Since the start of this year, the Indian startup ecosystem has seen a massive boom in terms of funding. Global investors have turned their attention to Indian ventures, after the ban of Chinese apps in 2020. The increased usage of the internet and technology is another factor for this strengthened funding ecosystem. The Indian startups raised close to $30 billion till November this year. Here is the list of the top 10 funding rounds of 2021.

Byju’s

In 2021, Byju’s raised over a billion dollars across multiple fundings. Byju’s maintained its lead as the highest valued edtech startupin the world and surpassed Paytm to be the highly valued startup in India. At a valuation of $18 billion, the company raised funds from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund ADQ, Zoom founder Eric Yuan and MC Global Edtech among others. This year, Byju's acquired coaching centre chain Aakash Insititute, US-based learning platform Epic, rival Toppr and upskilling platform Great Learning.

Swiggy

Only after a few days after Zomato closed its $1.3 billion initial public offering (IPO) food delivery business, Swiggy raised $1.2 billion in funding in July. Post issue the company was reportedly valued at $5 billion. The company aims to make acquisitions, double down on its core business and invest in its grocery delivery business Instamart.

Meesho

At a valuation of $2.1 billion, the social commerce platform had raised $300 million in April. At a valuation of $4.9 billion, it raised another $570 billion in October, making the total funding equal to $870 million this year. Meesho is being pitted against Flipkart and is the first Indian social commerce startup that is valued at over a billion dollars. The company aims to acquire more users and double down on its research and development. Growing over seven times from the current 15 million, it aims to reach 100 million monthly transacting users by December 2022.

Dream Sports

The parent company of popular fantasy gaming company Dream11, Dream Sports, raised $840 million in November. The round which valued the company at $8 billion, was led by Falcon Edge, Tiger Global and others. Dream Sports runs companies like FanCode, Dream Game Studios, Dream Capital and DreamSetGo and claims to have over 140 million users across the globe. It was the first Indian startup to sponsor the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year.

Pine Labs

Ahead of its public listing in the United States, payments and merchants commerce startup, PineLabs has raised $700 million this year. Raising its valuation to $3.5 billion, the company raised this capital in several tranches spread across the year. This year, in July, it closed its $600 million round and in September it raised another $100 million. In the next two years, the fintech startup plans to hit the stock exchange. Temasek, Sequoia Capital India, Mastercard and PayPal are some of its early backers.

Eruditus

In a funding round led by investment firms, Accel and SoftBank Mumbai based ed-tech firm Eruditus raised $650 million in August 2021. Making it the third-highest valued ed-tech startup in India, this round has valued Eruditus at $3.2 billion. It was founded by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera in 2010 and is offering six to eight-month-long executive-level courses by working with universities across 80 countries. These courses are available for on-campus, off-campus and online modes and cost anything between $5,000 to $40,000.

ShareChat

This vernacular social media platform raised close to $650 million across two rounds. Marketing its entry into the unicorn club, the company had raised $502 million in April. At a valuation of $2.88 billion, it raised $145 million in July. The platform has 180 million monthly active users. Moj, ShareChat’s nearly one-year-old short video app has gained over 50 million creators and 160 million active users to date.

CRED

CRED, the Kunal Shah led credit card payments app increased its valuation from $800 million in January to $4 billion by October 2021. From investors like DST Global, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Coatue and Sofina the company has raised close to $550 million. Starting as a credit card bill payments app, CRED was founded in 2018. According to the company, it processes almost a quarter of all credit card bill payments in India.

Ola

Ahead of its public issue this year, ride-hailing giant Ola has raised half a billion dollars. Along with Ola’s CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, investment titans Temasek and Warburg Pincus participated in the round. Led by Falcon Edge, SoftBank and others, Ola’s sister company Ola Electric had raised $200 million in October 2021. Ola Electric has entered electric scooter manufacturing and selling while Ola focuses on the ride-hailing business.

Cars24

The highest among all automobile e-commerce players, Cars24, which is valued at $1.85 billion, has raised over $450 million this year. The company allows customers to sell their old cars through their omnichannel network. Founded by Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal, Vikram Chopra and Ruchit Agarwal with this platform a consumer can simply book an appointment with the Cars24 branches to sell a car in a single visit.