Weekly Musings – Big start-up updates for the week to May 03, 2024

9 May 2024 , 10:50 AM

START UP STORY OF THE WEEK

The start-up funding story picked up sharp momentum the latest week to May 03, 2024. While the weekly start-up fund raising stood at $316 Million, it was largely driven by just one deal of PharmEasy,  which accounted for 68% of the total start-up fund raising in the week. The fund raising of the week at $316 Million was higher than the previous week and also higher than the average of the last 5 weeks. The week saw a total of 23 deals, but the deal of PharmEasy was the biggest by a margin. In fact, one of the deals that is about to be completed is the $250 Million funding of Innovaccer. While the deal has been mentioned in our list, it is not included in the deal value count for the week since it is not yet finalized.

In the last 14 weeks, the start-ups have raised above $100 Million in each of these weeks overall. In the 5 weeks prior to the current week, the start-up collections were to the tune of $172 Million, $260 Million, $105 Million, $152 Million, and $243 Million. In the latest week to May 03, 2024, start-ups raised $316 Million across a total of 23 start-up deals, with PharmEasy, Kinara Capital, Portea, Change Zone, Infinity Fincorp and BRISKPE dominating the funding story in the latest week.

NUMBER OF DEALS AND FUND RAISING

The number of deals in the latest week stood at 23 deals, compared with 21 deals, 31 deals, 21 deals, 22 deals, and 17 deals; in the 5 weeks prior to that. That is indicative of a slew of big-ticket deals in the vicinity of over $10 Million on an average. Compared to the average of the last 5 weeks, the start-up funding in the latest week was 69.9% higher. On a week-on-week (WOW) basis the start-up collections were 83.7% lower. HealthTech was the dominant theme in the current week to May 03, 2024, while seed funding in the latest week fell by 64% to just $12.3 Million, showing deals gravitating towards late stages.

Funding Week	Start-up funding raised
Week ending March 29, 2024	$243 Million
Week ending April 05, 2024	$152 Million
Week ending April 12, 2024	$105 Million
Week ending April 19, 2024	$260 Million
Week ending April 26, 2024	$172 Million
Average of previous 5 weeks	$186 Million
Week ending May 03, 2024	$316 Million

The start-up funding for the latest week ended May 03, 2024 was decisively higher on a week-on-week basis and also higher than the average of the previous five weeks. The $316 Million of fund raising in the week was dominated by PharmEasy, although the deal took place at a valuations that represents a steep 90% discount to the valuations that PharmEasy had got in previous rounds of funding. Deals in the week were biased towards late stage deals; with start-up deals falling sharply.

INNOVACCER IN DISCUSSION TO RAISE $250 MILLION FROM KAISER PERMANENTE

Innovaccer, a healthtech startup plans to raise up to $250 Million (₹2,080 Crore) from Kaiser Permanente. Innovaccer currently is into the business of aggregating patient data across systems and care settings. The current round is likely to value Innovaccer at around $3 Billion. Innovaccer has developed a cloud-based software layer that integrates with existing electronic health record systems used by healthcare facilities. This allows unification and analysis of patient data from various sources and also provides the users with a 360 degree view of the patient health. Some of the marquee investors in Innovaccer include big names in the private equity business like Tiger Global, Mubadala, Lightspeed, Dragoneer, and Steadview Capital.

PHARMEASY TO RAISE $216 MILLION VIA RIGHTS ISSUE

In the biggest deal of the week, PharmEasy, which was slated to come out with an IPO about 2 years back, has raised a sum of $217 Million (₹1,804 Crore). Interestingly, this deal was done at a steep 90% discount to the last valuation at which PharmEasy had raised funds. The parent company of PharmEasy, API Holdings Ltd will allot 18.63 Crore cumulative convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of ₹96.80 each. At the peak of the digital boom, PharmEasy had been valued at $5.60 Billion, but the latest funding round happened at a discount of 90% to that valuation. PharmEasy has already put off its IPO plans in India due to absence of conducive markets for valuing digital businesses.

KINARA CAPITAL GETS $24.4 MILLION IN DEBT FUNDING

Kinara Capital, a digital lending outfit in Bengaluru, has secured $24.40 Million (₹203 Crore) in debt funding. This funding round has come from Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) of Singapore and Blue Orchard Microfinance Fund. The amount was raised in 2 tranches. It had already raised $14.40 Million it an earlier round in March this year and it has raised another $10 Million. It is likely to raise more debt to spruce up its capital base to support onward lending activities. Kinara Capital was founded in the year 2011 by Hardika Shah. Till date, the fintech has disbursed loans worth ₹700 Crore.

PORTEA MEDICAL BAGS $20 MILLION THROUGH RIGHTS ISSUE

The home healthcare solutions provider, Portea Medical, has got $20 Million (₹166 Crore) in funding via rights issue. It will be issuing CCPs against this rights funding. Incidentally, Portea has already got SEBI approval for its ₹1,000 Crore IPO. Portea provides home based healthcare services like mother and child care, consultation for nutrition and diet, physiotherapy, nursing, lab tests and elder care. It also runs a lab sample collection facility. As of date, Portea has provides its services to over 10 Lakh patients and averages around 7 Lakh patient visits on an annual basis. It also has partnerships with over 63 hospitals pan India.

CHARGE ZONE SECURES $19 MILLION TO BOOST EV CHARGING NETWORK

Charge Zone has got a commitment of a $19 Million (₹158 Crore) from British International Investment. BII is a development financial institution based out of the UK. It will help Charge Zone to expedite its expansion of high speed charging network for electrical vehicles, buses and trucks across key cities located in India. Charge Zone also plans to roll out nearly 1,500 super charging stations in the next 18 months and this funding round will also be used for that purpose. This is part of the plan outlined by Charge Zone to reach a target of 10,000 charging stations by the year 2027.

These were the funding deals in excess of $10 Million during the week ended May 03, 2024.