At $1.76 bn, startup funding at six-month high
AI startups were among the companies that topped in the funding list.
Chennai: The start of 2025 brought a wave of optimism as startups attracted venture capital of $1.76 billion in January, highest in six months. AI startups were among the companies that topped in the funding list.
A total of $1.76 billion were made across 128 deals in January. January 2025 saw a more than two-fold year-on-year jump in funding compared to January 2024 when the total funding was $719.42 million. January also recorded a 33 per cent increase in investments against December 2024 with $1.32 billion of funding.
In 2024, funding had been fluctuating by starting with $719.42 million and peaking at $1.92 billion in June. By July, it fell to $835.9 million and moved up to $1.61 billion in September. It again dipped below $1 billion in November before recovering in December.
AI-driven data analytics platform Impetus Technologies led the funding chart in January with $350 million, followed by Innovaccer, a health-tech AI firm, raising $275 million. Netradyne, an AI SaaS provider, also raised $90 million.
Health-tech startups surpassed fintech and SaaS as the top-funded segment in January. Health-tech startups had received significant funding in 2024 as well.
In times of AI, astrology startups are witnessing some heightened activity. Flipkart is in talks to acquire InstaAstro. Meanwhile, AstroTalk has expanded into the D2C space by launching an offline centre.
Layoffs also decreased in January, with only three startups letting go of just over 200 employees. Compared to previous months, this marks a positive trend in the job market.
In 2024, the startup ecosystem saw around 4,700 employees being laid off. This was 80 per cent lower than the 24,000 layoffs reported in 2023 and 20,000 in 2022.
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