Mumbai-based luggage brand uppercase has roped in Indian cricketer Jasprit Bumrah as its investor.

Although the startup did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but its cofounder and managing director Sudip Ghose told Inc42 that the investment comes as a separate bridge funding round.

ET reported the development first.

“As a part of this expanded partnership, Bumrah will take an active role in product development. He wants to design a backpack and a gym bag which is exclusively needed for sports,” Ghose said.

The startup plans to launch this new product line in the next 3-5 months. The design process has already been started, with Ghose adding that it typically takes 2-5 months, from design to iterations, to launch the product.

Founded in 2021 by Ghose, Uday Sodhi, Arnob Mondal Kumar, Shivaprasad Eregowda, Nidhi Rajora and Dheeraj Goyal, uppercase designs and manufactures eco-friendly travel gear including hard luggage, backpacks, duffel bags, and office satchels. 

The company’s products are global recycling standards (GRS) certified.

In August last year, the startup raised $9 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Accel, along with investors, including Sixth Sense Ventures and Enam Holdings promoter Akash Bhansali.

The company  claims to currently sell through 1,600 points of sale across India and aims to expand to 4,000 points in the coming years. It targets a revenue of INR 250 Cr by 2026 and plans to break even by FY27.

uppercase competes with established players like VIP Industries, Samsonite, and Safari Industries, as well as newer D2C brands such as Mokobara, Nasher Miles, EUME, and ICON.

(The story will be updated)

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Gurugram-based cross border logistics startup Xindus has raised $10 Mn (around INR 83.5 Cr) in a Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital.

The round also saw participation from Orios Venture Partners, along with existing investors Shastra VC and Caret Capital.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to scale up its operations in the next 12-18 months and boost its gross merchandise value to $200 Mn from $30 Mn.

“This funding is a key step in building the infrastructure Indian SMEs need to scale globally. Trade regulations are complex and constantly changing—most businesses lose momentum trying to keep up,” Xindus cofounder Saurabh Goyal told Inc42. 

Founded in 2022 by Goyal, Madan Mohan, Jaikaar Singh and Saptarshi Datta, Xindus offers a full-stack platform that integrates shipping, warehousing, compliance, returns management and financial flows for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in global trade.

The startup primarily serves SMEs from sectors including fashion and apparel, home decor, jewellery, wellness and Ayurveda, as well as D2C brands looking to expand globally.

The funding comes amid growing investor interest in India’s logistics sector, which supports the country’s expanding export ambitions. According to a Protium report, MSMEs are expected to contribute 45% of India’s overall exports, with the country ranking 9th globally in cross-border trade growth.

This also comes at the heart of several logistics players raising capital and preparing for public listings. For instance, Shiprocket converted to a public company in January, rebranding as “Shiprocket Limited,” as it prepares for an IPO. 

Similarly, Shadowfax converted into a public entity last month as it prepares for an IPO valued between INR 2,500-3,000 Cr. The logistics provider raised INR 65.4 Cr from its cofounders at a $750 Mn valuation.

Meanwhile, Delhivery announced its acquisition of Ecom Express for $165 Mn to strengthen its last-mile delivery capabilities. The government is also transforming India Post into a major public logistics entity to boost rural economy and support SMEs, as announced in the Union Budget 2025-26. 

According to Mordor Intelligence, India’s logistics sector is projected to grow from $349.4 Bn in 2025 to $545.6 Bn by 2030, with a CAGR of 9.32%. The e-commerce logistics segment specifically is expected to expand from $3.98 Bn in 2024 to $10.40 Bn by 2033.

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For health and fitness app operator Healthify, the incorporation of GenAI has led to a better connection with its user base. Speaking at Inc42’s ‘The GenAI Summit’ today, the startup’s CTO Abhijit Khasnis said that Healthify’s AI-powered food recognition system has enabled the company to double user engagement in food tracking.

“With a snap, we can see that people who switch to tracking using photos do twice the tracks than what people do manually. So, it’s a 2X higher engagement, which means there is a 2X higher impact that we are seeing with those users,” he explained during a panel discussion focussed on AI’s impact on the healthcare sector.

