures, Mela Ventures, Luthra Group, SBI Ventures, Rainmatter and 8X Ventures Fund I.

Kaapi Machines, a coffee equipment and service provider raised Rs 50 crore ($5.2 million approx.) from Sedna HoReCa.