ETtech Deals Digest: Indian startups raised $491 million this week

Funding activity in the Indian startup ecosystem saw a jump this past week largely because of a few deals that were announced including the fundraise at DMI Finance.

A total of $491 million of funding was raised across 18 rounds between April 1 and April 6, according to data provided by market intelligence firm Tracxn. Of this $400 million was raised by DMI Finance.

This compared to the same period last year, when $99 million was poured into startups in 15 rounds.

According to Tracxn data, about $400 million was pumped into late-stage startups, while early-stage startups picked up $38 million.

Y Combinator was the most active VC as it funded six startups during the period.

Here are some of the companies that got funded this week.

DMI Finance raises $400 million: Non-banking finance company (NBFC) DMI Finance on Monday said it has raised $400 million in an equity round led by Japan's largest lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). ET first reported about this on April 3.

Binny Bansal’s Three State Ventures leads Rs 300 crore funding in Curefoods: Curefoods, a cloud kitchen startup, said it has closed a funding round of about Rs 300 crore led by Flipkart founder Binny Bansal’s Three State Ventures. It includes primary and secondary investments in the Bengaluru-based firm, which is run by former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori.

SaaS buying platform Spendflo raises $11 million: Spendflo, a SaaS (software-as-a-service) buying and management platform, on Tuesday said it has raised $11 million from investors led by Prosus Ventures and Accel. The San Francisco-headquartered company said the fresh capital will help fuel product growth and accelerate global expansion with a focus on the North American market.

Video telematic startup LightMetrics raises $8.5 million: LightMetrics, a video telematics startup serving commercial vehicles, said it has raised $8.5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital India. The startup sells software that analyses video feeds from cameras installed in vehicles to better understand driver behaviour, reduce accidents and improve safety.

Patient monitoring startup Dozee raises $6 million from Prime Ventures, others | Dozee, a healthtech startup that offers contactless remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions, has raised $6 million from a clutch of new and existing investors. The company said it plans to use the Series A2 funds to expand in the Indian market and deepen its research and development capabilities.

Animal-free protein maker Zero Cow Factory raises $4 million: Zero Cow Factory, a biotechnology startup that claims to be producing India’s first animal-free protein and dairy products using bioengineering microbes and precision fermentation, on Wednesday said that it has raised $4 million (Rs 32 crore) in a seed round of funding.

(Graphics by Siddharth Sadashiv)