Indian startup funding rebounded sharply in the third week of July. Between July 11 and July 17, Indian startups cumulatively raised about $281.4 Mn across 24 deals, over 3X from the $71.9 Mn raised by 17 startups in the previous week.

The weekly numbers were largely driven by Emergent’s $130 Mn unicorn-minting round and a string of large growth-stage investments across AI, fintech and consumer services.

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• AI emerged as the top-funded sector, attracting about $172.4 Mn across seven deals, accounting for nearly 60% of the week’s total funding. 
• Ecommerce was the second-most funded sector, raising about $22.7 Mn across six deals. Groyyo led the segment with a $9.3 Mn round, followed by Open Secret ($5.2 Mn), Promom ($3.1 Mn), Anmasa ($3.1 Mn) and BUILT ($2 Mn). 
• VC firm Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator, Fireside Ventures, Antler and  Spectrum Impact each backed two companies this week. 
• Seven startups at the seed stage raised $`4.1 Mn, led by AI startup Aina’s $5.5 Mn seed round. 

• Elevation Capital launched $500 Mn Fund IX to back Indian startups across consumer tech, consumer brands, fintech and financial services, enterprise AI, frontier tech and healthcare. 
• Private equity firm Avendus is set to mark the final close of its Future Leaders Fund III at around ₹1,800 Cr by the end of July. The fund has deployed about 30% of its capital so far and plans to invest in another five to six late-stage companies over the next year. 

• Listed proptech company Aurum PropTech;s board approved the acquisition of Housing.com owner Locon Solutions from REA Group in a ₹458 Cr deal. The acquisition is aimed at creating an end-to-end real estate technology platform spanning property discovery, transactions and post-purchase services.
• TVS VENU Group-owned Home Credit India approved the acquisition of education-focused NBFC Varthana Finance in an all-cash deal. The acquisition will strengthen Home Credit India’s presence in secured and longer-tenure lending, and expand Varthana’s reach in financing private schools and students.

• Ather Energy approved a₹1,200 Cr preferential fundraise, with Hero MotoCorp committing about ₹960 Cr, India-Japan, via NIIF, committing an investment of ₹200 Cr, and cofounders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain investing ₹20 Cr each. It also opened a QIP to raise another more funds as part of its broader ₹2,500 Cr capital raise plan to fund expansion, R&D, manufacturing and debt repayment.
• Udaan announced plans to raise $160 Mn via a financing transaction comprising fresh equity, new debt and debt-to-equity conversion. The fundraising comes as the B2B ecommerce unicorn looks to strengthen its balance sheet after creditors initiated insolvency proceedings against its Singapore-based parent over defaulted convertible notes.
• InsuranceDekho is reportedly planning to file its DRHP by the end of September for a proposed IPO at a valuation of around ₹9,500 Cr. The public issue is expected to include a mix of fresh shares and an offer for sale, while the insurtech startup continues to work on its merger with RenewBuy ahead of the planned listing.

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