ETtech Deals Digest: Startups raise $221 million this week, down 45% on-year
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Startups raised around $221.4 million during the week of June 28 to July 4, marking a 45.1% drop from the $403.1 million raised during the same period last year, according to data from Tracxn.The amount also marked a 19.9% decrease over the $276.3 million raised last week.Deal activity, too, remained muted this week, with 19 transactions recorded during the period. This was less than half of the 48 deals seen in the corresponding week last year.: Business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce marketplace Jumbotail raised $120 million in a funding round led by SC Ventures, the investment arm of financial services company Standard Chartered. The Bengaluru-based company is now valued at over $1 billion on a post-money basis, becoming the fifth startup to enter the unicorn club in 2025.: AppsForBharat, the parent company of devotional platform Sri Mandir, raised $20 million in a funding round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital. The round also saw participation from other existing investors, Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners.: Egg-focussed consumer brand Eggoz raised $20 million in a funding round led by Gaja Capital. Existing backers IvyCap Ventures, Rebright Partners, Avaana Capital, Merisis Opportunities Fund, Nabventures, Blue Dot Capital, and Artek Chemicals also participated in the round.: Lab-grown diamond jewellery company Aukera raised $15 million in its latest funding round led by Peak XV Partners. Existing investors Fireside Ventures, Sparrow Capital, Prath Ventures, and Alteria Capital also participated in the round.
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Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
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Since President Trump's first term, companies grappling for trade certainty have clung to one guiding principle: move production out of China. But months into the president's global tariff barrage , that doesn't always looking to diversify their supply chains saw India's vast population, its strengthening ties with Washington, and its abundance of engineers and scientists as a good hedge against China. But then Trump—who has been trying to pressure President Vladimir Putin into ending Russia's war on Ukraine—grew angry with India over the country's purchases of Russian oil. In recent weeks, Trump has slapped a 25% tariff on Indian imports and has threatened to double that by the end of this month. In that case, tariffs on India would match the roughly 50% duties the U.S. now charges on Chinese goods. That has left companies that have moved production to India scrambling to respond. 'All the effort that we put up over the last four to five months is suddenly up in the air,' said Rohin Malhotra, the chief technology officer of Posha, a Silicon Valley-based maker of countertop cooking robots that had been working to shift production from China to India. The company, whose robots are programmed to cook meals with prepped ingredients, has now put those plans on hold as it waits to see if the 50% tariff sticks. 'It's just wasted effort to think of an alternative destination for now,' he said. India has worked hard in recent years to attract businesses that decided to diversify away from China—a strategy dubbed 'China Plus One.' Indian authorities have worked to ease the thicket of regulations and modernize the country's infrastructure, both of which have hindered business investment in the past. The push has, in some cases, paid off handsomely, bringing in much-needed investment. For instance, Apple began shifting a large chunk of its iPhone production from China to India about a decade ago. India produced about 14% of Apple's iPhones in 2024, according to technology research firm TechInsights, up from zero nine years earlier. (The Trump administration has exempted iPhones from most tariffs.) But now, uncertainty over U.S. trade policy reigns. Some hope that Trump will lower the India tariffs after he meets with Putin later this week. At the same time, the U.S. and China are still in talks to determine the final level of tariffs. Other countries that have lured businesses away from China, like Vietnam and Malaysia, have been assigned tariff rates of around 20%. It is uncertain whether those tariffs are low enough for companies to justify the disruption of moving supply chains from China. Moreover, Trump intends to charge higher levies on so-called transshipped products, or those assembled in third countries with some Chinese components. However, the exact mechanism of such tariffs is unclear. 'Instead of a smooth 'China+1' diversification, many are now in 'China+None of the Above' mode,' unsatisfied with any of their options, wrote Mark Morgan, president of global commercial operations at Kinaxis, a supply-chain company. Liz Andarcia, co-founder of Rise Collective Consultants, a supply-chain consulting firm that has helped retailers shift production out of China, said some companies are hoping to wait a couple of weeks before making big moves. Still, she is working with one client—whose production is heavily concentrated in India—to shift some sites to Pakistan and Turkey. 'We're just fast-tracking those now, like pedal to the metal,' she said. India's purchase of Russian oil has angered President Trump. It's a difficult period for Serenial Technology, an Indian company setting up a contract manufacturing site in Dharwad, India. Renaud Anjoran, a co-owner, said U.S. clients who were eager to have their electronics products made in Dharwad are now indicating that they'll wait to see what happens with tariff rates before committing. 'It just threw a huge wrench in our plans basically,' he said. Many of his clients will stick with China, he said. All the tariff uncertainty has whipsawed Radhika Patil, the CEO and cofounder of Cradlewise, a Silicon Valley-based maker of cradles that soothe babies back to sleep. Cradlewise only began commercial sales five years ago, but it has already moved manufacturing twice, first from China to Vietnam, and last year from Vietnam to India. The company set up manufacturing in Pune, an industrial hub in western India that has traditionally produced cars. Patil said he was drawn to India because it is a strong base for raw materials, so that she wouldn't be reliant on imported parts. 'We just wanted to build more predictability into the supply chain,' she said. 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Time of India
40 minutes ago
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Perplexity AI offers Google $34.5 bn for Chrome browser
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The Hindu
43 minutes ago
- The Hindu
MBU builds ₹30 crore ‘container stadium' in Tirupati
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