The health and fitness startup launched the AI-powered feature in 2023 to recognise Indian food from images for logging in calorie intake, thereby allowing users to track their meal intake more efficiently. Under this, when users upload food photos to the app, the system uses vision language models to identify food items and proprietary algorithms to understand user preferences.

The GenAI-based recognition system was launched to enhance its chatbot ‘Ria’ and build ‘Snap’, which helps users count the calories in their meals. In 2024, the startup had claimed that GenAI usage resulted in a 50% increase in food tracking, deeper user engagement, and 18% higher client-coach interaction.

“At the core of it is the vision language models, where it’s looking at the picture and then saying, ‘I can see these foods in it’. Then we use heuristics and our own proprietary understanding of what a user is likely to eat to track it for the user,” Khasnis said.

The increased tracking directly correlates with better health outcomes, as Khasnis noted that users who track more consistently see better results in their health goals. “We see a direct correlation between people who track more, lose more weight.”

The Bengaluru-based healthtech startup, which raised $20 Mn last October to close its pre-Series D round at $45 Mn, has been using AI to improve user experience and health outcomes. The startup then claimed that it achieved operational profitability in India and was on track to become EBITDA-positive by the end of FY25.

Khasnis was joined by Chaitanya Raju, chief product officer at HealthPlix, and Laina Emmanuel, CEO and cofounder of BrainSight AI, to discuss and answer the question, “AI In Healthtech: Redefining Care Or Just Optimising It?”

Trust A Major Challenge In AI Adoption In Healthcare 

Building trust remains the most critical challenge for AI applications in healthcare, with each panelist sharing different approaches to the problem.

“It took us five years to get our software as a medical device licence and a whole bunch of tests to be able to show the accuracy,” Emmanuel explained. “We used to sit down with doctors after every case and explain the science, the papers behind what we were doing.”

BrainSightAI, which recently secured $5 Mn, creates functional brain maps that help surgeons identify critical areas to avoid during operations. 

The startup validates its technology during awake brain surgeries, where surgeons can directly confirm if the AI’s predictions match what they observe when stimulating different brain regions. 

Healthify’s Khasnis noted that trust develops through hands-on experience with the technology. “For us, trust comes through experience,” he said, describing how users often test the system themselves by taking photos of their meals and then removing items to see if the AI correctly identifies the changes.

Talking about other challenges and new developments, Khasnis warned about what he calls “AI blindness,” where users dismiss AI-generated content without consideration. 

Meanwhile, Raju said that HealthPlix is planning to expand its voice-to-text feature moving forward to simplify medical record creation for doctors.

“One of the things we have done with GenAI in the last six months is we have launched what we call a voice-to-text capability, where all the doctor has to do is turn on the mic, and the model automatically converts the conversation into a summary,” said Raju.

The panelists agreed that AI’s role in healthcare should remain assistive rather than diagnostic. “It’s important for us to understand what AI can do and what it cannot do. No model in the world can diagnose well enough right now,” Raju said. 

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Travel tech company TBO Tek has been leveraging GenAI for automation and about 70% of special requests from travel agents are now being handled by AI voice bots, the company’s customer experience VP Garima Pant said.

“We are able to cater to almost 70% of special requests globally through voice bots,” Pant said during a panel discussion at Inc42’s ‘The GenAI Summit’ today.

She added that AI has significantly reduced response time for special requests from travel agents. Earlier, such requests required a person to make amendments to the system but are now completely handled using GenAI. The range and complexity of the requests that the system can handle has multiplied. 

OfBusiness cofounder and CBO Nitin Jain, CoRover.ai founder and CEO Ankush Sabharwal, Swiggy’s VP of data science and analytics Goda Ramkumar, and Cars24’s VP of engineering Deepak Gupta were among the other members of the panel, who held discussions on the topic, ‘Riding The Conversational AI Wave: What’s Next?’.  

Should Conversational AI Be Built In-House Or Outsourced?

Giving her views on the topic of building or outsourcing AI solutions, Gupta suggested that simpler use cases can be outsourced. “If the problem statement is not really very complex, NLP (natural language processing)-based things can work it out,” he said.

For complex implementations, he recommended developing solutions in-house. “If you are really very context rich and have very complex use cases of intent and entities, then (considering) the way you know your business… it makes (sense to) build your own solution,” he said.

