[Weekly funding roundup Dec 14-20] Venture capital inflow sees steep fall

Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups saw a steep decline in the third week of December primarily due to the absence of large value deals.

The total VC funding for the third week stood at $135 million across 19 deals. In contrast the comparable previous week saw a fund raise of $779 million.

This sharp decline in VC funding is also largely due to the year coming to a close, and there are generally fewer transactions. It is expected that this will continue for the remainder of the month.

Overall, the Indian startup ecosystem seems to have come out of the grip of funding winter, and the year will end with a higher amount of funds raised than 2023. Though it will not be a very significant increase, it sets the foundation for a better 2025.

However, interestingly, the large deals seem to be coming back into the Indian startup ecosystem and expectation is that this trend would continue through to next year. This week saw Rebel Foods raising an undisclosed amount of capital from private equity giant KKR.

The week also saw the stellar listing of fintech company MobiKwik, ending the year for IPOs from the Indian startup ecosystem. This actually sets the stage for more Indian startups to become publicly listed companies in 2025.

The year will come to a close in another 10 days and the expectations are high that there would be a significant change in the fund inflow into the Indian startup ecosystem. The year may also see heightened activity on startups which have artificial intelligence and GenAI tilts to their products or services.

Key transactions

Contract manufacturing startup Zetwerk raised $70 million from Khosla Ventures, Rakesh Gangwal, Baillie Gifford, Greenoaks, and Avenir Growth.

Mumbai-based Veefin Group of Companies has raised Rs 136 crore (about $16 million) in a recent funding round.

SaaS startup Bizom raised $12 million from Pavestone, IndiaMART and family offices.

EV startup Zingbus raised $9 million from bp Ventures.