Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups in May touched the highest level so far this year. Two large value transactions of PB Fintech and Porter, in addition to steady flow of mid-sized deals, contributed to this growth.
The total VC funding for May 2025 came in at $1.45 billion compared to $1.31 billion to the similar period a year ago, registering a growth of 9.9%. When compared with April 2025, the increase was 103%, according to YourStory Research.
In addition, this year’s high of May VC funding came from just 99 deals, while in the month of April the total number of deals was 119, whose total value was only $716 million. The $218 million transaction of PB Healthcare and the $200 million deal value of Porter provided the boost to funding in May.
For the Indian startup ecosystem, this is good news as for the second time this year, the total VC funding on a monthly basis has crossed the $1 billion mark. Previously, in March, the total funding had crossed $1.14 billion. Otherwise, the total funding on a monthly basis was hovering around the $700 million range.
Startups hope the trend continues in the future. However, given the current macroeconomic environment of trade tensions and uncertain policy situation, it is quite unlikely that there will be a steady inflow of VC funding or even an increase.
The last three weeks of May saw VC funding weekly hovering around the $100-200 million range.
In May, VC inflow surprisingly remained consistent across various stages of funding—early, growth and late. All the three stages of funding received a similar amount of money, which is a rare occurrence. Generally, the late stage of funding receives the highest amounts. Surprisingly, the debt category of funding received $121 million in the month of May.
The sectors that received the most capital in May were logistics followed by healthtech and fintech. This again was a surprising development as the fintech segment more or less topped the list earlier. Regulatory headwinds in fintech might explain some of the investor caution in the segment.
Cities raising the highest amount of capital were Delhi-NCR, followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai. The top three places have always been occupied by these three cities with others like Hyderabad, Chennai or Pune receiving a certain amount of funding. By and large there has been no change in this pecking order.
May was a good month in the Indian startup ecosystem in terms of VC funding but companies are cautious given the macroeconomic environment.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti
