# Indian startup funding nears $1 Bn in August after July slowdown — retained record

> Retained news record from news:india-entrackr.

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source: [news](https://highsignal.app/data/news) (news:india-entrackr)  published 2026-09-01 07:04 ingested 2026-09-02 02:59

[original source ↗](https://entrackr.com/report/indian-startup-funding-nears-1-bn-in-august-after-july-slowdown-12479185)

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August saw a couple of $100 million-plus deals, including River Mobility and Navi, pushing India’s startup funding closer to the $1 billion mark. Notably, early-stage deals accounted for around 42% of the month’s funding, led by rounds in Airbound, Centricity, and InRisk Labs. Despite mixed market sentiment around startup IPOs, Shiprocket, Milky Mist, and Leap made strong market debuts at a premium. The month also saw a couple of layoffs, while one startup shut down operations.
[Funding overview]
According to data compiled by Entrackr, Indian startups raised approximately $954 million across 88 deals in August. The total included 13 growth and late-stage deals worth $555 million and 75 early-stage deals worth $400 million. Of the 88 deals, eight were disclosed without funding amounts during the month.
[M-o-M and Y-o-Y trend]
Month-on-month, startup funding jumped 44.3% to $955 million in August from $662 million in July, making it the third-highest monthly total of 2026. Year-on-year, funding remained largely stable at $955 million in August 2026 versus $961 million in August 2025, while the number of deals declined from 100 to 88.
[Top 10 growth/late stage deals]
Growth and late-stage funding in August was led by EV startup River Mobility, which raised $120 million in a Series C round. Navi and Yulu followed with $100 million and $93 million, respectively, while AI startup Sarvam AI secured $74 million. Other notable deals included Third Wave Coffee, Leap India, Matter, BlissClub, Matel, and BGauss, with investments spread across mobility, fintech, AI, F&B, supply chain, EV, e-commerce, and manufacturing.
[Top 10 early stage deals]
Early-stage funding in August was led by aviation startup Airbound, which raised $37 million, followed by wealthtech platform Centricity with $30 million and fintech startup InRisk Labs with $27 million. Other notable deals included CtrlS, Runable, Nexedge Capital, NeoGeo, Rezolv, InstaAstro, and HomeRun, with investments spread across aviation, fintech, data centres, AI, deeptech, spiritual tech, and quick commerce.
[Mergers and Acquisitions]
Mergers and acquisitions remained active in August, with deals spread across healthtech, fintech, edtech, AI and spacetech. Temple acquired London-based longevity medicine practice Longevous, while Healthify merged with Berry Street. Other deals included GalaxEye’s acquisition of StarOps, Imarticus Learning’s acquisition of BELLS Institute, Mintoak’s acquisition of ICC Loyalty and ET Now’s acquisition of OpiGo.
[City and segment wise deals]
Bengaluru continued to dominate startup funding in August, accounting for 47 deals worth $657.65 million, or nearly 69% of the total funding. Delhi-NCR followed with $127.92 million across 20 deals, while Mumbai secured $83.35 million across eight deals. Hyderabad and Pune accounted for a smaller share, with $27.5 million and $22.6 million, respectively.
EV led startup funding in August with $256.14 million across six deals, making up 26.9% of the total funding. Fintech followed with $200.9 million across eight deals, while AI secured $134.4 million across 13 deals. E-commerce raised $48.23 million across 12 deals, followed by deeptech with $40.3 million.
[Stage wise deals]
Series A deals led the funding activity with $313.44 million across 27 deals in August, which made up 32.85% of the total funding. Seed-stage startups raised $46.43 million across 25 deals, while Series B deals secured $141.3 million across five deals. Pre-Series A and pre-seed rounds raised $26.4 million and $4.05 million, respectively.
[Layoffs, shutdowns, departures and key hirings]
August saw 620 layoffs, including 350 employees at Even Healthcare and 270 at listed company Zomato (now Eternal). Meanwhile, e-grocery startup Satvacart announced its shutdown. On the leadership front, startups recorded 31 key executive hires and three senior-level departures.
[Trends]
Early-stage funding remains strong: Early-stage deals contributed $400 million, or nearly 42% of total funding. Airbound, Centricity and InRisk Labs led the segment with sizeable rounds.
Aviation and spacetech gain momentum: Aviation and spacetech attracted strong investor interest in August, led by aviation startup Airbound, which raised $37 million, and spacetech startup Inspecity, which secured $10.5 million. July also saw back-to-back deals across these sectors, which highlights continued investor interest in aviation and spacetech.
Flipkart Minutes overtakes Swiggy Instamart in dark stores:Flipkart Minutes had 627 dark stores across India’s top 10 cities in August, surpassing Swiggy Instamart’s 615, as Flipkart continued to expand its quick-commerce network.
Navi’s $100 Mn round strengthens IPO prospects:Navi’s first institutional funding round of $100 million signals stronger investor confidence in the fintech and creates a more favourable environment for the company as it moves towards a potential IPO.
EV emerges as the top-funded segment: EV startups led funding in August, raising $256.14 million across six deals, which accounted for 26.9% of the total funding.
[Conclusion]
August reflected a stronger recovery in India’s startup ecosystem after the July slowdown, with investor interest spread across EV, AI, aviation, spacetech and early-stage ventures. The month also brought notable shifts in quick commerce and positive signals from IPO-bound startups, while large growth-stage rounds showed that investors continue to back companies with clear scale-up potential. Overall, the funding activity points to a more active market, with capital flowing into both established startups and emerging sectors.
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