Startups Pulled In Over $200 Million Beyond the Headline Deals Last Week

Indian startups raised more than $200 million across eleven deals that stayed out of the headlines during the week of October 25, according to Moneycontrol's weekly funding roundup. The largest of them, developer-tools maker Blacksmith, pulled in $66 million.

What were the biggest rounds?

Blacksmith closed a $66 million Series C — roughly Rs 585 crore — with Sequoia Capital, Premji Invest, Peak XV Partners, Google Ventures and Y Combinator backing it. The company builds infrastructure for building and testing software, letting developers run continuous integration workflows before code gets merged.

Menswear brand The Pant Project followed with Rs 109 crore in Series B funding from Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), Sorin Investments, family offices and angels. The bottomwear-focused label plans to expand into jeans, athleisure and casualwear, and intends to grow its exclusive brand store network from 25 to 150 outlets over the next two to three years.

Health-tech operator CureBay raised around Rs 100 crore, split between Rs 69 crore in equity and more than Rs 30 crore in debt. IvyCap Ventures led the equity cheque, with existing investors, Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital and VentureSoul Partners participating. CureBay runs technology-enabled healthcare clinics focused on underserved areas; the money funds geographic expansion plus investments in technology and AI.

Which AI startups got funded?

AuxoAI secured $20.7 million — around Rs 184 crore — in a Series A led by NTTVC. The company works with enterprises to build and implement tailored AI systems, deploying forward-deployed engineers to develop custom workflows and widen enterprise AI adoption.

Firstwork collected $15 million (about Rs 133 crore) in Series A money from Earlybird Venture Capital. It builds an AI-led workforce automation platform that plugs into existing HR systems, so employers can automate workflows without ripping out their current software.

Hunar.AI raised Rs 40 crore in Series A funding. Blume Ventures, Hyderabad Angels Fund, Together Fund, Seedstars and AVVM Ventures backed it, alongside PhysicsWallah co-founders Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey and MediaMint co-founder Aditya Vuchi. The startup builds conversational AI that helps companies hire, onboard, train and retain frontline workers.

Karta AI drew $3 million, roughly Rs 27 crore, from PeerCapital, Cedar Hill Capital, Wyser VC, CDM Capital and Seedstars. It builds agentic voice AI for inbound customer operations across banking, financial services and insurance, handling complex queries in more than 25 languages.

What about consumer and travel plays?

Chapter Home raised Rs 63 crore through a mix of equity and debt from Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures, comedian-turned-investor Tanmay Bhat and select family offices. The company is building consumer brands across home and kitchen categories — bed and table linen, cookware, home decor and small kitchen appliances — on a shared platform for sourcing, supply chain, technology and distribution.

Harajuku Tokyo Café took in $3 million (around Rs 27 crore) in a pre-Series A round. Zero W, Indian Angel Network, Samved VC, Blume Founders Fund, the Brijesh Parekh Family Office and Rahul Jain invested. The company runs Japanese-themed food and beverage outlets under the Harajuku Tokyo Café and Harajuku Bakehouse brands.

Travel platform Onto closed a $1 million pre-seed — about Rs 9 crore — from Stargazer Fund and White Venture Capital. Founded by former Groww professionals, Onto's Price Drop Refund feature returns the difference to travellers when eligible hotel prices fall after booking.

Where did the deep-tech money go?

Ahmedabad-based SpectraGaze Systems raised Rs 3.7 crore in a seed round from GVFL and angel investors. The company develops optical imaging sensors and electro-optical payloads for space, defence and scientific applications, with the stated aim of cutting India's reliance on imported imaging detectors.

Navitas Solar secured up to $20 million in seed funding from responsAbility. The integrated renewable energy player has built a presence across solar modules, encapsulant manufacturing, EPC services, battery energy storage systems and renewable power generation.

The spread — from pre-seed travel apps to deep-tech optics and a $66 million developer-tools round — signals that investor appetite in the week of October 25 ran well beyond the marquee deals, with AI and enterprise infrastructure absorbing the largest cheques.