India Deals Barometer Report: Startup fundraising hits 7-month high in Jan

Startup fundraising in India got off to a flying start in 2025 as risk capital investors poured $1.83 billion into privately owned companies in January, a seven-month high. The amount raised from 125 deals represents an over 32% increase from December’s $1.38 billion secured from 98 transactions, according to proprietary data collated by DealStreetAsia.

There were 16 transactions in January that did not disclose the funding size.

On a year-on-year basis, the funding value grew more than 2.5x from $703 million in January 2024. The deal volume was, however, up 26% on a year-on-year comparison.

Funding was subdued for most of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 due to a prolonged funding winter and macroeconomic uncertainties. However, Indian startups raised a total of $16.3 billion from 1,267 deals in 2024, marking an increase of 38% in value over 2023, while the deal volume was up nearly 35%. The monthly deal value touched its peak in June 2024 when startups raised $2.24 billion.

Startup fundraising in India month-on-month

The spike in investments in January was mainly on account of four big-ticket transactions totalling $846 million. In contrast, there was only one mega deal — transactions worth at least $100 million — announced in January 2024. In December 2024, however, three mega deals worth $508 million were sealed.

Kedaara Capital’s $350-million investment in Indore-based Impetus Technologies topped the megadeal table in January. Impetus Technologies provides data, analytics, and AI solutions to companies across the US and Europe.

Top 10 funding deals in Jan 2025

The other prominent megadeal in the month was closed by healthcare AI company Innovaccer, which raised $275 million in its Series F funding round. The round was a combination of primary and secondary investments and included participation from B Capital Group, Banner Health, Danaher Ventures LLC, Generation Investment Management, Kaiser Permanente, and M12.

Other megadeals in the month included online marketplace for construction materials Infra.Market that raised $121 million; and Aragen, a contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation, which secured $100 million.

Software makes it to the top after many months

For the first time in many months, software emerged as the most funded industry with total proceeds worth $510.7 million from 14 deals. In comparison, the industry secured $105.9 million from 16 deals in December 2024.

Impetus Technologies led the industry with $350 million in funding followed by Netradyne, a SaaS provider of artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing. The company raised $90 million in its Series D funding round led by Point72 Private Investments with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and Pavilion Capital.

Other deals within software were Atomicwork ($25 million), SuperOps.ai ($25 million), VuNet Systems ($6.94 million), Gallabox ($3.5 million), BPR Hub ($2.6 million), Pipeshift ($2.5 million), and GreenStitch ($1.2 million).

The healthcare IT industry occupied the second place with funding proceeds worth $280 million from a mere two deals, including Innovaccer and BrainSight AI. While Innovaccer raised $275 million, neuroscience startup BrainSight AI raised $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by IAN Alpha Fund, with participation from IvyCap Ventures.

Real estate development & operating companies occupied the third place with a total funding of $153.2 million from seven deals. Hospitality giant OYO Rooms raised the largest round of Rs 550 crore (about $65 million) within the industry from Redsprig Innovation Partners, an entity led by its founder Ritesh Agarwal.

Together, the top three industries — software, healthcare IT, and real estate development & operating companies — raised $943 million, or 51.5% of the total deal value in January.

Growth-stage deals drive funding

Overall, funding across stages witnessed a growth in January.

Growth-stage funding — or investments at the Series B stage and later (including private equity and pre-IPO) — increased 43% to $1.3 billion in January, accounting for about 72% of the funding raised in the month. The share of growth-stage deals in total funding stood at 66% in December. The deal volume also increased to 23 in January from 18 in December.

Five pre-IPO rounds totalling $162 million were closed during the month, while proceeds from four private equity transactions stood at $498.8 million.

Growth rounds in January were raised by Landeed ($5-million Series X), Oyo ($65-million Series G), Innovaccer ($275-million Series F), Leap ($65-million Series E), Netradyne ($90-million Series D), Foxtale ($30-million Series C), SuperOps.ai ($25-million Series C), Emiza (12-million Series C), Zypp Electric ($6.5-million Series C), Infinity Fincorp Solutions ($35-million Series B), and Ati Motors ($20-million Series B), among others.

Startups in pre-Series A and Series A stages raised a total of $139.6 million from 28 deals in January, marking an increase of 40% over December when startups raised $99.5 million from 20 deals. Marking the largest Series A deal, SaaS startup Atomicwork raised $25 million in a funding round led by Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures and Z47.

About 42 pre-seed and seed stage deals collectively raised $70.3 million in the month, registering an increase of 59% in value over December. At 42, the deal volume was also up 56%. In the largest seed deal, proptech firm MicroMitti raised about $10.3 million (Rs 90 crore) from investors to expand its business.

Other seed deals during the month were closed by VoltUp ($8 million), Astrosure.ai ($6 million), Whizzo ($4.2 million), Gallabox ($3.5 million), BPR Hub ($2.6 million), CHK ($2.5 million), Pipeshift ($2.5 million), Zerocircle ($2.3 million), Moonrider ($2.2 million).

The value of debt deals also went up to $150.8 million from seven deals in January as against $54.6 million from five deals in December.

Most active investors

Venture capital firm Accel and angel investing platform Indian Angel Network were the most active investors in January with five deals each.

Accel’s investments in the month included online meat and seafood retailer Captain Fresh, aerospace startup Sarla Aviation, AI-powered compliance platform BPR Hub, D2C footwear startup CHK, and proptech startup Spintly.

Meanwhile, the Indian Angel Network, through its IAN Alpha Fund, invested in deeptech diagnostic healthcare firm Prantae Solutions, medtech startup SVASTEK, Neuroscience startup BrainSight AI, and deeptech startup Astrome Technologies.

Venture Capital fund DeVC, anchored by Z47; and Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), occupied the second spot with four investments each.

Other active investors during the month were All In Capital, BEENEXT, Blume Ventures, Equanimity Investments, Peak XV Partners, Pravega Ventures, Tiger Global, and Titan Capital.