SUMMARY
- Indian startups raised about $62M, and Flam’s $40M Series B was roughly 65% of it. Part of the round is secondary, per Inc42.
- Funding fell 82% on last week, but the prior two weeks were heavy. Judge the drop against the $219.6M eight-week average.
- Seed money went to narrow bets in AI chips, aerial vehicles and niche quick commerce. Founders raising now should pitch one specific story.
Indian startups raised about $62M this week, and one round did most of the work. Flam’s $40M Series B made up roughly 65% of the total (our calculation), in a week when funding fell 82% from the one before.
Entrackr counted $61.8M across 17 startups for Sep 14 to 19. Inc42 counted $59.7M, because the two track slightly different deals. We use Entrackr’s figures for totals and name the source wherever the two mix.
Here’s what Flam is building, what the rest of the week looked like, and what it means if you’re raising.
What Flam is actually building
Flam makes AI interactive content. Per Business Standard, its main products are Flicks, interactive videos that can switch a person, product or scene mid-playback, and Visual Agents, human-like characters that hold conversations and take actions. A third format, Airboards, delivers 3D content through a phone camera with no app download. The company says it holds more than 15 patents.
It also says it signed more than 100 enterprise customers in six quarters. Google is the one customer every account we found names. Other named customers differ between outlets, so we’re leaving them out.
The round was led by QED Investors, with RTP Global and Dovetail returning, plus Claypond Capital and angels including Martin Chavez and Olivier Pomel. Business Standard and BW Disrupt list Shah Rukh Khan as an investor, while Inc42 and SiliconANGLE describe his family office. Inc42 flags the round as a mix of primary and secondary money, and TechNode notes no valuation was disclosed.
QED’s Nigel Morris frames the bet as a gap in the market, pointing to “how much of the content ecosystem is still untouched.” That’s an investor describing his own deal, so weigh it accordingly.
SiliconANGLE reports the company says it’s approaching $100M in annual recurring revenue. Other coverage doesn’t mention revenue, so treat that as a company claim, not a verified number.
There’s also a wrinkle in calling this an Indian startup story. BW Disrupt says Flam was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with teams in India and Japan. Entrackr counts it as Bengaluru-based, which is why it sits in India’s weekly tally. Take it out and the week looks a lot smaller.
Read More : Indian Startup Funding This Week (Sep 7-12): Pixxel, Nua, Popo Global Lead $356.8M Raise
The 82% drop, in context
Last week was the outlier. Entrackr counted $356.8M for the week of Sep 7 and $303.7M the week before. Its eight-week average is about $219.6M, so this week landed roughly 72% below the recent norm (our calculation). Inc42’s comparison week was also huge at $321.9M.
Weekly funding fell to $61.8M after two heavy weeks
Indian startup funding by week, in $ million, with Entrackr’s eight-week average.
Source: Entrackr weekly funding reports (Sep 7 to 12 and Sep 14 to 19). Week labels follow Entrackr’s weekly cadence. StartupIndiaX analysis.
Flam’s weight is the other half of the story. Early-stage startups raised $21.8M across 14 deals, per Entrackr. Without Flam, this was small money spread wide.
Flam alone made up about 65% of the week’s funding
Share of the week’s $61.8M total, Sep 14 to 19, 2026.
Source: Entrackr weekly funding report, Sep 14 to 19. The 65% and 35% shares are StartupIndiaX calculations.
Every deal, in one table
| Startup | What it does | Amount | Round | Lead investor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flam | AI interactive content | $40M* | Series B | QED Investors |
| DheyaTech | Deeptech, aerial vehicles | Rs 43 Cr | Pre-Series A | Avaana Capital |
| VerifAIX | AI-native semiconductor verification | $5M | Seed | Endiya Partners, Bluehill VC |
| Firi | Beauty quick commerce | $3M | Seed | 360 ONE Asset |
| UniqYou | Fashion tech | Rs 15.8 Cr | Seed | Arkam Ventures, Antler |
| Enlight Metals | Metal procurement | $1.5M | Not stated | Exar North Group |
| Kiddo | Baby-focused quick commerce | $1.3M | Pre-seed | Campus Fund |
| TRUE ARTIS | Aesthetic surgery | Rs 11.4 Cr | Seed | Zeropearl VC |
| Factrika | Industrial workforce, manufacturing | $928K | Seed | Info Edge Ventures |
*Inc42 says Flam’s round mixes primary and secondary transactions. Amounts follow Entrackr. Inc42 reports DheyaTech at $5.1M and TRUE ARTIS at $1.2M; round labels for Firi, Kiddo and Factrika are Inc42’s.
Read More: Flam AI Startup Raises $40 Million Series B Led by QED Investors, Shah Rukh Khan Joins
Smaller rounds: Ecosys raised $521K, and AJVC wrote three cheques of $156K each into MoroMaa, Slayd and Beijan, making it Inc42’s most active investor of the week. Darwinbox, Physioplus and Peep Beauty raised undisclosed amounts.
The week’s biggest disclosed rounds
Rounds with a US dollar amount, in $ million, largest first.
Source: Entrackr and Inc42 weekly reports. DheyaTech ($5.1M) and TRUE ARTIS ($1.2M) are Inc42’s dollar figures; Entrackr reports them as Rs 43 crore and Rs 11.4 crore. UniqYou’s Rs 15.8 crore seed is not shown because neither report gives a dollar figure.
