27 Indian startups raise $308 million in funding this week

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) At least 27 startups in India raised about $307.8 million this week, which includes 17 early-stage and seven growth-stage companies.

Nearly 32 early and growth-stage startups raised more than $384 million last week, startup news portal Entrackr reported on Saturday.

Seventeen early-stage startups raised about $166.8 million, like mPokket, Ema, Hunch and Rozana, among others.

Startups based in Delhi-NCR led the funding with 10 deals, followed by Bengaluru at 9 deals.

Digital lending platform mPokket raised up to Rs 500 crore (around $60 million) in debt capital from BPEA Credit's private credit platform.

mPokket said that the funds will be used to meet the growing credit demand from its 24 million registered customer base while accelerating product development in the career accelerator and insurance verticals.

Rural e-commerce startup Rozana received $22.5 million in the latest funding round. The round was led by the investment firm Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) with participation from the VC firm Fireside Ventures and existing investors.

"With this funding, we will continue building out our logistics and supply chain infrastructure to reach new districts and empower rural communities with access to essential products," Ankur Dahiya, CEO and Co-founder of Rozana, said in a statement.

Generative AI solutions provider Ema announced a $25 million funding round and the launch of a novel “universal AI employee.”

More than 1.14 lakh startups in India have created over 12 lakh jobs so far, the Finance Ministry said in its latest review of the Indian economy.