A look at this week's startup deals: Dunzo, Byju's, NIKOL EV, Pilgrim, Bluestone, Raptee in news

This week, startups like abCoffee, NIKOL EV, Pilgrim, Quick Smart Wash, Bluestone, among others have all raised fundings. Investments in Indian agri-tech startups fell by 45 per cent between 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years, while Salesforce signed an agreement to acquire AI customer service startup Airkit.ai.

ZeeBiz.com has curated a list of top startup deals this week featuring Dunzo, abCoffee, NIKOL EV, Pilgrim, Quick Smart Wash, Bluestone, Raptee, PhonePe, Airkit.ai, COGOS, WeWork, and others.
 
Dunzo laying off 150-200 more employees amid fresh funding news: Reports

Homegrown quick-grocery delivery provider Dunzo, which is set to raise $35 million in funding from existing backers like Reliance Industries and Google as well as new investors, is reportedly laying off at least '150-200' more employees amid severe cash crunch.
 
Byju's to cut 4,000-5,000 jobs in business restructuring exercise
Edtech major Byju's is going to lay off 4,000–5,000 employees in a “business restructuring exercise” in the coming weeks, the media reported on Tuesday.
 
abCoffee gets $2 million in seed round led by Tanglin Venture Partners

abCoffee, a tech-enabled and affordable specialty coffee startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding, led by Tanglin Venture Partners, the company said in a statement. In the round, other investors like 100X.VC, Panthera Peak, OTP Venture Partners, and a few unnamed angel investors also participated.
 
NIKOL EV raises pre-seed round of funding from EvolveX

NIKOL EV, an EV startup, has raised an undisclosed sum in the pre-seed round of funding from EvolveX, an early-stage program founded by We Founder Circle. Other investors who participated in the round include Vikas Aggarwal, Neeraj Tyagi, and Bhawna Bhatnagar.
 
Pilgrim secures $20 million in Series B round
Pilgrim, a Mumbai-based beauty and personal care D2C brand, has raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, the company announced on Tuesday, September 26. Existing partners like Fireside Ventures & Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office also participated in the latest funding round.
 
Quick Smart Wash raises $5.15 million
Quick Smart Wash Pvt Ltd. said on Friday it had raised USD 5.15 million (over Rs 40 crore) from Elan Corporation, Japan, in a fresh round of funding.
 
Bluestone to secure Rs 550 crore funding, Nikhil Kamath to invest Rs 100 crore: Report
Bluestone, India's leading omnichannel jewellery retailer, is set to secure Rs 550 crore ($65 million) funding, with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath contributing Rs 100 crore, media reports said on Saturday.
 
Raptee receives $3 million in pre-Series A round led by Bluehill Capital
Raptee, a premium EV motorcycle startup, has raised $3 million in a pre-Series A round led by VC fund Bluehill Capital in all-equity funding, the company announced on Tuesday, September 26.
 
Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic in GenAI era
Amazon on Monday said it will invest up to $4 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic with a minority ownership position in the company, as competition grows in the growing generative AI market ruled by OpenAI's ChatGPT.
 
Investments in Indian agri-tech startups fell 45% between FY22 and FY23: FSG
Investments in Indian agri-tech startups fell by 45 per cent between 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years, primarily due to a hike in global interest rates and heightened investor caution amid rising uncertainty, reveals consulting firm FSG's new report. Meanwhile, global agri-tech investments declined by 10 per cent between Calendar Years 2022 and 2023, it said.
 
PhonePe announces Indus Appstore developer platform
PhonePe on Saturday announced the launch of the Indus Appstore developer platform and invited all Android app developers to list their applications on it.
 
Salesforce to acquire AI customer service startup Airkit.ai
Enterprise software major Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Airkit.ai, a creator of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered customer service applications and experiences, to expand AI capabilities.
 
WeWork India rejigs senior leadership to boost market presence
Flexible workspace provider WeWork India on Tuesday announced the appointment of two senior leaders to its executive leadership team.
 
COGOS appoints Prasad Katta as new Chief Operating Officer
Logistics startup COGOS on Tuesday announced the appointment of Prasad Katta as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) as well as a director on the company's board. In his role at COGOS, he will be responsible for the oversight of various key departments, including business development, operations, legal, MIS, and business process improvement, among others, the company said in a statement.
 
ideaForge and GalaxEye tie up to develop surveillance UAV
Space sector start-up GalaxEye Space Solutions Pvt Ltd and drone maker ideaForge Technology Ltd. have inked an agreement to jointly develop an unmanned aerial vehicle with Foliage Penetration Radar.
 
Delhivery, AWS, Nexus Ventures nurture logistics startups in India
Logistics services provider Delhivery on Tuesday announced it has partnered with private equity (PE) firm Nexus Ventures and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a six-week startup accelerator programme in the country.
 
Unicorn Zepto leads India's 'Top Startups List' by LinkedIn
Quick e-commerce grocery delivery app Zepto has grabbed No 1 spot on India's 'Top Startups List 2023', the professional networking platform LinkedIn said on Wednesday.
 
Tax department notifies 'Angel Tax' rules for valuing investments in startups
The Income Tax Department has notified new angel tax rules that comprise a mechanism to evaluate the shares issued by unlisted startups to investors.
 
Income Tax Department updates rules for startup equity valuation
The Income Tax Department has issued new regulations concerning the valuation of equity and compulsorily convertible preference shares issued by startups to both resident and non-resident investors.
 
AI, Cloud can help Indian small businesses create about 46 million jobs by 2030
Small businesses that embrace AI and cloud-enabled technologies in India are expected to unlock up to Rs 1.6 trillion in annual productivity gains and support 45.9 million jobs by 2030, a new report showed on Thursday.
 
D2C fashion firm Styched acquires performance wear brand Zymrat
Styched, the leading direct-to-customer (D2C) homegrown fashion and lifestyle brand, has acquired performance wear brand Zymrat for an undisclosed sum. This is the second acquisition by Styched after the company bought Flatheads, which gained recognition on Shark Tank India Season 2.