[Weekly funding roundup Jan 23-27] Venture capital inflow cross $1B in January

So far, January has witnessed a venture capital inflow of a little over $1 billion into the Indian startup ecosystem, providing a reassuring start to the year given the present economic headwinds.

The big contribution came from fintech unicorn PhonePe, which raised $350 million at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion. Otherwise, the investment trend saw a continuation of 2022 where the early stage category had the maximum traction—though with smaller amounts.

However, this week saw a sharp fall in venture funding—$126 million compared with $438 million in the previous week—due to the absence of any large deals.

Now, the big kicker for the Indian startup ecosystem is most likely coming from the forthcoming Union Budget and expectations are that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will unveil fresh measures that will further boost the entrepreneurial spirit in the country.

At the same time, negative news continues to impact the startups with job losses rising and raising capital still remains a tough task.

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Key transactions

Deeptech battery startup Log 9 Materials raised $40 million from Amara Raja Batteries, PETRONAS Ventures, Incred Financial Services and others.

Ecozen, a climate-tech startup, raised $25 million from Nuveen, Dare Ventures, EXIM Bank, Caspian, Hivos-Triodos Fonds, Oxyzo, Northern Arc, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank.

FuelBuddy raised $20 million from Jindal Power, RJ Corp, and Nilesh Ved (Chairman of Apparel Group, UAE) through a special-purpose vehicle.

Rigi, a community monetisation and management platform for content creators and influencers, raised $12.25 million from Elevation Capital, Accel, Stellaris and Sequoia.

Bengaluru-based proptech startup Landeed raised $8.3 million from Draper Associates, Y Combinator, and Bayhouse Capital.

Deep-tech AI startup Myelin Foundry raised $3 million from Visteon Corporation, Endiya Partners, Beyond Next Ventures, and Pratithi Investment Trust.