Funding for startups in Indian start-up ecosystem continued to be in sluggish mode in the third week of August as mixed results from capital markets around the world and uncertainty regarding interest rate hikes kept venture capitalists at bay.
During the third week of the month, the start-up market in India saw total funding of 135 million dollars out of 24 deals. In the previous week, startups had raised 298 million dollars out of 19 funding deals.
As the angel investors and venture capital investors continued their cautious approach in shelling out funds for startups, no funding deal posted a value higher than 50 million dollars this week.
An announcement from SoftBank Group that it is planning to cut down investment in the tech and start-up field coupled with losses reported by various venture capital investors is making the 3rd quarter of the current financial year a “funding winter” for Indian startups.
MAJOR FUNDING ROUNDS
Sunstone Eduversity, Series C – Higher education start-up founded in 2019 by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru, Sunstone Eduveristy, raised 35 million dollars in a series C funding round led by an independent private equity firm based in the United Kingdom, WestBridge Capital.
Mumbai-based venture debt firm, Alteria Capitals also took part in the funding round. The previous funding round of Sunstone was in October 2021 when the edu startup raised 28 million dollars in a series B funding round.
Shiprocket, Series E2 – Logistics technology company, Shiprocket, raised 33.5 million dollars in a series E2 funding round led by Temasek, a Singapore-based holding company, and Light rock India, a global private equity platform.
With the latest funding round, Shiprocket became the 106th unicorn company in India, with a total valuation of 1.2 billion dollars.
The Series E2 funding round also saw the participation of existing investors such as Bertelsmann India Investments, March Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, PayPal Ventures, and Huddle.
Exponent Energy, Series A – This EV startup which focuses on developing battery packs and charging solutions for electric vehicles, raised 13 million dollars in a series A funding round led by venture capital investment company, Lightspeed.
Other than lightspeed, institutional investors such as YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital and AdvantEdge VC also took part in the funding round-up.
Rusk Media Private Limited, Series A – The digital content media company based in New Delhi, Rusk Media, raised 9.5 million dollars in a Series A funding round led by South Korean investment company DAOL Investment & Securities, and Audacity Ventures.
Existing investors such as InfoEdge Ventures (IEV), Mistry Ventures, and Survam Partners also took part in the funding round.
Rusk Media over its last three years has raised more than 12 million dollars from various investors in seed and pre-series A funding rounds.
With varying uncertain macroeconomic situations and apprehensions in capital markets, funding for startups in India is expected to be sloppy for the next few weeks.
