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Indian startup ecosystem has raised around $519 Mn in funding across 50 deals in the third week of 2022

The week saw a total of nine acquisitions, with Evenflow Brands adding four names to its portfolio

During this time, we also saw D2C brand boAt planning to file INR 2,000 DRHP in the coming week

The Indian startup ecosystem in the third week of January has managed to raise more than $519 Mn across 50 deals. This is a 25% drop from last week’s total investment, where the ecosystem raised $697 Mn across 42 deals. This is further 60% below than $1.3 Bn that the ecosystem raised in the first week of 2022 across 35 deals. 

Wealth management startup INDMoney raised the highest funding this week with $86 Mn in its Series D at $640 Mn valuation. Inc42 on January 17, 2022 , exclusively reported about the development. 

The week’s second largest funding was of agritech startup Arya.ag, which raised $60 Mn in Series C funding led by Asia Impact SA, Lightrock India and Quona Capital.

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

IPO-Bound Swiggy Allotted Bonus Shares Worth INR 16,310 Cr To Its Founders, Investors

Bengaluru-based food delivery aggregator Swiggy issued around 163 Mn bonus shares to its 30 shareholders. 

Swiggy board of directors during an extraordinary general meeting held on January 3 decided to approve the issuance of 16,31,05,600 bonus CCPS in a ratio of 1:1400 to its shareholders. This means, for every one equity share, 1,400 bonus CCPS have been allotted by Swiggy. 

The said bonus CCPS can be converted into equity shares either in 1:1 ratio, 1: 1.6 ratio, or 1: 0.8 ratio depending upon the investors and the company. Swiggy is allotting the bonus shares at a face value of INR 1,000, meaning the total value of bonus shares is pegged at INR 16,310 Cr 

boAt’s Plans To File INR 2,000 Cr DRHP Next Week

Delhi-based consumer electronics brand boAt is all set to become the first Indian D2C brand to file for an IPO. The D2C startup is aiming to raise about INR 2,000 Cr through IPO and is planning to file the DRHP with SEBI as early as next week. 

According to Inc42 sources, the IPO offer will include fresh issue of shares worth INR 1,000 Cr and offer for sale worth INR 1,000 Cr. The startup has roped in Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Axis Bank and ICICI Securities to manage its IPO. 

From The Startup Acquisition Desk

• Nazara Technologies acquired a 55% stake in programmatic advertising and monetisation startup Datawrkz 
• Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company has acquired a majority stake of 72.12% in Hyderabad-based online payment gateway startup Payswiff Technologies (Payswiff) for a sum of INR 450 Cr
• Mumbai-based D2C brand aggregator Evenflow Brands acquired majority stakes in Vifitkit, Yogaraise, Frenchware, and Cingaro
• Reliance Retail picked up 54% stake in Indian robotics startup Addverb Technologies for $132 Mn (about INR 983 Cr)
• Ecommerce roll up startup Goat Brand Labs bought 90% stake in The Label Life to enter women’s fashion sector
• Neobank startup Fyp acquired edtech startup, Edunify as part of its expansion plans. 

Startup Funds This Week

• Early-stage venture capital firm pi Ventures completed the first close of its Fund II at INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn).The fund plans to invest in 20-25 startups in the fields of blockchain, spacetech, biotech, and material science
• IncubateHub to launch nine Thematic Demand-Led accelerators for the startups and corporates to co-create solutions and go-to-market strategies in partnership with Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns.

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Bengaluru-based intra-city logistics startup, Porter, has implemented its maiden Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) worth $5 Mn. The move will allow all eligible current and former employees to sell their holdings
• Bengaluru-based fintech startup Juspay has increased its ESOP pool scheme size by 232X. The startup has hiked the ESOP to 48,56,161 from the existing 20,959 options. The increased ESOP pool size will be now worth INR 552 Cr or $74 Mn (as per the current exchange rate). Otherwise, the ESOP pool size would have been of INR 2.3 Cr or $320K. 
• Innovation ecosystem enabler T-Hub has been selected under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme by the central government’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to disburse INR 5 Cr among eligible startups.
• Kunal Shah-led fintech unicorn CRED has expanded its ESOP pool size to $500 Mn by by adding 112,504 stock options to 392,958 stock options in total.