Startups, Mergers, Acquisitions and Funding Round-up this week

This week saw a lot of developments in the startup industry. While a few Indian start-ups raised significant amounts of money, a lot of big players announced acquisitions of homegrown brands. Here’s a look at this week’s report.

MBG Card raises Rs 2.72 Crore

MBG Card has raised Rs 2.72 crore led by Inflection Point Ventures in a new round. However, the round also saw participation from Velocity and Klub.The funds are likely to be used by brand to enhance marketing efforts, product development, and team building.

Perplexity closes funding round at $9 billion value

An artificial intelligence startup, Perplexity has closed a $500 million round of funding. The funding has tripled the company’s valuation to $9 billion. Institutional Venture Partners led the round and completed it. However, both the brand and the investor have kept the funding amount confidential.

Resilience AI raises $1 million by Kalaari Capital’s CXXO initiative

 Resilience AI, a climate technology start-up, has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital’s CXXO initiative. Java Capital also participated in the round. The funds will be used to boost the Resilience AI’s applications in sectors including supply chain resilience, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance, and more.

Seekho app raises $8 Million

Seekho, a learning-focused OTT platform has raised $8 million in its Series A round wherein Lightspeed leads the investment, as per the company's founder. Other investors like Elevation Capital, along with others also participated in the round.

edept raises $1 million from multiple investors

edept, a higher education-focused edtech startup has raised $1 million in a seed funding round where other investors like Bhavin Pandya, the founder of Games24x7, edtech leader Arjun Mohan, and Canada-based Loyal VC also participated. The company plans to use the capital to enhance its expansion plans, scale operations, increase its workforce, and also boost the proprietary tech platform.

Mergers and Acquisitions 

• Nodwin Gaming has acquired AFK Gaming for 7.6 crore.
• Volatus Aerospace has partnered with Drone Acharya and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring advanced drone solutions.
•  Vivo India is set to form a Joint venture with Dixcon, an electronics contract manufacturer to manufacture electronic devices. 

 Other updates:

• India’s smartphone exports hit a record Rs 20,395 crore in November.
• Nearly 1.3 lakh companies registered in FI 2025 (till November 30).
• Taiwa-based laptop maker MSI has started manufacturing in India with the Chennai facility. 
• Suchi Semicon, a Semiconductor firm has opened an OSAT plant in Surat. 
• Zomato has surpassed Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto in market cap.
• Amazon has exited Shoppers Stop.⁠
• Cricket star has Sachin Tendulkar joined lending firm Kissht as an investor.