ETtech Deals Digest: August startup funding down nearly 70%; bleakest month in over a year

Venture capital funding in technology startups recorded the lowest monthly tally in well over a year, in total value terms, with $458 million having been deployed across 79 funding rounds in August 2023.

The figure is an almost 68% plunge from the $1.4 billion that venture capital firms deployed across 263 rounds in August 2022. Volume-wise, it’s a nearly 70% crash.

Sequentially, the deal value is down about 21% from July’s $579 million.

As per Tracxn data reviewed by ET, monthly funding totals have never gone below $600 million, trailing at least as far back as March 2022 -- 17 months ago, until July and August this year.

In the dataset, Inflection Point Ventures, Y Combinator and Venture Catalysts were the top three investment firms, indicating how a major chunk of the deals were early- and seed-stage.

Here are the top five startups that got the most funding in August:

Zepto raised $200 million: The Mumbai-based quick commerce startup bagged $200 million in funding led by new investor StepStoneGroup at a valuation of $1.4 billion, becoming the first unicorn of 2023.

Credgenics raised $50 million: The debt collections platform raised $50 million in a Series B round, led by Westbridge Capital, Accel, Tanglin Ventures and Beams Fintech Fund.

Disprz raised $30 million: Enterprise skilling company Disprz raised $30 million in its Series C funding round led by Lumos Capital Group and 360 ONE Asset (IIFL).

NSaaS raised $25 million: The SaaS-based fleet management solution for fleet operators raised $25 million from PreIPO, a digital marketplace for private securities that bring buyers and sellers together in real-time.

MediBuddy raised $18 million: The digital healthcare platform provider raised additional funding of $18 million from existing investors Quadria Capital, Lightrock and TEAMFund, in continuation of the Bengaluru-based startup’s series C fundraise of $125 million in February 2022.