Startup funding roundup (Dec 13, 2025): biggest rounds of 43 deals, $2.93B

A quick and simple roundup of startup news for 13 Dec 2025. See today’s funding deals, new launches, and important updates.

Aadi tracks the venture capital beat. An MBA graduate, he looks past the headlines to audit deal flow and capital efficiency. His work covers emerging market fintech trends and unit economics.

Today 43 startups raised a total of $2.93 billion, comprising 16 growth-stage and 27 early-stage deals, while multiple firms kept funding undisclosed.

Growth-stage deals

Identity security giant Saviynt led the pack with a $700 million raise backed by Champion River and HPS Investment Partners. European cleantech player Elvy locked in €500 million ($540 million) via a Series B to scale energy infra.

San Francisco-based Unconventional AI bagged $475 million in a mega-seed round to build foundation models. Fintech unicorn Airwallex secured $330 million in a Series G round; the valuation holds steady at $8 billion. Lender Forward Financing closed a $170 million asset-backed securitization.

Insurtech Angle Health picked up $134 million in a Series B round. Tel Aviv-based Quantum Art locked in $100 million for generative AI tools. DevOps platform Port secured $100 million in a Series C led by General Atlantic. Indian NBFC FincFriends bagged Rs 313 crore ($37.5 million) in debt. Consumer lender Fibe closed a $35 million Series F led by IFC. Fintech Ritten secured $35 million in a Series B.

Logistics SaaS Qargo picked up $33 million via Balderton Capital. Retirement fintech 401GO bagged $33 million from undisclosed investors. SME lender Validus locked in $30 million in a Series D led by Khazanah Nasional. Cloud insurer Parametrix secured $27 million in growth capital. Edtech Oboe closed a $16 million Series A led by a16z.

Early-stage deals

Fintech Safebooks AI secured $15 million to automate financial data integrity. Strategy SaaS Cascade picked up $15 million in a Series A. Tax compliance firm Yonda Tax bagged £11 million ($14 million) to aid cross-border expansion. Soleos Solar Energy locked in $12 million from GVFL.

Cybersecurity firm Equixly secured €10 million ($10.8 million) for API testing. Cleantech Smart Joules picked up $10 million in a Series A. Fintech Skydo closed a $10 million round led by Elevation Capital. Edtech Uolo secured $7 million from Blume Ventures.

Proptech iSprout raised Rs 60 crore ($7.2 million) in debt from Tata Capital. Legaltech AttiFin AI bagged £5 million ($6.3 million). Gifting platform On Me closed a $6 million seed round. Hardware startup Elecbits picked up $5.5 million led by Nexus. Mobility infra KNOT secured $5 million from 12 Flags. Healthtech a2z Radiology locked in $5 million for AI imaging. Agilitas

Sports bagged $4.4 million from Virat Kohli. Fintech GoDutch closed a €3.6 million ($3.9 million) seed round. Petcare chain Dr Paws secured Rs 29 crore ($3.5 million) from Chiratae. CoreOps AI picked up $3.5 million from Siana Capital. Nutrition brand Earthful bagged Rs 26 crore ($3.1 million). SaaS Monq raised $3 million; Cyber firm Mirror Security closed $2.5 million.

Robotics startup Buildroid AI picked up $2 million. Assetflo secured $2 million; Realm.Security closed $2 million. Crypto payment firm Ezeebit bagged $2.05 million. Wearable tech NeoSapien locked in $2 million. African fintech Zazu raised $1 million. SaaS ReplyAll secured $800,000; MagicDecor closed $600,000. Insurtech Humbrela picked up $161,000. Toffee Coffee Roasters and TechInvention Lifecare raised undisclosed amounts.

City and segment-wise deals

San Francisco and Tel Aviv topped the value charts driven by AI and Cyber deals. Bengaluru and London remained the busiest hubs. Deals were also recorded in Melbourne, Boston, Munich, and West Jordan.

AI and Fintech dominated the flow. Cybersecurity and Cleantech followed with significant ticket sizes. Capital also moved into Logistics, Proptech, and D2C.

Mergers and Acquisitions

IBM has snapped up data streaming platform Confluent for $11 billion. The all-cash deal represents a 50% premium. TCS acquired Coastal Cloud for $700 million to boost Salesforce capabilities. WTW bought Newfront to modernize brokerage ops; it also acquired Cushon from NatWest.

