This week, 20 Indian startups raised nearly $1.11 billion across 19 disclosed funding deals, including four growth stage and 15 early stage rounds, while one startup kept its funding amount undisclosed. The week also saw the emergence of a new unicorn, nine key leadership appointments, five executive exits, two acquisitions, 100 layoffs, and the shutdown of two platforms.

In contrast, 23 startups had collectively secured about $432 million in the previous week.

[Growth-stage deals]

Growth stage startups raised a total of $1.03 billion across four deals this week, led by Meta's $900 million investment in fintech unicorn CRED through a mix of primary and secondary transactions.

The week also saw real estate and mortgage platform Square Yards enter the unicorn club after raising Rs 900 crore (around $95 million) in a debt and equity funding round led by EAAA Alternatives.

Meanwhile, home improvement startup AllHome raised Rs 200 crore (over $21 million) in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, while Bengaluru-based cyber resilience startup Mitigata secured $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer, with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Titan Capital and WEH Ventures.

[Early-stage deals]

Early stage startups raised $87.39 million across 15 deals this week, led by enterprise AI services startup Hang Ten Systems, which secured $32 million in a seed round led by Mayfield with participation from Aramco Ventures and angel investors. AI marketing platform JustAI also raised over $17 million in a Series A round led by Base10, with backing from Y Combinator and Peak XV Partners.

Among other notable deals, beauty and wellness platform Bodycraft raised Rs 120 crore (around $12.6 million) in a funding round led by Singularity AMC. Wellness platform SuperLiving secured $7 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed, while managed holiday home platform SaffronStays raised $3.5 million from Infinity Ventures and several family offices.

Other startups that attracted funding this week included spacetech startup QOSMIC, QSR and beverage brand Alienkind, IoT smart lock startup Ikin Global, financial planning platform Finnovate, agritech startup Unnati Agri, and five additional companies.

[City and segment-wise deals]

Bengaluru continued to lead the funding charts with 9 startup deals during the week, followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR with 5 deals each and Bhubaneswar also bagged a deal.

Segment-wise, AI startups led the week with 4 deals followed by proptech and fintech with 3 deals and 2 deals respectively. Cybersecurity, e-commerce, healthtech, hospitality, spacetech and others also recorded funding activity during the period.

[Series-wise deals]

Seed rounds led the week with 7 deals, followed by Series A and pre-Series A rounds, which recorded 3 deals each. Series B, pre-seed, Series H, Series C and debt rounds also witnessed activity during the week.

[Week-on-week funding trend]

On a weekly basis, startup funding zoomed 2.6X to $1.1 billion, compared to around $432 million raised during the previous week.

The average funding over the last eight weeks stands at around $328 million, with an average of 20 deals per week.

[Key hirings/departures]

In a major development this week, CRED founder Kunal Shah will join Meta as the global CEO of WhatsApp as part of the company's $900 million investment in the fintech unicorn, while Miten Sampat has been named interim CEO of CRED.

LEAD Group also announced a series of leadership changes, appointing Ajay Kashyap as CEO of its AI first solutions business Ms Curie.AI, Soham Mukherjee as Chief Growth Officer, Indranil Banerjee as Chief Product Officer, and Guruprasad Holla as Chief Technology Officer.

Other key appointments this week included Ankit Sood as CEO of NimbusPost, Arpit Tyagi as Head of Advertising for India at Uber, Karan Sharma as Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at Avendus, Mohan Doifode as Managing Director of Primus Strategic Management Consulting LLC, and Himanshu Agarwal as CFO of Info Edge.

Departures: This week also saw several high profile executive exits. Meesho's Chief Human Resources Officer Ashish Kumar Singh resigned after nearly six years, while Instamart's Chief Operating Officer Ankit Jain and Chief Business Officer Hari Kumar stepped down from Swiggy's quick commerce arm. Pocket FM also witnessed leadership changes, with India Country Head Suyog Gothi and AVP Content Ankit Singh exiting the company. Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh has stepped down after spending nearly 11 years with the ride hailing company.

