India, July 1 -- June was quite an eventful month for the world's third-largest startup ecosystem. One of the most talked-about moments last month was CRED founder Kunal Shah stepping away from the fintech unicorn to take charge of global operations at Meta's WhatsApp.

His exit was followed by big tech Meta picking up a 20% stake in CRED for a massive $900 Mn. The deal gave a strong lift to monthly funding numbers, but it was far from the only big-ticket fundraise in the startup ecosystem last month.

AI juggernaut Sarvam also raised $234 Mn from HCLTech at a billion-dollar valuation, making it the country's second AI unicorn. Soon after, proptech player Square Yards also raised $95 Mn at a unicorn valuation, becoming India's 131st unico...