Gupta revealed that when Cars24 made LLM-based chatbots one-and-a-half year ago, the bots achieved only 50% accuracy with NLP-based solutions due to language variations in customer queries.

Sharing adoption numbers, Sabharwal, whose company builds conversational AI solutions, said, “60% of our clients have moved to GenAI and 40% are still with classic NLP intent classification and entity extraction.”

Despite the shift to GenAI, Sabharwal noted that accuracy rates have remained consistent. “The accuracy did not change from earlier classic NLP to GenAI. It’s been consistent… 89% average accuracy,” he added.

Meanwhile, Swiggy’s Goda highlighted the need for voice interfaces, especially for delivery partners. “For them, it should be much more voice based because you are on the road, you are driving,” she said.

The panel discussion also revealed that companies are moving away from fine-tuning models and are instead focussing on providing better context to foundational models for more effective AI implementation.

With the adoption of GenAI on the rise across industries, India’s GenAI market is expected to become an over $17 Bn opportunity by 2030.

The post AI Bots Handling 70% Of Travel Requests Now: TBO Tek’s Garima Pant appeared first on Inc42 Media.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has reportedly said that the evaluation of AI Large Language Model (LLM) applications is in the final leg and soon the government will shortlist entities that will secure funding under the INR 10,037 Cr IndiaAI Mission.

As per news agency PTI, Vaishnaw said, “The evaluation of the AI LLM applications is in its final stage. Within the next few weeks, we should be able to award the first few LLM model teams, who will then start getting the funding under the AI mission.”

The minister’s comment comes days after electronics and information technology ministry (MeitY) additional secretary Abhishek Singh reportedly said that the Centre is planning to finalise the “first set” of proposals for building indigenous foundational AI models soon.

Prior to that, in January, Vaishnaw said that India is planning to build its own domestic LLM as part of the IndiaAI Mission.

The government has also selected 10 companies that will supply 18,693 graphics processing units or GPUs — high end chips needed to develop machine learning tools that can go into developing a foundational model.

An ET report said that the IndiaAI Mission received around 120 applications to build AI foundation models in the second round of bidding, which closed on March 15.

Approved in March last year, the IndiaAI Mission, with an allocation of INR 10,372 Cr over the course of next five years, aims to create an AI ecosystem, offering supercomputing capabilities comprising over 10,000 GPUs to various stakeholders.

It covers initiatives such as IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.

This comes at the heart of the government aggressively pushing for AI adoption in the country and ramping up AI-centric offerings

Last month, the government launched AIKosha, IndiaAI Compute Portal, an accelerator programme to incubate homegrown AI startups, and other offerings to foster innovation. 

Additionally, the Centre is also working on acquiring 18,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) to offer AI computing to startups, researchers, students and academicians.

India is home to more than 200 GenAI startups that raised more than $1.2 Bn in funding between 2020 and 2024. 

Overall, the Indian AI ecosystem is projected to become a $17 Bn market opportunity by 2030.

The post IndiaAI Mission In Final Leg Of Evaluating LLM Applications For Funding: Ashwini Vaishnaw appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup Calligo Technologies has raised $1.1 Mn (around INR 9.4 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round co-led by Seafund and Artha Venture Fund.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to build its second version of silicon chip, expand engineering talent and foster partnerships with system integrators and OEMs/ODMs.

Founded by Anantha Kinnal, Rajaraman Subramanian and Vinay N Hebbali in 2012, Calligo Tech develops hardware and software products for high performance computing (HPC), big data and AI workloads. 

“Insatiable demand for computing for HPC/AI has thus far been addressed by adding more and more hardware, without addressing computing efficiency at grass-root levels,” Kinnal said.

CalligoTech’s latest silicon chip, TUNGA, is an eight-core processor based on the open-source RISC-V architecture. It powers an accelerator card, a hardware component that enhances the performance of servers. 

This accelerator card can easily be added to servers running on standard processors like Intel’s X86, ARM or PowerPC.

India’s Semiconductor Mission 2.0

This funding comes at a time when India’s semiconductor sector is witnessing a rapid growth and the government is planning to launch the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission.

