Indian startups raised $71.9 Mn across 17 deals between July 4 and July 10, down 31% from the previous week’s $104.6 Mn
Despite weaker funding momentum, investor activity remained broad with new fund launches, multiple IPO filings and approvals, and a steady pipeline of M&A deals, indicating continued confidence in India’s startup ecosystem
The week saw two major VC funds launched by Fundamentum Partnership and Next Bharat Ventures, several IPO developments, among other developments
Indian startup funding remained largely flat in the second week of July. Between July 4 and July 10, Indian startups cumulatively raised about $71.9 Mn across 17 deals.
This marked a 31% decline from the $104.6 Mn raised by 21 startups in the previous week.
| Date | Name | Sector | Subsector | Business Model | Round Size | Round Type | Investors | Lead Investor |
| 2026-07-08 | Elevate Education | Edtech | Offline Education | B2B | $17.7 Mn | Series D | WestBridge Capital | WestBridge Capital |
| 2026-07-10 | Purple Style Labs | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $17 Mn | Debt | Kairos Ventures, Real Capital Financial Services, Texport International, Rupendra Periwal (Angel), Satyen Jitendra Mamtora (Angel), Andy Iyer Sankaranarayanan (Angel) | – |
| 2026-07-10 | Aukera | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $10 Mn | Debt | Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, Lighthouse Canton | Alteria Capital |
| 2026-07-09 | Wheelocity | Agritech | Market Linkage | B2B | $8.5 Mn | – | Lightspeed, Anicut Ventures, Elevar Equity, VML Karthikeyan (Angel), Lakshmi Narayanan Senthilnathan (Angel), VM Lakshminarayanan (Angel), L Gurusami (Angel), Unimix LLC | Elevar Equity |
| 2026-07-07 | Econovus Packaging | Logistics | Logistics Process Solutions | B2B | $4.2 Mn | Pre-Series A | Rainmatter, Rockstud Capital | Rainmatter |
| 2026-07-07 | thumpN | Media & Entertainment | Listing & Bookings | B2C | $3.8 Mn | Pre-Seed | VSS Investco, Madhur Deora (Paytm), VG Jairam (Hyperlink Brand Solutions), Shray Chandra (Capitalmind), Arijit Singh (Singer), Sunidhi Chauhan (Singer) Badshah (Singer) | – |
| 2026-07-07 | Mowito | Advanced IoT & Hardware | Robotics | B2B | $3 Mn | Pre-Seed | Version One Ventures, All In Capital, Unisol, iSeed, Soumith Chintala (Thinking Machines Lab), Adarsh Kulkarni (Foundry Robotics), Ashish Kulkarni (Coformer.ai), Vaibhav Domkundwar (Better Capital) | Version One Ventures |
| 2026-07-08 | Milo Drive | Travel Tech | Booking Services | B2B2C | $2.4 Mn | Seed | Caret Capital, Antler, Alteria Capital, India Angel Network Capital, Climate Angels, Aureolis Capital | Caret Capital, Antler |
| 2026-07-08 | Doodhvale Farms | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $1 Mn | – | Atomic Capital | Atomic Capital |
| 2026-07-07 | Stylework | Real Estate Tech | Real Estate Services | B2B | $1 Mn | Pre- Series B | Auxano Capital | Auxano Capital |
| 2026-07-09 | Neothera | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $943K | – | Blume Ventures, Barbershop Fund, Consumer Collective by Atrium, Veltis Capital, Arjun Purkayastha (Reckitt), Malika Datt Sadani (The Moms Co), Mohit Sadaani (DeVC), Mukul Rustagi (Classplus), Diksha Pande (Samosa Party), Shantanu Deshpande (Bombay Shaving Company) | Blume Ventures |
| 2026-07-09 | BAAS Technologies | Advanced IoT & Hardware | Space Tech | B2B | $525K | Pre-Seed | Inflection Point Ventures | Inflection Point Ventures |
| 2026-07-08 | Avni Wellness | Health Tech | Health & Wellness | B2C | $419K | – | Proteus Partners, Puru Gupta, (True Elements), Sreejith Moolayil (True Elements), A Velumani (Thyrocare), Somya Nigam (Angel) | Proteus Partners |
| 2026-07-07 | Fizzy Goblet | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | – | – | Kareena Kapoor Khan (Actor) | – |
| 2026-07-08 | Rawbare | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | – | – | Teamology Softech | Teamology Softech |
| 2026-07-07 | Rocketlane | AI | Application Layer | B2B | – | – | Atlassian Ventures | Atlassian Ventures |
| 2026-07-01 | The Func Labs | Ecommerce | D2C | B2C | $1.5 Mn | Seed | Nisaba Godrej (Godrej Consumer Products), Anand Piramal (Piramal Group), Abhishek Nayar (Ex-Indian Cricketer), Bhakti Modi (Tira), Harsh Parekh (PharmEasy), Sahil Vora (Sila Group) | – |
Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week
- Ecommerce emerged as the top-funded sector for the second consecutive week, attracting about $28.9 Mn across six deals. Pernia Pop-Up parent Purple Style Labs secured the largest $17 Mn cheque in the segment.
