Siddharth Manjrekar

🚀 From Zepto to Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters – Indian Startups Raised $490.32 Mn This Week🚀 This week 31 Indian startups raised $490.32 Mn, which includes 7 growth stage and 19 early-stage deals while 5 early-stage startups kept the transaction details undisclosed. Regarding the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 8 deals followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Dehradun, Jodhpur, and Lucknow. During the week, Seed funding deals are on top with 11 deals followed by 6 Series A, 4 pre-Series A, 3 Series C, 2 Series B, 2 pre-Seed, and 1 Series F deal. On a weekly basis, startup funding tripled and went up 239.42% to $490.32 million as compared to around $144.46 million raised during the previous week. So, I put together a comprehensive guide that covers: - 📌 Key Startup Funding Highlights of The Week 📌 Growth/late-stage deals 📌 Early-stage deals 📌 City and Segment-Wise Deals 📌 Other Major Developments of This Week ➕ Follow Shilpi Kumari for more such insightful content. #startups #fundraising #fundingsuccess #investmentstrategy #founders #entrepreneurs #startupecosystem #fundingnews

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Enterprise tech startup Clueso (YC W23) has raised $1.4 Mn (about Rs 11.6 Cr) in its seed funding round, led by f7 Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing backer Y Combinator. Clueso leverages generative AI (GenAI) to help companies create instructional videos and documentation for employee training and customers. Clueso claims that its AI auto-removes fumbling and rewrites the transcript to cover the same content 60% of the time and replaces the audio track with a “professional, natural-sounding AI voiceover”. Besides, it also creates a written article for every video with screenshots and GIFs. Clueso was also selected in the winter cohort of Y Combinator’s early-stage startup accelerator program in April 2023. With its participation in the three-month-long initiative, the startup netted an investment of $500K. The fundraise comes at a time when the Indian GenAI market is heating up in terms of investments. Founders: Akash Anand, Prajwal Prakash, and Neel Balar Follow Rise & Shine for daily startup updates. Stay informed, stay ahead ➡️ www.riseshine.in #enterprisetech #genai #seedfunding #ycombinator #startup #iitm Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

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Latest startup Funding updates💰 The startup ecosystem is buzzing with activity! Check out these major funding updates from innovative startups making waves: ✅ HealthKart (Healthcare): Raised $153M ✅ Zopper: Raised $25M (Insurtech Startup) ✅ Zepto: Raised $350M (Quick Commerce) ✅ CredFlow: Raised $3.7M (Fintech Startup) ✅ Billion Hearts Software Technologies: Raised $4M (Founded by Koo Co-founder Mayank Bidawatka) ✅ Locad: Raised $9M (E-commerce Logistics) ✅ Blitz: Raised ₹51 crore (Quick Commerce Logistics) ✅ Beyond Appliances: Raised $2M (Smart Kitchen Appliances) What are your thoughts on these latest developments? Any particular startup you're excited about? Follow Pranshu Shah for more such updates! #StartupFunding #WeeklyUpdates #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #FundingNews

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Medial Secures $500K to Revolutionize Startup Networking and Growth 🚀✨ Bengaluru-based startup Medial has successfully raised $500K in a pre-Series A funding round from Ortella Global Capital - OG Capital, India's only fund that co-builds companies, marking a significant step forward in its mission to empower the startup ecosystem. What is Medial? 🌟 Founded by Niket Raj Dwivedi, Aishwarya Raj Pandey, Prateek Kaien, and Harsh Dwivedi, Medial is a dynamic social media platform tailored for startups. Designed to foster growth, networking, and collaboration, it offers: 📢 Startup Showcase: Pitch your ideas, gain feedback, and attract funding. 📰 Curated News Feed: Stay updated with startup-related news and trends. 💬 Social Feed: Engage in meaningful discussions and share insights. 💡 Advice Hub: Connect with experts for guidance and mentorship. Why Medial Matters 🔑 ✔️Empowering Startups: Medial bridges the gap between startups and essential resources, fostering a collaborative ecosystem. ✔️Inclusive Innovation: By encouraging transparent and inclusive conversations, Medial aims to redefine workplace dynamics and support the growth of innovative ventures. ✔️Driving Change: With this fresh funding, Medial plans to enhance its platform and bring startups closer to success through impactful networking and community-building tools. Medial’s journey reflects the growing need for specialized platforms that cater to the evolving demands of India’s startup landscape. 🌐💼 #Medial #StartupShowcase #Networking #StartupEcosystem #Technology #StartupGrowth #Entrepreneurship #BangaloreStartups #Investors #News #SocialMediaForStartups #Fundings #FundingNews #Startups #Innovation #Hypes Start Big, Start Here.

