From Garuda Aerospace To Jewelbox— Indian Startups Raised $65 Mn This Week

In a week marred with instances of corporate misgovernance in the Indian startup ecosystem, investment activity across new-age tech companies nosedived under $100 Mn. 

Between April 14 and 19, startups cumulatively raised a meagre $65.3 Mn, a 67% drop from the $195.1 Mn raised by startups in the preceding week. 

As many as 22 startups managed to raise funds this week, a mere two more than the 20 funding deals struck in the previous week .  

Here is a recap of what happened over the past week in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ Apr 14 – Apr 19 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
16 Apr 2025	Garuda Aerospace	Deeptech	Spacetech	B2B	$11.7 Mn	Series B	Venture Catalysts	Venture Catalysts
16 Apr 2025	OfBusiness	Ecommerce	B2B Ecommerce	B2B	$11.7 Mn	–	Cornerstone Ventures	Cornerstone Ventures
17 Apr 2025	Varthana	Fintech	Lendingtech	B2C	$8.7 Mn	Debt	OfBusiness, Oxyzo	OfBusiness, Oxyzo
14 Apr 2025	Optimized Electrotech	Deeptech	Defencetech	B2B	$6 Mn	Series A	Blume Ventures, Mela Ventures, Venture Catalysts, 100Unicorns, Rajiv Dadlani Group, Sandeep Shah	Blume Ventures, Mela Ventures
16 Apr 2025	Magma	Enterprisetech	Enterprise Services	B2B	$5 Mn	Series A	Capria Ventures, Avinya Ventures, Sanjiv Rangrass, General Catalyst, Accion Venture Lab, WEH Ventures	Capria Ventures
16 Apr 2025	Peppermint Robotics	Deeptech	Robotics	B2B	$4 Mn	Series A	Indian Angel Network, JDSS, Enrission India Capital	–
16 Apr 2025	Jewelbox	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$3.2 Mn	pre-Series A	V3 Ventures, Atrium Angels, Dexter Ventures, Infinyte Club, Samarthya Capital, JIIF	V3 Ventures
17 Apr 2025	IPEC	Cleantech	Electric Vehicle	B2B	$3 Mn	–	Gruhas	Gruhas
16 Apr 2025	Nothing Before Coffee	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2.3 Mn	Pre-Series A	Prath Ventures, SYL Investments	Prath Ventures
15 Apr 2025	CENTA	Edtech	Online Certification	B2C	$2.3 Mn	Series A	Colossa Ventures, Discovery Asset Management	Colossa Ventures
18 Apr 2025	Good Monk	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$2 Mn	Pre-Series A	RPSG Capital Ventures, Multiply Ventures, Sharrp Ventures, ThinKuvate	RPSG Capital Ventures
14 Apr 2025	PujaShree Products Global	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.5 Mn	Seed	–	–
14 Apr 2025	EON Space Labs	Deeptech	Spacetech	B2B	$1.2 Mn	Pre-Series A	MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh	MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh
17 Apr 2025	That Sassy Thing	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$703K	Seed	Inflection Point Ventures, Bala Sarda, Saurabh Munjal, Kirti Jangra	Inflection Point Ventures
14 Apr 2025	NOTO	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$700K*	Pre-Series A	Equentis Angel Fund, Inflection Point Ventures, JITO, Signal Ventures	Equentis Angel Fund
14 Apr 2025	Cura Care	Healthtech	Home Healthcare	B2C	$586K	Pre-Seed	Zeropearl VC, Shripad Nadkarni, Rohan Mirchandani	Zeropearl VC
16 Apr 2025	Iyaso	Edtech	Skill Development	B2C	$500K	Pre-Seed	Malpani Ventures	Malpani Ventures
15 Apr 2025	BeastLife	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$222K	–	Rinku Singh	Rinku Singh
17 Apr 2025	JetSynthesys	Media & Entertainment	Gaming	B2C	–	–	KRAFTON	KRAFTON
14 Apr 2025	uppercase	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Jasprit Bumrah	Jasprit Bumrah
14 Apr 2025	SportsSkill	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	–	Pre-Seed	Waimea Bay Investments	Waimea Bay Investments
15 Apr 2025	Ochre Spirits	Alcoholic Beverages	Alcoholic Beverages	B2C	–	–	ah! Ventures	ah! Ventures
	Source: Inc42 *Part of a larger round **Included this week as it was skipped last week Note: Only disclosed funding rounds have been included

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• Despite recent debate over a lack of investor interest in the deeptech space, the sector saw the highest capital infusion this week. Startups in the sector raised $22.9 Mn across four deals, including the week’s largest funding round raised by Garuda Aerospace. 
• Trailing deeptech really close, ecommerce saw a fund infusion of $22.3 Mn across nine deals this week. 
• Venture Catalysts and Inflection Point Ventures were the most active investors this week, backing two startups apiece. 
• Five startups at the seed stage raised $2.3 Mn this week, a sharp decline from the $10.1 Mn raised at this stage last week.

Startup IPO Developments This Week

• Walmart-owned fintech major PhonePe took the first step towards listing this week by converting into a public company.
• Similar to PhonePe, fintech unicorn Razorpay also converted into a public company this week. It also said that it will be eyeing a public listing in the upcoming two years. 
• Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s Wonderchef is planning for an IPO this year. Sources told Inc42 that it will be eyeing a valuation of INR 1,800 Cr.
• Edtech startup Imarticus Learning is planning to file for an IPO within 4-5 months to raise around INR 750 Cr in a combination of fresh issue and offer for sale of existing shares.

Other Developments Of The Week

• SaaS major Clevertap acquired promotion automation solutions platform rehook.ai  to provide a complete suite of offerings to its clients.
• Wow! Momo is said to be in talks with Haldiram’s promoter Kamal Agrawal and Malaysia’s wealth fund Khazanah Nasional to raise a fresh funding round. 
• Kunal Shah-led fintech major CRED is reportedly eyeing the raise of $100-200 Mn in a new funding round that would value it at $4 Bn, a near 60% cut from its last valuation.
• Sportswear startup Agilitas is said to have roped in cricketer Virat Kohli as an investor to charge up its global expansion plans.
• MoEngage plans to raise $150-180 Mn in a fresh funding round that will value it in the range of $800-850 Mn.
• Logistics startup Porter is said to be in discussions with private equity firm Wellington Management to raise a mega funding round that can potentially propel it to the unicorn club.

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