ETtech Deals Digest: Startup funding falls 34% on year to $118 million this week

Technology startups logged funding worth about $117.6 million in the third week of May, down 34% from the same week a year ago. A $45-million funding deal at Gurugram-based Battery Smart made up for 38% of the deal activity.

Startups across stages, mostly late, raised funds across 18 rounds, as per Tracxn data. In the same period, a year ago – May 11 to 17, 2023 – startups had raised a total of $87.6 million. Notably, the funding winter was in full force in March 2023, having set in from September 2022.

Bengaluru-based Blume Ventures emerged as the topmost investor in terms of deal volume in the latest month. It deployed capital in startups such as Battery Smart and InstaAstro.

In terms of volume, total deals during the week stood at 18, compared to 32 a year ago, and 16 in the second week of May 2024. Sequentially, deal value went up about 3.3X from $35.2 million to $117.6 million.

Top deals of the week

Battery Smart: The battery-swapping services provider raised Rs 376 crore ($45 million) from Acacia Inclusion, MUFG Bank, Blume Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, PC-SBI Kurashi Fund and British International Investment.

Red Health: The medical emergency response startup raised $20 million in its Series B funding in a mix of equity and debt. The equity portion constitutes about 80% of the raised amount.

Niqo Robotics: The agriculture robotics startup raised $13 million in Series B funding led by Bidra Innovation Ventures.

Rupeek: The online gold loan platform raised about $6 million.

Celcius: The domestic aggregator providing end-to-end cold-chain solutions raised Rs 40 crore ($4.8 million) in a round led by existing investor IvyCap Ventures.