SUMMARY
Indian startups raised over $184 Mn across 17 deals between October 19 and 23, down 22% from the previous week
AI startups topped the funding charts, raising $93.9 Mn across six deals, followed by healthtech startups, which attracted $60.6 Mn across two deals
Venture debt firm Trifecta Capital and early-stage investor Blume Ventures backed two startups each, emerging as the most active investors of the week
Indian startup funding activity slowed down in the third week of October, with 17 startups raising over $184 Mn. This marks a 22% dip from the $236.2 Mn raised in the previous week. The deal count also fell 32% from the 25 funding deals that were announced last week.
Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Oct 19–23]
Date
Name
Sector
Subsector
Business Model
Funding Round Size
Funding Round Type
Investors
Lead Investor
19 Oct 2026
Even Health
Health Tech
In-Clinic Healthcare
B2C
$50 Mn
Series B
Khosla Ventures, Alpha Wave
Khosla Ventures
22 Oct 2026
Different
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$48 Mn
Seed
General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners
General Catalyst
21 Oct 2026
AuxoAI
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$20.7 Mn
Series A
NTTVC, George Still Jr (Norwest Venture Partners ), Amit Zavery (ServiceNow), Giacomo Sonnino (Charlesbank Capital Partners)
NTTVC
23 Oct 2026
Firstwork
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$15 Mn
Series A
Earlybird Venture Capital, Legion VC, Deel Ventures, Gradient, Y Combinator
Earlybird Venture Capital
19 Oct 2026
The Pant Project
Ecommerce
D2C
B2C
$11.5 Mn
Series B
Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), Sorin Investments, Anisha Saraf, B&K Securities, MGA Ventures, B2V Ventures
Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India)
22 Oct 2026
CureBay
Health Tech
In-Clinic Healthcare
B2C
$10.6 Mn *
Pre-Series C
IvyCap Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital, VentureSoul Partners, existing investors
IvyCap Ventures
22 Oct 2026
Chapter Homes
Ecommerce
D2C
B2C
$6.6 Mn*
–
Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures, Tanmay Bhat (Comedian)
Bessemer Venture Partners
22 Oct 2026
TravClan
Travel Tech
Travel Solutions
B2B
$5 Mn*
–
Flipkart, August One, Trifecta Capital
Flipkart
19 Oct 2026
Hunar
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$4.2 Mn
Blume Ventures
Blume Ventures, Hyderabad Angels Fund, Together Fund, Seedstars, AVNM Ventures, Prateek Maheshwari (PhysicsWallah), Alakh Pandey (PhysicsWallah), Aditya Vuchi (MediaMint)
22 Oct 2026
Harajuku Tokyo Café
Footech
QSR
B2C
$3 Mn
Pre-Series A
ZeroW, India Angel Network, Samved VC, Blume Founders Fund, Brijesh Parekh Family Office, Rahul Jain (Epigamia)
ZeroW
23 Oct 2026
Vectorial
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$3 Mn
–
SenseAI Ventures, Smilegate, Berkeley SkyDeck, Berkeley AI Research Lab, Dent
SenseAI Ventures
22 Oct 2026
Karta AI
AI
Application Layer
B2B
$3 Mn
Seed
Capital, Motus Ventures, SUM Ventures
Capital, Motus Ventures, SUM Ventures
19 Oct 2026
So/Facet
Ecommerce
D2C
B2C
$1 Mn
Seed
Sauce.Vc
Sangeet Agrawal (Mokobara), Navin Parwal (Mokobara), Chona family office, Kedar Lele (Haleon South Asia), Devaiah Bopanna (Moonshot)
21 Oct 2026
Onto
Travel Tech
Booking Services
B2C
$1 Mn
Pre-Seed
Stargazer Fund, White Venture Capital
Stargazer Fund, White Venture Capital
23 Oct 2026
Paar Autonomy
Advanced Hardware & Technology
Defence Tech
B2B
$1 Mn
Seed
AdvantEdge Founders
AdvantEdge Founders
23 Oct 2026
SpectraGaze Systems
Advanced Hardware & Technology
Space Tech
B2B
$389K
Seed
GVFL
21 Oct 2026
RAAHO
Logistics
Shipping & Delivery
B2B
–
Pre-Series A
Enrission India Capital Inc
Enrission India Capital Inc
Source: Inc42
*Mix of equity and debt
Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week
AI startups continued to see the highest investor interest for a second consecutive week, raising $93.9 Mn across six deals. Ajeet Sing-led AI powered martech startup Different emerged from stealth and raised $48 Mn, the biggest cheque for an AI startup this week.
Healthtech was the second-most funded sector, attracting $60.6 Mn across two deals. The funding number was largely driven by Even Healthcare’s $50 Mn Series B round, while CureBay raised $10.6 Mn in a mix of equity and debt.
Venture debt firm Trifecta Capital and early-stage focused VC Blume Ventures backed two startups apiece, becoming the most active investors this week.
In a relatively dull funding week, seed stage startups were more sought after by investors. Five startups at this stage lapped up $51.4 Mn, making up about 28% of the overall funding pie.
Startup IPO Updates Of The Week
Defence tech company Tonbo Imaging closed its ₹852 Cr IPO with a whopping 135.9X subscription and listed on the bourses on Friday at a 66% premium.
On the other hand, B2B manufacturing company Zetwerk’s ₹5,012.3 Cr IPO closed with an 3.06X oversubscription and made its debut with a premium of 5.5%.
Hunger Pangs, the parent of restaurant chain Burma Burma, has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for an IPO comprising a fresh issue of up to ₹150 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.8 Cr shares
Other Developments Of The Week
Mygate is set to amalgamate with adtech startup AdOnMo by December 5. AdOnMo backer and Zomato-parent Eternal will hold 4.4% stake in the merged entity worth ₹156 Cr.
Peak XV doubled down on San Francisco-based AI startup Blacksmith, backing the startup’s $66 Mn Series C round. Blacksmith entered the unicorn club post the round.
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