India Deals Barometer Report: At $899m, startup funding hits 14-month low in April

Private equity and venture capital investments in Indian startups plunged to a 14-month low at $898.7 million in April—a drop of 36% over March when startups had collectively raked in $1.4 billion. At 116, however, the deal volume increased 10% month on month, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.

On a year-on-year basis, too, the deal value fell almost 18% as Indian startups had garnered $1.09 billion across 113 transactions in April 2024, the data showed.

Only one megadeal—deals exceeding $100 million in value—was recorded during the month. Spinny, a used-car retailing platform, raised $131 million in a round led by US-based Accel Leaders Fund to scale its newly launched non-banking financial company (NBFC) business. The round was also joined by Fundamentum Partnership, co-founded by Nandan Nilekani.

In comparison, there were three megadeals in March. Further, no startup entered the unicorn club in April.

For context, the market faced a significant funding crunch in 2023, as both domestic and global investors, despite raising record capital the year before, held back on deploying funds due to widespread economic and political instability. As a result, many startups struggled to stay afloat, leading to cost-cutting measures, mass layoffs, and, in some cases, complete shutdowns.

The funding slowdown continued into the early months of 2024; however, it began to recover thereafter, culminating in a peak of $2.24 billion in June 2024.

India’s startup ecosystem bounced back strongly in Q1 2025, with total funding up 61% year on year to $4.18 billion from $2.6 billion in Q1 2024, according to DealStreetAsia’s latest report, India Deal Review: Q1 2025.

Financial services tops industry charts

Financial services emerged as the most funded industry in the month with a total of $162.9 million in funding across 13 transactions. In comparison, startups in the sector raised $549 million from 18 transactions in the previous month.

Within financial services, Scapia, a travel-focused fintech company, secured $40 million in its Series B funding round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from existing investors like Elevation Capital, Z47, and 3STATE Capital.

Infinity Fincorp Solutions, a Mumbai-based NBFC specialising in micro-loans against property, too raised $40 million in an extended Series A funding round. The investment was led by Beams Fintech Fund, a growth-stage private equity firm, alongside existing backers True North LLP, Jungle Ventures, and Archerman Capital.

Other financial startups that raised capital in April included Easebuzz ($30 million), Uniqus Consultech ($20 million), Metafin ($10 million), BankBazaar ($6.5 million), and SAVEIN ($4.3 million).

The software industry followed in second place with total investments worth $149.7 million across 10 transactions. This was 30.8% down from March, when software startups had raised $216.5 million across an equal number of deals.

Within software, Tessell, a database-as-a-service (DBaaS) startup, raised the largest round of $60 million in a Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, B37.vc, and Rocketship.vc. Payment technology company Juspay raised an equal amount in its Series D round led by Kedaara Capital. Other prominent deals within the industry included Composio ($24 million) and FurtherAI ($5 million).

Spinny’s $131-million round pushed the automobiles and parts industry to the third place. The only other deal within the industry was Amicco, a vertical marketplace focused on solving procurement inefficiencies in India’s automotive aftermarket, that raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Eximius Ventures.

Together, the top three industries—financial services, software, and automobiles and parts—raised a total of $444.6 million, accounting for about 49% of the total deal value in the month.

Early-stage deals soar

While the overall investment sentiment was subdued during the month, the value of pre-seed and seed stage deals rose 8.7% to touch $63.6 million in April from $58.5 million in March. The volume also increased to 39 from 29 in the previous month.

Edtech startup SiglQ.ai raised the largest seed round of $9.5 million co-led by The House Fund and GSV Ventures, with participation from Duolingo, General Catalyst India (Venture Highway), Peak XV Partners, Calibrate Ventures, and a group of angel investors. Other seed rounds during the month were sealed by FurtherAI ($5 million), Bachatt ($4 million), GreenGrahi ($3.73 million), Risa Labs ($3.5 million), and Outzidr ($3.49 million).

Funding in startups at the pre-Series A and Series A stages nearly tripled to $306.8 million in April from $104.8 million in March. Marking the largest Series A round, food automation startup Chef Robotics secured $43 million in funding led by Avataar Ventures. Other notable Series A deals in the month were Infinity Fincorp ($40 million), Easebuzz ($30 million), Composio ($24 million), Kult ($20 million), Intellicar ($13.5 million), and HexaHealth ($12 million).

Growth-stage deals, defined as Series B or post-Series B rounds (including private equity and pre-IPO rounds), accumulated $406.8 million from 13 deals, accounting for 45% of the total deal value in the month. The deal value was, however, down 36% over March, when growth-stage deals raked in a total of $635.9 million.

Startups that raised growth rounds in the month included Spinny ($131-million Series E), Pratilipi ($20-million Series E), BankBazaar ($6.5-million Series D2), Juspay ($60-million Series D), Tonbo Imaging ($21-million Series D), Uniqus Consultech ($20-million Series C), Scapia ($40-million Series B), Innovist ($16-million Series B), and Eloelo ($13.5-million Series B).

Top investors

Venture catalysts, along with its accelerator fund 100Unicorns, topped the investors’ chart with a total of seven investments, including premium beverage brand Malaki, drone manufacturing startup Garuda Aerospace, e-commerce roll-up platform Evenflow, visual telematics startup Cautio, beauty tech platform Kult, and snacks brand Let’s Try.

Inflection Point Ventures made it to the second place with five investments, including women-first sexual wellness brand That Sassy Thing, B2B mobility solutions provider DriverShaab, robotic automation startup Vividobots, AI sales augmentation platform DaveAI, and laptop brand Primebook.

Other prominent investors in the month included Blume Ventures, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed.