Indian Startups: $343M Raised Amid Market Volatility

Indian startups displayed resilience this week, securing $343 million across 25 deals despite ongoing market turbulence linked to the West Asia conflict. This represents a 50% increase from the $228.4 million raised across 22 deals the previous week.

Key Deals:

Euler Motors: Led the pack with a $73.6 million Series E round, spearheaded by Lightrock and including Hero MotoCorp and Blume Ventures.
Rocketlane: Followed with a $60 million Series C round led by Insight Partners.
CureFit: Closed a $47.2 million Series G round with Temasek as the lead investor.

Sectoral Highlights:

Clean tech emerged as the leading sector, attracting $82 million, primarily driven by Euler Motors’ substantial Series E raise. Ecommerce startups collectively raised $44 million across five deals.

Fund Activity:

Pentathlon Ventures completed its second B2B tech fund at ₹255 Cr, aiming to invest in 16-20 early-stage B2B SaaS startups.
Info Edge allocated ₹250 Cr to its new early-stage startup investment fund, A88 Fund I.

IPO Updates:

Meritto’s draft IPO papers, focused on education-based SaaS, have been cleared by SEBI. The IPO includes a fresh issue of shares worth ₹500-600 Cr.
Cashify appointed ICICI Securities, JM Financial, and Nomura as bankers for its planned ₹1,500-₹1,800 Cr IPO.

Other Developments:

Namma Yatri acquired Automicle, a Netherlands-based mobility startup, to expand into the European market.
Plazza is in discussions to raise $6 million in a new funding round from Z47, All In Capital, and Better Capital.
SarvamAI is reportedly in talks to raise up to $250 million from Nvidia, Accel, and HCLTech, potentially valuing the AI startup at around $1.5 billion.