Startups funding report shows Indian startups raising $133.9 million in the latest week (October 19 to 24) across 15 startups, comprising 4 growth-stage deals, 10 early-stage deals, and 1 undisclosed round. The week also saw 5 key appointments, but funding fell sharply from the previous week.
Key Highlights
- Indian startups raised $133.9 million across 15 deals, led by Even Healthcare’s $50 million Series B round.
- Bengaluru led with seven deals, while AI topped sector-wise activity with four deals.
Weekly Funding Trend
|
Week Ending |
Funding Raised |
No. of Deals |
Change (WoW) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Oct 10, 2026 |
$113.35 million |
28 |
— |
|
Oct 17, 2026 |
$302.85 million |
28 |
+167% |
|
Oct 24, 2026 |
$133.9 million |
15 |
-56% |
On a week-on-week basis, startup funding declined 56% to $133.9 million from $302.85 million raised the previous week. The average weekly startup funding over the past eight weeks stands at around $234 million across 22 deals, so this week’s total came in well below the recent trend.
Growth-Stage Deals Total $86.2 Million
Growth-stage startups raised $86.2 million across four deals. Even Healthcare led with $50 million in a Series B round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures.
Premium menswear brand The Pant Project raised Rs 109 crore in a Series B round led by Mirae Asset Venture Investments India, with participation from existing investor Sorin Investments. Battery-swapping startup Battery Smart raised close to Rs 100 crore from an existing investor to expand its network for electric two- and three-wheelers. Bhubaneswar-based CureBay secured around Rs 100 crore in a Pre-Series C round led by IvyCap Ventures.
Early-Stage Startups Raise $47.7 Million
Early-stage startups collectively raised $47.7 million across 10 deals. AI startup AuxoAI led with $20.7 million in a Series A round led by NTTVC. Home and kitchen brand Chapter Home raised ₹63 crore through a mix of equity and debt from Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures, influencer Tanmay Bhat, and family offices.
Travel platform TravClan raised $5 million from online retailer Flipkart and investment firm August One, along with debt financing from Trifecta Capital. Hunar.AI, an AI-powered frontline workforce platform, secured Rs 40 crore in a Series A round led by Blume Ventures. AI startup Vectorial raised $3 million in a round led by SenseAI Ventures, while voice AI platform Karta AI secured $3 million in a seed round led by PeerCapital and Cedar Hill.
Other funded startups included Japanese food and beverage business Harajuku Tokyo Cafe, customer-first travel platform Onto, lab-grown diamond jewellery brand So/Facet, spacetech startup SpectraGaze, and logistics startup Raaho.
City and Sector-Wise Funding Trends
Bengaluru led startup funding activity with seven deals, followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR with three deals each. Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad also recorded funding deals.
AI startups led the sectors with four deals, followed by e-commerce with three deals. Healthtech, travel tech, EV, foodtech, spacetech, and logistics also saw funding activity. By stage, seed rounds led with four deals, followed by Series A (3) and Series B (2), while pre-seed, Series C, pre-Series C, and pre-Series A also recorded deals.
Also Read: Startup Funding Report: 28 Firms Raise $302.85 Mn in the Latest Week
Key Hires
- Shilpa Kedia has been named the CFO of Fractal Analytics to help the company manage the financial affairs of its global operations with a focus on “profitable growth, capital allocation, and investments in AI research, platforms, and products”.
- IVS Group named Atish Bhatia as group CMO and head of IVS Fashion.
- Honasa Consumer, the parent company of Mamaearth, elevated Vipul Maheshwari to chief product and technology officer (CPTO).
Major News and Developments This Week
PhonePe rebranded its stock broking platform Share.Market as PhonePe Invest, bringing it under the PhonePe brand alongside its payments, lending, and insurance services. It also introduced an AI-powered portfolio intelligence tool named ‘Portfolio Optimiser' which will give research-backed Hold, Monitor, and Sell rating for linked demat accounts with a one-click rebalancing option.
Zetwerk shares made a positive debut on the stock markets on Friday with its listing at Rs 159.25 against the issue price of Rs 151 per share.
Blacksmith, an AI code testing firm, raised $66m in a $1bn Series C round led by Sequoia Capital. Also joining the round were existing investors Peak XV Partners, Google Ventures (GV) and Y Combinator, which together have provided $125m in funding.
Eternal (previously known as Zomato) will buy 4.4% stake in Mygate, which is worth Rs 156 crore, in a share-swap arrangement of the entire holding in Adonmo. The deal is part of the plan to merge Mygate and Adonmo, after which Adonmo will no longer be an entity in its own right. In January 2022, Eternal had invested Rs 112 crore in Adonmo.
OnEMI Technology Solutions' Kissht got in-principle approval from BSE and NSE to raise Rs 832.2 crore via a preferential allotment of up to 2.65 crore shares at Rs 314.11 per share. In this fund-raise, 34 investors, including Axis Mutual Fund, WhiteOak, 360 ONE, Bandhan Mutual Fund, and MIT are participating.
New Launches and Partnerships
- Ultraviolette Automotive unveiled the X-47 Venom electric motorcycle in the market at Rs 2.65 lakh and the new 100V VX-100 platform at the same time. Customers can book from 22nd of October with the introductory price going to the first 5,000 customers. It will be available for delivery in India via its UV Space Stations from November 2026 onwards.
- Later this year, Eternal will be rolling out Dark.ai, its new, global AI platform for privacy and encrypted conversations. It will use fine-tuned open-weight models hosted on its own infrastructure and offer end-to-end encryption.
