This week witnessed a subdued funding landscape for Indian startups, with 19 companies collectively securing around $47 million. The activity was dominated by early-stage deals, totaling 13, while six startups chose not to disclose their funding amounts. Notably absent were any growth-stage transactions. In comparison, the previous week saw 17 startups amass approximately $129.07 million.
Early-stage funding was the highlight, led by healthcare automation startup Coral, which raised $12.5 million from Z47 and Lightspeed Venture Partners. LightFury Games followed closely, securing $11 million in a pre-Series A round with backing from Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, MIXI, and Times Internet, alongside participation from cricket stars like MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya. Other notable fundraisers included STCH, Spill Games, and NudgeBee, among others.
Bengaluru led the city-wise deal count with seven transactions, followed by Delhi-NCR with six. Healthtech and e-commerce startups were prominent, each securing three deals, while gaming, AI, and F&B startups followed with two deals each. Seed rounds were the most common, with nine deals, complemented by six pre-Series A deals.
The week saw a significant 64% drop in funding compared to the previous week. Meanwhile, key leadership changes were announced, including Tim Cook stepping down as Apple’s CEO and significant hirings across various companies. Mergers and acquisitions included Raise Financial Services acquiring Stratzy, and Emversity acquiring Lanstitut Technologies.
KRAFTON Inc. and Naver Corporation launched a substantial Rs 6,000 crore Unicorn Growth Fund targeting Indian startups, while layoffs affected companies like Acko and SuperOps. Zerodha shuttered its content initiative Zero1 due to regulatory challenges.
New partnerships and launches included Avataar Ventures joining the India Deep-Tech Investment Alliance and Covasant Technologies partnering with Google Cloud. Axis Trustee launched PRISM, and CENT opened a clinical prevention center in Bengaluru.
In other news, PhonePe crossed 10 billion UPI transactions in March, and the Indian government notified new online gaming rules effective May 1. The Reserve Bank of India canceled Paytm Payments Bank’s license due to governance lapses.
