From Scapia To Pratilipi — Indian Startups Raised $144 Mn This Week

Funding momentum seems to have stabilised at the onset of the fiscal year FY26 sans large ticket-sized transactions. Although small deals pulled up around 32% of the investment activity in the final week of March, overall funding across the Indian startup ecosystem still hovered around the $144 Mn mark in the beginning of April.

Between March 31 and April 5, startups cumulatively raised $144.4 Mn across 22 deals, a meager 0.5% increase from the $143.7 Mn raised by 16 startups in the preceding week. 

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Mar 31 – Apr 5 ]

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• As has been the story for the past few weeks, fintech continued to be the ‘flavour of the season’ for investors. At least five fintech startups raised $65 Mn during the week, about two-third of the $98.1 Mn raised across five deals last week.
• While healthtech saw a similar number of deals materialise this week as fintech, the sector saw a capital infusion of a mere $4.2 Mn. This comes on the back of Indian Angel Network cofounder Padmaja Ruparel saying that the Indian healthtech sector is witnessing an overall slowdown sans funding and consolidations. He was addressing a session at the Startup Mahakumbh.
• Investors Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator and Antler were the most active investors this week, backing two startups each.
• Seven startups at the seed stage raised about $11 Mn this week, down about 41% from the $18.6 Mn raised by four startups last week.

IPO-Related Developments This Week

• Lendingtech startup Kissht is said to be looking to file for a $225 Mn IPO. According to reports, the startup has ICICI Securities, UBS Securities, and Motilal Oswal as the investment bankers for the proposed public issue.
• During the Startup Mahakumbh, Navi Fintech’s founder Sachin Bansal announced that the startup would look to go for an IPO within the ongoing fiscal year.
• Coworking space provider DevX refiled its IPO papers this week, raising the fresh issue size to 2.75 Cr equity shares from 2.47 Cr shares earlier. Meanwhile, its competitor, IndiQube received SEBI’s approval for its $100 Mn (INR 850 Cr) IPO this week.
• Logistics tech Shadowfax has taken its first step towards public listing, omitting the ‘private’ from its erstwhile name ‘ShadowFax Private Technologies Limited’.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Sustainability-focussed VC firm ZeCa Capital received approval from the markets regulator SEBI to launch its maiden fund with a corpus of INR 150 Cr this week.
• Walmart-owned Flipkart infused $379 Mn in its marketplace arm Flipkart Internet through its Singapore-based holding company.
• Recently launched talent mobility startup BorderPlus acquired German healthcare recruitment firm Onea Care to expand its operations in Germany.
• Car marketplace unicorn Spinny reportedly raised $131 Mn in a round led by US-based Accel Leaders Fund at a flat valuation. However, the startup didn’t announce the funding round this week.
• SpaceBasic, a B2B SaaS company that automates student housing and cafeteria operations, acquired attendance automating platform CAMPUS during the week to expand its university automation operations.