[Funding Galore] From Virgio To Zype—$173 Mn Raised By Startups This Week

The second week of December was no different than the previous weeks when it comes to raising funds. Hence, further continuing the downward trend of capital infusion, between December 12 and 17, fundraising further dropped to $173 Mn across 17 deals. This is an almost 39% dip from last week when the startup ecosystem raised $285 Mn across 19 deals. This is also 69% lower than $558 Mn raised across 26 deals between November 28 and December 3, 2022 by the Indian startups. 

The week’s biggest cheque was raised by Bengaluru-based air mobility solutions provider Bumble Bee Flights and fashion startup Virgio. Both the startups have raised $37 Mn in their first institutional rounds. While Bumblee Bee Flights raised the capital from UK-based technology conglomerate SRAM & MRAM Technologies and Resources Limited, Virgio received the investment from Prosus Ventures, Accel and Alpha Wave.

NeoGrowth, a RBI-registered NBFC came third in raising the biggest investment deal this week with $36.2 Mn (INR 300 Cr) in equity from the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO and existing investors. 

Funding Deals Of The Week

Startup Funds This Week

• Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has launched a fund to invest in sportstech startups with an initial corpus of $75 Mn and a greenshoe option of $25 Mn
• Early-stage investor network FAAD received Indian market regulator SEBI’s nod to launch a Category 1 Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) of INR 300 Cr.
• Venture capital firm Java Capital has launched the first alternative investment fund (AIF) with a corpus of INR 75 Cr ($9 Mn). The fund will also have a green shoe option of INR 25 Cr. The fund will have an average ticket size of INR 2 Cr and will invest in 15-20 pre-seed, seed across deeptech, SaaS, enterprisetech, fintech startups
• Silicon Valley entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi has said he will commit INR 20 Cr to seed the Kanwal Rekhi Rural Entrepreneurship and Startup Center (KREST) in Telangana to promote and scale rural entrepreneurship programs