[Weekly funding roundup Jan 3-9] Startup investments begin on a subdued note

The year 2026 has begun on a subdued note for the Indian startup ecosystem, as startups raised well below $100 million in the week, reflecting the challenges they continue to face while raising venture capital.

The total funding for the week was just $77 million across 24 deals. In contrast, the previous week saw startups raising a total amount of $108 million. The last four weeks have witnessed a steady decline in funding for Indian startups.

This drop is not surprising, given that there is usually a slow start to funding in January, which was also seen in 2025.

However, the worrying element has been the overall funding for 2025, which saw an 11% drop compared to 2024. Startups raised a total of $12.1 billion compared with $13.6 billion in 2024—highlighting that the startup ecosystem is yet to fully emerge from the grips of a long funding winter.

The other challenge has been that while AI startups globally are receiving major funding, that has not been the case in India. It is expected that things would change for the better as the year goes by, and the momentum would pick up.

Of the 24 deals from this week, most of the funding went into pre-Series A rounds. This category generally sees very small amounts of funding. Unless large deals start to come into play, startup funding is unlikely to get a boost.

Key transactions

Even Healthcare raised $20 million from Lachy Groom, Alpha Wave and Sharrp Ventures.

Varthana Finance raised $6 million loan from WaterEquity.

Tech startup Nitro Commerce raised $5 million from Cornerstone Ventures, India Accelerator & Finvolve, Equentis Wealth Advisory Services, Grand Anicut Angel Fund, Razorpay Ventures and others.

Tech startup Aivar raised $4.6 million from Sorin Investments and Bessemer Venture Partners.