Indian startups raised $203 million in week of 21-25 September
Kalpana Maurya
1 Oct 2026 · 3 min read
Indian startups raised $203.4 million across 21 deals between 21 and 25 September 2026, about 3.4 times the previous week, according to Inc42. Two rounds, Ultraviolette's $85 million Series E and Ema's $77 million Series B, made up most of the total.
Indian startups raised a combined $203.4 million across 21 deals between 21 and 25 September 2026, according to Inc42's weekly funding tracker published on 26 September. That was about 3.4 times the $58.9 million raised by 14 startups in the previous week.
Two large rounds accounted for roughly four-fifths of the money: electric motorcycle maker Ultraviolette Automotive's $85 million Series E and AI company Ema's $77 million Series B.
The biggest rounds
Ultraviolette's round, announced on 23 September, was led by Yali Capital and TDK Ventures, with Lip-Bu Tan also investing and existing investors participating. Ultraviolette, founded by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, said it would use the money to scale production of its F77 and X-47 motorcycles and the upcoming Tesseract scooter and Shockwave enduro bike, develop new EV platforms, and expand abroad. It is targeting the US market in 2027, according to EVreporter.
Ema's $77 million Series B was led by Creaegis, with Accel, S32 and Prosus also taking part. Social networking app Rivet raised a $10.5 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners, with Shine Capital and Blume Ventures. AI startup Dextr AI raised $6.7 million in seed funding led by Elevation Capital alongside Foundation Capital, and spacetech startup GalaxEye raised $6.7 million from the RDI Fund.
Other rounds included Rio Health's $4.5 million pre-Series A led by Version One Ventures, Sol Foundry's $4 million from investors including General Catalyst and Nexus Venture Partners, and Definedge's $2.3 million pre-Series A from angel investors.
Sector and stage trends
AI was the most funded sector, with five AI startups raising $89.3 million; Ema alone made up 86% of that. Cleantech came next with $85 million from Ultraviolette's single deal. Ecommerce led on deal count, with six startups, mostly D2C brands, raising $3.8 million between them.
Seed-stage startups raised $20.3 million across five deals, more than half of it in Rivet's round. Peercheque and Sauce.VC were the most active investors, each backing two startups.
Funds and IPOs
The Centre is considering an anchor investment of ₹15,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore in a proposed National Frontier AI & Compute Fund, Inc42 reported. Nykaa and L'Oréal's venture fund BOLD said they would invest together in Indian beauty and personal care brands.
On the IPO front, Moneyview's issue was subscribed 6.01 times by the end of its second day, used-car marketplace Spinny confidentially filed its draft papers with SEBI, and Snapdeal parent AceVector's ₹420 crore IPO opened for bidding.
Key facts
- Period: 21-25 September 2026
- Total raised: $203.4 million across 21 deals
- Previous week: $58.9 million across 14 deals
- Largest round: Ultraviolette Automotive, $85 million Series E (Yali Capital, TDK Ventures)
- Second largest: Ema, $77 million Series B (Creaegis)
- Top sector: AI, $89.3 million across five startups
- Seed funding: $20.3 million across five deals
- Source: Inc42, 26 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
How much did Indian startups raise in the week of 21-25 September 2026?
$203.4 million across 21 deals, according to Inc42, about 3.4 times the previous week.
Which startup raised the most that week?
Ultraviolette Automotive, with an $85 million Series E led by Yali Capital and TDK Ventures.
Who founded Ultraviolette?
Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan founded the electric motorcycle maker.
Which sector received the most funding?
AI, where five startups raised $89.3 million, mostly from Ema's $77 million Series B.
