This week, 17 Indian startups raised around $165.3 million, comprising 5 growth-stage deals, 13 early-stage deals, while a startup kept its funding undisclosed. In contrast, 15 startups had collectively secured about $75.35 million in the previous week. Growth-stage startups raised a total of $134.2 million across five deals this week, led by quick commerce startup FirstClub, which secured $55 million in a Series B round from Peak XV Partners and Sofina. It was followed by AI-powered national security firm Innefu Labs with a $30 million Series B round led by Panthera Growth Partners. Other notable deals included Simple Energy’s Rs 250 crore funding round, clean-label food brand Anveshan’s Rs 150 crore ($16 million) Series B raise led by Vertex Ventures and IFC, and WeRize’s $7 million pre-Series C round led by Sony Innovation Fund. Early-stage startups raised $30.1 million across 13 deals this week, led by video generation startup TrueFan AI, which secured $10 million in a Series A round led by Baring Private Equity Partners India and Z3 Partners. Seafood export startup Aquapulse followed with a Rs 45 crore funding round led by NABVENTURES. Meanwhile, protein snack brand Phab raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round co-led by OTP Ventures and Chona Family Office, while edtech startup ProLearn secured Rs 30 crore in a pre-seed round led by BEENEXT. Other startups that attracted fresh capital this week included perfumery brand Fraganote, homebuyer advisory platform Propsoch, gifting platform Zuvees, and four more early-stage ventures. Bengaluru topped the city-wise deal count with nine deals, followed by Delhi-NCR with five deals. Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar recorded one deal each. Segment-wise, e-commerce startups led the week with 6 deals. AI, healthtech, foodtech and fintech recorded 2 deals each. EV, edtech, Fintech, and proptech also recorded funding activity during the period. Series B and Series A rounds led the week with four deals each, followed by three seed and pre-seed rounds. Pre-Series C and pre-Series A also witnessed activity during the week. On a weekly basis, startup funding surged 2.2X to $165.3 million, compared to around $75.35 million raised during the previous week. The average funding over the last eight weeks stands at around $148 million, with an average of 18 deals per week. Several startups and tech firms announced key leadership appointments this week. ACKO strengthened its leadership team with the appointments of Apoorv Kalra, Kunal Kapur, Vivek Sharma, and Neha Gupta to lead its Auto, Health, ACKO Drive, and Assisted Experience businesses, respectively. AI startup Emergent appointed Together Fund cofounder and managing partner Manav Garg as executive chairman, while Imarticus Learning named Rahul Jain as Chief Growth Officer – Enterprise. Meanwhile, Zendesk appointed Tifenn Dano Kwan as Chief Marketing Officer, and BigBasket elevated Seshu Tirumala to Chief Operating Officer as it sharpens its quick commerce stra
