The month of June continues to remain upbeat for the Indian startup ecosystem, with leading unicorns in a rush to raise capital and VCs announcing new fundraises, even in a subdued economic environment.
The third week of June witnessed a total venture fund inflow of $657 million across 24 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw venture inflows of $507 million. This is a positive development for the ecosystem as fund inflow has risen for the third week straight.
The big positive during the week was the $2.85 billion fundraise announced by the marquee venture firm Sequoia Capital India. Of the raised capital, $2 billion will be dedicated to India. The week was also dominated by fundraises announced by three unicorns—UpGrad, ShareChat, and Infra.Market.
Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairman, UpGrad
Despite the high hopes, many startups are now on the back foot as stocks enter a bear market and the World Bank warns of recession and stagflation in the coming weeks.
Transactions
Edtech unicorn upGrad raised $225 million at a valuation of $2.25 billion from Lupa Systems, Educational Testing Service, and the family offices of Lakshmi Mittal and Sunil Bharti Mittal.
ShareChat raised $520 million from Google, Times Group, Alkeon Capital, Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures, and India Quotient.
B2B construction unicorn Infra.Market raised $50 million in growth capital from Liquidity Group’s MARS Unicorn Fund.
D2C brand aggregator G.O.A.T Brand Labs raised $50 million from Winter Capital, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Vivriti Capital, and Oxyzo.
Groyyo, a B2B startup, raised $40 million in a combination of equity and debt from Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global.
No-code mobile app building platform Plobal Apps raised $8.5 million from Elevation Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Insurtech startup PazCare raised $8.2 million from JAFCO Asia, 3One4 Capital, and BEENEXT.
Tech startup QueueBuster POS raised $8.16 million led by Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network India, and Flourish Ventures.