Indian startup funding regained momentum in October 2025, with private equity and venture capital investments climbing 60.5% to $1.83 billion, from $1.14 billion in September. However, deal activity eased slightly to 100 transactions from 108, according to DealStreetAsia’s proprietary data.
On a year-on-year basis, startup funding in India rose 63.4% to $1.83 billion in October 2025, up from $1.12 billion in October 2024. Deal volume remained unchanged at 100.
Startup fundraising in India
There were four megadeals — deals valued at least $100 million — worth $955 million in October, as against two megadeals worth $343 million in September.
The largest deal in the month was struck by Zepto, which raised $450 million led by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), a US-based pension fund; along with existing investor General Catalyst. The funding round was said to have boosted Zepto’s valuation to $7 billion, up from $5 billion last year.
Top ten deals in October 2025
Uniphore, one of the world’s largest AI-native companies, followed with $260-million funding in its Series F round as it looks to expand its operations. The round included strategic investors such as NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks, alongside financial and sovereign investors such as NEA, March Capital, BNF Capital, and National Grid Partners.
The other two megadeals were buy-now-pay-later startup Snapmint ($125 million), and stock trading platform Dhan ($120 million).
Zepto deal takes logistics industry to the top
Zepto’s $450-million fundraise propelled the logistics and distribution sector to the top of India’s startup funding charts in October 2025, with total inflows reaching $480 million. The only other deal in the segment came from Intangles, which secured a $30-million Series B round led by Avataar Venture Partners, with follow-on participation from Baring Private Equity India and Cactus Partners.
Financial services ranked second, attracting $449.6 million across 15 deals. Snapmint led the pack with a $125-million round spearheaded by General Atlantic, joined by Prudent Investment Managers, Kae Capital, Elev8 Venture Partners, and other existing angel investors. Raise Financial Services, the parent company of stock trading platform Dhan, followed with $120-million funding in a Series B round led by Hornbill Capital.
Other notable deals within the industry were Drip Capital ($50 million), Dezerv ($40 million), GrowXCD Finance ($22.8 million), Optimo Capital ($18 million), Berar Finance ($17 million), CapitalXB Finance ($15 million), and Jupiter Money ($15 million).
The software industry made it to third spot with total funding worth $409.4 million across 23 deals. Uniphore led with a $260-million funding, followed by UnifyApps ($50 million), MemO ($24 million), Petpooja ($15.5 million), KGeN ($13.5 million), and GreyLabs AI ($10 million).
Together the top three industries — logistics and distribution, financial services, and software — raised a total of $1.34 billion from 40 deals, or 73% of the month’s total funding value.
Growth-stage investments gain momentum
Growth-stage investments — encompassing Series B and later rounds, as well as private equity and pre-IPO deals — saw a notable rise in their share of total startup funding. In October, these rounds accounted for 52.3% of the overall funding, up from 47.5% in September. These startups raised a total of $957 million across 19 deals in October, compared with $472 million from 10 deals in the previous month.
Key growth-stage deals during the month included Uniphore ($260 million, Series F), IntrCity SmartBus ($28 million, Series D), Kapiva ($60 million, Series D), Dezerv ($40 million, Series C), Kuku FM ($85 million, Series C), Petpooja ($15.5 million, Series C), Snabbit ($30 million, Series C), Dhan ($120 million, Series B), Snapmint ($125 million, Series B), UnifyApps ($50 million, Series B), and Two Brothers Organic Farms ($12.4 million, Series B), among others.
Meanwhile, early-stage funding saw a decline in October. Pre-seed and seed-stage deal value dropped to $83.2 million across 38 deals, compared with $87.2 million from 44 deals in September. Pre-Series A and Series A rounds also fell to $158.8 million across 20 deals, down from $196.2 million across 29 deals in the previous month.
The largest seed round during the month was raised by CapitalXB Finance, a trade finance-focused non-bank which secured $15 million led by Nicolas Walewski, founder of Alken; along with participation from an Indian family office.
Other notable seed rounds in the month included Airbound ($8.65 million), Smallest.ai ($8 million), Everbright Health ($7 million), Matters.AI ($6.2 million), and The Medical Travel Company ($4.5 million).
In Series A funding, the largest deal of the month was $18 million raised by Optimo Capital, led by its founder Prashant Pitti. Other notable Series A transactions included Goyaz ($14.6 million), Pluro Fertility ($14 million), GoodScore ($13 million), Ekkaa Electronics ($12.2 million), Pantherun Technologies ($12 million), and SalarySe ($11.3 million).
Meanwhile, debt funding in October dropped to $55 million across two deals from $270.9 million across six deals in the previous month.
Top investors
Venture capital firms Accel and Peak XV Partners emerged as the top investors in October with four investments each.
Accel led investments in startups including technology-driven wealth management Dezerv, marketplace for resale homes HouseEazy, blockchain platform KGeN, and healthtech startup August AI. Meanwhile, Peak XV Partners invested in technology infrastructure firm Cybrilla, fintech platform GoodScore, memory infrastructure platform for AI agents MemO, and fintech platform SalarySe.
Venture capital firm 3one4 Capital, Fireside Ventures, Rainmatter, Venture Catalysts, and Vertex Growth followed with three investments each. Other prominent investors in the month were 360 ONE Asset, Antler India, BeeNext, Better Capital, Claypond Capital, Kalaari Capital, Lightspeed, and Nexus Venture Partners.
