Indian startup funding fell to $139.5 million in the week of August 10–14, driven largely by Yulu’s $93 million Series C round, the dominant deal in a subdued week of activity ahead of India’s Independence Day.
Indian startup funding: Week at a glance
Twelve startups raised a combined $139.5 million between August 10 and 14. Yulu’s $93 million Series C — a mix of equity and debt — accounted for nearly 67% of the week’s capital. Cleantech led sectoral funding for the second consecutive week, followed by fintech, with wealthtech platform Centricity raising $29 million. Advanced hardware and technology recorded the highest deal count, with startups in that sector raising a combined $9.2 million across segments including semiconductors and defence tech.
Deals, investors and stage trends
Notable financings included Yulu’s $93 million Series C; Centricity’s $29 million round; Discovered Materials’ $9 million seed raise; Scrubsy’s $3 million seed; Ayati Devices’ $1.6 million pre-Series A; and Wippi’s $1.2 million seed. Lightspeed India Partners, Finvolve and Peak XV Partners were the most active investors of the week, each backing two startups. Early-stage activity picked up: five seed-stage startups raised about $14 million during the week, an 82% increase from the $7.7 million raised across five deals in the prior week.
Funds, M&A and IPO developments
Fund updates: Mirae Asset Venture Investments India marked the first close of its ₹1,800 crore fund at ₹1,125 crore; Accel has raised $550 million for its ninth India-focused fund; AUM Ventures marked the first close of its ₹750 crore India Innovation Fund at ₹225 crore; and Bluehill.VC closed its maiden ₹400 crore frontier tech fund, including a ₹50 crore greenshoe option.
M&A: Spacetech startup GalaxEye acquired Bengaluru-based spacecraft engineering startup StarOps to strengthen satellite engineering capabilities. Healthtech firm Redcliffe Labs completed the acquisition of Pune-based diagnostics chain Megavision Diagnostics Centre in a deal valued at around ₹40 crore.
IPO developments: Shares of LEAP India debuted at ₹166 apiece, a 4.4% premium to its ₹159 IPO price, after an 8.38X subscription. Shiprocket’s ₹1,617.5 crore IPO closed with a 99.38X oversubscription and is tentatively scheduled to list on August 19. Table Space filed a DRHP with SEBI for a fresh issue of up to ₹800 crore and an offer for sale of up to 6.55 crore equity shares. Fintech firm Navi is reportedly planning a DRHP as early as December for a proposed issue around ₹3,000 crore. Infra.Market is exploring a reverse-listing via Shalimar Paints through a proposed share swap. B2B manufacturing startup Zetwerk filed an updated DRHP for a fresh issue of ₹2,600 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to 9.6 crore equity shares.
Also this week, astrology platform AstroTalk became India’s 133rd unicorn after an ESOP buyback transaction, and several smaller rounds and pre-seed raises rounded out the week’s muted funding picture.
