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The third week of April’s dry summer has managed to raise $532 Mn funding across 31 deals. Thankfully, the funding wasn’t as dry as the season is! And, interestingly, between April 11 and 17 too, the ecosystem had raised $532 Mn across 28 deals. Meaning, the second and the third week of April brought the exact same amount of funding, albeit from different numbers of deals. 

Further, just like last week, this week too didn’t see any startup becoming a unicorn. 

Sequoia Capital, Elevation Capital, General Catalysts, Alpha Wave Global and Endiya Partners were the busiest investors this week, as they were involved in two deals each.

The Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

IPO-Bound Ecom Express Expands ESOP Pool 

Logistics startup Ecom Express has expanded its ESOP pool by adding 126K ESOP options which is estimated to be worth $15 Mn. Ecom Express has also invested in one of its Bangladesh subsidiary startup Paperfly. 

The Delhi-based logistics startup will be issuing a fresh issue size worth of INR 2,160 Cr during its public listing. Its offer will also include offer-for-sale worth INR 2,700 Cr by existing shareholders.

From The Startup Acquisition Desk

• Agritech startup DeHaat acquired majority stake in packaged food startup Y-Cook for $3.1 Mn
• Walmart-owned ecommerce marketplace Flipkart acquired a direct-to-consumer (D2C) software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup ANS Commerce for an undisclosed amount 
• Enterprisetech unicorn Gupshup acquired a 100% stake in conversational AI provider AskSid in an all-cash deal 
• Online ticketing platform BookMyShow acquired a majority stake in TribeVibe, which provides a one-stop solution for college events, for an undisclosed amount 
• Nykaa acquires 60% stake in Nudge Wellness and 100% stake in women clothing brand KICA
• Amazon India acquired Bengaluru-based social commerce startup GlowRoad in an all-cash deal marking an entry into the social commerce segment
• iNeuron acquires 100% stake in YouTube influencer Hitesh Chaudhury’s Learn Code Online 
• Hyderabad-based Hesa acquired Gullybuy’s software and other IPs
• Information Security Media Group Corp acquired a majority stake in Grey Head Media

Startup Funds This Week

• Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Antler’s India unit launched Antler India Residency, a cohort-based programme, for aspiring entrepreneurs. The programme would bring together about 60-70 individuals from business and engineering backgrounds. Antler India plans to run four such cohorts through the calendar year 2023 and has allocated about $15 Mn for the same
• US-based hedge fund Naples Global partnered with litigation and interim finance provider LegalPay to launch a $5 Mn (about INR 37 Cr) fund. The fund will focus on protecting the rights of Indian founders that are in dispute with their company’s board 
• D2C-focussed venture capital fund Fluid Ventures has made the final closure of its fund at INR 50 Cr ($6.53 Mn). The fund is oversubscribed to INR 50 Cr, from the initial target of INR 45 Cr, and has used green shoe option 
• Startup incubator Venture Catalysts is mulling to launch a $100 Mn venture fund for growth stage startups.

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Country’s second largest edtech startup Unacademy has expanded its ESOP Pool by 2,401X after laying off around 600 employees 
• Bhavish Aggarwal’s brother Ankush Aggarwal made $16.5 Mn of fortune in cash and shares through Avail and Ola deal 
• Ashwin Damera, founder and CEO of SoftBank-backed edtech unicorn Eruditus, invested $32 Mn in venture debt and specialty finance platform, InnoVen Capital India Fund.