Robinhood acquired BitOasis to enter Indonesia. Akamai bought Fermyon; Mollie closed in on GoCardless. JSW Paints acquired 60% of Akzo Nobel India. DreamFolks bought Easy to Travel for $4 million. ID Pal bought NorthRow; PayRange merged with KioSoft. bolttech acquired mTek; Tieto sold Bekk Consulting.

Financial result

Lenskart revenue jumps to Rs 2,096 Cr; profit grew 20% YoY.
Syfe turns profitable in Q4; AUM crosses $2 billion.
Visa stock jumps 6% on earnings beat; upgrades by Bank of America.
INFINOX Capital profit rises 17% on institutional shift.
Schneider Electric announces $4 billion share buyback.
Tenet Fintech and Lesaka released quarterly updates.
Indian Household Wealth surged 13% to Rs 1.30 Lakh Cr.

Fund Launches

ChrysCapital closed a $2.2 billion fund, the largest India-focused PE vehicle. Transition VC launched a Rs 700 crore deeptech fund. Centre Court Capital closed at Rs 410 crore. IIT Bombay rolled out a Rs 250 crore incubator fund. IAN Alpha Fund closed at $100 million. QIA pledged $1 billion to attract startups to Qatar. Cofounder VC and Incore Invest launched new European vehicles.

Key Hirings / Departures

Coca-Cola appointed Henrique Braun as CEO. Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald is stepping down. OpenAI named Denise Dresser as CRO. IndusInd Bank chairman is stepping down amid an overhaul. Nestle India CFO Svetlana Boldina resigned. Chime hired Mark Troughton as President. Capitolis named Okan Pekin as President.

New Launches and Partnerships

OpenAI released GPT-5.2; Google launched managed MCP servers.
Revolut launched a premium travel card; Klarna integrated crypto wallets.
World launched its Super App with crypto pay; Visa partnered with Collinson.
Adobe integrated ChatGPT for design; Shopify enabled AI chatbot sales.
Figma launched AI object removal; Google rolled out AI Plus in India.
10x Banking tapped audex for APAC expansion; Aspire expanded to Hong Kong.
Moneybox partnered with Amundi; Devexperts unveiled Acomotrade.
Guidewire added Wisedocs; The National Bank tied up with Mastercard.
NayaPay partnered with Alipay+; 03 Capital launched the Blink card.
PNC Bank offered Bitcoin trading via Coinbase; Solana ETF cleared SEC filing.
Bhutan launched a gold-backed token; State Street introduced the SWEEP fund.
Canton Network piloted US Treasury financing; Superstate launched on-chain stock.
Pineapple Financial tokenized mortgages; KindlyMD secured a crypto-backed loan.
a16z Crypto opened a Seoul office; iTrustCapital crossed $16B volume.
Nvidia trained an AI model in space; Mercado Libre deployed humanoid robots.
Visa hosted an African demo day; StartupsMENA released a funding report.
Canada launched a $1B research plan; UK WealthTech dominated European deals.
Tuum, FE fundinfo, SimCorp, GoKwik, Montran, and CLOWD9 announced key hires.

News flash

SpaceX eyes $1.5 trillion valuation in tender offer; Reliance Retail targets 2028 IPO.
Wakefit IPO opens Dec 8; Oyo Parent seeks approval for Rs 6,200 Cr issue.
Figure files for Solana-based IPO; Chime targets $11 billion valuation.
boAt auditors flag compliance gaps; tech CEO charged with $20M fraud.
Fed cuts rates by 0.25%; RBI cancels 4 NBFC registrations.
Brazil warns Nubank on branding; UK Lords criticize stablecoin limits.
Nvidia responds to Blackwell chip smuggling reports; State AGs warn AI giants.
US accepts Gold Card visa applications; CFTC launches tokenization pilot.
Banorte sells Bineo to Klar; Meta ends Durham lease.
Jeff Bezos' Project Prometheus joins the unicorn board.

Summary

Legacy tech giant IBM has executed a massive consolidation play by acquiring data streaming platform Confluent. Valued at $11 billion, the all-cash deal allows IBM to integrate real-time data processing into its Watsonx AI stack. The move bypasses the internal R&D cycle for Apache Kafka-based infrastructure.

Valuation represents a 50% premium to Confluent's recent trading range. Strategic intent focuses on "Agentic AI" workflows, which require continuous data streams rather than batch processing. IBM is positioning itself as the foundational layer for enterprise AI, competing directly with Databricks and Snowflake.

Saviynt secured one of the year's largest cyber rounds. The $700 million refinancing deal led by HPS Investment Partners signals immense demand for Identity Governance (IGA). As AI agents proliferate, securing non-human identities has become a critical board-level priority.