Funding And Acquisitions In Indian Startups This Week [aug 10 - Aug 15]

This week, 14 Indian startups raised $151.5 million across two growth-stage deals, 11 early-stage deals and one undisclosed round. The week also saw five key hires, one departure, five fund launches, two M&A deals and an ESOP buyback that turned a startup into a unicorn.

In contrast, 28 startups had collectively secured about $383.8 million in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth-stage startups raised nearly $103.5 million across three deals this week. Electric mobility platform Yulu led the funding activity with $93 million in Series C, comprising $63 million in equity led by GEF Capital Partners and $30 million in debt, while online bakery startup Bakingo secured around $10.5 million in Series B funding from existing investor Faering Capital.

[Early-stage deals]

Early-stage startups raised $48 million across 11 deals this week, led by Gurugram-based wealth management firm Centricity, which raised Rs 280 crore ($30 million) in Series A funding from SMBC Asia Rising Fund. Deep-tech startup Discovered Materials followed with $9 million (Rs 85 crore) in seed funding led by Lightspeed India Partners.

Gurugram-based home-cleaning products startup Scrubsy has raised Rs 27 crore (around $3 million) from V3 Ventures. Bengaluru-based medical technology startup Ayati Devices has raised Rs 15 crore ($1.5 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflexor Ventures.

Other startups that secured funding this week included children's technology startup Wippi, tech-enabled driving education and mobility platform Lane, AI transformation partner for financial institutions. Vecton AI, and 5 more early-stage ventures.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru continued to lead the funding charts with 10 startup deals during the week, followed by Delhi-NCR with 2 deals. Pune and Chennai recorded  a deal each.

Segment-wise, healthtech and deeptech led the week with two deals each. AI, Edtech, mobility, fintech, foodtech, e-commerce and others also bagged deals during the week. 

[Series-wise deals]

Seed and pre-seed rounds led the week with four deals each, followed by Series A, and pre-Series A rounds with two deals each. Series B and Series C also recorded one deal each during the week.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined over 60% to $151.5 million from $383.8 million raised in the previous week.

The average weekly funding over the past eight weeks stood at around $297 million across 20 deals.

[Key Hirings / Departures]

This week, Delhivery reshuffled its senior leadership, with COO Ajith Pai Mangalore set to exit the logistics firm, while chief business officer Vani Venkatesh was elevated to deputy CEO. Troogue appointed former Thoughtworks Data & AI leader Madhusudhana Rao Podila as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO).

SLMG Beverages appointed Lagan Shastri as Chief Executive Officer, while Qlik named Saugata Saha as its President and Chief Executive Officer. MOS Utility, an Indian B2B2C digital fintech and ecommerce company, appointed Atish Shelar as Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

[Fund Launches]

US-based venture capital firm Accel has raised a $550 million early-stage fund dedicated to India, as part of a $3.5 billion fundraise across four new funds globally.

Early-stage VC firm Aum Ventures announced the first close of its India Innovation Fund II at Rs 225 crore. The fund has a target corpus of Rs 750 crore ($80 million) and will back early-stage, IP-led technology startups from India targeting global markets.

Mirae Asset Venture Investments India (MAVI India), the venture capital arm of Mirae Asset Financial Group, announced the first close of its second Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund (MAVOF II) at Rs 1,125 crore.

Frontier-tech focused VC firm Bluehill.VC announced the final close of its maiden Rs 400 crore fund.

BlackSoil Asset Management, the asset management arm of alternative credit platform BlackSoil, has deployed Rs 750 crore across 40 companies through its second credit fund, BlackSoil India Credit Fund II (BICF II).

[Mergers and Acquisitions]

Space technology startup GalaxEye has acquired Bengaluru-based spacecraft engineering firm StarOps, adding its proprietary technologies, qualified satellite platforms, systems engineering expertise and experienced engineering team to its operations.

Omnichannel diagnostics provider Redcliffe Labs has acquired Pune-based Megavision Diagnostics Center for around Rs 40 crore, strengthening its integrated diagnostics offering by bringing imaging and pathology services under a single platform.

[ESOP Buyback]

Noida-based astrology and spiritual tech platform Astrotalk has entered the unicorn club at a $1 billion valuation through an ESOP buyback involving over 100 employees. The buyback will give eligible employees an opportunity to realise liquidity while continuing to participate in the company’s future growth.

