Indian Startups Funding Landscape – October 2026

Indian startups funding reached $678 million in October, marking a substantial decrease of 47.5% month-on-month, primarily due to a lack of substantial funding rounds. Notably, no startup obtained a funding round exceeding $100 million, while only Tessolve and Even Healthcare surpassed the $50 million threshold. Growth stage investments were bolstered by contributions from Boldfit, DailyObjects, RapidCanvas, and Nat Habit. However, early-stage funding experienced moderate participation from Auxo AI, Cent, Mesa, and Matiks.

The month did not report any layoffs. Meanwhile, Jio Platforms made a significant debut on the stock market, followed by the listings of Zetwerk and AceVector, which operates Snapdeal. However, merger and acquisition activity remained focused on specific sectors.

Overview

According to data from Startup Superb, Indian startups gathered approximately $678 million in funding in October. This total encompassed 20 growth and late-stage deals amounting to $414.6 million and 79 early-stage deals totaling $263 million. Additionally, there were 9 undisclosed transactions during this timeframe.

Year-on-Year and Month-on-Month Trends

October 2026 witnessed a dramatic decline in investment compared to the same month last year, with total funding dropping by 60.8% to $677.8 million from $1.73 billion in October 2025. On a month-on-month basis, funding fell by 47.5% from $1.29 billion in September. Notably, February was the peak month for funding in 2026, with startups amassing around $2 billion, followed closely by June. October’s reduction was attributed to the absence of substantial deals, with no startups raising $100 million or more during this period.

Top 10 Growth-Stage Deals

Growth and late-stage startups experienced notable activity across various sectors in October, led by semiconductor solutions provider Tessolve Semiconductor, which secured $75 million, followed by healthtech startup Even Healthcare, which raised $50 million. Sports and fitness brand Boldfit attracted $42 million, while lifestyle brand DailyObjects and enterprise AI startup RapidCanvas gathered $35 million and $29 million, respectively. Advanced materials manufacturer Simplify raised $25 million, followed by robotics startup Origin with $20 million. Beauty and wellness brand Nat Habit, along with AI startups Simplismart and Live2.ai, raised $15 million, $14 million, and $14 million, respectively.

Top 10 Early-Stage Deals

In early-stage funding, startups in AI, healthtech, edtech, and gaming secured investments in October. Enterprise AI startup Auxo AI raised $20.7 million, while healthtech startup Cent garnered $15 million. Mesa School of Business and Confido Health each secured $12.5 million, and gaming startup Spill Games obtained $10.5 million. AI video platform Clueso, quantum computing startup Quanfluence, and social gaming platform Matiks each received $10 million. Nutrition brand Ace Blend raised $9.91 million, and edtech startup byteXL secured $9 million to enhance its technology training programs.

Mergers and Acquisitions

During October, Indian startups recorded five acquisitions throughout the SaaS, healthtech, cybersecurity, and FMCG sectors. Freshworks acquired AI startup Robusta, while healthtech startup Cent purchased Medsee. Cybersecurity firm Protectt.ai acquired AIShield. In the FMCG domain, Marico acquired Satya Nutraceuticals for $110 million. Moreover, Hoola Health acquired UpTodd, highlighting ongoing consolidation in the healthtech sector.

City and Segment-wise Deals

Bengaluru emerged as the leading hub for startup funding in October, raising $420 million across 52 deals, equivalent to 61.97% of the total capital raised. Delhi-NCR followed with $110.26 million across 18 deals, while Mumbai startups secured $57.53 million from 11 deals. Hyderabad raised $41.22 million across five deals, trailed by Bhubaneswar with $11.5 million from a single deal.

E-commerce startups dominated sector-wise funding with $182.69 million from 27 deals, followed by AI startups with $131.12 million across 22 deals. Healthtech firms raised $104.61 million from 13 deals, with semiconductor startups attracting $75 million in a single deal. Manufacturers rounded up the top sectors with $36.67 million from four deals.

Series-wise Deals

Series B startups led the funding scene in October, raising $209.34 million across 10 deals, followed by Series A companies with $135.35 million through 17 deals. Seed-stage startups garnered $80.41 million over 41 deals, while Series C startups secured $61.5 million from three deals. Pre-Series A startups raised $23.24 million across seven deals.

Key Hirings and Departures

October saw significant leadership moves across startups and investment firms. Mayank Khanduja joined Bessemer Venture Partners as a partner, while Manas Poddar took the role of CBO at OTPless. Sanjeev Bikhchandani continued as MD and group CEO at Info Edge, and Kiran U joined Bellatrix Aerospace as CFO. Other notable appointments included Basant Dhawan as CMO at Shoonya by Finvasia, Medhavi Singh as India country head at Aleph, and Kamaldeep Singh as CEO at Infost Energy. Between these appointments, Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Mithun Sacheti were noted as key departures from Info Edge and Nazara Technologies, respectively.

Trends

Zorit (previously Bijnis) made a return with funding from investors including Sparoww Capital and Info Edge Capital, which had previously written off their entire investment in the startup in 2023. The spiritual tech startup Vama received funding from the Dainik Bhaskar family office, marking it as one of its initial recorded startup investments. In the quick home services sector, Snabbit noted an NTV of Rs 72 crore in Q2 FY27, slightly surpassing Urban Company’s InstaHelp at Rs 71 crore. Snabbit reported a burn of Rs 142 crore against InstaHelp’s adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 174 crore, although these figures may not be directly comparable. Hunger Pangs, the operator of Burma Burma, filed its DRHP for an IPO involving a fresh issue of up to Rs 600 crore, with no offer for sale. This filing comes after a similar one from Subway India operator EverBrands India in September.