- Edtech was the second-most funded sector, driven entirely by Elevate Education’s $17.7 Mn Series D round led by WestBridge Capital, making it the largest funding deal of the week.
- Venture debt firm Alteria Capital was the most active institutional investor this week, backing Aukera and Milo Drive, while angel investors including Arijit Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Badshah and Madhur Deora participated in thumpN’s pre-seed round.
- Five early-stage startups (three pre-seed and two seed) collectively raised about $11.2 Mn, led by thumpN’s $3.8 Mn pre-seed round and Mowito’s $3 Mn pre-seed raise.
Startup Fund Launches This Week
Growth stage investor Fundamentum Partnership, cofounded by Infosys’s Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal, launched its third fund with a target corpus of ₹2,200 Cr (including a ₹400 Cr greenshoe option). The firm intends to back growth stage startups operating in segments consumer tech, fintech and AI.
Suzuki-backed Next Bharat Ventures launched its second impact fund at ₹2,000 Cr to invest in startups across segments like healthcare, financial services, agritech, cleantech and commerce. It plans on writing cheques in the range of $500K to $1 Mn. .
Startup IPO Updates Of The Week
Fitness unicorn Cult.fit filed its DRHP with SEBI for an IPO comprising a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹950 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 17.86 Cr shares. Investors like Temasek, Schroders Capital and Accel, and cofounder Mukesh Bansal, among others will participate in the OFS.
Auto classifieds major CarDekho’s parent Girnar Software is looking to file draft IPO papers with SEBI for a ₹3,000-3,500 Cr issue in the ongoing July-September quarter, with Axis Bank, IIFL, Goldman Sachs and Nomura already picked as bankers.
Enterprise AI and analytics firm C5i (formerly Course5 Intelligence) filed its DRHP via SEBI’s confidential route, marking its second attempt to go public after shelving IPO plans in 2022.
SEBI cleared furniture and appliance rental startup RentoMojo’s IPO. The issue is proposed to comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹150 Cr and an OFS of up to 2.84 Cr shares, with Accel, Chiratae, Edelweiss Mutual Fund and GMO Venture among sellers.
Fintech major Navi is looking to file its DRHP by the March quarter of the ongoing financial year, in what would be its second attempt at going public. Ahead of the filing, the Sachin Bansal-led firm is said to be in talks to raise a fresh equity round led by Prosus.
M&A Updates Of The Week
AI-driven connectivity software provider Airties has acquired Bengaluru-based Aprecomm to strengthen its AI-powered broadband management offerings and expand its presence across markets like India, Southeast Asia and South America.
Study abroad startup Leverage Edu has acquired Brazil-based Mundus Agency, marking its entry into South America and its first international acquisition as it gears up for a ₹2,000-3,000 Cr IPO.
Info Edge will acquire the remaining 45.36% stake in Coding Ninjas for ₹39.9 Cr, making the edtech startup its wholly owned subsidiary.
Credit Fair sold its rooftop solar financing business to BlackSoil for ₹45 Cr after struggling to raise fresh equity and debt despite managing a ₹160 Cr loan book.
The CCI approved upGrad’s proposed acquisition of Unacademy, clearing the way for the all-stock deal.
Other Developments Of The Week
ideaForge has launched a QIP at a floor price of ₹835.86 per share to raise fresh capital for working capital, debt repayment and product development.
Mental wellness startup Lissun is in advanced talks to raise ₹45 Cr in a Series A funding round led by Colossa Ventures at a valuation of about ₹140 Cr.
Pharmaceutical AI startup Graph AI is in talks to raise $14 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners.
Fresh produce startup Origin Fresh is in talks to raise $10 Mn in a Series A funding round to expand its retail footprint, strengthen its supply chain and accelerate distribution.
Edited by Akshit Pushkarna
