Indian Startup Funding — Startups Raised $152 Mn This Week

SUMMARY

Between May 12 and 17, startups cumulatively raised $151.6 Mn across 24 deals, marking a 74% decline from the $587 Mn raised by 27 startups in the previous week

D2C snacking brand Farmley secured the biggest cheque of $40 Mn this week

IvyCap Ventures and Titan Capital were the most active investors, backing two startups apiece

After a week of spike, funding trends in the Indian startup ecosystem dwindled again in the second week of the ongoing month. Between May 12 and 17, startups cumulatively raised $151.6 Mn across 24 deals, marking a 74% decline from the $587 Mn raised by 27 startups in the previous week.

The decline in the funding primarily comes due to a dearth of large-ticket transactions. D2C snacking brand Farmley secured the biggest cheque of $40 Mn this week, as against the $218 Mn funding raised by PB Health last week.

Meanwhile, the week was rife with developments like announcements of new fund launches, secondary deals and of startups taking the next step to raise from the public markets.

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Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [May 12 – 17]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
12 May 2025	Farmley	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$40 Mn***	Series C	L Catterton, DSG Consumer Partners, BC Jindal Group	L Catterton
14 May 2025	Complement1	Healthtech	Healthcare Services	B2C	$16 Mn	Seed	Owl Ventures, Blume Ventures	Owl Ventures, Blume Ventures
12 May 2025	Celebal	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$15 Mn	Series B	InCred Growth Partners Norwest Capital	–
13 May 2025	Flam	Media & Entertainment	–	B2B	$14 Mn	Series A	RTP Global, Dovetail	RTP Global
15 May 2025	Hocco	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$10 Mn*	Series B	Chona family office, Sauce.vc	Chona family office, Sauce.vc
12 May 2025	Avammune Therapeutics	Healthtech	Healthcare Services	B2C	$12 Mn	Series A	Capital 2B, Shastra VC, Kotak Alternate Asset Managers, IvyCap Ventures, 1Crowd	Capital 2B, Shastra VC, Kotak Alternate Asset Managers
13 May 2025	Stashfin	Fintech	Lending Tech	B2C	$9.3 Mn	Debt	Northern Arc, Coinmen Special Opportunities Fund	–
13 May 2025	Hyperbots	Fintech	Fintech SaaS	B2B	$6.5 Mn	Series A	Arkam Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, JSW Ventures, Kalaari Ventures, Sunicon Ventures, Darashaw & Company	Arkam Ventures, Athera Venture Partners
13 May 2025	Adopt AI	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$6 Mn	Seed	Elevation Capital, Foster Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, Darkmode Ventures	Elevation Capital
13 May 2025	Biryani Blues	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Delivery	B2C	$5 Mn	Pre-Series C	Yugadi Capital	Yugadi Capital
14 May 2025	BlueStone	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$4.7 Mn	Debt	BlackSoil, Caspian Impact Investments	–
13 May 2025	TIEA Connectors	Deeptech	IoT & Hardware	B2B	$2.6 Mn	–	Jamwant Ventures, Valour Capital, 8X Ventures, IvyCap Ventures	Jamwant Ventures, Valour Capital
14 May 2025	ReelSaga	Media & Entertainment	OTT	B2C	$2.1 Mn	Seed	Picus Capital, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Nazara Technologies, 8i Ventures, Waveform Ventures, Warmup Ventures, Bombay54, Bharat Founders Fund	Picus Capital
15 May 2025	Zenergize	Cleantech	Electric Vehicles	B2B	$2 Mn	Seed	Mohit Tandon, Himanshu Aggarwal	Mohit Tandon, Himanshu Aggarwal
16 May 2025	Pronto	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	$2 Mn	–	Bain Capital Ventures	Bain Capital Ventures
15 May 2025	Rohal Technologies	Cleantech	Climate Tech	B2B	$1 Mn	Seed	India Accelerator	India Accelerator
14 May 2025	MedVital	Healthtech	Medtech	B2B	$981K	Pre-Seed	4point0 Health Ventures	4point0 Health Ventures
14 May 2025	ContraVault AI	Enterprise Tech	Enterprise Services	B2B	$596K	Seed	Titan Capital, Rajiv Ahuja, Haresh Chawla, Jaswinder Ahuja, Dilipkumar Khandelwal, Abhishek Goyal	Titan Capital
14 May 2025	Third Bracket	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$584K	Seed	–	–
13 May 2025	LUZO	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	$550K	Seed	Enrission India Capital	Enrission India Capital
15 May 2025	Naptapgo	Travel Tech	Accommodation	B2C	$234K	Pre-Seed	Inflection Point Ventures	Inflection Point Ventures
13 May 2025	Be Clinical	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$234K	Seed	Titan Capital, Aditya Agrawal	Titan Capital
13 May 2025	Neurostellar	Deeptech	IoT & Hardware	B2B	$150K	–	Swapnil Jain, Tarun Mehta	–
16 May 2025	Airbots Aerospace	Deeptech	Agritech	B2B	–	–	Technology Innovation Hub Foundation	Technology Innovation Hub Foundation
	Source: Inc42 Part of a larger round Included this week as it was skipped last week ** Includes both primary and secondary deal Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included “

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

On the back of Farmley’s $40 Mn funding round, ecommerce emerged as the most funded startup sector this week. Four startups in the segment raised $54.9 Mn in the week.
Enterprise tech also saw an equal number of deals materialise this week as ecommerce. Four startups in the segment raised $22.2 Mn in the week.
IvyCap Ventures and Titan Capital were the most active investors this week, backing two startups apiece.
Seed funding plunged to $29.8 Mn raised by 11 startups this week as against $227.4 Mn raised by startups at this stage last week.

Startup IPO Developments This Week

Groww is likely to take the confidential route to file its DRHP for an IPO that could value it in a range of $7 Bn to $8 Bn within two weeks via a confidential route.
In route to filing for a INR 1,500 Cr IPO, Curefoods converted into a public entity this week.
IPO-bound fintech unicorn Moneyview is said to have roped in Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, among others, as bankers for its $400 Mn IPO.

Fund Updates Of The Week

Former X India head Manish Maheshwari’s BAT VC announced its India foray with the launch of a $100 Mn fund to back early stage ventures in the country this week.
Early-stage focussed VC Kriscore Capital marked the first close of its maiden INR 100 Cr ($11.7 Mn) fund. The VC plans to back 16-18 tech startups with the fund.

Other Developments Of The Week

Enterprise tech Capillary Technologies bought Kognitiv for an undisclosed amount this week to expand its global footprint and strengthen its position in the North American market.
Groww signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fisdom in an all-cash deal valuing the latter at $150 Mn. Meanwhile, Singapore’s GIC also sought CCI’s approval to acquire a 2.1% stake in the IPO-bound startup this week.
Dream11 shared plans of investing $50 Mn in Times Internet-owned Cricbuzz to deepen its play in the cricket content and broadcast ecosystem.
Motilal Oswal’s founders Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal joined Zepto’s cap table through a $100 Mn secondary deal this week.
Listed dronetech major DroneAcharya and competitor AITMC Ventures have paused their merger plans to re-evaluate the term sheet and focus on the current market opportunities separately.