The growth drivers of the Indian startup ecosystem need to be understood in the context of various factors: earlier economic reforms and current market trends. It has evolved dynamically over various technological. When it comes to the population of the country it is exciting to observe scalable and repeatable business model developments. The favourable demographics and dynamic economy has led to the rise of startups and hence, making India an ideal place for startups. On one hand post Covid-19 situations have been troublesome for a few startups on the other, a few startups are seen to handle the shock better.

The Government of India has also been Supportive towards startups in the country, leading to the rise in the number of entrepreneurs in the market, seeing the opportunity to capitalise on their own solutions and ideas.

This week, we saw Garuda Aerospace committing to establish a drone manufacturing facility in Malaysia with a capacity of about 50 drones per day. Perfora raised $1 million from investors like lotus herbal, shiprocket groups, and some innovative oral care solutions, strengthening its brand positioning. Here is the compilation of top 5 startups that raised million dollar funds this week.

Garuda Aerospace

India's integrated drone manufacture and drone-as-a-service (DAAS) provider Garuda Aerospace will set up a production facility in Malaysia at an outlay of Rs 115 crore, said a top company official. "We have decided to set up a drone production facility in Malaysia with a production capacity of about 50 drones per day. We will be importing the components from India and other countries," Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder & CEO of Garuda Aerospace, said.

The city-based company has tied up with with HiiLSE Global Sdn Bhd (HiiLSE Drones), a drone start-up in Malaysia. "This partnership will define an ecosystem of drones with advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning technologies," Jayaprakash said.

Mamaearth

Mamaearth is reportedly planning to go public in 2023. The skincare unicorn is aiming to raise at least $300 million at a valuation of $3 billion. They currently compete with traditional giants such as Hindustan Unilever and Proctor & Gamble for the personal care industry in India.

According to Reuters, the $3 billion valuation is a 10-12X multiple on its current revenues. The company plans to file draft papers for their IPO later this year. It is reportedly talking to JP Morgan Chase, JM Financial, and Kotak Mahindra Capital to help with the book-running process. Mamaearth was founded in 2015, and became a large player in the Indian personal care space by leveraging the ecommerce boom of the last few years.

BrightChamp

Edtech startup BrightChamps is planning to close mergers and acquisitions worth $100 million through stock and cash deals in the ongoing fiscal year (FY23), cofounder and chief executive Ravi Bhushan said. The acquisitions will likely be across India, the United States, the UK, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“We have already done a couple of acquisitions like Education 10X, and it is performing very well. This gave us more confidence to double down on our acquisitions,” Bhushan said. “We are in the final stages of discussion with a tech startup here in India and will be closing the deal soon.” He, however, declined to share details of potential deals. The market opportunity, he said, is ‘much bigger’ than anticipated. BrightChamps acquired Education 10X in February in a stock and cash deal. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Chaayos

Tea cafe chain Chaayos has raised $53 million (around Rs 414 crore) for tech-enhancement, hiring and store expansion as it plans to add 100 stores by the end of this year. The company said the funding round was led by Alpha Wave Ventures with participation from all existing investors Elevation Capital, Tiger Global and Think Investments. "New funds will be used for tech-enhancement, hiring and store expansion," it said in a statement.

Founded in 2012 by Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma, Chaayos runs 190 stores across 6 cities and plans to add another 100 by the end of 2022.  At Chaayos, guests can personalize their fresh cup of 'chai' in 80,000 combinations and Chaayos IoT enabled tea bots called Chai Monks, make this possible. It said the company's facial recognition software enables faster checkouts and payments.

Perfora

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) oral beauty and wellness brand Perfora has raised $1 million in a seed round led by Sauce.VC and strategic investors like Lotus Herbals Family Office, Shiprocket Group, and Sara International Group, a senior company executive. The brand will use the funds to build its team, introduce a range of innovative oral care solutions, strengthen its brand positioning, and expand distribution.

Perfora, like many other new age beauty and personal care brands, is challenging traditional players with a fresh look at the category in terms of product lines and distribution. Launched in August 2021 by Jatan Bawa and Tushar Khurana, Perfora’s product portfolio includes electric toothbrush, probiotic mouthwash, N-Ha toothpaste, smart flosser, and peroxide-free teeth whitening pen. “We want to create a large impact in the everyday life of people with high-quality and effective oral care products,” Bawa said.

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