Indian Startups Raise $206.89 Million in Funding

This week, Indian startups raised $206.89 million, with funding stemming from 6 growth-stage and 10 early-stage investments, while one startup opted not to disclose its funding details. Comparatively, 33 startups garnered approximately $173.48 million the previous week.

Growth-Stage Deals

In growth and late-stage funding, a total of $180.6 million was raised through six transactions this week. The leading sponsor was Kapiva, a D2C ayurveda wellness brand, which secured $60 million in a Series B round led by 360 ONE Asset and Vertex Growth. Recur Club, a debt marketplace, raised $50 million combining equity and debt, predominantly backed by Info Edge. Additionally, NBFC GrowXCD Finance received around Rs 200 crore from Blue Earth Capital and Prosus Ventures. Other noteworthy participants included luxury watch retailer Art of Time, PetPooja, a restaurant POS and management software provider, and Hocco, a popular ice cream brand.

Early-Stage Deals

On the early-stage front, 10 startups together raised approximately $26 million this week. AI startup Assessli and fintech company RUGR Fintech led the rounds, each securing $5 million. They were followed by enterprise messaging platform Fyno and another fintech startup, each of which received $4 million. Other participants in this category included Vama, a virtual spiritual application, Climaty AI, a climate-tech firm, and Unmannd, a defense-tech venture. Adtech startup Wit & Chai also acquired funding, although the specific amount remains undisclosed.

City and Segment-wise Deals

In terms of city-based deal counts, Bengaluru-based startups topped the list with 9 deals, followed by Ahmedabad with 4. Additional activity was noted in Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune, with various transactions concluding this week. Segment-wise, fintech startups dominated with 4 deals, trailed by E-commerce startups which raised $92.7 million through 3 deals. Enterprises in SaaS, AI, and spiritual tech also enjoyed successful rounds.

Series-wise Deals

This week, seed and pre-seed rounds led the funding landscape with four deals each, while Series B and pre-Series A followed closely with three deals each. Participation was also observed in Series C and Series D rounds.

Week-on-Week Funding Trend

When comparing week-over-week, startup funding experienced a growth of 19%, reaching $206.89 million versus approximately $173.48 million in the previous week. The average funding over the last eight weeks is around $271.37 million, comprising 24 deals each week.

Key Promotions

This week highlighted several key leadership changes. LEAD Group appointed Moiz Saif as CFO and Deepak Hariharan as CBO, with Prasad Narasimha taking the role of Head of HR and Ajay Kashyap becoming Chief Product & Technology Officer. BoAt appointed Gaurav Nayyar as CEO in preparation for growth and a public listing. Additionally, Magenta Mobility welcomed Sujit Cherian as its new CEO, while the previous CEO, Maxson Lewis, transitioned to founder and chairman.

Fund Launches

Japan’s Unleash Capital Partners successfully closed its inaugural Rs 300 crore fund aimed at investing in India’s fintech domain. Supported by 35 LPs, the fund is co-managed by founder Natsuki Sugai alongside Gojo & Company. Investment firm Ironclad Asset Management has launched a Rs 200 crore ($22.5 million) ESOP-focused fund, Ironclad Ventures, to offer liquidity options for employees within India’s startup ecosystem.

Mergers and Acquisitions

TBO Tek has completed the acquisition of a US-based luxury travel wholesaler for $125 million, sourced from investment firm The Najafi Companies. NRL Recycling Limited has acquired Tycod Autotech Pvt Ltd in an all-cash transaction valued at Rs 24 crore as part of its forward integration plan.

Layoffs

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup Simpl Datalabs has laid off approximately 80 employees, with the sales and marketing teams experiencing the most significant impact. These layoffs affected multiple departments within the company.

New Launches and Partnerships

WinZO, IEIC, and Business Finland have collaborated to enhance gaming partnerships between India and Finland. Additionally, PhonePe and Mastercard are working together to introduce contactless payment solutions, while Zoho has launched Vani, a new sub-brand focused on visual collaboration tools.

Financial Results This Week

Cleartrip recorded expenses of Rs 608 crore on discounts and cashbacks, yielding a net revenue of Rs 169 crore in FY25. Paper Boat achieved Rs 668 crore in revenue for FY25 while reducing losses by 24%. Battery Smart reported Rs 250 crore in revenue for FY25, whereas The Sleep Company saw revenue spike by 60%, reaching Rs 499 crore in FY25. Three-year-old Zype experienced a revenue increase of 5X, totalling Rs 101 crore for FY25. Amazon-backed M1xchange became profitable in FY25, with an 80% growth in revenue. Freecharge’s revenue declined by 35%, resulting in a Rs 42 crore loss. D2C beauty brand Plum rebounded in FY25 with a PAT of Rs 25 crore, whereas Unacademy reduced EBITDA losses by 38% in FY25, reporting Rs 826 crore in income.

News Flash This Week

A Karnataka court has prohibited Boult from utilizing the ‘GoBoult’ trademark. Ather has surpassed Ola Electric in September 2W EV sales, while TVS continues to lead the market. Indian startup funding dropped below $3 billion for the September quarter, amounting to around $2.78 billion, as indicated by various sources. This decline followed a period of strong previous quarters, with notable contributions from debt rounds by PharmEasy, Eruditus, pre-IPO deals for Urban Company, IndiQube, Smartworks, as well as late-stage funding for Gupshup, Truemeds, Kapiva, and The Sleep Company. UPI transactions in India remained robust in September 2025, processing 19.63 billion transactions valued at Rs 24.90 lakh crore, according to NPCI data. Although the transaction count saw a modest dip of 1.9% from August’s 20.01 billion, the overall value slightly increased from Rs 24.85 lakh crore. Building materials unicorn Infra.Market has submitted a confidential Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), aiming to raise Rs 5,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), according to informed sources.