Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [July 20

This week, 16 Indian startups raised nearly $164 million across 4 growth-stage including one undisclosed deal and 12 early-stage deals. The week also witnessed one departure, two fund launches, and one ESOP.

In contrast, 19 startups had collectively secured about $271 million in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth-stage startups raised a total of $208.2 million across six deals this week, led by deeptech platform Raghu Vamsi Aerospace Group with its $40 million Series B round. 

Fintech startups Veriqus and BusinessNext also raised $40 million in a Series B each.

[Early-stage deals]

Early-stage startups raised $44 million across 12 deals this week, led by quick commerce startup Plazza, which secured $15 million in a Series A round led by Accel, Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.

Among the other notable deals, healthtech startup CAROL.ai raised $10 million in a Series A round led by International Finance Corporation. Travel tech firm 30 Sundays secured $6.7 million in a pre-Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and others.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru continued to lead the funding charts with 8 startup deals during the week, followed by Mumbai with five deals. Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad Lucknow.

Segment-wise, fintech startups led the week with two deals followed by healthtech, energy, SaaS, AI, deeptech and quick commerce. 

[Series-wise deals]

Series A and Seed rounds led the week with four deals, followed by three Series B deals. Pre-seed, pre-Series A and debt rounds also witnessed activity during the week.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined 40% to $164 million, compared to around $271 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding over the last eight weeks stands at around $325 million, with an average of 20 deals per week.

[Departures]

This week, Ankur Jain, the founder of Bira 91 parent B9 Beverages, stepped down from the board and his executive role after signing a settlement with lenders and investors.

[Fund Launches]

Venture capital firm Transition VC announced the fund at $150 million and Streptrade Capital has launched a fund worth $10.5 million. 

[New launches and partnerships]

▪️Flipkart to enter food delivery, take on Zomato, Swiggy and Rapido

▪️Ashneer Grover launches employer backed lending platform Fund My Staff

▪️Bijliride Expands ‘Project Udaan’ with Student Mobility Initiative

[News flash this week]

▪️WhatsApp overtakes CRED in UPI volume in June; PhonePe retains lead

▪️Pronto widens AI camera rollout in homes with ‘Verified’ offering

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined 87% to $137 million, compared to around $1.1  billion raised during the previous week.

WhatsApp overtook CRED in UPI transaction volume in June, processing 150.48 million transactions against CRED’s 141.78 million. The crossover came in the same month that Kunal Shah moved from CRED to become WhatsApp’s global CEO. Despite lower volumes, CRED led in transaction value at Rs 55,117 crore, compared to WhatsApp’s Rs 11,392 crore. Meanwhile, PhonePe retained its dominance with 10.48 billion UPI transactions in June, its fourth straight month above the 10 billion mark.

Home services platform Pronto has confirmed that it is expanding the use of wearable cameras inside customers’ homes through Pronto Verified, an opt in service that records service sessions and uses anonymized footage to train AI models. The confirmation comes nearly two months after Entrackr first reported that the company was piloting its Physical AI initiative on a small fraction of bookings.

Walmart-owned Flipkart is set to enter India’s online food delivery market in the coming weeks, taking on Zomato and Swiggy. The company will begin with a pilot and plans to offer the service on its main platform with deep ONDC integration, while also testing a separate app. Sources said the initial rollout is expected to take place in Bengaluru before a wider expansion based on customer response.

Ashneer Grover, former BharatPe co-founder and MD, has launched Fund My Staff, a fintech platform that enables employers to facilitate loans for employees by acting as guarantors. Operating as a Lending Service Provider under RBI’s digital lending guidelines, the platform allows employers to approve loan requests, while loans are originated by RBI-registered lending partners, including Ash Grove Capital.

Electric mobility platform ijliride has expanded its student-focused offerings under Project Udaan with the launch of the Student Mobility Program, which provides flexible, zero-commitment electric two-wheeler rentals for higher education students across major Indian metros. The initiative aims to address commuting challenges for students pursuing internships and part-time work amid rising transportation costs.