Indian Startups Raised $732 Mn Across 107 Deals In January 2024 Amid Layoffs

This marked a significant decrease in total startup funding compared to the previous month, dropping from $1.7 billion in December 2023, reportedly.

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New Delhi: In January 2024, Indian startups faced challenges such as layoffs, shutdowns, and top-level exits, yet they managed to secure $732.7 million across 107 deals. According to data from TheKredible, there were 70 early-stage deals amounting to $314.4 million and 21 growth-stage deals worth $418.3 million. However, 16 rounds of funding remained undisclosed.

This marked a significant decrease in total startup funding compared to the previous month, dropping from $1.7 billion in December 2023. Adding further, January's funding was the lowest for the month in the last three years, as reported by Entrackr. Notably, none of the startups secured funding exceeding $100 million during January.

Companies that Received Funding In January 2024

The FinTech startup Vivifi led in funding with a total of $75 million. Other notable companies among the top five most funded in January include AiDash, wow! Momo, Impact Analytics, and BluSmart.

Three companies in the growth stage, OneCard, Infra.Market, and Yulu, have raised debt funding, as per the data. Krutrim SI Designs, led by Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced $50 million in funding, making it the fastest unicorn in the Indian startup ecosystem.

International Battery Finance and three fintech startups - StockGro, FinAGG, and Ecofy - made the top five list. StockGro raised the most debt last month, the report noted.

Layoffs In Companies

Layoffs continued to stalk startups, with more than 600 layoffs across three companies. Online food delivery platform Swiggy led the way with 350 layoffs, followed by Cult.fit and InMobi. Flipkart, an e-commerce marketplace, was also in the news for firing over 1,000 employees. In addition to layoffs, several top-level employees left Indian startups. Udaan alone saw two departures, including CFO Aditya Pande and FMCG business head Vinay Shrivastava.

The CEOs of Indus Appstore and KnowledgeHut, both owned by PhonePe, and the co-founders of DealShare and Fashinza have left. Besides layoffs, cricket non-fungible token (NFT) platform Rario and ByteDance's Resso announced to shut down operations.

(With input from IANS)