Between December 29 and January 2, only gritech startup Arya.ag and fintech Knight Fintech announced fundraises, cumulatively amounting to $104.2 Mn

This marked a 112% increase from $49.2 Mn raised by seven startups last week

Investors like GEF Capital Partners, Accel, 3one4 Capital, were active investors in the final week of 2025

With the onset of new year and festive celebrations, the funding flow remained flat with merely two startups raising capital between December 29 to January 2. After the new year’s day celebration, agritech startup Arya.ag and fintech Knight Fintech announced their respective funding rounds on January 2.

These were the only two deals announced between Monday and Friday.

Funding Galore : Indian Startup Funding Of The Week (Dec 29 – Jan 2)

Agritech startup Arya.ag raised $80.6 Mn in its Series D funding round in a mix of primary and secondary transactions. Meanwhile, fintech SaaS startup Knight FinTech raised $23.6 Mn in its Series A funding round led by Accel.

Both the funding rounds were on the higher end, amounting a total capital infusion of $104.2 Mn in the startup ecosystem.

While the number of deals may appear muted, it is worth noting that startup funding activity typically tapers off in the final week of the year. For context, during the last week of December 2024, Indian startups raised just $25.9 Mn across six dealsreflecting the seasonal slowdown in capital deployment.

This adds to the total capital raised by Indian startups during 2025, which, according to Inc42’s Annual Indian Startup Trends Report, 2025, stood at over $11 Bn raised by Indian startups across more than 936 deals.

While this marked an 8% decline from the $12 Bn raised across 993 deals in 2024, the numbers need to be read in the context of a strong IPO cycle during the year. For comparison, startup funding had slipped to $10 Bn in 2023 at the height of the funding winter.

Looking ahead to 2026, funding is expected to rebound selectivelyfavouring high-conviction plays in AI, fintech infrastructure, real-economy and category-defining consumer and B2B startups, with IPOs and secondaries jointly shaping liquidity.

Startup IPO Updates This Week

• B2B seafood brand Captain Fresh withdrew its confidential DRHP due to unanticipated delays in getting regulatory clearances for an acquisition it made in the European market.


• Taking a third stab at a public listing, OYO parent PRISM pre-filed its DRHP to raise INR 6,650 Cr via fresh issue as a part of its anticipated IPO this week. The public issue is also expected to comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) component.


• Quick commerce Zepto pre-filed its draft papers for an over $1.3 Bn IPO with markets regulator SEBI last Saturday.

M&A Updates This Week

Other Developments Of The Week