[Weekly funding roundup June 13-17] Venture capital flow maintains strong traction

The month of June continues to remain upbeat for the Indian startup ecosystem, with leading unicorns in a rush to raise capital and VCs announcing new fundraises, even in a subdued economic environment.

The third week of June witnessed a total venture fund inflow of $657 million across 24 deals. In comparison, the previous week saw venture inflows of $507 million. This is a positive development for the ecosystem as fund inflow has risen for the third week straight.

The big positive during the week was the $2.85 billion fundraise announced by the marquee venture firm Sequoia Capital India. Of the raised capital, $2 billion will be dedicated to India. The week was also dominated by fundraises announced by three unicorns—UpGrad, ShareChat, and Infra.Market.

Despite the high hopes, many startups are now on the back foot as stocks enter a bear market and the World Bank warns of recession and stagflation in the coming weeks.

Transactions

Edtech unicorn upGrad raised $225 million at a valuation of $2.25 billion from Lupa Systems, Educational Testing Service, and the family offices of Lakshmi Mittal and Sunil Bharti Mittal.

ShareChat raised $520 million from Google, Times Group, Alkeon Capital, Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures, and India Quotient.

B2B construction unicorn Infra.Market raised $50 million in growth capital from Liquidity Group’s MARS Unicorn Fund.

D2C brand aggregator G.O.A.T Brand Labs raised $50 million from Winter Capital, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Vivriti Capital, and Oxyzo.

Groyyo, a B2B startup, raised $40 million in a combination of equity and debt from Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global.

No-code mobile app building platform Plobal Apps raised $8.5 million from Elevation Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Insurtech startup PazCare raised $8.2 million from JAFCO Asia, 3One4 Capital, and BEENEXT.

Tech startup QueueBuster POS raised $8.16 million led by Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network India, and Flourish Ventures.