The ISM 2.0 will also potentially offer support to gases and other elements needed for chip production.

The Centre launched the Semicon India programme in 2021, with an outlay of INR 76,000 Cr, to incentivise silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors and more. 

A year after that, ISM was introduced to establish India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

In February, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that the first “made-in-India” chip would be rolled out from a commercial fab by September or October this year.

Recently, Electronics and IT ministry (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan said that India’s semiconductor demand will likely reach $100-110 Bn by 2030 from the current demand of $45–50 Bn.

The homegrown semiconductor market is expected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030, as per Inc42.

The post Calligo Tech Pockets Funding To Build Its Second Silicon Chip appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Startup incubator T-Hub has picked 20 startups for the fifth cohort of its AIC T-Hub Healthcare programme.

T-Hub’s three-month programme, launched in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), aims to boost innovation in medtech, digital health and healthcare accessibility. 

For the programme, the startups were selected based on their proof-of-concept readiness, technological innovation, regulatory compliance preparedness, market potential and founding team strength.

Hyderabad-based T-Hub is an innovation hub launched in 2015 by the Telangana government, universities and industry to support startups. On the other hand, Atal Innovation Mission, started by the NITI Aayog in 2016, is a government initiative promoting innovation and entrepreneurship across India through labs and incubation centres.

Let’s take a look at the startups that made into the fifth cohort of its AIC T-Hub Healthcare programme:

Artyem Care

Founded In : 2024

Founder:  Dhrumil Sorathia

Artyem Care helps hospitals improve their operational metrics including revenue generation and capacity utilisation while working to ensure faster recovery and improved clinical outcomes for patients. The company’s solutions cover the entire patient journey from discovery to recovery.

Bioscafil

Founded In : 2025

Founder : Pavitra Pasalapudi

Bioscafil develops bioengineered scaffolds for drug delivery in chronic disease treatment. The startup focuses on creating systems for sustained drug delivery that reduces side effects and improves patient adherence. 

It is working on clinical validation of its technology while developing scalable manufacturing processes to expand accessibility of its solutions.

Chqup

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Dhiraj Karnawat

Chqup operates as a digital healthcare platform offering outpatient department (OPD) services.

The startup provides online consultations with doctors and dentists, along with blood test booking services. It focuses on delivering healthcare services through cashless transactions without requiring employer-provided general insurance.

Cloud Palliative Care

Founded In : 2024

Founder : Pulipalupula Swamy Vijayender Goud 

Cloud Palliative Care offers remote support services for terminally ill patients. The healthtech startup provides symptom management, psychiatry services, nutritional guidance, and advance care planning through its digital platform. It aims to reduce hospital visits and improve quality of life for patients with terminal illnesses.

Dag2IL

Founded In : 2025

Founder : Yadagiri Pindi

The startup has developed an AI-powered platform that offers mental wellness tools and guidance. It focuses on addressing mental health challenges, including stress, anxiety, and overthinking, with the goal of increasing accessibility to mental health resources.

Epirelief

Founded In : 2024

Founder : Shivanad Reddy

Epirelief has developed a healthcare device focused on pain management through neuromodulation technology. The startup offers a non-invasive, drug-free approach to addressing chronic and acute pain. Its portable device works by stimulating the nervous system to activate natural pain relief mechanisms for patients with persistent pain conditions.

Dr. DICOM (GLOCAL DIGITAL)

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Rakesh Lakka 

Dr. DICOM specialises in DICOM-to-paper printing technology for medical imaging such as CT, MRI and ultrasound modalities.

The startup helps healthcare facilities reduce film costs while maintaining diagnostic print quality. Additionally, it is developing AI solutions aimed at improving workflow efficiency and diagnostic accuracy in radiology.

Kashi Medicos

Founded In : 2022

Founder : Kamlesh Chouhan

Medicos works to improve accessibility to government hospitals in India through its technology platform. The healthtech startup provides services including real-time information, chat functionality, and navigation assistance aimed at helping patients better access government healthcare facilities.

Nahush Pharma 

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Prashant Jha

Nahush Pharma has developed a hemostatic bandage called InstaSTOP designed to stop bleeding in trauma cases. The medtech startup is focusing on applications for battlefield injuries and road accidents. Its product is currently undergoing animal trials.