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AI-powered blue-collar recruitment platform Vahan.ai has raised $10 Mn (INR 83.7 Cr) in a Series B funding round led by existing backer Khosla Ventures.  The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, Gaingels and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma among others 👇 The latest round takes the startup’s cumulative funding to $18 Mn till date, including $8 Mn and an undisclosed amount raised in 2021 and 2019, respectively. Vahan seeks to use the fresh money to develop its AI recruitment technology, which will support eight major Indian languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bangla and Gujarati. Currently, Vahan’s AI recruiter conducts interviews in English and Hindi. However, within the next year, the platform will expand into other languages To read the in-depth article, click here: https://lnkd.in/gSrziXGT #news #AI #startup #funding

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Building Trust with ESOPs: What Every Founder Must Know “Agar tum company ko trust dena chahte ho, toh uska zariya hai: ESOPs” As a founder, you're building more than just a company—you're building trust, loyalty, and a shared vision. One of the most powerful tools to foster this trust is through ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans). Imagine you’ve gathered a team that’s working day and night to bring your vision to life. How do you ensure they feel just as invested in the company’s success as you? ESOPs give your employees ownership, turning them from workers into stakeholders. This is more than just a financial perk—it creates alignment between their success and yours. When your team has a stake in the company, they think like owners, not just employees. Their commitment deepens, and so does their drive to help the company grow. However, as a founder, you can’t simply hand out shares without careful planning. Diluting your ownership too quickly or too broadly could harm your control over the company. You need to be strategic about how much equity you offer, and to whom. Vesting schedules are another crucial part of a successful ESOP plan. These schedules ensure that employees earn their shares over time, rather than all at once. This keeps them motivated to stay and contribute to the company’s long-term success while giving you more control over the timing of equity distribution. ESOPs are a valuable tool for retaining top talent and aligning your team’s vision with your own. But they’re not a one-size-fits-all solution. They require thoughtful planning, legal structure, and a strategy tailored to your company’s growth. By taking the time to implement ESOPs carefully, you’re building a foundation of trust that benefits both you and your employees, creating a legacy of shared success. For any information, please contact [email protected] at +918040245425 as soon as possible!📞 #ESOPs #EmployeeStockOptions #CompanyCulture #AccioESOPs #EmployeeBenefit #FoundersFirst #BuildingTrust #ESOP

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CredFlow founder Kunal Aggarwal achieved a major milestone by securing $3.7 million in pre-Series B funding from Inflexor Ventures. This strategic investment brings CredFlow’s total funding to over $13 million, following $9.2 million raised in earlier rounds. Read about how CredFlow is revolutionizing SME's finances: https://lnkd.in/ebv7N7m3 #CredFlow #Funding #Investment #EntrepreneurshipStudio

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The Hosteller, a leading traveltech startup, has successfully raised INR 32 Cr (approx. $4 Mn) in a fresh funding round led by V Cube Ventures SA, with participation from LV Angel Fund, Unit E Consulting LLP, and several angel investors. According to regulatory filings, the board approved a special resolution to issue 10 equity shares and 64,281 Series A compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) at a premium of INR 4,977.50 each, bringing the total funding to INR 32 Cr. This new capital will fuel The Hosteller's expansion plans as they look to grow their operations. The company also proposed further fundraising through private placement and preferential issuance of equity shares and Series A CCPS. Founded in 2015 by Pranav Dangi and Sumit Mishra, The Hosteller offers affordable backpacker hostels across India, making it a popular choice among budget-conscious travelers. The travel and hospitality sector is witnessing a strong post-pandemic recovery, with nationwide hotel occupancy reaching 66.1% and an average daily rate (ADR) of INR 6,869 in 2023, the highest in a decade. In another significant move in the industry, OYO acquired Paris-based premium rental homes company Checkmyguest for INR 230 Cr ($27.4 Mn), signaling OYO’s ambitious global expansion. #TheHosteller #TravelTech #Funding #FundingAlert #FundraiserAlert #VCubeVentures #VentureCapital #AngelInvestors #BackpackerHostels #TravelIndustry #Hospitality #TourismRecovery #GlobalExpansion #AllBoutCorps

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Indian startups raised $222.2 Mn via 25 deals, a 416% increase from $43.1 Mn raised via 12 deals in the preceding week👇 While the week saw a major uptick in the funding trends, it also saw the crowning of India’s 116th unicorn Rapido. Meanwhile, three entities from the startup ecosystem, Ola Electric, Unicommerce and FirstCry.com (BrainBees Solutions Ltd.), finally reached the doorsteps of the public markets this week. Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week: 🔸 Rapido’s unicorn minting round was the biggest fundraise this week. It bagged a funding of $120 Mn from existing investor WestBridge Capital at a post-money valuation of a little over $1 Bn. 🔸 Bolstered by Rapido’s funding round, travel tech emerged as the investor favourite at a sectoral level. Fintech trailed travel tech at a sectoral level, with three fintech startups bagging $39.4 Mn. 🔸 Enterprise tech saw the greatest number of deals this week, with startups raising $9.3 Mn via seven deals. 🔸 Seed funding revived in the week, with startup’s raising $5.1 Mn as against nil in the last week. #startups #funding #investment

