earlystage startups are continuing to garner funds despite venture capitalists treading with caution but growthstage players are finding it difficult to get the kind of valuations they want morgan stanleys move to cut the value of its flipkart holding by over a quarter is a sign of things to come across the country warn ings are being sounded about the coming summer likely to be the hottest one yet but the ones already feeling the heat are entre preneurs looking to raise millions of dollars to fund their big ideas if 2015 was a record year for startups receiving funding early signs in 2016 point towards a parched year ahead in the first two months of 2015 85 deals worth 306 million were closed the same period in 2016 has witnessed only 48 deals at 121 millionwhile some analysts describe it as a correction following a spell of wild investing others say its time to brace for the drought going by the data earlystage startups are continuing to garner funds but those that have already raised significant funds are finding it difficult to raise more at higher valuations earlystage startups with niche models will continue to hold investors interest besides the funding requirements at that stage are lower as the concept is not proven says sanjeev krishan a partner at pricewaterhousecoopers pwc at the other end are large players particularly in ecommerce who are well funded and where the story is different a mutual fund managed by morgan stanley has just cut the value of its flipkart holding by over a quarter suggesting that as far as morgan stanley is concerned flipkart is now valued at about 11 billion down from 152 billion in its last roundflipkart holding by over a quarter suggesting that as far as morgan stanley is concerned flipkart is now valued at about 11 billion down from 152 billion in its last round after multiple rounds of funding and a lot of promise investing investors are looking for actual performance says krishan he points out that in many cases the same investor or investor groups have put money into multiple platforms in the same segment and they see benefits in consolidating rather than burning cash performance counts many companies were funded purely with an intention of using capital as a weapon to destroy competition they will die or find it difficult to raise capital unless they are ready for a massive down round says mohan kumar executive director norwest venture partnersmohan kumar executive director norwest venture partners domestic and international factors have played a role in the squeeze in private equity and venture capital funding in indiathe wobbling chinese economy has cast a cloud over global markets in the us tech stocks have taken a beating and investors such as bill gurley of vc firm benchmark which invested in uber and dropbox have told unicorns to be prepared for leaner times back home volatility in the stock markets and a line of startup failures have added