Indian startup funding falls 47.5% to $678 million in October

Indian startups raised $677.8 million in October 2026, down 47.5% from September, with no startup securing a funding round of $100 million or more, according to Entrackr.

Entrackr put September's total at $1.29 billion and October 2025 at $1.73 billion, making the annual decline 60.8%. The month included 20 growth and late-stage deals worth $414.6 million, 79 early-stage deals worth $263 million and nine undisclosed deals. February and June were the strongest funding months of 2026, each attracting about $2 billion.

The largest rounds

Tessolve Semiconductor and Even Healthcare were the only companies to cross $50 million, Entrackr said. Its growth and late-stage ranking was:

• Tessolve Semiconductor, a semiconductor solutions provider, raised $75 million.
• Even Healthcare, a healthtech startup, raised $50 million.
• Sports and fitness brand Boldfit raised $42 million.
• Lifestyle brand DailyObjects raised $35 million.
• Enterprise AI startup RapidCanvas raised $29 million.
• Advanced materials manufacturer Simplify raised $25 million.
• Robotics startup Origin raised $20 million.
• Beauty and wellness brand Nat Habit raised $15 million.
• AI startups Simplismart and Live2.ai each raised $14 million.

Entrackr's early-stage ranking showed moderate participation across AI, healthtech, edtech and gaming:

• Enterprise AI startup AuxoAI raised $20.7 million.
• Healthtech startup Cent raised $15 million.
• Mesa School of Business and healthtech startup Confido Health each raised $12.5 million.
• Gaming startup Spill Games raised $10.5 million.
• AI video platform Clueso, quantum computing startup Quanfluence and social gaming platform Matiks each raised $10 million.
• Nutrition brand Ace Blend raised $9.91 million.
• Edtech startup byteXL raised $9 million to expand its technology training programmes.

Capital by city, sector and stage

Bengaluru drew $420 million across 52 deals, or 61.97% of October's capital, according to Entrackr. Delhi-NCR followed with $110.26 million across 18 deals; Mumbai raised $57.53 million across 11. Hyderabad secured $41.22 million across five, while Bhubaneswar received $11.5 million from one.

E-commerce led by sector with $182.69 million across 27 deals, Entrackr said. AI startups followed with $131.12 million across 22, healthtech with $104.61 million across 13, semiconductors with $75 million in one, and manufacturers with $36.67 million across four.

By series, Entrackr recorded:

• Series B: $209.34 million across 10 deals.
• Series A: $135.35 million across 17.
• Seed: $80.41 million across 41.
• Series C: $61.5 million across three.
• Pre-Series A: $23.24 million across seven.

M&A, listings and leadership

Entrackr recorded five acquisitions across SaaS, healthtech, cybersecurity and FMCG. Freshworks acquired AI startup Robusta; Cent acquired Medsee; Protectt.ai acquired AIShield; Marico acquired Satya Nutraceuticals for $110 million; and Hoola Health acquired UpTodd. The source described M&A activity as limited to select sectors and linked the UpTodd deal to continued healthtech consolidation.

October brought no reported layoffs, Entrackr said. It also marked Jio Platforms' stock-market debut, followed by listings for Zetwerk and AceVector, the operator of Snapdeal.

Entrackr's leadership roundup included Mayank Khanduja joining Bessemer Venture Partners as a partner and Manas Poddar taking charge as CBO at OTPless. It also listed Kiran U joining Bellatrix Aerospace as CFO, Basant Dhawan as CMO at Shoonya by Finvasia, Medhavi Singh as India country head at Aleph and Kamaldeep Singh as CEO at Infost Energy.

The data listed Sanjeev Bikhchandani as both continuing as MD and group CEO of Info Edge and departing from Info Edge. Mithun Sacheti was also listed as a departure from Nazara Technologies.

Company and IPO signals

Zorit, formerly Bijnis, raised funding from investors including Sparoww Capital and Info Edge Capital, Entrackr said. Info Edge Capital had written off its entire investment in the startup in 2023.

Spiritual tech startup Vama raised funding from the Dainik Bhaskar family office, which Entrackr said could be among its first recorded startup investments.

Snabbit recorded an NTV of Rs 72 crore in Q2 FY27, marginally ahead of Urban Company's InstaHelp at Rs 71 crore, Entrackr reported. Snabbit's burn was Rs 142 crore, while InstaHelp posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 174 crore; the source cautioned that the figures may not be directly comparable.

Hunger Pangs, which operates Burma Burma, filed its DRHP for an IPO comprising a fresh issue of up to Rs 600 crore, with no OFS, Entrackr said. The filing followed the September filing by EverBrands India, the operator of Subway India.

What does this change for founders?

Entrackr attributes the slowdown to a more selective investment environment, with investors prioritizing stronger business fundamentals and clearer paths to profitability. For founders, the practical change is a higher evidentiary bar for raising larger checks, even as October still produced 99 disclosed growth and early-stage rounds.

Indian startups have raised nearly $11 billion so far in 2026, according to Entrackr. If funding averages $1 billion in each of the remaining two months, the annual total could exceed the $11.3 billion recorded in both 2023 and 2020. Otherwise, 2026 could end with the lowest annual funding in seven years.

The coming months will determine whether October's slowdown was temporary or the start of a prolonged period of cautious investment.