[Weekly Funding Roundup] Venture investments into Indian startups declines to $344M

The second week of May has been rather tumultuous for the Indian startup ecosystem with declining stock markets and the growing talks about a slowdown in the funding momentum.

This week, Indian startups reported total funding of $344 million across 34 deals—a 35 percent decline from $532 million in the previous week.

Given the global macro-economic conditions, the funding euphoria witnessed in 2021 by the startup ecosystem seems like a distant past now, and the stage is getting set for a likely slowdown. Moreover, this may lead to investors becoming more cautious in their investment activities.

Deals of the week

Electric two-wheeler startup Ather Energy raised $128 million in a Series E round from National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL), Hero MotoCorp, and others.

Fintech unicorn Razorpay raised $75 million in a secondary transaction ESOP sale from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Moore Strategic Ventures.

Ecommerce enablement platform GoKwik raised $35 million in a Series B funding round from Think Investments, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, and RTP Global.

Edtech startup Skillmatics raised $16 million in a Series B round from Sequoia Capital India and Jalaj Dani Family Office.

Edtech startup iNurture Education Solutions raised $15 million in a combination of debt and equity from ADM Capital.

ApnaKlub, an FMCG wholesale platform, raised $10 million in a Series A round from Tiger Global.

EV startup MoEVing raised $5 million in a seed round from BeyondTeq, Strides One, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and others.

HR tech HONO raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, Aakash+BYJU’s.

M&A

OYO acquired Europe-based ‘Direct Booker’ in a transaction valued at around $5.5 million.

Wellness platform CASHe acquired Sqrrl for an undisclosed value and entered the wealth management space.

Great Learningan upskilling platform owned by BYJU’s, acquired Singapore-based Northwest Executive Education for an undisclosed value.