ETtech Deals Digest: funding winter continues to chill startups

The funding winter for Indian startups, which started in 2022, shows no signs of relenting in early 2023. Companies are still struggling to find funding to fuel their ideas as global inflation, interest rate hikes and macroeconomic headwinds have made investors cautious.

According to a report by PwC India, funding for Indian startups dropped 33% to $24 billion in 2022 from the previous year.

The report said the early-stage deals accounted for 60-62% of the total funding in 2021 and 2022 in volume terms and the average ticket size was $4 million.


Here is a list of startups that raised funds this week:

Wakefit raises $40 million in funding led by Investcorp: Wakefit, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) mattress and furniture maker, has raised $40 million led by Investcorp. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Verlinvest and SIG also participated in the round. The company will use the funds to improve its delivery operations and factory, and to make inroads in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Edtech unicorn Lead raises Rs 160 crore in debt: Edtech firm Lead announced that it has raised Rs 160 crore in funding via a mix of long-term capital from Alteria Capital and Stride Ventures, and working capital financing from banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. The edtech unicorn plans to use the fresh capital to finance organic and inorganic growth ambitions.

B2B FMCG wholesale startup ApnaKlub raises $16 million: ApnaKlub, a business-to-business fast moving consumer goods wholesale startup, has raised an additional $6 million from TrueScale Capital and ICMG Partners. Flourish Ventures, Sequoia India’s Surge, Blume Ventures and Whiteboard Capital also participated in the funding round. This is a continuation of ApnaKlub’s $10 million round raised from Tiger Global late last year, taking its total in the round to $16 million.

The Whole Truth raises $15 million: Health food brand The Whole Truth has raised $15 million in its Series B round, led by Sequoia Capital India.Other investors in the round include existing backers Matrix Partners India and early-stage venture firm Sauce.vc.The Mumbai-based company has been valued at around Rs 600 crore, or about $73 million.

Agri-tech firm Cropin raises $13.7 million from Google: Agri-tech startup Cropin has raised Rs 113 crore (about $13.7 million) in its Series D round, from new investors Google and JSR Corporation as well as existing ones ABC Impact and Chiratae Ventures. The funds will help expand Cropin Cloud, which the company launched in September 2022 to unify its software and apps that cater to a growing demand for digitisation and predictive intelligence in the global agriculture sector.

Brick&Bolt raises $10 million: Online construction marketplace Brick&Bolt said it has raised $10 million from global venture capital firms Accel and Celesta Capital. The startup said it plans to use the fund to expand to 12 cities in the next 15 months. It also plans to enhance its tech stack and strengthen its leadership team.

(Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi)