31 Indian startups secured over $466 million this week, 75% jump

At least 31 homegrown startups raised more than $466 million in 22 deals this week, a significant 75 per cent rise from last week.

Quick e-commerce platform Zepto raised $340 million in a follow-on financing round, taking the company's valuation to $5 billion. General Catalyst led the round, with Dragon Fund, and Epiq Capital joining as new investors.

Among other key fundraises, specialty coffee retailer Blue Tokai Coffee secured $35 million followed by lending firm Yubi ($30 million), agri-inputs platform AGRIM ($17.3 million) and post-sales service firm Servify ($10 million), among others. Swiggy also raised undisclosed funding this week from Amitabh Bachchan's Family Office.

Bengaluru-based startups led with eight deals, followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

According to a latest report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India), having generated over $100 billion in value over the last decade, the Indian fintech ecosystem is in its “middle journey”. The ecosystem is poised for further exponential growth, as seen with incumbents that have created over $600 billion in value over the past 3-5 decades.

The number of fintechs in the country has quadrupled in the last four years – a three-time increase in unicorns and soonicorns in the same period.

The government has recognised 1,40,803 entities as startups (as of June 30). More than 55 regulatory reforms have been undertaken by the government since 2016 to enhance ease of doing business, ease of raising capital and reduce compliance burden for the startup ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the Centre approved four startups in the field of technical textiles with a grant of Rs 50 lakh each, along with new courses in various applications. The approved startup projects are focused on key strategic areas of composites, sustainable textiles and smart textiles.