Startup funding October 2026 India: under $700 Mn

October 2026 was the month the big cheques stayed away. Every major tracker put Indian startup funding below $700 Mn, and none recorded a single round of $100 Mn or more.

This round-up reads October through three trackers, Entrackr, Inc42 and Tracxn, and says what each one counts. It covers totals, deal counts, stages, sectors and cities, and where the month sits in the 2026 picture. For the quarter before, see our Q3 2026 funding round-up.

How much did Indian startups raise in October 2026?

Indian startups raised about $678 Mn in October 2026 across 108 deals, by Entrackr's count, down 47.5% from $1.29 Bn in September and 60.8% from $1.73 Bn in October 2025. Inc42 counts $686 Mn across 104 deals, and Tracxn counts $592.5 Mn for tech companies.

Entrackr's monthly report, published 2 November, puts the exact total at $677.8 Mn and attributes the fall to the absence of large rounds. No startup raised $100 Mn or more; the two largest rounds were Tessolve Semiconductor at $75 Mn and Even Healthcare at $50 Mn.

Inc42's October edition of 30 Startups To Watch, published 3 November, counts over $686 Mn across 104 deals, down almost 10% from $760.7 Mn in September. Tracxn's figures, reported by PTI and published by People Matters on 5 November, show $592.5 Mn for Indian tech companies, down 24.3% from $782.8 Mn and 56% below $1.35 Bn a year earlier, the lowest level in 12 months.

Why do the October 2026 totals differ by tracker?

The totals differ because each tracker defines its universe and counts deals in its own way. Entrackr and Inc42 count Indian startups across sectors; Tracxn's figure covers tech companies only. The October totals land close together, but the September baselines do not, so the month-on-month falls look very different.

Tracker	Scope	October 2026	Deals	Change from September
Entrackr	Indian startups	$678 Mn	108	Down 47.5% from $1.29 Bn
Inc42	Indian startups	$686 Mn+	104	Down almost 10% from $760.7 Mn
Tracxn	Indian tech companies	$592.5 Mn	Not stated in the report we read	Down 24.3% from $782.8 Mn

Before quoting any monthly funding figure, check four things:

• Scope: all startups, or tech companies only.
• Deal types: equity rounds only, or debt and secondary sales as well.
• Undisclosed rounds: they add to the deal count but not to the money, as with Entrackr's 9 undisclosed deals in October.
• Publication date: trackers add deals reported late, so an early count can change.

Entrackr's September figure of $1.29 Bn is far above the other two trackers' September totals, which is why its October fall reads as nearly half. Quote the tracker with every number, and compare months only within one tracker. We explain the counting gaps in more depth in why deal counts fell while funding rose in 2026.

Which funding stages held up in October 2026?

Early stage funding held up in October 2026 while late stage money fell sharply. Tracxn counts late stage funding down 72% to $153 Mn from $539.8 Mn in September, while early stage funding rose 114% to $361.6 Mn from $168.6 Mn, making up 61% of the month's total.

Seed funding was roughly flat on the month in Tracxn's data: up 4.8% to $77.9 Mn from $74.3 Mn, but down 45.4% from $142.6 Mn a year earlier. Our post on the seed funding decline in India looks at the longer trend.

Entrackr splits the month by deal type. Growth and late stage deals raised $414.6 Mn across 20 deals, early stage deals raised $263 Mn across 79 deals, and 9 deals had undisclosed amounts. By round:

• Series B: $209.34 Mn across 10 deals.
• Series A: $135.35 Mn across 17 deals.
• Seed: $80.41 Mn across 41 deals.
• Series C: $61.5 Mn across 3 deals.
• Pre-Series A: $23.24 Mn across 7 deals.

Series B was the largest round type by value in Entrackr's count, and seed the largest by number, with 41 of the 108 deals. The middle of the funnel kept raising; what disappeared was the top end.

October 2026 did not lose its small rounds. It lost its large ones.

Which sectors and cities led in October 2026?

By Entrackr's count, ecommerce led October 2026 with $182.69 Mn across 27 deals, followed by AI at $131.12 Mn across 22 deals and healthtech at $104.61 Mn across 13 deals. Bengaluru took $420 Mn across 52 deals, 61.97% of the month's total.

Inc42 also names AI as a major funding theme for the month, with capital flowing into spacetech, defence, semiconductors and industrial automation, though its October edition gives no sector amounts. Entrackr lists semiconductors at $75 Mn from a single deal.

By city, Delhi NCR followed Bengaluru with $110.26 Mn across 18 deals, then Mumbai with $57.53 Mn across 11 deals and Hyderabad with $41.22 Mn across 5 deals, per Entrackr. Bengaluru on its own raised more than the next three cities together. Our post on Bengaluru's share of startup funding tracks that concentration over time.

How does October fit the 2026 funding picture?

In Tracxn's tech data, October was the lowest month in the past 12 months. Entrackr counts nearly $11 Bn raised by Indian startups so far in 2026, with February and June the strongest months at about $2 Bn each. One month does not set a trend, but it does follow a year of fewer deals.

For scale, Inc42 counted $2.2 Bn for the whole of Q3 2026 in its quarterly summary, an average of about $733 Mn a month by our arithmetic. Inc42's October count of $686 Mn sits a little below that average.

The Q3 pattern was fewer, larger rounds. October kept the smaller rounds coming but lost the largest ones, so the average cheque fell rather than rose. Whether that is a one-month gap or a turn will only show in the November and December counts.

Other activity continued. Tracxn counts 12 tech companies going public in October, up from 5 in September, and 6 acquisitions; Entrackr counts five acquisitions. For how money reaches startups through funds, schemes and angels, see how capital moves in India in 2026.

This round-up reports tracker data only. It is not investment advice, and figures may be revised as trackers update their counts.

Questions

How much funding did Indian startups raise in October 2026?

Entrackr counts about $678 Mn across 108 deals, down 47.5% from September and 60.8% from October 2025. Inc42 counts $686 Mn across 104 deals, and Tracxn counts $592.5 Mn for Indian tech companies. The totals differ because each tracker defines and counts deals differently.

Why did startup funding fall in October 2026?

The trackers' data points to the absence of large rounds. Entrackr reports no round of $100 Mn or more in October, and Tracxn counts late stage funding down 72% month on month to $153 Mn, while early stage funding rose. Smaller rounds kept flowing; the big cheques did not.

Which city got the most startup funding in October 2026?

Bengaluru, by a wide margin. Entrackr counts $420 Mn across 52 deals in Bengaluru, 61.97% of the month's total, followed by Delhi NCR at $110.26 Mn across 18 deals and Mumbai at $57.53 Mn across 11 deals.

Which sectors raised the most in October 2026?

In Entrackr's count, ecommerce led with $182.69 Mn across 27 deals, followed by AI at $131.12 Mn across 22 deals and healthtech at $104.61 Mn across 13 deals. Inc42 also names AI as a major theme, with money flowing into spacetech, defence, semiconductors and industrial automation.

Sources: Entrackr, Indian startup funding nosedives 47.5% to $678 Mn in October, 2 Nov 2026 · Inc42, 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eye In October 2026, 3 Nov 2026 · Tracxn data via PTI, Tech funding hits 12-month low of USD 592 mn in October, People Matters, 5 Nov 2026 · Inc42, Q3 Funding Crawls Up, Inc42's CTO Summit 2026 and More, 1 Oct 2026

For more on how startup funding works in India, read the MyStartupValley blog or visit mystartupvalley.com.