This week, 28 Indian startups raised around $255.9 million, comprising 6 growth-stage deals, 17 early-stage deals, while 5 startups kept their funding undisclosed.

In contrast, 17 startups had collectively secured about $165.3 million in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth-stage startups raised a total of $182.9 million across six deals this week, led by GPS Renewables, which raised Rs 635 crore in a Series C round.

Consumer AI startup Equal AI secured $30 million in a Series B round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Tomales Bay Capital. Deep-tech manufacturing startup Ethereal Machines raised $28.5 million in a Series B round led by Avataar Ventures, with participation from Peak XV Partners and other existing investors.

Community security platform Mygate raised Rs 225 crore (~$26 million) from Dharana Capital, while EV rapid charging startup Exponent Energy secured Rs 200 crore (~$21.1 million) in a Series B2 round co-led by 360 ONE Asset and TDK Ventures.

Cancer-focused biotech startup Immuneel Therapeutics raised over Rs 100 crore (~$10.5 million) in a Series B round led by investors including Singularity AMC and Rainmatter by Zerodha.

[Early-stage deals]

Early-stage startups raised $30.1 million across 13 deals this week, led by oncology startup 4baseCare, which secured a total of Rs 128 crore ($13.3 million), including a fresh Rs 38 crore top-up round led by growX Ventures and Infosys.

Marine robotics startup Rekise Marine raised $9.7 million in a seed round co-led by Accel and NKSquared, while craft chocolate brand Manam Chocolate secured $9 million in a round led by Omnivore, with participation from the Turner Morrison consortium.

Quick commerce platform BazaarNow raised Rs 72 crore ($7.7 million) in a round led by Peak XV Partners, and Rivvun AI, which focuses on identifying revenue and procurement leakages for enterprises, raised $7.55 million in a seed round co-led by Sitara Capital and 3one4 Capital.

Other startups that received funding this week included Celebal Technologies, Hoola Health, Uni Seoul, The Wedding Company, and seven additional companies.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru dominated the city-wise deal count with 19 deals, followed by Pune with 2 deals. Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kerala and Mumbai recorded one deal each.

Segment-wise, healthtech startups led the week with 5 deals followed by deeptech and startups with 4 deals and 3 deals respectively. EV, Renewables, Proptech, Robotics, F&B and others also recorded funding activity during the period.

[Series-wise deals]

Seed rounds led the week with nine deals, followed by Series B and Series A rounds, which recorded 5 deals each. Series C, pre-Series A, pre-seed and debt also witnessed activity during the week.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding surged 53% to $53.34 million, compared to around $165.3 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding over the last eight weeks stands at around $163.5 million, with an average of 19 deals per week.

[Key hirings/departures]

Several startups and tech firms announced senior leadership appointments this week. AI-powered fleet safety platform Cautio named Nitin Chadha as Senior Vice President – Growth & Strategy, while Intellect appointed Deepak Dastrala as CEO. Avendus also appointed Gaurav Arora as Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure and Real Assets Investment Banking.

In other developments, Billboard India named Preeti Nayyar as Chief Operating Officer, and used-car marketplace Cars24 appointed Infosys CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka as an Independent Director on its board.

Meanwhile, AirBrick Infra appointed Gaurav Bansal as COO for India, while AI infrastructure startup Neysa brought on technology veteran Anup Purohit as a strategic advisor to support the growth of its business.

Departures: Gagan Goyal, General Partner at India Quotient, has resigned from his role and is set to leave the early-stage venture capital firm in the coming weeks.

[Mergers & Acquisitions]

Managed workspace provider Incuspaze has acquired workspace operator iKeva in a 100% buyout, strengthening its presence in key southern markets. Cygnet.One has acquired a majority stake in TechPoint Business Solution, boosting its SAP capabilities. Meanwhile, e-commerce marketplace Meesho has approved the acquisition of a 100% stake in Singapore-based Kirana Club, along with an additional 0.41% stake in its Indian subsidiary Retail Pulse Labs (RPLPL), for an aggregate consideration of Rs 202.08 crore.

