Indian Startups Raise $411.46 Million This Week
This week, Indian startups raised $411.46 million through five growth-stage deals, 13 early-stage deals, and six undisclosed rounds. The week also featured three significant appointments, one fund launch, and three mergers & acquisitions, alongside an ESOP buyback. In comparison, 17 startups had raised a total of approximately $188.49 million the previous week.
Growth-stage Deals
Growth-stage startups garnered $357 million in just five deals this week. The electric two-wheeler manufacturer Simple Energy took the lead with a $182 million Series C round, followed closely by SiMa.ai, which secured $150 million. Balwaan Krishi raised Rs 100 crore in Series B funding, and Seeds Fincap attracted over Rs 100 crore. Quick-commerce startup Blitz raised Rs 28.7 crore in a pre-Series B round backed by IvyCap Ventures.
Early-stage Deals
Early-stage startups accumulated $54.36 million across 13 deals during this week. Leading the charge was premium home interior materials startup Gravity with $15 million in equity and debt funding, followed by edtech startup Arivihan, which raised $10 million. Arovia Consumer received a Rs 100 crore capital commitment from Fireside Ventures, while beauty and wellness startup Amaani as well as Bharat Housing Network secured $5 million each. Other funded ventures included EDT, Bangalore Watch Company, Alive App, and Vytalyou, among others. FIG Living, Prodocv AI, Nudge, and a few others also raised funds this week but did not disclose specific amounts.
City and Segment-wise Deals
Bengaluru once again dominated the funding scene with 13 startup deals, followed by three deals each in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad also recorded transactions. Healthtech startups led in sector deals with four transactions, while AI and e-commerce startups each saw three deals. Funding activity also appeared in interior design, fintech, EV, edtech, quick commerce, and other sectors.
Series-wise Deals
Seed rounds were in the forefront with nine deals, followed by Series A with three. Series B, Series C, pre-seed, and pre-Series A each had two deals, while pre-Series B and angel rounds each recorded one deal.
Week-on-Week Funding Trend
Compared to the previous week, startup funding surged over 2X to $411.46 million from the $188.49 million raised last week. The average weekly funding over the past eight weeks was around $236.34 million across 21 deals.
Key Hirings
Three notable hirings occurred this week. Bessemer Venture Partners appointed Mayank Khanduja as Partner for its India practice, nearly nine months following his departure from Elevation Capital after a 15-year tenure. OTPless, a startup for identity and access management, promoted early team member Manas Poddar to Chief Business Officer, while Chiratae Ventures brought Keshav R. Murugesh onto its Global Advisory Board.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Three acquisitions were recorded this week. FMCG leader ITC completed its acquisition of Yoga Bar parent Sproutlife Foods after obtaining the remaining stake in the Bengaluru-based firm. OpenMetal took over cloud cost management platform Economize, while Zigly Pet Care acquired Prolife Speciality Vet Clinic in Mumbai to enhance its veterinary healthcare network.
Fund Launches
Seed-stage venture capital firm WEH Ventures announced the initial close of its third fund, which aims for a target corpus of Rs 250 crore. This fund plans to support 20 to 25 early-stage Indian startups focused on domestic and global markets.
ESOP Buyback
Stable Money executed its second ESOP buyback within four years of its establishment, as announced by founder Saurabh Jain in a LinkedIn post.
Financial Results This Week
New Launches and Partnerships
Apple Pay launched in India with Axis Bank as its first banking partner, supporting Visa and Mastercard credit cards initially. This service allows contactless payments across stores, apps, and online platforms, with support from payment processors such as Razorpay, Cashfree, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, Juspay, and Worldline.
Flipkart expanded its warehouse capacity by 14 million cubic feet ahead of the festive season, enhancing its supply chain to cover over 750 new PIN codes. The increase raised storage capacity by 50%, whilst automation and technology upgrades boosted peak processing volumes by over 30% in preparation for its Big Billion Days sale.
Actor Ranbir Kapoor ventured into the FMCG sector with the launch of body-care brand Flux Theory, co-founded with Advay Jhunjhunwala and venture-building platform Think9. The brand debuted with five variants of body wash and will implement an omnichannel strategy, making products available across Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Zepto, Tira, Instamart, and its own website.
News Flash This Week
Indian startups raised $2.9 billion in Q3 2026, influenced by EV and AI sectors driving funding. Despite the decline from $3.5 billion in Q2 and $3.87 billion in Q1, Simple Energy topped the quarter with $182 million, followed by SiMa.ai at $150 million, while Emergent, River Mobility, Navi, Slice, and Pixxel each raised over $100 million.
TVS maintained its lead in EV two-wheeler registrations, with a 12% month-on-month increase—totaling 2.07 lakh units in September compared to 1.85 lakh in August. TVS Motor held the top position with 53,989 registrations, achieving a 26.06% market share, while Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp also saw robust growth.
UPI transaction volume remained above 24 billion, experiencing a 1.8% month-on-month decrease in September. UPI processed 24.07 billion transactions worth Rs 29.37 lakh crore during the month, with volume and value both declining slightly. Nonetheless, average daily transactions rose by 1.4% to 802 million. On a year-on-year basis, UPI volume surged by 23% while transaction value climbed by 18%.
Moneyview launched successfully on the stock market, debuting at a 64% premium after a 100X IPO subscription. The digital lending platform’s shares opened at Rs 55.61 on the BSE and Rs 55 on the NSE, following an IPO of Rs 1,092 crore comprising a Rs 750 crore fresh issue and an OFS of around Rs 342 crore.
Smartworks secured managed office deals worth Rs 305 crore from new clients, adding significant rental revenue over negotiations spanning up to 60 months. This has brought its contracted rental revenue base beyond Rs 5,400 crore as of June 2026, following previously announced incremental rental revenue of Rs 235 crore.
CtrlS deployed Ciena’s optical technology to establish managed optical fiber networks for hyperscalers, facilitating connections across nine data centers in metro regions such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Noida, with capabilities reaching up to 100 Tb/s.
DraperU India held its Demo Day, showcasing 13 startups to a diverse audience of over 150 investors and industry leaders. Ordo and WearSynapse garnered Rs 25 lakh investment commitments each and were selected to represent the program at Draper University’s Hero Training Program in Silicon Valley. Additionally, Ordo, WearSynapse, and Creator Studio shared a prize pool of Rs 90,000 from IDFC FIRST Bank.
Luxury hospitality entity SUJÁN expanded its conservation-led safari portfolio into Africa through the acquisition of Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro from Chiawa Safaris. This marks SUJÁN’s first major step outside India, establishing its footprint in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park.
EV manufacturer Zelio E-Mobility’s board consented to raise up to Rs 167.95 crore through a preferential issue of equity shares and convertible warrants. The BSE SME-listed company is set to issue 9.73 lakh shares at Rs 853 each to investors, including Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Calliope Capital Advisors, Param Value Investments, and Hem Growth Opportunities Fund.
CoinSwitch achieved profitability in FY26, with revenue surging 150% to Rs 324 crore. Adjusted EBITDA leapt to Rs 86.38 crore from Rs 1.65 crore in FY25, marking a margin expansion to 27%. Operating expenses escalated by 37% to Rs 270.07 crore during the fiscal year.
Fintech company PayMe nearly doubled its monthly loan disbursals to Rs 200 crore in September 2026, up from Rs 100 crore earlier this year. The Noida-based NBFC, which disbursed more than Rs 1,300 crore in FY26, aims for over Rs 2,000 crore in FY27 and plans to reach a monthly run rate of Rs 500 crore by the fiscal year’s end.