Beyond Flam: chips, drones and narrow quick commerce
The quieter story is hardware. VerifAIX raised $5M in a seed round co-led by Endiya Partners and Bluehill VC for AI-native semiconductor verification. DheyaTech, an aerial vehicles startup, closed a pre-Series A led by Avaana Capital, and AJVC put a small cheque into defence tech startup Beijan.
Read More: Skyroot Aerospace Set to Launch India’s First Private Rocket
Quick commerce showed up in narrow lanes. Firi, a Gurugram-based beauty quick commerce startup, raised $3M led by 360 ONE Asset. Kiddo, which focuses on baby products, raised $1.3M from Campus Fund. Both picked one category instead of a full grocery basket.
Read More: Top 10 Indian D2C Beauty Brands Disrupting FMCG Giants in 2025
Fashion got one of the more interesting seeds. UniqYou, a Bengaluru fashion-tech startup founded in 2026 by Sneha Priya Reddy and Nishanth Jois, raised Rs 15.8 Cr led by Arkam Ventures and Antler. StartupTalky reports the round values it at around Rs 64 Cr post-money.
Who wrote the cheques, and where
Seed rounds led with nine deals, followed by four pre-seed and two pre-Series A rounds, per Entrackr. Bengaluru topped the city list with seven deals and Delhi-NCR followed with six. E-commerce led by sector with eight deals.
Seed rounds carried the week
Funding rounds by stage, Sep 14 to 19, 2026.
Source: Entrackr weekly funding report, series-wise deals.
Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR took 13 of 17 deals
Funding deals by city, Sep 14 to 19, 2026.
Source: Entrackr weekly funding report, city-wise deals. Entrackr did not split the remaining four deals across Mumbai, Chennai and Jaipur.
Exits, funds and IPOs
3one4 Capital said Yulu’s $93M Series C gave it a profitable exit through a secondary sale, though the buyer wasn’t disclosed. Unstop acquired PerspectAI, and Lenskart put Rs 8 Cr into Dimension NXG, the parent of AjnaLens, taking its stake above 9%.
Fund managers stayed busy. Activate closed a $105M maiden fund for AI startups, and Asiana Fund and JC Capital launched a Rs 1,000 Cr deeptech fund.
On the public side, NSE raised Rs 6,746 Cr from anchor investors before its IPO opened on Sep 17, and RentoMojo listed the same day at nearly a 19% premium. SEBI cleared IPOs for Kuku and Fibe. Fintech founders also have a date to plan around: NPCI’s 0.4% MDR on select UPI payments above Rs 2,000 starts Oct 15.
What a Flam week tells a founder
A weak week isn’t a verdict on the market. It does show where the money felt comfortable. Seed cheques went to tightly defined ideas: AI-native chips, aerial vehicles, single-category quick commerce, a fashion brand with well-known angels behind it. That’s our read, not a data point.
The figure to watch next is whether growth-stage rounds come back. With NSE, RentoMojo and Kuku giving late-stage investors clearer exits, we’d expect the gap to narrow, but one week can’t prove it.
Read More: Tsenta: Indian Students’ AI Job Startup Bags ₹5 Cr From YC
If you’re raising, sharpen your one-line story before you pitch, and check your numbers first. Our free Founder Toolkit has a valuation calculator, a funding round dilution calculator and an Indian VC and investor database.
Three things to carry out of this week:
- Funding fell 82% week on week, but the comparison weeks were unusually heavy.
- Flam’s $40M Series B was about 65% of the total, and it mixed primary and secondary money.
- Seed money favoured narrow bets in deeptech, AI hardware and niche quick commerce.
Which round surprised you most? Tell us in the comments, and share this with a founder who’s raising. We’ll keep tracking the weekly numbers on StartupIndiaX.
FAQs
How much did Indian startups raise this week?
Entrackr counted $61.8M across 17 startups for Sep 14 to 19, 2026, while Inc42 counted $59.7M. The outlets track slightly different deals, but both report an 82% weekly drop from the previous week.
What is Flam and what does it do?
Flam is an AI interactive content company. Its products include Flicks, interactive videos that change mid-playback, Airboards for 3D content through a phone camera, and Visual Agents, conversational characters. It says it has more than 100 enterprise customers.
Who invested in Flam’s $40M Series B?
QED Investors led the round. Claypond Capital, Martin Chavez, Olivier Pomel and Shah Rukh Khan participated, alongside existing investors RTP Global and Dovetail. Inc42 says the round mixes primary and secondary transactions, and no valuation was disclosed.
Why did funding fall 82%?
The prior two weeks were unusually large, at $303.7M and $356.8M per Entrackr. This week had only one growth-stage deal, Flam’s $40M Series B, so the total looks small by comparison, at roughly 72% below the eight-week average.
Which cities and stages led this week?
Per Entrackr, Bengaluru led with seven deals and Delhi-NCR followed with six. Seed rounds dominated with nine deals, followed by pre-seed with four and pre-Series A with two.
When does the UPI MDR take effect?
NPCI’s 0.4% merchant discount rate on select UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 takes effect on October 15, 2026. It is capped at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 and above, and merchants bear it.