[Weekly funding roundup Feb 7-13] VC inflow remains subdued

Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups continues to remain in the subdued zone, largely due to the absence of any large value transactions coupled with a lesser number of deals.

The total funding for the second week of February came in at $203 million across 29 deals. In contrast, the previous week saw funding of $191 million. This shows the funding level has almost remained flat.

This week, there were funding transactions across stages, but the amount raised was lower. The early stage category continues to see traction in terms of deals, but the quantum of money remains low. In fact, for the year till now, there has not been a single transaction value of $100 million and above.

These trends do not augur well for the Indian startup ecosystem, and there are no signs that there could be any strong revival anytime soon. In fact, there is a clear absence of any definite theme in the ecosystem, unlike the US market, where artificial intelligence (AI) is grabbing all the headlines and the money.

The immediate future does not look very promising, and even the transactions which could be termed as higher value are coming in the range of $50-80 million. Even the macroeconomic environment is not offering any comfort given how the stock markets continue to remain volatile.

Key transactions

IDfy, a tech startup, raised Rs 476 crore ($53 million approx.) from Neo Asset Management, Blume Ventures, Analog Capital, Elev8, IndiaMART, and Kae Capital.

Pet care startup Supertails raised $30 million from Venturi Partners, Nippon India Alternative Investments, Titan Capital Winners Fund, Fireside Ventures, RPSG Capital Ventures, Sauce VC, and Saama Capital.

Biotech startup Pandorum Technologies raised $18 million from Protons Corporate, Galentic Pharma, Ashish Kacholia, Noblevast Advisory, Avinya Fund, the Burman Family, and others.

Tech startup Showroom B2B raised $17 million from Cactus Partners, Zephyr Peacock, Jungle Ventures, Accion Ventures, NBD Ventures, Lighthouse Canton, and Alteria Capital.

Tech startup Care. fi raised $8 million from July Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Accion Venture Lab, Sadev Ventures, Trifecta and Vivriti.

Automotive technology startup Six Sense Mobility raised Rs 44 crore ($4.8 million approx.) from Ashish Kacholia and Piper Serica Angel Fund.