Indian Startups Raised $115M in a Week as VC Chill Persists Into 2027

By Olivia Hart

Indian startups raised $115 million across 29 deals in the final week of October, up from $96 million the week before, but still far from the large-ticket environment investors once took for granted. The largest deal of the week was a $15 million investment in healthtech startup Cent, according to YourStory's tracking. The takeaway is plain: no mega-rounds, no momentum, and no recovery expected before 2027.

Where did the money go?

Two AI infrastructure and AI startups — Simplismart and Live2.ai — raised $14 million each, meaning three deals accounted for well over a third of the week's total. AI showed early signs of momentum with two pure-play startups funded, yet the broader picture stays subdued, per the report.

YourStory expects the funding environment to remain largely unchanged through 2026, with hopes of a recovery pushed to 2027. That is a forecast, not a fact — and it rests on hopes the source itself flags as deferred.

What does the Prosus–Navi approval change?

Dutch investment group Prosus moved a step closer to acquiring a stake in Sachin Bansal-led Navi after the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed deal. The approval follows Navi's $100 million fundraise from Prosus in August — the Bengaluru fintech's first institutional capital raise.

The deal deepens Prosus' presence in India's digital financial services market. What the announcement does not say is how Navi plans to deploy the capital; that detail remains undisclosed.

The corporate world's AI bet is meanwhile showing up in reported numbers. Santander said its AI initiatives generated €194 million ($216 million) in business value in the first nine months of 2026. Novartis and Standard Chartered reported profitability improvements, and Meta credited AI with boosting advertising revenue. Google Cloud's revenue more than doubled to nearly $31 billion in Q3. These are company-reported figures; independent verification is not yet available.

Can Binance's recovery claim be taken at face value?

Binance says it has replenished approximately 95% of the $6.3 billion in assets stolen in a major security breach, using company funds and reserves. That implies roughly $315 million of the stolen assets remain unrecovered — mostly less-liquid tokens the exchange is still working to source.

The exchange has begun restoring cryptocurrency withdrawals in phases after completing security checks. Binance has reiterated that users will not bear the financial losses. In plain terms: withdrawals are back, but not fully, and the promise is the exchange's own.

What did COP17 deliver?

Countries at the UN's COP17 biodiversity summit agreed on a roadmap to accelerate nature conservation by 2030. The plan calls for reducing harmful subsidies and increasing conservation funding. A significant financing gap remains, however, and the source itself identifies it as a challenge to meeting global biodiversity targets. A roadmap, in other words, without the money to run on it.

Who wants control of India's app economy?

At TechSparks 2026, Indus Appstore's Priya Narasimhan and Eloelo Group's Sagar Gaonkar argued that India needs greater control over app discovery, distribution and billing. Their case rests on hard numbers: dominant app stores charge commissions of 15–30%, which makes it difficult for developers to sell lower-priced digital products.

They framed digital sovereignty as extending beyond chips and AI models to three layers: app discovery and distribution; monetisation and billing; and data trust and consent. AI, they argued, could reshape app discovery and content personalisation, while locally relevant experiences and flexible pricing could bring India's next 500 million users online.

EV expansion, on paper and in orders

EKA Mobility added six new facilities across Pune and Pithampur, taking its network to 11 plants with annual capacity exceeding 40,000 electric vehicles. The expansion is backed by investments exceeding Rs 3,500 crore. The company reports 1,243% year-on-year growth in H1 FY27 — a figure that reflects a low base as much as scale — and an order book of over 11,000 buses.

Globally, BYD recorded its sixth consecutive month of year-on-year sales growth, selling 4.9 lakh vehicles in October, up 11% from a year earlier. Overseas shipments surged 102.8% to 1.7 lakh units, offsetting sluggish domestic demand and price competition in China.

What to watch

Two events frame the week ahead. The Bengaluru Skill Summit 2026, organised by Karnataka's Department of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, runs November 3–5 at The Lalit Ashok. Devcon 8, Ethereum's flagship developer conference, convenes in Mumbai November 3–6, 2026. Both will test whether talk of recovery — in skills, in crypto infrastructure — translates into deals.