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This week, 15 Indian startups raised $133.9 million across 4 growth-stage deals, 10 early-stage deals, and 1 undisclosed round. The week also saw 5 key appointments. In contrast, 30 startups had collectively secured about $302.85 million in the previous week. [Growth-stage deals] Growth-stage startups raised $86.2 million across four deals this week, led by Even Healthcare, which secured $50 million in a Series B round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures. Premium menswear brand The Pant Project raised Rs 109 crore in a Series B round led by Mirae Asset Venture Investments India, with participation from existing investor Sorin Investments. Battery-swapping startup Battery Smart raised close to Rs 100 crore from an existing investor to expand its network for electric two- and three-wheelers. Meanwhile, rural healthcare startup CureBay secured around Rs 100 crore in a Pre-Series C round led by IvyCap Ventures. [Early-stage deals] Early-stage startups raised $47.7 million across 10 deals this week, led by AI startup AuxoAI, which secured $20.7 million in a Series A round led by NTTVC. Home and kitchen brand Chapter Home raised Rs 63 crore through a mix of equity and debt from Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures, influencer Tanmay Bhat and family offices. Travel platform TravClan raised $5 million from online retailer Flipkart and investment firm August One, along with debt financing from Trifecta Capital. Hunar.AI, an AI-powered frontline workforce platform, secured Rs 40 crore in a Series A round led by Blume Ventures. AI startup Vectorial raised $3 million in a round led by SenseAI Ventures, while voice AI platform Karta AI secured $3 million in a seed round led by PeerCapital and Cedar Hill. Other startups that raised funding this week included Japanese food and beverage business Harajuku, customer-first travel platform Onto, lab-grown diamond jewellery brand So/Facet, spacetech startup SpectraGaze and logistics startup Raaho. [City and segment-wise deals] Bengaluru led startup funding activity with seven deals during the week, followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR with three deals each. Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad also recorded funding deals. AI startups led the sectors with 4 deals, followed by e-commerce startups which grabbed 3 deals. Meanwhile healthtech, travel tech, EV, Foodtech, spacetech and logistics also saw funding activity. [Series-wise deals] Seed rounds led the week with 4 deals, followed by Series A and Series B startups which grabbed 3 deals and 2 deals respectively. Pre-seed, Series C, pre-Series C and pre-Series A also recorded deals this week. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding declined 56% to $133.9 million from $302.85 million raised in the previous week. The average weekly funding over the past eight weeks stood at around $234 million across 22 deals. [Key Hirings] Fractal Analytics has appointed Shilpa Kedia as its chief financial officer (CFO) to oversee global finance operations, with a focus on profitable growth, capital allocation and investments in AI research, platforms and products. IVS Group has named Atish Bhatia as group chief marketing officer (CMO) and head of IVS Fashion. Meanwhile, Honasa Consumer, the parent company of Mamaearth, has elevated Vipul Maheshwari to chief product and technology officer (CPTO). [New launches and partnerships] ▪️ Ultraviolette launches X-47 Venom electric motorcycle, introduces new VX-100 platform Bengaluru-based electric mobility startup Ultraviolette Automotive has launched the X-47 Venom electric motorcycle at an introductory price of Rs 2.65 lakh, alongside its new 100V VX-100 platform. The first motorcycle built on the new architecture, the X-47 Venom is designed to improve performance, energy efficiency, charging speed and safety while reducing weight. Bookings opened on October 22, with the introductory price available to the first 5,000 customers. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in November 2026 through Ultraviolette’s UV Space Stations across India. ▪️ Eternal’s Dark.ai aims to offer encrypted AI chats, targets launch this year Eternal is preparing to launch Dark.ai, a global AI platform focused on privacy and encrypted conversations, later this year. The platform will use fine-tuned open-weight models hosted on its own infrastructure and offer end-to-end encryption. Dark.ai aims to address concerns around data retention, third-party access and the use of sensitive conversations, claiming that even the company cannot read users’ chats. [Q2 FY27 results this week] [News flash this week] ▪️ PhonePe rebrands Share.Market as PhonePe Invest PhonePe has rebranded its stock broking platform Share.Market as PhonePe Invest, bringing it under the PhonePe brand alongside its payments, lending and insurance services to expand its reach among existing users. The company has also launched Portfolio Optimiser, a portfolio intelligence tool that offers research-backed Hold, Monitor or Sell ratings across linked demat accounts and a one-click rebalancing feature to identify underperforming assets and sector concentration risks. ▪️Zetwerk shares list at over 5% premium in stock market debut Bengaluru-based Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses made a positive stock market debut on Friday, with shares listing at Rs 159.25 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a 5.5% premium over the IPO issue price of Rs 151 per share. ▪️ Blacksmith raises $66 Mn at $1 Bn valuation led by Sequoia AI code testing platform Blacksmith has raised $66 million in a Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $1 billion. The round also saw participation from Premji Invest and existing investors Peak XV Partners, Google Ventures (GV) and Y Combinator, taking its total funding to $125 million. ▪️Mygate, Adonmo set to merge; Eternal to hold 4.4% stake in combined entity Eternal, formerly Zomato, will acquire a 4.4% stake in Mygate, valued at Rs 156 crore, through a share swap involving its entire holding in Adonmo. The transaction forms part of the proposed merger between Mygate and Adonmo, following which Adonmo will cease to exist as a separate entity. Eternal had invested Rs 112 crore in Adonmo in January 2022. ▪️ Kissht gets BSE, NSE nod for Rs 832 Cr fundraise Kissht, operated by OnEMI Technology Solutions, has received in-principle approvals from the BSE and NSE to raise Rs 832.2 crore through a preferential issue of up to 2.65 crore shares at Rs 314.11 apiece. The fundraise, approved by the board in September and shareholders in October, will see participation from 34 investors, including Axis Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, MIT, WhiteOak, 360 ONE, Groww Mutual Fund and Bandhan Mutual Fund.
document fetched 2026-10-25 02:57