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An exciting week for Indian startups! 41 startups raised $906.7M in funding this week. 📈 💼 Growth-stage deals: - 10 startups raised $857.4M - Zepto leads with $665M - Ummeed Housing Finance Pvt. Ltd. secures $76M. - Microlending platform Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd, craft beer maker Bira 91, and fintech firm slice also made it to the top five with $30 million, $25 million, and $20 million fundraises, respectively 🌱 Early-stage deals: - 22 startups secured $49.3M. - The major includes OrbitShift.AI, Alyve Health, Balwaan Krishi, The Pant Project, and SuperMoney shine 📍 City-wise deals: - Bengaluru leads with 13 deals - Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Jaipur follow 💸 Segment-wise deals: - Fintech tops with 12 deals - E-commerce, AI, SaaS, Food & Beverages, and Healthtech follow 💡 Series-wise deals: - Seed funding leads with 17 deals - 7 Series A and 5 pre-Series A deals - Debt funding sees 4 deals 📈 Week-on-week funding trend: - Funding surged 170% to $906.7M from $336M last week 📊 New fund launches: - VentureSoul Partners: Rs 600 crore venture debt fund - GVFL Limited: Rs 200 crore Prarambh Fund - 8X Ventures: Rs 60 crore second VC fund 🤝 Major M&A: - Guardian acquires 55% stake in Anveya Living Private Limited. ( Anveya Living, which owns the brands ThriveCo, Curlvana, and Anveya, will use the investment to launch new products and expand globally.) - Yatra Online Ltd. buys out partner’s stake in Adventure and Nature Network Pvt. Ltd. (ANN) 📢 News flash: - Ola Electric gets SEBI nod for $660M IPO - Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) imposes Rs 18.82 Cr penalty on Binance - VC firms General Catalyst and Venture Highway merge to focus on India - CCI approves WeWork Inc’s exit from the Indian co-working space - ixigo’s market cap spikes nearly 80% post-IPO - Zomato, Paytm in acquisition talks for movie ticketing business - Flipkart-backed Blackbuck converts into a public company - As per Inc42 Media, Delhivery and Xpressbees (BusyBees Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd.)  looking to enter the quick commerce space - OYO gets shareholder approval to raise Rs 416.85 Crore. Stay tuned for more updates! #WeeklyUpdates #FundingUpdates

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Exciting times at ZESTYFY Our growth trajectory has been nothing short of phenomenal. With such astonishing growth rates, our average weekly growth stands at approximately 935.97%. Stay tuned as we continue to innovate and expand our reach at Zestyfy! #agribusiness #agritech #startup #agripreneur #zepto #quickcommerce #fruitsandvegetables #agriinnovation

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CHANNELIAM FUNDING TRACKER RECENT UPDATES 1.    Chosen® Raises USD 1.2 Mn in Seed Round 2.    Clodura.AI Raises USD 2 Mn from Bharat Innovation Fund 3.    Digital marketing automation #startup Maino.ai raises $1.8 Mn 4.    #Healthtech startup DocPlix raises Rs 1.2 Cr in bridge round 5.    Speciality chemicals startup Scimplify to raise $5 Mn 6.    Robinhood acquires Bitstamp in $200M deal to expand #crypto presence globally #funding #startups #businessnews #channeliam

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You'll always question if the market is overvalued. And that's okay. Let me explain. I felt this deeply when analyzing the Indian markets recently. The numbers were clear, but doubts lingered. I started to think: - Are investors paying too much? - What does this mean for future growth? - Should I be cautious or optimistic? I wish I could tell every investor; It's a complex picture. I took a deep dive into the data and found some insights. Often, markets are a mix of signals. Not always clear, but often. These are the steps I took to understand the valuation: → I looked at the P/E ratio. The SENSEX's P/E ratio of 23.88 is high. Investors are paying a premium compared to historical levels. → I checked the Buffett Indicator. India's market cap to GDP ratio is 102.75%. This is above the 10-year average, suggesting overvaluation. → I analyzed foreign investor activity. In October 2024, foreign investors sold $8 billion in Indian stocks. This was the largest outflow since March 2020. → I reviewed expert opinions. Some experts, like Mark Matthews, express caution. Others point to strong GDP growth as a justification for high valuations. So, while some indicators suggest overvaluation, the economic fundamentals offer a different story. On one hand: - NIFTY trades at ~20x forward earnings vs historical average of ~17x - Small/mid-cap valuations are significantly stretched - FII ownership remains high, risking potential outflows - GDP numbers warrant scrutiny given base effects However: - Corporate earnings growth remains robust (15%+ YoY) - Banking sector NPAs at decadal lows - Domestic retail participation provides valuation support - India's consumption story and demographic dividend remain intact According to me, the key is bottom-up stock selection rather than index-level calls.

