Startup Funding Insights: $105.08 Million Raised This Week
This week, 14 Indian startups secured approximately $105.08 million, including 6 deals in growth-stage and 7 in early-stage, while one startup chose not to disclose its funding. In comparison, 43 startups acquired about $222.87 million in the previous week.
Growth-stage Deals
Growth-stage startups gathered $95 million from six deals this week. Leading the pack was rural omnichannel retail platform Rozana, which raised Rs 290 crore in a Series B round spearheaded by Bertelsmann India Investments. Following closely, home services startup Pronto raised $25 million in its Series B round led by Epiq Capital. RAS Luxury Skincare secured $7.5 million in a Series B round supported by Dabur Ventures, with participation from Unilever Ventures. Furthermore, digital transformation consulting firm KaarTech garnered around $11 million (Rs 100 crore) from Playbook Partners. Both RAS Luxury Skincare and EV startup Bounce also received funding.
Early-stage Deals
Early-stage funding amounted to just $10 million this week across 7 deals. Quick commerce enablement platform Inamo raised $8 million in a round led by Prime Venture Partners. Other startups that received investments included AI-driven customer engagement platform Cheerio AI, EV charging infrastructure company ThunderPlus, food tech startup 10on10, and more.
City and Segment-wise Deals
Bengaluru led the city-wise deal count with 6 deals, followed by Delhi-NCR, which secured 3 deals. Additionally, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh recorded deals this week.
In terms of segments, healthtech startups dominated the week with three deals, while e-commerce, EV, and food & beverages sectors each had two deals. Retail tech, home services marketplaces, SaaS, and other sectors also saw funding activity during this time.
Series-wise Deals
Series B and seed deals were the most prominent this week, with 4 deals each, followed by 2 pre-seed deals. Other categories such as Debt, Pre-Series B, Series A, and Series F also reported deals.
Week-on-week Funding Trend
Startup funding observed a 53% decline to $105.08 million, down from approximately $222.87 million raised the previous week. The average funding over the last eight weeks stands at about $358 million, with around 31 deals per week.
Key Hirings
Flipkart appointed Somnath Das as Vice President of Supply Chain, and Digbijay Mishra as Vice President of Corporate Communications, bolstering its senior leadership team. Premium homeware brand Nester welcomed Kunwarjeet Grover as Co-founder and Chief Business Officer. Digital healthcare platform Practo brought on Cijo George as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, while iD Fresh Food promoted its co-founders Jafar TK and Shamshudeen TK to its board of directors.
Mergers & Acquisitions
MakeMyTrip has agreed to acquire a majority stake in regional tour operator Flamingo Transworld, while MedGenome announced a majority investment in Mumbai-based radiology and nuclear medicine provider Medcare Management Services Pvt. Ltd. Additionally, The Estée Lauder Companies signed an agreement to acquire the remaining stake in luxury Ayurvedic skincare brand Forest Essentials, thereby achieving full ownership. Captain Fresh also completed the acquisition of Spain-based tuna processor Frime to enhance its presence in global seafood categories.
Layoffs
Flipkart, owned by Walmart, has laid off approximately 300 employees as part of its annual performance review cycle, as reported by sources close to the matter. This round of layoffs constitutes about 1.5% of its workforce of roughly 20,000 employees, affecting staff from various teams.
New Launches and Partnerships
Rapido introduced its food delivery app ‘Ownly’ in Bengaluru. UpGrad partnered with OpenAI to incorporate advanced AI tools, while Cars24 collaborated with OpenAI for AI-first automotive commerce. Oxyzo also ventured into fund management with the launch of Credit Fund I.
Financial Results This Week
Fintech unicorn Moneyview filed a DRHP with SEBI for Rs 1,500 crore IPO. Ola Electric’s shares dropped to an all-time low following a 47% decline in monthly sales, causing the company to slip out of the top five EV two-wheeler manufacturers as of February. UPI volumes recorded a decrease in February, although the average daily count rose to 728 million.
Summary
Comparing week-on-week figures, startup funding declined 83% to $222.87 million, dropping from around $1.3 billion raised the previous week. Moneyview, a Bengaluru-based fintech lender, filed its DRHP with SEBI to raise Rs 1,500 crore through an IPO, which includes a new issuance of shares worth Rs 1,500 crore and an offer for sale of up to 13.6 crore equity shares by existing shareholders. Following a 47% drop in month-on-month sales, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric fell out of the top five electric two-wheeler manufacturers in February, while TVS Motor maintained its leading position. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) recorded 20.39 billion transactions in February 2026, a decrease from 21.7 billion in January, despite a year-on-year growth of 27%. Transaction value reached Rs 26.84 lakh crore, down 5.3% from the previous month but up 22% compared to the previous year. The average daily transaction count reached 728 million.
