ETtech Deals Digest: Early-stage deals in focus as startup funding remains muted at $146 million this week

The festive season, in full swing across the country, did not extend to Indian startups this week as funding taps for new-age tech companies remained dry.

Indian startups secured $146 million in funding across 22 rounds this week, down 70% from last year’s $494 million across 46 rounds, according to market research firm Tracxn. Funding activity dipped 11%, compared to last week’s $164 million, secured across 21 rounds.

Peak XV Partners’ (formerly Sequoia India) $35 million investment in wealth and asset management platform Neo Group was the biggest funding round of the week.

Early-stage startups dominated the action this week, grabbing half of the total funding pie. Late-stage and seed-stage funding accounted for 35% and 14.5% share respectively.

Here is a list of startups that got funded this week:

Wealth management firm Neo raises $35 million: Wealth and asset management firm Neo Group has raised $35 million (about Rs 291 crore) as part of its latest round of funding from Peak XV Partners to support its growth plans. Peak XV is expected to infuse another $15 million in Neo Group over the next 12 months, subject to certain conditions, people familiar with the matter said.

Device intelligence platform Fingerprint raises $33 million: Fingerprint, a startup that helps developers to build security solutions through device intelligence application programming interfaces (APIs), has raised $33 million in a Series C funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, taking the company’s total funding to $77 million. The round also saw participation from Uncorrelated Ventures.

Agnikul Cosmos raises over $26 million: Space-tech startup Agnikul Cosmos has raised $26.7 million from investors like deep tech-focused venture capital firm Celesta Capital and investment firm Rocketship.vc, among others. The investment round also saw participation from existing investors like Mayfield, Artha Venture Fund, Pi Ventures and Speciale Invest.

Tata Motors to acquire 27% stake in Freight Tiger for Rs 150 crore: Tata Motors Ltd on Thursday said it will buy a 26.79% stake in digital logistics solutions platform Freight Tiger for Rs 150 crore, with an additional investment of Rs 100 crore planned over the next two years.

Showroom B2B raises $6.5 million: Showroom B2B, a business-to-business platform for unbranded garments, on Wednesday said it has raised $6.5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The round saw participation from other new investors – Accion Venture Lab, Saison Capital and ICMG Partners.