[Mergers & Acquisitions]

Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer acquired a 58% stake in nutraceuticals company Fluence Pharma at an enterprise value of around Rs 135 crore, marking its entry into the nutraceuticals segment. Meanwhile, customer engagement platform MoEngage acquired San Francisco-based AI startup Aampe for an undisclosed amount.

[Layoff]

Commercial vehicle marketplace startup 91trucks laid off nearly 100 employees and shut several stores as part of a major restructuring exercise.

[Shutdown]

AI healthcare startup JiviAI, founded by former BharatPe Chief Product Officer Ankur Jain, has shut down operations. Meanwhile, audio entertainment platform Pocket FM has wound up its microdrama platform Pocket TV to focus on its core audio business and global expansion ahead of its planned public listing.

[New launches and partnerships]

▪️Pontaq Ventures, SIG Tattva and AGI Greenpac launch India's first manufacturing tech founder workshop

▪️Swiggy with Zerodha Fund House enables delivery partners to start their investment journey

▪️Crazy XYZ Creator Amit Sharma Launches ‘Crazinos’ App

[News flash this week]

▪️Actis continues Pine Labs exit with Rs 371 Cr bulk deal

 ▪️Alpha Wave exits Delhivery via Rs 665 Cr bulk deals

▪️From Series A to Series B: founder ownership in Indian startups continues to shrink

▪️Meta invests $900 Mn in CRED; Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp globally

▪️Why Shadowfax’s stock nearly doubles since listing despite weak debut

▪️From Nykaa to Zepto: How startups are cashing in on India's Korean wave

[Summary]

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

Private equity investor Actis continued its gradual exit from Pine Labs, selling nearly a 2% stake through a Rs 371 crore bulk deal on the BSE on Wednesday by offloading 2.39 crore shares at an average price of Rs 155.17 apiece, according to exchange data.

Alpha Wave Ventures has completely exited logistics major Delhivery after selling its entire 1.93% stake through bulk deals on the NSE and BSE on Wednesday, offloading 1.44 crore shares for around Rs 665 crore at an average price of Rs 460.4 apiece, according to exchange data.

An earlier Entrackr analysis found that founders of startups such as Sahi and Pronto had already diluted over 40% of their holdings by the Series A stage. As these companies progressed to Series B, the trend deepened, with founders across around 12 startups including Sahi, Pronto, Dezerv, Seekho and others diluting over 60% of their equity, raising questions about founder ownership and control.

Facebook parent Meta is investing around $900 million (Rs 8,550 crore) in fintech unicorn CRED through a mix of primary and secondary transactions, with CRED founder Kunal Shah set to join Meta as the global CEO of WhatsApp, while Miten Sampat will take over as interim CEO at CRED.

Pontaq Ventures, in partnership with SIG Tattva, the corporate venture capital and innovation arm of Somany Impresa Group, hosted a two day Founder Immersion and Startup Workshop on June 24 and 25 at AGI Greenpac's manufacturing facility. The workshop brought together eight deep tech startup founders from Pontaq's portfolio, along with investors and industry leaders, to foster collaboration, share manufacturing insights, and explore innovation partnerships.

Swiggy has partnered with Zerodha Fund House to enable its delivery partners to invest in mutual funds directly through the Swiggy Rider app, with investments starting from Rs 100. The initiative aims to help riders build long term savings and financial discipline, allowing them to invest flexibly for emergencies or future goals without any lock in period, while managing their investments digitally through Zerodha Fund House's WhatsApp channel.

Amit Sharma, creator of the science and experimentation YouTube channel Crazy XYZ, has launched Crazinos, a skill gaming app that lets users compete in daily challenges and tournaments designed to build logic, observation, creativity and problem solving skills through interactive edutainment.