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The month of September has started on a very tepid note in terms of venture funding into Indian startups as the total amount raised for the first week was below $100 million.

The total venture funding into Indian startups for the first week stood at $82 million as compared to $327 million in the comparable previous week. There were 16 deals during the week.

As has been the trend for quite some time now, the majority of the deals were in the early stage category.

However, the big highlight of the week was the $4.7 billion acquisition of BillDesk by Prosus, which is expected to be a game-changer for the fintech industry in India. This also shows strong signs of exit opportunity for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Key deals

Voice automation SaaS startup Skit raised $23 million from WestBridge Capital, Kalaari Capital, Exfinity Ventures, Angelist, and LetsVenture syndicate.

Mobile commerce startup Bikayi raised $10.8 million led by Sequoia Capital India.

AppsForBharat raised $10 million from Elevation Capital, Sequoia Capital India, BEENEXT and Matrix Partners India.

Healthcare startup Sugar.fit raised $10 million from Cure.fit, Endiya Partners and Tanglin Venture Partners.

Other transactions

Investment platform Dezerv raised $7 million from Elevation Capital, Matrix Partners, Whiteboard Capital, and Blume Founders Fund. 

Vehicle financing startup OTO Capital raised $6 million from Matrix Partners, Prime Venture Partners, 9Unicorns, Better Capital, and angel investors.

Jar, a savings and investment app, raised $4.5 million from Tribe Capital, Arkam Ventures, WEH Ventures, and angel investors. 

EV startup REVOS raised $4 million from Union Square Ventures and Prime Venture Partners.

D2C sports brand Elevar raised Rs 19 crore from Kalaari Capital and Dream Capital.

RubanBridge (1Bridge), a rural commerce startup, raised $2.5 million from C4D Partners, KAAJ, and several angel investors.

Codingal, an edtech startup, raised $1.2 million from Y Combinator, Summer Capital, Day One Syndicate, Rebright Partners, and angel investors.

Studio Sirah, a gaming startup, raised $830,000 from Lumikai and angel investors.

Online learning platform Habbit raised $320,000 from a group of angel investors.

The following startups raised an undisclosed round of funding: Spark Studio, Peppermint, and KarbonCard.

India connection

US and Bengaluru-based B2B SaaS startup Factors.AI raised $2 million from Elevation Partners, Emergent Ventures and angel investors.

Tech startup Rattle raised $2.8 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital India.

Gurugram and New York based fintech startup Skeps raised $9.5 million from Bertelsmann India Investments and Accel.

Fintech startup moneyHOP raised $1.25 million in a seed round. 

AI startup Peak, which has got an office in India, raised $75 million from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, MMC Ventures, Oxx, and others.

M&A

Dutch tech investor Prosus NV payments platform BillDesk for $4.7 billion.

Nazara Technologies acquired Hyderabad-based skill gaming company OpenPlay for Rs 186.4 crore.

Scaler, an edtech startup, acquired Delhi-based online learning platform Coding Elements in an all-cash deal.

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