Indian startup funding raised $218.69 million in the latest week across 24 deals, comprising 2 growth-stage rounds, 22 early-stage deals and 2 undisclosed rounds. Despite a slight decline in the overall number of startups receiving funding in the week, 7 key hires were announced, 2 mergers and acquisitions were processed, 2 fund launches were announced and 350 employees were laid off.

Key Highlights

• Indian startup funding stood at $218.69 million through 24 deals, marking a 10% increase from the $198.33 million raised by 21 startups in the previous week.
• Bengaluru took the top spot in the funding table with 12 deals while AI was the top sector with 5 deals during the week.

Growth-Stage Deals Total $68 Million

Growth stage startups raised total of $68M in 2 deals this week. Third Wave Coffee, a coffee chain based in Bengaluru, led the segment with Rs 408 crore (approx $43 million) raise, led by an existing investor WestBridge Capital. Matter, an Ahmedabad-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, raised $25 million (roughly Rs 250 crore) in growth equity from existing investors including Helena, Capital 2B, Japan Airlines, TransLink Innovation Fund and SMSC.

Early-Stage Startups Raise $150.69 Million

Early-stage startups collectively raised $150.69 million across 22 deals during the week. Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound led the segment, securing $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures. Agentic AI startup Runable raised $21 million in a Series A round co-led by Susquehanna Venture Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.

New Delhi-based wealth management firm Nexedge Capital raised $20 million in its maiden funding round, led by Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Elev8 Venture Partners. Gurugram-based digital spiritual wellness platform InstaAstro secured $12 million in a Series A round led by Singularity AMC and Artha Venture Fund, with participation from its founders.

Other startups that secured funding during the week included spacetech startup InspeCity, voice AI startup Ringg, D2C skincare brand Asaya, logistics platform TrucksUp and EV motorcycle maker Omega Seiki Mobility, along with 13 other startups, including two undisclosed deals.

City and Sector-Wise Funding Trends

Bengaluru remained the top city for Indian startup funding with 12 deals during the week while Delhi NCR had 6 deals. Other cities that saw startup funding activity are Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Trichy.

At the sector level, AI startups had the highest number of deals at five, followed by e-commerce at three. Besides the two deals made by spiritual tech, logistics and EV startups had two deals each, and F&B, aviation, fintech and spacetech sectors also saw deals under discussion. When looking at funding stages, 11 deals were led by Series A, five deals were led by seed and pre-seed rounds and one deal was led by Series C and Series B and pre-Series A rounds.

Weekly Funding Trend Shows Slight Dip

Startup funding dropped by more than 10% from last week, when $198.33 million was raised. The numbers were below the trend seen over the last eight weeks, but the average weekly startup funding across 20 deals during this time was around $192.5 million.

Also Read: Indian Startup Funding: 21 Firms Raise $198.33 Mn in the Latest Week

Key Hires and Departures

BharatPe hired two senior Paytm executives for key roles this week, with Kamal Sharma joining as AVP, Engineering, Consumer, and Yugal Tiwari set to join as Chief Product Officer.

Digital and AI-native bank slice appointed Samir Sawhney as Executive Director and Ramesh Kumar as Independent Director to its board. Raise Financial's Pluto Insurance appointed Abhishek Singh as CEO, while Qure.ai appointed Mihir Bhanushali as Executive Vice President, Global Health, to lead its expansion across low- and middle-income countries. Technology-led insurance distribution platform Coverfox appointed Shikha Gupta as Chief Strategy Officer.

Healthtech startup Temple will bring Longevous founders Dr Robert Mohr and Dr Avi Roy into the company, with Mohr joining as Chief Medical Officer and Roy as Head of Science.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Deepinder Goyal-led healthtech startup Temple acquired London-based Longevous, an evidence-based longevity medicine practice, as it looks to strengthen its clinical and scientific capabilities ahead of its launch.

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup Healthify merged with US-based nutrition care company Berry Street in an all-stock deal, combining Healthify's AI-led health platform with Berry Street's insurance-backed clinical care network in the US.

Fund Launches

Impact-first investment platform TILT, based in Bengaluru, announced the launch of a Rs 250 crore venture fund to invest in early-stage startups focused on India's Next Billion consumers: from Seed to Series A at cheque sizes of Rs 2 crore to Rs 16 crore.

Technology company Micromax Informatics also launched a Rs 250 crore family office to invest in deeptech startups across India and overseas.

Major News and Developments

Ribbit Capital, a VC firm based in the United States, sold around 11.31 crore shares worth Rs 2,217 crore in Groww's parent Billionbrains Garage Ventures, while bulk deals saw the sales of about 12.74 crore shares worth nearly Rs 2,500 crore on August 26.

Silicon Valley based Lightspeed Venture Partners sold off all their shares in PhysicsWallah in a block deal on the NSE for Rs 550 crore at Rs 117.72 per share.

As of August 2026, Flipkart Minutes is ahead of Swiggy Instamart in the number of dark stores across the top 10 cities in India, with 627 versus Instamart's 615, according to a CLSA report, while Blinkit is ahead with 969 dark stores followed by Zepto with 828 dark stores.

SoftBank has sold an additional 4.5 crore Lenskart shares worth of approximately Rs 2,888 crore in a block sale, bringing its total holding down to 7.15% in the company from 9.69%. While ADIA has divested about Rs 2,770 crore in Lenskart shares, the institutional investors have divested around Rs 9,660 crore of Lenskart shares since June.

New Product Launches and Partnerships

Cashfree Payments launched Relay, an AI Super Agent that automates end-to-end payment operations for SMBs and startups, now available to all Cashfree merchants after a beta phase since May 2026.

Flipkart launched "Saarthi," an Ads Partner Program by Flipkart Ads giving sellers and brands free access to expert agency support and AI-powered campaign intelligence. Healthtech startup Tulu Health launched Longevity OS as part of its US expansion, combining clinical, lab, wearable and engagement data into a unified patient view.

Swiggy's Food on Train offering has grown 12x over the past two years, expanding to 201 railway stations from 66 in 2024, with faster adoption in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets compared to metros. Separately, payments infrastructure provider iServeU partnered with gift card platform Maximize Money to enable large-scale gift card issuance through its Gift Card Management Platform.