[Weekly funding roundup] Unicorns rule the roost with VC capital crossing $1B in Feb

The month of February has certainly ended on a high with over a billion dollars in venture investments into Indian startups, and the entry of two young companies into the coveted unicorn club, both valuing over $1 billion.

The last week of February witnessed the total venture funding of $403 million, which was a 157 percent increase as compared to the previous week, when the investments touched $157 million. The total funding for the month was $1.2 billion.

The unicorns — Zomatoand the new entrant Infra.Market — cornered an overwhelming majority of the funding. Outside these unicorns, the other new entrant into this exclusive club is Innovaccer, the San Francisco-headquartered healthtech-focused SaaS startup which became a $1 billion company in valuation in a matter of just six years.

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There were eleven deals during the week, with seven transactions in the early stage, followed by three in growth and one in late.

Key deals

Zomato raised $250 million in funding from Tiger Global, Kora, and others, valuing the online food ordering platform at $5.4 billion.

B2B commerce company Infra.Market raised $100 million Series C funding round led by Tiger Global. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Sistema Asia Fund, Evolvence India Fund, and Fundamental Capital GmbH also participated.

Other transactions

Doubtnutraised Rs 224 crore from SIG Global and Lupa Systems in a Series B round. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network India, and Waterbridge Ventures also participated.

Kinara Capital raised $10 million from IndusInd Bank as part of its debt and equity round of Rs 100 crore. Existing investors Gaja Capital, GAWA Capital, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), and Patamar Capital also participated in this round.

Arzoooraised $6 million from Trifecta Capital. The startup will use the funds for market expansion and scaling operations.

Kutukiraised $2.2 million in a seed round led by Omidyar Network India. AET and existing angel investors Better Capital, First Cheque, and Abhishek Nag also participated.

Comofi Medtech raised Rs 2.15 crore from IIM Ahmedabad’s incubator, CIIE.CO; JITO Angel Network; and KIIT Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI).

Couch Fashion raised $150,000 in a seed round from We Founder Circle (WFC).

Hubhopperraised an undisclosed amount from Hindustan Media Ventures.

Battery Smart closed its seed round of an undisclosed amount led by Orios Venture Partners. Angel investment platform Faad Network also participated.

India connect

Impact Analytics, the US and India-based SaaS startup, closed an $11 million growth financing round led by New York-based growth equity firm Argentum Capital Partners.

Argoid, a US and India tech startup, raised $1.7 million in a seed round led by YourNest Venture Capital.

Saltmine, a digital workplace startup founded by Shagufta Anurag, raised $20 million from JLL Spark. Existing investors, Jungle Ventures, and Xplorer Capital also participated.

Hubiloraised $23.5 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Balderton Capital. It also had participation from angel investors.

Innovaccer, a SaaS startup with centres in the US and India, raised an undisclosed amount of money led by Tiger Global at a valuation of $1.3 billion. Existing investors Steadview Capital, Dragoneer, B Capital Group, Mubadala Capital, and M12, OMERS Growth Equity also participated.

UK and India-based SaaS platform Wurkr raised over £1 million in seed funding led by Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL).

Blueshift, a tech startup with a centre in India, raised $30 million in funding led by Fort Ross Ventures, along with Avatar Growth Capital. Existing investors including Softbank Ventures Asia, Storm Ventures, Conductive Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners also participated in the round.

Singapore-based startup Raena, which is co-founded by Sreejita Deb, raised $9 million Series A funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation and Alpha JWC Ventures. AC Ventures, Beenos, Strive, and Beenext also participated.

M&A

Agritech startup DeHaatacquired B2B SaaS platform FarmGuide. The latest move comes after a month after it recently raised Series C funding of $30 million.

VerSe Innovation acquired Cognirel Technologies, a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider.

Vedantuacquired instant doubt-solving platform Instasolv for an undisclosed sum.

Fisdom, a Bengaluru-based wealthtech startup acquired Jaipur-based online income tax return filing platform, Tax2win, for an undisclosed amount.