[Fund Launches]

Ashish Dave, former CEO (India) of Mirae Asset Venture Investments, is launching Sanskrit Capital, a new venture capital firm targeting a corpus of Rs 700–1,000 crore for its inaugural fund, according to sources. The firm will be sector-agnostic and focus on Series B and Series C startups that have achieved product-market fit and are entering the scaling phase. Separately, Aum Ventures has launched its second fund, the India Innovation Fund II, with a target corpus of Rs 750 crore (~$80 million), aimed at backing Indian founders building IP-driven, innovation-led companies with global potential.

[Shutdown]

Vibely, a social interaction app developed by Mohalla Tech, has announced the voluntary shutdown of its operations and removal from the Google Play Store. The company said the platform remained an early-stage experiment that never scaled meaningfully and contributed only a negligible share of its overall business, adding that the move aligns with its commitment to digital safety for users and creators.

[New launches and partnerships]

▪️Pine Labs Launches P3P - India’s First Agentic Payment Protocol Built on UPI

[FY26 result this week]

[News flash this week]

▪️After SoftBank, ADIA trust sells 2.3% stake in Lenskart for Rs 1,960 Cr via block deals

▪️Mamaearth parent stock hits 52-week high on strong FY31 growth outlook

▪️Instamart’s share among top q-comm players drops from 34% to 21% in 2 years

▪️Groww extends lead while most brokers lose active clients in May

▪️Zepto files UDRHP for Rs 8,010 Cr fresh issue; Nexus Venture claims 77% of OFS

▪️ADKA Clocks 100 Million Users on JioHotstar

▪️CoinDCX secures trademark to strengthen protection against digital fraud

▪️Pluckk Owned Upnourish Grows 5X In 18 Months As Functional Nutrition Demand Surges

[Summary]

On a weekly basis, startup funding surged 53% to $53.34 million, compared to around $165.3 million raised during the previous week.

Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust, an investment vehicle backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), has sold a 2.3% stake in eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions through a series of block deals. According to exchange data, the trust offloaded 4 crore shares at Rs 490 apiece, amounting to Rs 1,960 crore (around $206 million).

India’s quick commerce race is increasingly becoming a two-horse contest between Blinkit and Zepto, with Swiggy’s Instamart steadily losing share. New disclosures in Zepto’s updated DRHP show Instamart’s share of total orders among the three largest players fell from 34.3% in FY24 to 20.9% in FY26, indicating that a majority of the category’s incremental demand is being captured by its faster-growing rivals.

India’s stock broking industry lost around 1.71 lakh active clients in May, with the total active user base declining to 45.59 million from 45.77 million in April. Amid the slowdown, Groww added nearly 27,600 active clients, taking its user base to 13.06 million and extending its lead with a 28.64% market share, according to NSE data.

Quick commerce major Zepto has filed an updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP-I) with SEBI for its proposed IPO, a month after receiving the regulator’s approval. The offering comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 8,010 crore and an offer for sale of up to 113.47 million shares by existing investors, including Nexus Ventures, Contrary Capital, Razor Ventures, and entities affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Pine Labs has launched the Pine Labs Payment Protocol (P3P), enabling AI agents to complete UPI transactions without real-time user authentication. Built on UPI’s mandate framework, the protocol allows users to pre-authorise spending, enabling AI agents to make payments within approved limits.

TADKA on JioHotstar has crossed 100 million users, marking a major milestone for premium micro-content in India. The platform said daily watch time per viewer has increased 5X since launch, reflecting strong engagement across demographics. More than 42% of viewers are under 24, while metro and Tier-II cities each contribute nearly 40% of total watch time, highlighting the growing popularity of mobile-first, short-format storytelling.

CoinDCX has secured a Class 09 trademark registration for “COINDCX®” from the Trade Marks Office, Government of India, to strengthen its efforts against brand impersonation, phishing scams, and other forms of digital fraud. The move comes amid rising concerns over fake investment platforms, cloned apps, and fraudulent social media accounts targeting crypto users. The registration also builds on a Delhi High Court interim injunction restraining misuse of the CoinDCX brand.

In 2024, Pluckk, India’s fresh food digital brand, acquired Upnourish, a functional nutrition and wellness brand. Since the acquisition, Upnourish by Pluckk has grown 5X overall in 18 months, with its functional plant protein range surging 10X, driven by strong demand for clean-label, science-backed nutrition and rising awareness around daily wellness habits over fad diets.

Source link