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This week, the Indian startup ecosystem saw positive movement in funding, with venture capital firms and marquee investors putting in their capital in startups in the early-stage category.

Indian startups raised $217 million in funding in the second week of January, lower when compared to the previous week’s $251 million, where a single $100 million transaction provided the much-needed funding boost.

More importantly, marquee investors, including Sequoia Capital, Accel, and Matrix, to name a few, have started to put their money into Indian startups.

The funding during this week is a continuation of the trend witnessed in the second half of last year, which is of capital flowing into the early-stage category. This momentum is likely to sustain in the near future.

Key transactions

Furniture and home improvement brand Wakefit.co raised $40 million from Investcorp, Sequoia Capital India, Verlinvest, and SIG.

Edtech startup LEAD raised $20 million in debt from Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank.

VilCart, a B2B startup, raised $18 million from Asia Impact SA, Nabventures Fund, and Texterity Private Limited.

Edtech startup Toddle raised $17 million from Sequoia Capital India, Tenacity Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Matrix Partners, Beenext, and Better Capital.

Park+, a Gurugram-based super app for car owners, raised $17 million (Rs 140 crore) from Epiq Capital, Matrix Partners India, and Sequoia Capital India.

Food brand The Whole Truth (TWT) raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, Sauce.VC, and angel investors.

Agritech startup CropIn raised $13.8 million (Rs 113 crore) from Google, JSR Corporation, ABC Impact, and Chiratae Ventures.

WorkIndia, a job portal, raised $12 million from SBI Holdings, Tokyo, the founding family of Nintendo, Yamauchi No.10 Family Office, Persol, and Insitor.

Brick&Bolt, a construction startup, raised $10 million from Accel and Celesta Capital.

Senior care services provider Athulya raised $9.3 million (Rs 77 crore) from North Haven India Infrastructure Partners.

Healthcare edtech startup Virohan raised $7 million from Blume Ventures, Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, Rebright Partners, and Lesing Artha Limited.

Actyv.ai, a SaaS startup with financial services on offer, raised $7 million from 1Digi Ventures, a family office based out of Singapore.

Live-commerce platform Peepul Tree, which connects Indian artisans and their craftsmanship to global consumers, raised $6 million led by Elevar Equity.

ApnaKlub, B2B wholesale firm, raised $6 million from TrueScale Capital and ICMG Partners.