Oui Medical 

Founded In : 2025

Founder : Adarsh M Patil

Oui Medical has developed P-Scope, an FDA-cleared endoscope for abdominal diagnostics. The medtech startup’s device is designed for minimally invasive procedures that can be performed under local anesthesia.

Planytics

Founded In : 2019

Founder : Badhri Kidambi

Planytics has developed an AI-driven SaaS platform for hospital supply chain management. The startup’s solution provides replenishment capabilities and integrates with existing hospital information systems. It serves hospital chains across India and international markets.

Reyansh Technologies

Founded In : 2024

Founder : Prashant Kangad

Reyansh Technologies has developed an AI-driven system for road accident detection and emergency response. The startup’s technology enables SOS alerts, medical coordination, and data sharing with hospitals during emergencies. 

Sigma Mozak

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Shweta Sharma

Sigma Mozak Solutions develops tools aimed at reducing cognitive burden for healthcare providers at the grassroots level, with a focus on creating user-friendly technology for everyday clinical environments.

Signel Biomedical

Founded In : 2021

Founder : Vaishnavi Reddy Gutha

AI-driven healthcare procurement platform Signel Biomedical works to streamline access to certified medical supplies through its technology platform. It focuses on inventory management optimization and logistics efficiency for healthcare facilities.

Skinska

Founded In : 2018

Founder : Ram Chintalapudi 

Skinska Pharmaceutica develops skincare products combining natural ingredients with research-based formulations for various skin concerns.

Tap Health 

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Rahul Maroli 

Deep-tech startup Tap Health operates in the chronic care management space with a fully AI-driven approach.

The healthtech company offers digital therapeutics solutions for conditions including diabetes, hypertension, PCOS, pregnancy, and asthma. Its platform aims to reduce the need for human intervention in chronic disease management.

thebabyland 

Founded In : 2023

Founder : Bharadwaj 

thebabyland, an AI-powered maternal and infant care platform covering preconception through postpartum stages. The startup integrates wellness tracking capabilities with expert consultation services and offers products designed for mothers and babies.

TurocratesAI

Founded In : 2025

Founder : Devansh Lalwani 

The AI-driven pathology assistant TurocratesAI develops technology that helps extract clinically relevant data from medical images.

The startup combines engineering, scientific, and medical expertise to build its conversational interface platform for pathologists. 

365Veda

Founded In : 2021

Founder : Harshit Gohil 

Preventive wellness startup 365Veda develops nutraceutical products with improved bioavailability. The company focuses on creating innovative delivery formats for herbs, vitamins, and minerals as part of India’s emerging nutraceutical sector.

Warkas

Founded In : 2024

Founder : Ketki Kalele

Warakas operates in multiple areas including scientific writing support, research dissemination, and grant acquisition. It currently works with over 4,000 doctors. It has also developed cancer biosensors for diagnosis and treatment monitoring, along with Tu-Moor, a platform that utilizes fictionalized content for medical education.

The post Meet The 20 Startups Part Of Fifth Cohort Of AIC T-Hub’s Healthcare Programme appeared first on Inc42 Media.

AI-driven vending solutions provider Wendor has secured a strategic investment of $2.5 Mn (around INR 21 Cr) from commercial refrigeration company Elanpro, which now holds a 35% stake in the firm.

As part of this investment, which is a mix of equity and debt, Wendor will also get operational support from Elanpro, enabling it to leverage an extensive service and logistics network across India, the company said in a statement.

Wendor plans to use the fresh capital to boost its AI-powered vending technology, develop computer vision solutions and to strengthen its market presence both domestically and globally.

Apart from this, the proceeds would be deployed to bolster its AI-driven vending technology with camera-based product detection systems for real-time tracking, AI systems that predict what products will sell best and automation to improve the customer experience.

Founded in 2021 by Lakshit Anand, Wendor develops AI-powered vending machines with digital payment systems. It claims to have placed its vending machines at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Taj Mahal.

The company also claims to have brand partnerships with Coca-Cola, Amul, Nivea, Apollo Hospitals, Unilever and Fortis.

