TICE Funding Index: A quieter funding week, big strategic moves

As the year winds down and investors begin to close their books for 2025, India’s startup ecosystem witnessed a noticeably slower funding week—but not a silent one. Between December 22 and December 27, Indian startups raised $95.54 million across 11 deals, marking a sharp cooldown from the previous week’s $363.9 million haul.

Yet beneath the headline dip lies a week packed with strategic capital raises, acquisitions, ESOP liquidity events, and telling financial disclosures—all pointing to how founders and investors are positioning themselves for the year ahead.

From defence tech and deeptech funding to consolidation in consumer and mobility sectors, this week offered a clear snapshot of an ecosystem becoming more cautious, more selective, and more focused on fundamentals.

Funding slows, but quality deals hold ground

The week’s funding tally comprised four growth-stage deals, five early-stage deals, and three fundraises with undisclosed amounts. While the overall capital raised dropped by nearly 74% week-on-week, the nature of deals showed continued confidence in core sectors like fintech, biotech, deeptech, and consumer brands.

Over the past eight weeks, startups have averaged $243.39 million per week across roughly 25 deals, highlighting that this week’s dip appears more seasonal than structural.

Growth-stage capital led by defence, biotech and consumer brands

Growth and late-stage funding touched $73 million, driven by a mix of equity and debt rounds across diverse sectors.

CoreEL Technologies emerged as the week’s biggest gainer, raising $30 million in a Series B round led by ValueQuest Scale Fund, with participation from 360 ONE Asset. The defence electronics and embedded systems company continues to benefit from rising domestic defence manufacturing and government-led procurement.

Dugar Finance followed with $18 million in debt funding, led by Switzerland-based Symbiotics, alongside Indian banks—signalling sustained lender confidence in NBFCs focused on structured credit.

In biotech, PlasmaGen Biosciences raised ₹150 crore, led by ViNS Bioproducts, with backing from HNIs, family offices, pharma entrepreneurs, and existing investors. The round reflects growing investor appetite for plasma-derived therapies and specialised healthcare manufacturing.

Consumer-facing brands also remained active. Wow! Momo, India’s popular quick-service restaurant chain, secured ₹75 crore from Singularity AMC, reinforcing investor belief in scalable Indian QSR brands even amid broader consumption concerns.

Early-stage startups draw selective investor attention

At the early stage, startups raised about $22.5 million across five deals, led by fintech-focused PowerUp Money, which secured $12 million in a Series A round from Peak XV Partners.

Other early-stage fundraises came from Prosperr.io, Naxatra Labs, LokSuvidha Finance, and Entuple E-Mobility, spanning domains from personal finance and infrastructure to mobility solutions.

Meanwhile, MagicDecor, Supply6, and deeptech startup Quintrans also raised capital, though the funding amounts were not disclosed—adding to the steady pipeline of consumer, wellness, and advanced technology ventures quietly closing rounds.

Bengaluru stays on top as fintech dominates deal flow

On a city-wise basis, Bengaluru once again led the charts with six deals, reaffirming its position as India’s startup funding capital. Chennai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai, and Pune followed with one deal each, underlining the continued geographic spread of startup activity beyond the usual hubs.

Sector-wise, fintech startups led the week with three deals, followed by deeptech with two deals. Foodtech, AI, spacetech, biotech, mobility, decor, and e-commerce also saw investor interest, reflecting a broadly diversified funding landscape even during slower weeks.

In terms of funding stages, seed rounds dominated with four deals, followed by Series A and Series D with two deals each. Later-stage participation also extended to Series F and pre-Series B rounds, showing that capital deployment continues across the maturity curve.

New funds, new platforms for founders

Beyond startup funding, the ecosystem saw significant movement on the capital formation and ecosystem-building front.

Anicut Capital closed its Grand Anicut Fund IV at ₹1,275 crore ($142 million), comfortably surpassing its ₹1,000 crore target. The fund will back startups across consumer, engineering services, SaaS, manufacturing, and hospitality, strengthening mid-stage growth capital availability.

Meanwhile, Nikhil Kamath and Kishore Biyani jointly launched The Foundery, a residential business launchpad designed to identify and build early-stage Indian startups—an experiment aimed at blending mentorship, capital, and immersive founder development.

M&A activity picks up across consumer, mobility and home interiors

Strategic acquisitions also featured prominently during the week.

Brainbees Solutions, the parent company of FirstCry, announced the acquisition of K.A. Enterprises (Hygiene) through its subsidiary Swara Baby, as it deepens its footprint in the hygiene products segment.

In mobility and safety tech, visual telematics startup Cautio acquired BYTES, an AI-driven automotive startup focused on two-wheeler ADAS, strengthening its two-wheeler safety and intelligence offerings.

Meanwhile, omnichannel home interiors platform Livspace acquired Mumbai-based Abby Lighting in a cash-and-stock deal, expanding its lighting solutions portfolio and strengthening vertical integration.

ESOP liquidity and workforce realignment

On the employee wealth front, stockbroking platform Dhan completed a company-led ESOP buyback worth nearly ₹50 crore, providing liquidity to around 180 employees—a move that reflects growing maturity in startup compensation structures.

At the same time, the week also underscored the tough operational choices many startups continue to face. Bengaluru-based conversational AI startup Yellow.ai laid off over 100 employees, impacting nearly 30% of its workforce, as it pivots towards deeper AI-led automation and efficiency.

New launches, partnerships and institutional initiatives

Several new ecosystem initiatives were rolled out during the week:

Marwari Catalysts Group launched Thrive 10.0, focusing on DefenceTech and AgriTech startups, particularly from Tier II and III cities.

The National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC), in collaboration with IIMA Ventures, launched Bharat COOPATHON 2025, aimed at innovation in the cooperative finance ecosystem.

Edtech platform Weskill unveiled Wena AI, billed as India’s first fully autonomous education system. Going live on December 25, 2025, the platform aims to deliver end-to-end education without human teachers, addressing scale and consistency challenges.

Financial results reveal a focus on efficiency

This week’s financial disclosures offered a mixed but revealing picture of India’s startup economy:

• Farmley neared ₹400 crore in FY25 revenue, with losses under control.
• Ustraa’s revenue declined to ₹73 crore, but losses were cut by 72%.
• Foxtale’s revenue approached ₹200 crore, though losses rose 38%.
• Kuku FM reported ₹242 crore revenue, spending ₹285 crore on marketing.
• Atomberg reduced losses by 41% after cutting employee costs.
• MediBuddy posted ₹725 crore revenue, narrowing losses by 37%.
• Spice brand Zoff crossed ₹100 crore in revenue, but slipped into losses.

The bigger picture

Despite the sharp week-on-week funding decline, the Indian startup ecosystem remains active, strategic, and resilient. UPI continued to scale, recording 20.47 billion transactions worth ₹26.32 lakh crore in November, with PhonePe commanding nearly half the market.

Quick commerce major Zepto moved closer to the public markets, with its board approving a plan to raise up to ₹11,000 crore ahead of a confidential IPO filing—one of the most closely watched startup stories heading into 2026.

Taken together, the week reflected an ecosystem in transition: less exuberant, more disciplined, and increasingly focused on sustainable growth, operational efficiency, and long-term value creation.

As 2025 draws to a close, Indian startups appear to be ending the year not with noise—but with intent.