Startup Funding in Sept Qtr Doubles to $3.4 bn

Chennai: The funding winter in the startup space seems to have ended as homegrown startups saw total funding doubling to $3.4 billion in the September quarter against the same period last year.

Startups had raised around $1.7 billion in the corresponding period last year and nearly $3 billion in the same quarter of 2022.

The September quarter funding was 55 per cent higher than $2.2 billion in the March quarter and 10 per cent higher than $3.1 billion in the June quarter.

The overall deal count increased to 262 in the September quarter, up almost 28 per cent from 205 deals in the year-ago period, finds Inc42.

The number of mega-deals - funding rounds of over $100 million - surged to 10 in the September quarter of 2024 against three in the same quarter of 2023 and four in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

Zepto, PhysicsWallah and Rapido were the ones that saw mega deals in Q3 2024. Zepto raised its second mega round this year in August, bagging $340 million. Rapido turned unicorn after raising $200 million and PhysicsWallah raised $210 million.

Fintech startups were the top sector in terms of funding, bagging $677 million across 45 deals in the quarter. Bangalore raised $1.1 billion across 81 deals, followed by Delhi NCR with startups raising $876 million across 59 deals.

The investments raised by startups in the first nine months of 2024 was $8.7 billion compared to $7.2 billion raised in the entire 2023.

However, merger and acquisition deals fell 33 per cent to 18 in the September quarter.