Startup Funding and Acquisitions in India: Highlights from December 30 to January 4

Startup Funding Insights

Throughout the week, a total of 8 Indian startups successfully secured approximately $33.44 million in funding. This week’s funding comprised 2 growth-stage deals and 4 early-stage transactions, with two startups opting to keep their funding amounts undisclosed.

In the previous week, 9 startups at various stages collectively raised around $47.7 million.

Growth-Stage Deals

• Mufin Green Finance, an EV financier, acquired $18 million in debt from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
• Aye Finance, a lending startup, raised $12.8 million in debt from Northern Arc, ASK Financial Holdings, MAS Financial Services, and CredAvenue.

Early-Stage Deals

Additionally, 4 early-stage startups obtained funding amounting to $2.64 million this week. The leading startups included:

• Wealth Nivesh – Wealth management
• CargoFL – B2B SaaS logistics platform
• Guestara – Guest management platform
• NumberOne Academy – Focused on SME learning

Moreover, the robotics startup Flo Mobility and the education OTT platform Klassroom also secured financing, although the amounts raised remain undisclosed.

City and Segment-Wise Funding

Regarding the geographical distribution of funding, startups based in Delhi-NCR led with 3 deals, followed by those in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Pune.

In terms of sector performance, Fintech startups topped the chart with 3 deals, while Edtech, Logistics, SaaS, and Robotics followed suit.

Series-Wise Funding Deals

This week, pre-seed funding deals were the most prevalent with 3 transactions, closely monitored by debt, pre-Series A, and Seed deals.

Weekly Funding Trends

On a weekly comparison, startup funding experienced a decline of 29.9%, dropping to $33.44 million from approximately $47.7 million the prior week. The average funding over the past eight weeks is around $273.64 million, equating to 22 deals each week.

Leadership Changes in Startups

Significant leadership changes were observed in the startup landscape:

• Cars24 promoted Himanshu Ratnoo to CEO of its used cars division.
• Ola Electric appointed Pritam Das Mohapatra as Compliance Officer.
• Kartik Hajela, former Co-founder and COO of Log9 Materials, joined Jupiter Electric Mobility as Director.
• EaseMyTrip named its Co-founder Rikant Pittie as CEO, following Nishant Pittie‘s resignation.
• Ecom Express appointed Kammal Daas as Vice President of Last Mile Operations.

Several noteworthy departures were reported:

• Srinivas Yanamandra, Head of Compliance at Paytm, resigned.
• Jitendra Bagga, VP of Central Operations at Zepto, also stepped down.
• Kabeer Biswas, Co-founder of Dunzo, and Zairus Master, Chief Business Officer of Mamaearth, tendered their resignations.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Curefoods, a leading food and beverage conglomerate, acquired the operations of Krispy Kreme in South and West India from the Landmark Group for an undisclosed sum.

New Launches and Partnerships

• Blinkit launched a 10-minute ambulance service in Gurugram.
• OfBusiness introduced its AI platform, Nexizo.

Potential Deals

• PristynCare is seeking to raise $100 million in funding.
• Hindustan Unilever is in discussions to acquire Minimalist for Rs 3,000 Cr.

Financial Results of the Week

• Arya.ag reports revenue of Rs 340 Cr in FY24, with a profit increase of 2.5 times.
• Fittr demonstrated steady performance in FY24, with a 73% reduction in losses.
• Traya posted revenue of Rs 236 Cr in FY24, achieving profitability.
• Treebo exceeded Rs 100 Cr in revenue for FY24, although outstanding losses increased to Rs 488 Cr.
• Chaayos remained flat in scale for FY24 but turned EBITDA positive.
• Pristyn Care experienced a 33% revenue growth, reaching Rs 601 Cr in FY24.
• Mswipe reported Rs 277 Cr in revenue, alongside a loss of Rs 46 Cr in FY24.
• Snapdeal recorded Rs 384 Cr in revenue for FY24; adjusted EBITDA loss reduced by 88%.

News Highlights This Week

• NestAway co-founder has raised allegations of fraud against Tiger Global, Chiratae, and Goldman Sachs.
• UPI transactions surged by 8% in December.
• Bajaj and TVS have surpassed Ola Electric in December two-wheeler EV sales.
• NPCI lifted the cap for WhatsApp Pay and extended the UPI cap by two years.
• Bengaluru police exposed a Rs 12 Cr fraud targeting CRED.
• IPO-bound Zepto has transitioned to a marketplace model.
• EV firm Ather Energy received SEBI approval for its IPO.