40 Indian startups secure over $787 million in funding this week

New Delhi, (IANS) In a significant week for the Indian startup ecosystem, nearly 40 startups secured more than $787 million in funding as the economy remained resilient amid the geo-political conditions.

These deals included 16 growth-stage deals and 23 early-stage ones.

This is a massive jump from $250 million raised cumulatively across 18 deals last week.

Cloud kitchen unicorn Rebel Foods led the funding with $210 million led by Temasek in a mix of primary and secondary share sales. Rebel Foods is planning for a public listing by next year.

Fintech startup Mintifi raised a total of $180 million in its Series E round led by TVG and Prosus. Mintifi plans to deploy the fresh capital to expand its footprint across key sectors.

Meanwhile, CarDekho SEA, the Southeast Asia business unit of digital automotive solutions provider CarDekho Group, raised its first external funding round of $60 million.

The round was led by prominent growth and private equity investors Navis Capital Partners (Navis) and Dragon Fund. Following this round, the cumulative fundraise now stands at more than $100 million.

Haber, a leading industrial AI startup, raised $44 million in its Series C funding round, which included $38 million in equity and $6 million in debt. The funding round was led by Creaegis, BEENEXT, and Accel.

SolarSquare, India’s leading home solar startup based in Mumbai, secured $40 million in its Series B funding round, marking the largest venture capital raise in the Indian solar sector. The round was led by Lightspeed with participation from Lightrock.

K12 Techno Services secured $40 million in funding from Kenro Capital, a growth-stage secondary venture capital firm.

Moreover, 23 early-stage startups secured funding worth $54.01 million during the week.Nearly 73,151 startups in India now have at least one woman Director -- nearly half of the 1,52,139 startups supported by the government, thus showcasing the crucial role women play in driving innovation and economic growth, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry statement. 40 Indian startups secure over $787 million in funding this week | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Softbank to invest $100bn in US AI

The cash injection follows a $50 billion investment in 2016 SoftBank Group, led by CEO Masayoshi Son, has announced plans to invest $100 billion in the US over the next four years, a move that will focus on advancing AI and its related infrastructure. This investment aims to create 100,000 new jobs. Son made the announcement alongside President-elect Donald Trump, who praised the deal as a strong sign of confidence in the future of the US economy. Trump said that the investment shows “monumental confidence in America’s future.” Trump welcomed the new investment as part of his broader strategy to boost the US economy and tackle inflation in his second term. “It will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries tomorrow are built, created and grown right here in the USA,” he continued. The new pledge echoes a similar commitment made in December 2016, when Son promised a $50 billion investment and 50,000 jobs. While that money was deployed, the impact on job creation was unclear. Although the $100 billion is set to be deployed over the next four years, the funding sources remain uncertain. SoftBank reported $27 billion in cash reserves as of September 30, and the company’s Vision Fund 2 still has $3 billion left to invest. It’s also possible that SoftBank could use funds from its recent acquisition of chipmaker Arm Holdings to help support this ambitious pledge. This year, SoftBank also invested $960 million in Japanese AIto upgrade its computing infrastructure to deliver a Generative AI platform in the Japanese language. Over the next two years, SoftBank will purchase GPUs (graphics processing units) from US based chip company Nvidia, using them to train and power its own large language models (LLMs), and then loan access to them to other firms. Softbank to invest $100bn in US AI | Total Telecom
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