[Weekly funding roundup Sept 28-Oct 4] Investment momentum gets a speed bump

October started on a surprisingly weak note for the Indian startup ecosystem as venture capital funding dropped below the $100-million mark in the first week of the month, throwing cold water on the investment momentum.

The total VC funding for the first week of October totalled $91 million spread over 19 deals. This is a sharp drop when compared to the previous week where the total fundraise was $430 million.

This sharp drop follows the month of September, which saw total funding of $1.3 billion aided by strong inflows. The funding abyss in the first week of October was largely due to the absence of large deals.

However, this may very well be an outlier given the trends, and the funding momentum is expected to be back on track in the coming weeks.

The Indian startup ecosystem continues to simmer with activity.

Foodtech unicorn Swiggy has increased its initial public offering size to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 3,750 crore. On the other hand, leading VC firm Peak XV has reduced the size of its growth fund.

Meanwhile, fintech unicorn CRED showed a steady rise in revenues while cutting down on losses in FY24. The most heartening development was the closure of the long-running battle between Ashneer Grover and BharatPe.

Key transactions

Chemical manufacturing platform Mstack raised $40 million from Lightspeed, Alphawave and HSBC Innovation Banking.

Agriculture supply chain startup Waycool raised Rs 100 crore ($12 million approx.) in debt financing from Grand Anicut.

Mortgage distribution startup BASIC Home Loan raised $10.6 million from Bertelsmann India Investments, CE-Ventures, Gruhas, 9 Unicorns, and others.