Start-ups have raised an aggregate of $4.17 billion in the January-March quarter of 2020-21 up 23.37 per cent compared with $3.38 billion in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

The number of funding rounds during the quarter at 288 was less compared with 414 in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Data compiled by Bangalore-based tracker Tracxn shows that March was a busy month with a cumulative investment of $2 billion from 105 funding rounds.

The top five funding rounds for the month are $457 million raised by edtech firm Byju’s, $400 million by fantasy sports app Dream11, $300 million by finance and accounting tech firm High Radius.

Insurance aggregator Policybazaar raised $75 million and online credit platform KreditBee, $70 million. B Capital Group, TCV, Tiger Global, Falcon Edge Capital, Newquest Capital Partners were among the marquee investors in March.

Bangalore was the leading city in terms of attracting investors. Start-ups from the city raised $641 million from 35 rounds. Mumbai raised $581 million from 15 rounds, Delhi $130 million from 15 rounds and Gurgaon where start-ups raised from 13 rounds, $235 million.

There were two initial public offers during March with travel booking platform EaseMyTrip and mobile game publisher Nazara listing on the bourses.

Industry observers said the growth trend in investment was sustainable despite the continuing trend of cash burn by the startups.

“There is a heightened interest among global investors and private equity and venture funds in Indian startups as they are looking for better rates of return. The transactions are increasing and the number will only grow and this growth is sustainable,” said Leenesh Singh, founder, 10000StartupsIndia.

“We are also seeing a pattern where investors are putting in money again and again in multiple rounds. This means that the startups are reliable despite cash burn.”

The platform which offers virtual incubations, acceleration, mentorship and advisory has seen a rising interest among investors to reach out to start-up founders virtually during the Covid period and identify investment opportunities.

“We have seen the kind of impact Covid has had on every sector. So, everyone including the founders and the investors are more confident now,” Singh said.

Clean energy, logistics and transportation, pharma are among the emerging sectors that are attracting investor interest, he added.