[Financial results this week]

[New launches and partnerships]

▪️PayU Launches India's First RBI-Compliant Accessible Payments Checkout for Blind and Visually Impaired Users

▪️Redcliffe Labs and Skyroot Aerospace Launch India's First Diagnostics & Space Sciences Collaboration

[News flash this week]

▪️Swiggy’s 99 Store gains traction, accounts for 1 in 7 food orders

▪️Zetwerk files UDRHP to raise Rs 2,600 Cr via fresh issue; promoters to account for 53% of OFS

▪️Infra.Market may go public through reverse merger with Shalimar Paints

▪️Groww leads stock brokers in July; Sahi records highest 13.6% client growth

▪️Ola Electric gets five-year PLI window, eyes Rs 7,240 Cr incentive

▪️Table Space files DRHP with SEBI to raise Rs 800 Cr via fresh issue

▪️Zostel withdraws latest plea before Delhi HC in OYO dispute

▪️Bernstein raises Paytm target to Rs 2,200 on UPI MDR upside

▪️Zo House Bengaluru hosts Sarvam AI hackathon as 6,272 apply, 100 make the cut

▪️Tiger Global exits TVF as valuation drops to $22M

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding declined over 60% to $151.5 million from $383.8 million raised in the previous week.

Swiggy’s 99 Store, launched in July 2025, now accounts for 1 in 7 food orders on the platform, reflecting growing demand for affordable meals. Over the past year, the offering has expanded to 500+ cities with a network of over 1.8 lakh restaurant partners. It offers curated meals priced at Rs 49, Rs 79 and Rs 99, with free delivery on orders above Rs 49. Customers can also order from QSR chains such as Burger King, McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s Pizza and Taco Bell, along with local favourites.

India’s top stock brokers had a stable active client base of 4.54 crore in July. Groww retained its lead with 1.31 crore clients, adding 70,119 users and raising its market share to 28.88% during the month, while Sahi entered the top 20 after recording the highest month-on-month growth.

Building materials platform Infra.Market could go public through a reverse merger with listed Shalimar Paints, which has approved a Rs 10,440 crore share-swap deal involving Hella Infra Market, Infra.Market’s parent. Under the proposed transaction, Hella Infra Market will become an unlisted material subsidiary of Shalimar Paints.

Ola Electric has secured a revised timeline under the government’s ACC PLI scheme, giving its battery business a fresh five-year window to qualify for incentives of up to Rs 7,240 crore. Under the revised timeline, its wholly owned subsidiary Ola Cell Technologies will have until December 2026 to meet the first 6 GWh installed-capacity milestone, which the company expects to achieve by the end of the current quarter.

PayU has launched Accessible Payments Checkout, India’s first RBI-compliant payment checkout designed for people who are blind or visually impaired. The launch makes PayU the first payment gateway in India to comply with the RBI’s October 2024 accessibility mandate under BIS IS 17802, with features aimed at improving navigation and interaction for users with visual and cognitive accessibility needs.

Zo House Bengaluru hosted Sarvam AI’s 12-hour BuildIn’ Hours hackathon, attracting 6,272 applications within 48 hours, with only 100 builders selected. Participants built projects across Voice AI, Document Intelligence, Multilingual AI and AI Agents using the Sarvam stack, with mentorship, Rs 5,000 in Sarvam credits per team and a Rs 5 lakh prize pool.

Redcliffe Labs and Skyroot Aerospace have partnered to explore diagnostics in space, with the first mission, DRIFT-1, set to place Redcliffe’s dry diagnostic reagents in Low Earth Orbit for 90 days alongside a ground control. The study will assess the impact of space conditions on reagent stability and could support future space diagnostics, astronaut health and resilient point-of-care solutions on Earth.

Tiger Global Management has exited The Viral Fever (TVF), selling its stake to a group of investors including Lighthouse India Fund-I, Frontier Globecap Ventures and LC Nueva Advisors LLP at a valuation of around $22 million, sharply below its $82 million peak valuation in 2019, according to a Mint report. The deal ends Tiger Global’s decade-long association with the studio behind popular shows such as Panchayat, Kota Factory, Aspirants and Gullak. The investor had first backed TVF’s parent Contagious Online Media Network with around $10 million in 2016.