ETtech Deals Digest: Indian startups enter 2023 as funding winter still looms

The number of seed stage deals in India,
according to data from London-based investment data platform Preqin, fell to 396 in 2022 from 500 in 2021. According to the same data, the amount of money pumped in by investors at the seed stage, rose by 86% to almost $1.5 billion in 2022 from $805 million in 2021. The numbers suggest that while bigger investments came in 2022, the number of businesses investors were willing to risk their money on, fell.

The new year started off with some good news for Indian startups with fintech company KreditBee raising $120 million in a round led by Advent International, while rural household-focused lender SarvaGram raised $35 million in Series C funding from Elevar Equity.

Here is a list of startups that got funded this week:

KreditBee raises $120 million funding in new tranche: Credit-based fintech startup
KreditBee has raised $120 million in fresh capital as part of its latest tranche of funding round taking the total round size to $200 million. US-based private equity giant Advent International has invested $100 million in this tranche while others have put in an additional $20 million, the company said on Friday. ET had first reported in September that Advent International was in talks to pick a stake in KreditBee.

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Lending startup SarvaGram closes Series C with $35 million: Rural household-focussed lender
SarvaGram Solutions said it has closed its Series C funding round at $35 million, led by venture capital fund Elevar Equity. Other investors that participated in the round were Elevation Capital, Temasek and TVS Capital Funds, according to a statement. The company last raised $10 million in its Series B round in February 2021, led by Elevation Capital and Elevar Equity.

SirionLabs rakes in $25 million in funding: Contract lifecycle management (CLM) startup
SirionLabs said it has topped up its Series D round of funding with a $25 million investment from California-based private equity firm Brookfield Growth. The homegrown SirionLabs, which is now based in Seattle, raised $85 million from Partners Group last May with participation from existing investors Sequoia India and Tiger Global.

Neobank Jupiter picks up $12 million in venture debt: Fintech startup
Jupiter said it has received a commitment of Rs 100 crore ($12 million) in tailored venture debt from Alteria Capital. The company said it will use the money to scale its bundle of lending products. The Mumbai- and Bengaluru-based company was founded by Jitendra Gupta, as his second venture in the fintech space after selling Citrus Pay to Naspers-owned PayU in 2016.

EV charging startup ElectricPe raises $5 million: Electric vehicle (EV) charging startup
ElectricPe has raised $5 million, led by Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures, and Micelio Fund. Dubai-based NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus, and Climate Angels also participated in the funding round. “The funding will be used to improve our technology and also expand to cities outside Bengaluru,” cofounder and CEO Avinash Sharma told ET.

Gamified savings startup Fello raises $4 million: Bengaluru-based gamified savings platform
Fello has raised $4 million in its latest funding round. The round was led by US-based Courtside Ventures, with participation from Entrepreneur First, Ycombinator, Kube Venture and Upsparks. The round also saw participation from angel investors, including Cred founder Kunal Shah, Groww co-founder Lalit Keshre, Charlie Songhurst, Dafeng and Alan Rutledge.