Wendor plans to launch ten experience centres across key metro and Tier I cities in the next two months. These centres will provide customers with hands-on interaction with the advanced vending solutions.

The startup also plans for overseas expansion, targeting markets like the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

India is seeing increased competition with several players offering smart vending solutions. Key competitors include Daalchini Technologies, known for IoT-enabled vending machines in corporate and transit sectors; NutriTap Technologies, which targets FMCG brands and Vendekin Technologies, specialising in touchless payments and AI-driven analytics. 

The Indian vending machine market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 17.2% by the end of 2028 according to strategic consulting and market research firm, BlueWeave Consulting.

The market is expanding due to urbanisation, evolving consumer lifestyles, and the adoption of automated retail technologies. Smart vending machines, equipped with IoT and AI, offer real-time inventory tracking and cashless payments, enhancing user experience. 

Key deployment areas include corporate offices, public spaces like malls and airports, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities. Currently, snack and beverage vending machines lead the market.

The post Wendor Nets $2.5 Mn To Boost Its AI-Powered Vending Tech appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Evenflow, a Thrasio-style marketplace aggregator floated by former Uber executives, has secured fresh capital from Venture Catalysts, head of business transformation at Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Sunder Ramachandran and a few angel investors, as part of its ongoing Series A funding round totalling $5 Mn (around INR 41 Cr).

The company claims that in October last year, it raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge funding round. With the latest fundraise, it also claims to have raised nearly $14 Mn in total funding till date.

Evenflow plans to use the fresh funds to grow and further improve the bottomline across its multi-brand portfolio — Xtrim, Yogarise, Rusabl, BabyPro, Trendy Homes, Cinagro and Frenchware.

Founded in 2021 by Utsav Agarwal and Pulkit Chhabra, Evenflow acquires and scales third-party sellers on ecommerce marketplaces. The startup’s brands are present in India, US and the MENA region, and claims to have grown 350% by focusing on distribution across marketplaces and quick commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, CRED, Myntra, Blinkit, Instamart, Zepto and Walmart.

“We are a low margin business. With scale, we are beginning to see backend synergies play out, with our downstream cost per unit reducing by the month and further flexibility to stress test the end customer pricing upwards or downwards – thus turning our big bets SKUs into a profitable engine,” said Utsav Agarwal, cofounder and CEO of Evenflow.

Evenflow aims to increase its revenue by 10x and profits by six-fold in next two years while building a strong core team, scaling the business and maintaining a healthy bottom line.

The house of brands has previously received funding from 100unicorns, Village Global, Equanimity, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Uber CBO Emil Michael, among others.

In October last year, Evenflow strengthened its leadership team with four key appointments across business, category, supply chain and sourcing verticals.

The Thrasio-style marketplace aggregator operates in the sector alongside other players such as Mensa Brands, GlobalBees, Upscalio, GOAT Brand Labs and 10Club, which also acquire and scale digital-first brands.

The roll-up e-commerce model, where companies acquire and consolidate multiple smaller online brands to drive growth and efficiency, has been gaining traction from venture capital firms, with players like Mensa Brands raising nearly $300 Mn and achieving unicorn status. 

These aggregators are adopting various growth strategies, with GlobalBees expanding its portfolio through full acquisitions like The Butternut Co, while GOAT Brand Labs focuses on multichannel expansion across quick commerce, offline stores and exports. 

The D2C segment, where most roll-up brands operate, is currently valued at $12  Bn and expected to grow to $60  Bn by FY27 according to a report by Praxis.

The post Evenflow Bags Fresh Funding From Venture Catalysts, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has warned against multiple “vulnerabilities” in AI design, training and interaction mechanism.

The cybersecurity watchdog noted that all the AI apps are not safe and therefore advised users signing up for them to consider using an anonymous account not linked to their personal or professional identity.

As per the latest advisory, the “vulnerabilities” include technical issues such as data poisoning, adversarial attacks, model inversion, prompt injection and hallucination exploitation.

The advisory further said that AI has accelerated automating of routine tasks, fostering creativity and supporting business functions such as customer services, logistics, medical diagnosis and cybersecurity.

