32 Indian startups raise $135 million in funding this week

New Delhi, Oct 13
At least 32 domestic startups secured nearly $135 million in funding this week, which saw four growth-stage deals and 22 early-stage deals in a significant jump of over 45 per cent from last week.

Deeptech startups emerged as leader this week as Industrial robotics maker Haber raised Rs 317.2 crore (approximately $38 million) in its Series C round, led by Creaegis with participation from Accel India and BEENEXT Capital.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform Spry Therapeutics raised $15 million led by Flourish Ventures, Together Fund and Fidelity’s Eight Roads and F-prime Capital.

Cross-border speciality chemical manufacturing platform Mstack raised $40 million in its Series A funding round co-led by Lightspeed and Alphawave along with a debt from HSBC Innovation Banking. Mstack is now planning to make inroads into agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. With the fresh proceeds, the firm will also hire talents across functions including R&D.

Meanwhile, digital adoption platform (DAP) Whatfix introduced a $58 million liquidity programme for its employees and investors, marking the company’s fourth buyback of employee stock options (ESOPs).

This week, Bengaluru-based startups led with 11 deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune.

Last week, 21 startups in India raised nearly $93 million in funding across 16 deals, which included four growth-stage deals and 12 early-stage fundings. It was a big drop from nearly $461 million raised by 29 domestic startups in the previous week, which included 10 growth-stage deals.

In the third quarter (July-September), domestic startups raised more than $4 billion, including several transactions over $300 million and $200 million, along with pre-IPO rounds. This included 85 growth and late-stage deals worth $3.3 billion, along with 207 early-stage deals worth $754.26 million.