Startups raise $3.4b in Q4

Chennai: Despite facing tough times amid a funding crunch, Indian startups managed to raise $3.4 billion in the March quarter of FY23, which was the same as the funding of the December quarter.

Investments in the March quarter, however, were almost one-fourth of that in the same quarter of FY22. In Q4 FY22, startups had raised $12 billion, which came down to $7.7 billion in Q2 and $2.8 billion in Q3.

As per the data of Entrackr, nearly 260 startups have announced their funding during the Q1, 2023. Among them, 229 deals were disclosed amounting to $3.4 billion while 31 start-ups did not divulge their transaction details. In the month of March alone, start-ups raised $1.3 billion.

The first quarter of 2023 also failed to produce a unicorn, similar to the first half of 2022. Molbio was India’s last unicorn that gained the status in September 2022.
PhonePe and Lenskart have managed to go past the $500 million mark. While PhonePe scooped up $650 million across three tranches and Lenskart bagged $500 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Bengaluru saw 128 deals amounting to $1.7 billion, around 50 per cent of the total deal size. Layoffs continued to haunt the Indian start-up ecosystem during the March quarter. However, the frequency of firing employees was quite low in March and February against January.