Nineteen Indian firms, comprising six growth-stage and ten early-stage deals, raised a total of about USD 462.27 million throughout the week, while three startups did not reveal their funding sources. In contrast, 30 firms in both the early and growth stages raised about $355.02 million the week before.

Growth-stage Agreements

This week's growth-stage investment landscape includes a Series B round led by Craegis for the cross-border neobanking firm Zolve. Scimplify, a platform for sourcing and producing specialized chemicals, raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. SaaS platform Infinite Uptime, aerospace company Ransons Aerospace, luxury fashion site Purple Style Labs, and Incred Finance all raised money this week.

Early-stage Transactions

Ten early-stage companies raised $29.77 million in funding over the course of the week. Amrut Energy received $11.5 million in the first round of funding, followed by startups AmpereHour and AmpereHour for energy storage, goStops for hospitality, Felicity Games for mobile games, and Ambitio for admissions. Weskill, an upskilling platform, Dreamtime Learning, an edtech firm, and Flowatt Battery Science, a battery tech startup, also raised money, but they did not reveal how much.

Deals by City and Section

Bengaluru-based startups led the way in funding deals by city with ten, followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and other places. With three deals apiece, Fintech and Edtech startups lead their respective segments. Startups in the gaming, healthtech, and energy sectors came next with two transactions apiece. Other industries that secured partnerships included manufacturing, e-commerce, aerospace, and others.

Deals by Series

With four deals, seed capital deals dominated the week. Pre-seed, Series A, pre-Series A, and Series B deals came next, among others.

Weekly trend in financing

Weekly, startup funding increased by more than 30% to $462.27 million, up from about $355.02 million the week before. With 26 deals every week, the average funding over the last eight weeks has been about $263.72 million.

Important Hires and Exits

Daman Soni, the former president and chief business officer of the e-commerce start-up company GlobalBees, joined AstroTalk as CBO, Edtech unicorn Physics, this week, marking some significant changes in leadership.Pi42, a crypto-INR perpetual futures market, has chosen Satish Mishra as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), while Wallah has named Nitin Savara, Rachna Dikshit, and Deepak Amitabh as non-executive independent directors. Krishna Mishra, the head of e-commerce, gets promoted to vice president by Sirona. Amit Aggarwal, the Principal at Elevation Capital, announced his decision to leave the venture capital firm this week after four years of service. Sudhir Kamath, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nazara Technologies, has resigned. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Yatra's Group has stepped down.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Among the significant mergers and acquisitions is the DSP Group's purchase of Volt Money, a platform that offers immediate secured loans secured by mutual funds. The AI-powered debt collection tool CreditNirvana was purchased by fintech upstart Perfios. The parent company of PokerBaazi, Moonshine, purchased Nazara Technologies' roughly 95% share in OpenPlay.

Launches and Extensions of Funds

Bessemer Venture Partners, which focuses on early-stage entrepreneurs and helps them through later growth stages, has closed $350 million in cash for its second dedicated India fund. Over the next two years, the growth capital firm Playbook Partners intends to invest about $20 million, or roughly Rs 175 crore, in 12–15 different startups. Change Engine, a startup accelerator, has declared its intention to invest more than $5 million in Indian early-stage AI firms over the course of the next five years.

New Collaborations and Launches

• By 2026, Uber and Refex Green Mobility plan to introduce 1,000 EVs.

• With the support of Insta Maid, an urban company enters the rapid commerce market by providing housekeeping services for 15 minutes.

• Together with Deepinder Goyal, former Zomato COO Surobhi Das is launching a new company called LAT Aerospace.

• Coinbase introduces cryptocurrency trading services by registering with FIU.

• CARS24 uses an aggregator platform to enter the "new cars" market.

This week's Financial Results

• In FY24, Fast&Up-parent Fullife Healthcare reduces losses by 39%.

• Loom Solar triples earnings in FY24 after surpassing Rs 150 Cr in revenue.

• Lahori Zeera's FY24 revenue surpasses Rs 300 Cr, and its earnings triple.

• Hangyo's FY24 revenue approaches Rs 300 Cr, and its profit doubles

Possible Transactions

• Droom India has raised $360 million

• Salman Khan and Sachin Tendulkar are part of the latest round of Purple Style Labs

• CityMall will increase its ESOP pool and raise Rs 55 Cr in debt

• In a new round, Brick & Bolt's valuation increases three times

• Rusk Media will raise $8.5 million in Series B funding

This Week's News Flash

• Kuhoo Finance, a startup in education finance, obtains an NBFC license

• Over 600 million people have enrolled on PhonePe

• Super.money from Flipkart pushes CRED out of the top 5 UPI apps in February

In brief

Weekly, startup funding increased by more than 30% to $462.27 million, up from about $355.02 million the week before. The volume of UPI transactions decreased by 5.2% to 16.11 billion in February 2025. In the UPI market, PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm remained in the lead, but Flipkart's Super.money debuted in the top five, overtaking CRED. 'Insta Maids,' a 15-minute maid booking service, is the first product of home services company Urban Company's entry into the rapid commerce market.

According to regulatory documents, a number of startups are negotiating to raise money this week. Notable future transactions include the $8.5 million Series B round headed by Woori Venture Partners for Rusk Media, the $6.3 million secured by social e-commerce platform CityMall, and the $2.9 million raised by used-car marketplace Droom India, which has a post-money valuation of $360 million. Furthermore, Brick&Bolt, a tech-enabled construction company, is expected to raise $1.95 million, which would nearly triple its worth to more than $100 million.