From AI-powered platforms to fintech ventures, the country’s innovation agenda shows no signs of stopping despite broader market uncertainties.Funding activity continued abated in the first week of February as India’s startup sector looks to be maturing in terms of the kind of ideas that are now getting capital backing.
From AI-powered platforms to fintech ventures, the country’s innovation agenda shows no signs of stopping despite broader market uncertainties.
ETEntrepreneur brings a roundup of key deals below.
Material Depot raises $10 million led by Accel and Stellaris Venture Partners
Home interiors materials startup Material Depot has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel and Stellaris Venture Partners.
The round also saw participation from Whiteboard Capital, DeVC, Soma Capital, MyAsiaVC, and a group of angel investors including Ramakant Sharma, Ankit Nagori, Shashvat Nakrani, Abhiroop Jayanthi, Niraj Singh, Saurabh Jain, Abhishek Goyal, and Vineet Khanna.
“With our design-first approach and agile, low-MoQ supply chain, we’re bringing confidence to decision-making, and reliability to delivery, so homeowners can focus on creating homes they truly love,” said Manish Reddy, co-founder of Material Depot.
Read the whole story here.
Gamepoint raises ₹7 crore in Pre-Series A round
Tech-enabled sports startup Gamepoint has raised ₹7 crore in a Pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by Dr Raj P. Narayanam, founder of Zaggle, and Aditya Vuchi, general partner at VCMint, with participation from Praveen Raju, founder of Suchitra Academy, and other investors. The fresh capital will be used to expand its multi-sport centre network and strengthen its technology platform and operational capabilities.
“The capital raised will enable us to strengthen our presence in the city while accelerating expansion into other markets,” Aditya Reddy and Siddharth Reddy, founders of Gamepoint, said in a joint statement.
Read the whole story here.
Dr. Doodley raises $3.3 million in Pre-Series A led by V3 Ventures
Bengaluru-based pet healthcare startup Dr. Doodley has raised $3.3 million (₹30 crore) in a pre-series A funding round to scale its hospital-backed veterinary-at-home and 24/7 pet hospital model. The round comprised ₹20 crore in equity and ₹10 crore in debt, with the equity portion led by early-stage venture firm V3 Ventures. Existing and new investors including Campus Fund and the Thackersey Family Office also participated in the round.
Read the whole story here.
Matchmaking app Ditto raises $9.2 million led by PeakXV
Dating app Ditto has raised $9.2 million in a seed funding round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Gradient, Scribble Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Llama Venture.
Founded by Berkeley undergraduates Allen Wang and Eric Liu, Ditto is an iMessage-based matchmaking startup focused on planning real-world dates for college students.
“When you remove swiping and chatting, you remove a lot of the toxicity and anxiety that people associate with online dating. We plan the date, people show up, and real connections have a chance to form. Around 20 per cent of our matches turned into actual dates,” said Allen Wang, CEO and co-founder of Ditto.
Read the whole story here.
OneStack raises Series A led by Samved VC, Silicon Road Ventures
Fintech startup OneStack has raised undisclosed capital in its ongoing Series A round led by Samved VC and Silicon Road Ventures, with participation from existing investors Pentathlon Ventures, 100Unicorns and Venture Catalysts.
The fresh capital will be used to strengthen its end-to-end digital banking platform, including mobile banking applications, UPI and QR payments, SoundBox integrations, Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) services, and cooperative-focused core banking solutions.
Read the whole story here.
Neverinstall bags seed funding from Equirus InnovateX Fund
Cloud PC platform Neverinstall has raised seed funding with participation from Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF), an early-stage venture capital firm. The fresh capital will be used to fuel deep-tech infrastructure development and develop enterprise security capabilities.
Founded in 2021 by Ram Pasala and Lakshman Pasala, Neverinstall enables enterprises to stream applications and desktops on any device via a web browser.
Read the whole story here.
GoCab raises $45 million co-led by E3 Capital and Janngo Capital
GoCab, a mobility-focused fintech platform enabling gig-economy workers to access vehicles through ethical financing, has raised $45 million in a mixed equity and debt financing round. The funding comprises $15 million in equity and $30 million in debt. The equity round was co-led by E3 Capital and Janngo Capital, with participation from KawiSafi Ventures and Cur8 Capital.
The fresh capital will be used to scale operations in core African markets, expand into new high-growth cities, increase the proportion of electric vehicles (EVs) in its fleet, and deploy AI-driven tools for credit scoring, fleet optimisation, and risk management.
Read the whole story here.
Energy-tech startup Dreamfly Innovations bags ₹3 crore debt from SIDBI
Energy-tech startup Dreamfly Innovations has raised ₹3 crore in non-dilutive venture debt from the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
The funds will be used to support working capital requirements and expand in-house manufacturing capacity, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The Bengaluru-based startup plans to deploy the capital to streamline inventory and procurement cycles, scale manufacturing infrastructure, and fulfil long-term supply commitments with OEM partners.
Read the whole story here.
While cheque sizes remain measured, investor appetite to back firms with clear product differentiation shows how continued confidence still remains in the innovation pipeline.
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