India Deals Barometer Report: Startup funding rebounds slightly in Sept

India’s startup ecosystem witnessed a modest recovery in investor activity in September 2025, as private equity and venture capital funding rose to $1.14 billion from $1.1 billion in August. Deal volume rose in tandem, from 92 to 108, reflecting cautious optimism among investors, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.

Compared with the same month last year, total funding fell 28% from approximately $1.56 billion in September 2024. The number of deals also saw a year-on-year decline of nearly 11%, the data showed.

Startup fundraising in India

Private equity and venture capital investments in Indian startups have seen notable fluctuations throughout 2025. Funding peaked in January at $1.83 billion, before dropping sharply to $943 million in February. March saw a rebound to $1.4 billion, but this was followed by another dip in April to $898.7 million.

In May, funding picked up slightly to $1.03 billion and remained stable in June at $1.4 billion. However, July witnessed the lowest monthly total so far this year at $840 million. Since then, investment activity has gradually improved, with $1.1 billion recorded in August and a marginal increase to $1.14 billion in September.

Meanwhile, big-ticket deals remain scarce. There were only two megadeals worth at least $100 million in September, the same as in August.

Top ten deals in September 2025

Pharmeasy’s $193-million round, which marked the biggest financing of the month, was led by 360 One, with participation from Alkram Ventures, MVS Ventures, Bennett Coleman, and other investors. The debt round was the firm’s third infusion in four years.

Executive education startup Eruditus followed with a $150-million funding at a flat post-money valuation of $3.2 billion, led by TPG Rise, an impact investment fund from the US private equity investment firm. Other prominent deals in the month were Urban Company ($97 million), Flipspaces ($50 million), Recur Club ($50 million), and Citymall ($47 million).

Pharma dominates Sept deal flow

Led by PharmEasy, the pharmaceuticals industry emerged as the top-funded sector, securing a total of $200.4 million across three deals. The other two deals in the sector included PlatinumRx, which raised $6 million; and Plazza, which secured $1.4 million. In comparison, only one deal worth $85 million was closed within pharmaceuticals in August.

After a long hiatus, the education and training sector returned to prominence, ranking second with a total funding of $189 million across four deals. Edtech major Eruditus led the way with a $150-million raise. Other deals included Seekho ($28 million), Vedantu ($11 million), and CrazyGoldFish, whose funding amount was undisclosed.

Financial services ranked third in September, with 11 deals totalling $161.5 million. Recur Club led the sector with a $50-million Series A round, comprising $8 million in equity funding from investors including InfoEdge Ventures, LC Nueva, Physis Capital, String Ventures, and iA FInvolve. The remaining $42 million came in the form of debt allocation from leading financial institutions such as InCred, Ugro, and Lighthouse Canton.

In another deal within the industry, credit infrastructure fintech company FinBox raised $40 million in its Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from A91 Partners and Aditya Birla Ventures. InCred Money followed as the third most-funded company within financial services with $30-million funding from a clutch of investors, including Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai, former Deutsche Bank executive Ram Nayak, Mankind Family Office, MMG Family Office, Ravi Pillai Family Office, and others.

The top three industries—pharmaceuticals, education and training, and financial services—raked in a total of about $550.9 million, or 48.5% of the total proceeds in September.

Early-stage startups shine

Early-stage investment activity surged in September 2025, reflecting continued investor confidence in emerging ventures. Pre-Series A and Series A rounds collectively raised $196.2 million—marking a 38% increase from $142.2 million in August. Deal volume also edged up, rising to 29 from 28 in the previous month.

In the largest Series A funding, TERN Group secured $24 million led by UK-based Notion Capital. Other notable Series A deals included Emergent ($23 million), Firstclub ($23 million), Offgrid Energy Labs ($15 million), Handpickd ($15 million), Track3D ($10 million), Distil ($7.7 million), and Gullak ($7.5 million).

Pre-seed and seed-stage deals more than doubled to $87.2 million across 44 deals in September from $36.1 million from 27 deals in August. The largest seed round of $15 million in the month was raised by Rocket.new, an AI-powered app-building platform from Surat, led by Salesforce Ventures and Accel, with Together Fund also participating.

Among other seed deals in the month were Oolka ($7 million), Lucira ($5.5 million), Scalekit ($5.5 million), Assessli ($4.9 million), iDO Devices ($4 million), and Fyno ($4 million).

Meanwhile, growth-stage investments—which include Series B and beyond, as well as private equity and pre-IPO rounds—saw a marginal increase in their share of total funding. In September, these rounds made up just 47.5% of overall funding, a slight increase from 46.3% in August. However, the total capital raised dipped to $472 million across 10 deals, from $510 million across 14 deals in the previous month.

Key growth-stage deals during the month included Citymall ($47-million Series D), Flipspaces ($50-million Series C), Chakr Innovation ($23-million Series C), Finbox ($40-million Series B), Indkal Technologies ($20-million Series B), Colive ($20-million Series B), and Eruditus ($150-million private equity), among others.

There were six debt deals worth $270.9 million in September as against four deals worth $81.5 million in August. Meanwhile, two private equity deals worth $157 million were closed in the month.

Top investors

Indian Angel Network emerged as the top investor in September with a total of six deals including climate-tech venture Carbon Masters India Pvt Ltd (CMIPL), unmanned aviation technology startup EndureAir Systems, healthtech platform Dectrocel, deeptech startups Chakr Innovation and OnFinance AI, and gaming commerce platform PlaySuper.

Venture capital firm Accel occupied the second place with five investments including e-commerce platform Citymall, quick-commerce startup Firstclub, AI-powered app-building platform Rocket.new, edtech platform Vedantu, and defence-tech startup Unmannd.

IndiaQuotient and Venture Catalysts made it to the third spot with four investments each. Other active investors in the month were Blume Ventures, DeVC, Elevation Capital, Inflection Point Ventures, Lightspeed, and Peak XV Partners among others.