The funding winter continues in September. The month did not start on a positive note and seems to be following the trends from August, when the venture capital funding on a weekly basis dropped to its lowest ever.
The total venture funding for the first week of September came in at $50 million across 12 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw a total funding of $229 million.
Since July 2023, it has been the fifth time that venture capital funding on a weekly basis has dropped below $100 million. It is certainly not a good sign as the total funding for the year may be just about $10 billion. For the first eight months, the total venture funding was recorded at $7.4 billion.
The big impediment for low venture capital funding numbers has been the near absence of large deals, especially those in the $100 million and above category. The only exception was the $200 million funding round raised by Zepto last week.
Presently, it looks like investors who were leading the large rounds are now in the exit mode, i.e., monetising their investments. For example, Softbank has been offloading its stake in foodtech company Zomato.
Key transactions
Spacetech startup SatSure raised $15 million from Baring Private Equity Partners India, Prosmus Ventures, Force Ventures, Luckbox Ventures, and IndigoEdge Advisors.
MediBuddy, a digital healthcare platform, has raised an additional $18 million in funding from its existing investors—Quadria Capital, Lightrock, and TEAMFund.
Fintech startup CredRight raised Rs 78 crore (about $9.7 million) in equity and debt from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, YourNest, Spearhead Capital, and 9Unicorns.
Edited by Suman Singh