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Want to know how to crack YCombinator? 👇🏽 Ravish, founder of AbleJobs, broke it down for us last week at Next Big Thing Ravish has raised money from YCombinator, Elevation Capital, and other blue chip investors. He shared his real experience on how to get into YC. He also talked about when to pivot and how to handle it without freaking out. Plus, he gave us a sneak peek into how AbleJobs successfully got acquired by Instawork, a US company. Founders loved the session and took home some serious learnings. If you want to see the full session, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dVX8yruX We’ve got more of these sessions coming up. Keep an eye out!

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STOP reading random startup news! 🛑 These 3 premium news sources will change how you view Indian startups forever: The Arc The Ken The Morning Context 🎯 Why these 3? No clickbait Original reporting Premium insights Focused on Indian market Worth every rupee 💡Pro tip: Their free newsletters give you a taste before subscribing! Save this post for later! 🔖 Drop "📱" if you want more resource gems! Follow @startupmitra for actionable startup tips. #indianstartups #startupindia #businessnews #entrepreneurshipindia #startuplife #indiastartup #businessgrowth #startupnews #indianbusiness #businesstips #startuptips #entrepreneur #founderslife #indianfounders #startupresources #startupjourney #businessresources #indianentrepreneur #startupecosystem

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There are two types of #startupfounders- 1. Extremely Foolish 2. Extremely Genius Ngl, this is what i used to think…however, lately i’ve realised that there’s actually only one type, the former. You have got to be extremely foolish (and borderline insane) to willingly let go of a much more comfortable and easier life in exchange for a decade of 24-hour work days and stress. If you do the math, it’s never a “smart” decision, considering how big a factor “luck” is, for any successful startup. So when an extremely foolish founder starts a company, which is statistically 90% likely to fail, there’s a small possibility that they could survive long enough to see it become successful and then be labelled as a “Genius”. Remember, “Genius” is only in hindsight, never in foresight. I guess this is why Steve Jobs said-

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Summer is just around the corner so founders have started hearing about bad times to fundraise. Let me extend on this common advice and give my own... Whenever you go out, you should plan for a 3-month process with no interruptions, so look for a time window within the following trouble zones: • Jun thru August - this is the summer slow down. vacations with family keep VCs out of pocket and hard to reach • Sept - Labor day and back to school so this is a hectic month for VCs • Oct - Halloween and parent teacher conferences mess up october. No one will take your fundraise seriously when thinking about how to dress themselves or kids up in costumes • Nov thru Dec - this is the dreaded Thanksgiving to Christmas to NYE Bermuda Triangle of holiday fundraising. Start raising here at your own peril • Jan thru Feb - holiday hangover and ski season for VCs make this a no go ⛷️ • March - spring break ❌ • April - April is pretty clear • May - end of the school year, final exams make this a stressful time for investors with kids. VCs without families are already mentally checking out prepping for the summer If you just avoid these, you should be good to go Hope that clears things up for everyone 🙏🤪

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Bolt raised $1.4 Bn and Fast raised $120 Mn in 2021-22 5 companies in that year’s YC cohort were building Checkouts for LatAM, South East Asia, etc As we were still narrowing down on a problem, this was impossible to ignore. Having seen Flipkart build Amazon of India, Ola build Uber of India, it made sense that “someone will build Bolt/Fast of India” It became a good starting point For our VC experience, we also knew such pattern matching is useful in fundraising We launched the product and had some customers. That’s when stories of bolt and fast failing started to do the rounds on Twitter. There was a lot of drama. It was hard to look away. After some introspection on what this means for us, we realized that 1) Customers were excited about the problem and were willing to pay. To the extent, people were signing up for demos inbound via word of mouth 2) It was merely a starting point. As we started spending more time with customers, we started to see plethora of problems in “effectively engaging customers” they were facing 3) India (our first market) is uniquely different from US (their first market) : Phone number as an identifier, un-standard addresses, low trust, Cash on Delivery, So many more payment options 4) US had likes of PayPal, ApplePay and GooglePay solving this problem making the competitive landscape even more intense I personally think it is a great wedge into the market. It got us the customers who shared several insights turning the wedge into a product, which we hope to turn into a platform. It was also clear that everyone is writing their own story. Pattern matching only goes so far. Is there another company who you think has successfully executed the “X for Y” strategy like Flipkart and Ola? #floBTS This post is a part of our effort to share the behind the scenes of building our company. You can see the other posts by clicking on the hashtag or link in the comments.

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