ETtech Deals Digest: Indian startups raised $908 million this week buoyed by Flipkart’s mega funding

Weekly funding in Indian startups hit a 20-month high as part of a broader revival of venture capital deployment in technology companies in December this year. The big push came because of Walmart’s $600 million capital deployment in Flipkart, as reported by ETtech on December 21.

A total of 19 startups raised a cumulative of $908 million between December 16- 20, as per Tracxn data shared with ETtech.

On a year-on-year comparison, the week saw an increase of 211% rise in value from $292 million in the same week last year. Sequentially, it was 91% higher compared to $476 million.

Investors we spoke to said that a lot of deal activity from the week was stacked up which is being announced before the Christmas break.

“Venture capital firms and operators are currently allowing the market to settle down. They took a long pause for about 1-1.5 years to figure out patterns, in terms of which companies have been performing. Looks like deals are finally picking up,” a venture investor told ET on the condition of anonymity.

Here are top deals this week:

Flipkart: The ecommerce major is in talks to raise as much as $1 billion, with parent Walmart committing to inject $600 million. This would be the first fundraise for India’s largest online retailer since 2021 when it closed a $3.6 billion funding round at a valuation of $37.6 billion.

GreyOrange: The robotics startup, which helps service warehouse operators and retailers, said it raised $135 million in a round led by Anthelion Capital.

Kitchens@: The cloud kitchen startup has raised $65 million from London-based private equity firm Finnest as part of the former’s Series C funding round.

VideoVerse: The video-editing subscription software platform, formerly known as Toch.ai, has raised $45 million in a new round from Bluestone Equity Partners.

BluSmart: The electric vehicle ride-hailing startup has raised $24 million, or around Rs 200 crore, in fresh capital from some of its existing investors, founders and leadership team.