Indian Startup Funding Crashes 82% Week-on-Week to $59.7 Million Across 12 Deals
Indian startups raised just $59.7 million across 12 deals this week, according to Inc42's weekly tracker, a steep 82% drop from the $321.9 million raised the week before. After a strong run of large cheques, this was a sharp cooling-off.
Here's what kept the week from being a washout. Enterprise services attracted the most capital, with three startups raising a combined $42.5 million. Advertising services startup Flam accounted for the bulk of it with a $40 million round, the largest of the week. Consumer services recorded three deals worth about $4.8 million in total, so the rest of the market was running on much smaller cheques.
Early-stage activity was steady rather than spectacular. Five seed-stage startups raised around $10.1 million, led by VerifAIX's $5 million round. AJVC was the most active investor of the week, backing consumer brands including MoroMaa and Slayd, and it also welcomed PE firm Novastar Partners as a limited partner in its fund.
The real momentum this week came from fund launches and capital markets. India Accelerator's Finvolve announced the first close of its Rs 250 crore growth-stage fund at Rs 90 crore, aiming to back 30 to 35 growth and late-stage startups over the next three to four years. AI-focused VC firm Activate closed its maiden fund at $105 million within a year of launch. On the IPO front, SEBI cleared the public issues of Kuku Technologies and Fibe, Rentomojo made a strong stock market listing that rewarded early backers like Accel, and Moneyview halved its fresh issue to Rs 750 crore after getting SEBI approval.
Two more stories are worth flagging. PhonePe is reportedly set to revive its IPO plans after clearer rules on UPI monetisation, with updated papers expected for a listing that could value it at around $10 billion, targeting February to March 2027. And Unstop acquired PerspectAI, adding gaming and data science to its hiring platform.
The takeaway: one week of low funding doesn't mean the ecosystem is weakening. Weekly deal value swings hard on a handful of big cheques, while IPOs, new funds and acquisitions show capital is still moving through the system, just through different doors.
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— Sandeep Raiza