[Weekly Funding Roundup Sept 12-16] Indian startups see sharp uptick in venture capital inflow

The Indian startup ecosystem saw a strong uptick in funding activity in the third week of September as startups raised a total of $247 million in venture capital (VC) funding, cutting across 22 deals.

In the previous week, the third-largest startup ecosystem had reported $132 million in VC funding. This week, the increase in investment activity was largely due to startups such as Yulu and DotPe.

On a more positive note, Adobe acquired design software startup Figma for $20 billion, surprisingly during the funding slowdown period.

Meanwhile, with the US Fed raising interest rates to bring down the inflation levels, the present startup funding environment is not expected to change anytime soon.

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Shared mobility startup Yulu has raised $82 million (Rs 653 crore) in a Series B funding round led by mobility technology company Magna International Inc.

Fintech startup DotPe raised $55 million (Rs 435 crore) from Temasek, PayU Fintech Investment, Info Edge Ventures, MUFG Bank Ltd, and Naya Global.

EPACK Durable Private Limited (EDPL), which makes room ACs, raised $40 million led by Affirma Capital.

Nobel Hygiene raised Rs 132 crore from existing investor Sixth Sense Ventures.

AI startup Rephrase.ai raised $10.6 million in a Series A round from Red Ventures, Silver Lake, 8VC, and others.

Construction-tech firm 91Squarefeet raised $10 million in a Series A funding round from Stellaris Venture Partners, Y-Combinator, Betatron Venture Group, and angel investors.

Deeptech startup Awiros raised $7 million in a Series A round from Inflexor Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, VedaVC, family offices, and UHNIs.

Tech startup Procol raised Rs 51 crore from GMO Venture Partners, Alarko Ventures, Esas Ventures, FounderBank Capital, and Anchorage Capital.