[Weekly funding roundup] Startup investment continues to remain subdued; register $71M in funding

Venture capital investment into Indian startups during the third week of November declined as compared to the previous week, owing to the absence of large funding deals.

The total venture investments during the week were spread across 14 deals and stood at $71 million, a 64 percent decline as compared to the second week of November, which registered total funding of $197 million.

Venture funding over the last eight weeks has been quite subdued as it crossed the $100 million mark on a weekly basis only twice. This is expected to prevail for the remaining weeks of the year.

As has been the trend in the current fiscal, the majority of the venture deals were focused on early-stage startups. This week, there were 11 early-stage deals, two growth-stage, and one in late-stage.

Key deals

Mumbai-based online insurance platform Turtlemint raised $30 million in a new funding round led by GGV Capital. New investors, including American Family Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, and SIG, along with existing investors also participated in the round. The startup will use the funding to grow its network of advisors and improve its technology stack.

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Fintech startup True Balance raised $28 million in funding from investors, including SoftBank Ventures Asia, Naver, BonAngels, Daesung Private Equity, and Shinhan Capital. The funding will be used to fuel the startup's India expansion plans and bolstering technology.

Other deals

Mumbai-based fashion brand DaMENSCH raised Rs 50 crore funding led by Matrix Partners India, Saama Capital, Whiteboard Venture Partners, and Alteria Capital. Founded in 2018 by Anurag Saboo and Gaurav Pushkar, the premium men's wear online brand sells via its platform and other ecommerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra.

Fantasy gaming platform PlayerzPot raised around $3 million in its Series A round. It plans to use this funding to expand its verticals and brand building.

Bengaluru-based AI-driven deep-tech content startup Instoried raised $1 million in pre-Series A round led by 9Unicorns and Mumbai Angels, along with other angel networks. It plans to use this funding for expansion activities that includes hiring and expand the product offering.

Homegrown community-led personal care startup Arata raised $1 million in pre-Series A round from Nikhil Vora and Rohan Vaziralli. Existing investor DSG Consumer Partners also participated in this round. It plans to use this funding for brand awareness, R&D, new product launches, etc.

Krimanshi Technologies, a Jodhpur-based animal nutrition startup raised Rs 5 crore in seed funding from Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) to scale its feed production capacity and expand to newer geographies.

Chennai-based healthtech startup Prescribe raised Rs 1 crore in a seed funding round led by Titan Capital and other marquee investors, including AngelList syndicate and Curofy founders. It will use this funding to grow the sales team and form partnerships.

Mumbai-based foodtech startup Thrive raised an undisclosed pre-Series A funding led by Whiteboard Capital and Ahimsa Capital. It will use this funding for expansion.

Fintech startup NIRA raised $1 million from its existing angel investors. The funding will be used for scaling operations and technology.

Bengaluru based fintech startup Instamojo raised an undisclosed round of funding from BASE of Japan and Singapore-based Gunosy Capital. It will use this funding to accelerate growth and introduce new products.

Bengaluru-based B2B retail tech firm Arzooo raised an undisclosed amount led by Zoom meeting app Founder Eric Yuan and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Tai.

M&A

EY India acquired Spotmentor Technologies, an AI-enabled upskilling and reskilling platform, for an undisclosed amount. This will strengthen its People Advisory portfolio of digital services.

National Stock Exchange Ltd's wholly-owned subsidiary NSE Academy on Tuesday announced the acquisition of majority stake in deep-tech education firm TalentSprint. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Eduvanz, a Mumbai-based fintech NBFC-focused on student loan segment, acquired edtech startup Klarity. Eduvanz is backed by Sequoia and Unitus Ventures with close to $6 million cumulative investment.

Stones2Milestones acquired MultiStory Learning — a Chennai-based boutique kids' content company — for an undisclosed amount.