“Artificial Intelligence has become a hallmark of innovation, revolutionising industries ranging from healthcare to communications. AI is increasingly used to handle activities traditionally undertaken by humans,” CERT-In said.

The note highlights six major types of attacks that pose significant threats to AI applications’ security, reliability and trustworthiness:

Data poisoning: Manipulating training data to produce inaccurate or malicious outputs

Adversarial attacks: Changing inputs to trick AI models into giving wrong predictions

Model inversion: Extracting sensitive information about training data through analysis

Model stealing: Copying AI models by repeatedly querying them

Prompt injection: Introducing malicious instructions to bypass AI safeguards

Hallucination exploitation: Taking advantage of AI’s tendency to generate fabricated outputs

Threat actors can take advantage of the rising demand for AI apps to create fake apps designed to trick users into downloading them, the advisory said.

If someone downloads these fake AI apps on their devices, it maximises the opportunity to install malware designed to steal all their data, the advisory says, asking users to practice due diligence before clicking the ‘download’ button in order to minimise AI cybersecurity risks.

This also comes days after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recommended setting up a dedicated AI governance board to review and authorise AI applications in the country.

The framework called for empowering the proposed board with powers to ensure AI initiatives align with legal instruments and address ethical considerations. In addition to the governance board, MeitY has also advocated for an “AI Ethics Committee” to design and integrate standard AI practices into all project stages, according to the competency framework.

The regulatory push also parallels rapid developments in India’s AI ecosystem, with both public and private sectors making significant investments. Earlier this month, MeitY launched the IndiaAI Compute Portal, a unified datasets platform AIKosha, and an accelerator programme for homegrown AI startups as part of the larger INR 10,300 Cr IndiaAI Mission.

In the private sector, Jio Platforms recently announced plans for a cloud-based PC to help users deploy compute-intensive AI applications, alongside developing “JioBrain,” a machine learning-as-a-service offering for enterprises.

According to a BCG and Nasscom report, India’s AI market could reach $17 billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 25-35%.  IDC forecasts AI spending in India will hit $6 billion by 2027, growing at 33.7% annually from 2022.

The post CERT-In Warns Users Against ‘Vulnerabilities’ In AI Apps appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Amid the intensifying instant delivery race in India, Amazon has expanded its grocery service Amazon Fresh to more than 170 cities and towns.

Previously operational in only 130 cities, Amazon Fresh is now extending its reach into tier- II and III markets, which include Gorakhpur, Chittoor, Ambala and Vijayawada.

The expansion coincides with Amazon Fresh’s 50% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in the second half of 2024 against the second period of the previous year, the company said in a statement.

“Our expansion to more than 170 cities/towns allows Amazon Fresh to extend its reach into India’s tier II, III cities/towns and beyond, offering consumers access to high-quality groceries at competitive prices, delivered conveniently to their doorstep,” said Srikant Sree Ram, director of Amazon Fresh India.

Amazon Fresh provides a variety of grocery items such as fruits, vegetables, bread, dairy products (milk, cheese, curd, etc.) frozen goods, beauty and personal care items, baby care essentials, and pet supplies. The service comes with a two-hour delivery window, sitting right between same-day or one-day online delivery and quick commerce.

This also comes days after Amazon India has reduced referral fees to zero on more than 12 Mn (1.2 Cr) products priced below INR 300. The revised fees will come into effect from April 7.

The company claims that it is its higher-ever reduction in seller fees, aimed at boosting seller growth on its platform and supporting lakhs of small businesses across the country. 

Quick Commerce Battle Heating Up

Amazon Fresh’s expansion comes at the heart of rising competition in India’s quick commerce segment. The sector, which initially focused on delivering daily essentials to doorsteps is now evolving to influence consumer behaviour by offering a wide range of products, beyond just groceries.

In December 2024, Amazon announced its foray into the quick commerce space, while Flipkart launched ‘Flipkart Minutes’ earlier that year.

Established players like Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto are also diversifying their offerings, going beyond the grocery category to sell everything from clothing and toys to jewellery and skin care products.

Also, in December, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Consumer also launched a pilot of a 10-minute grocery delivery service in select pin codes in Bengaluru.

Amid growing popularity of 15-minute deliveries, several quick commerce startups, including Snabbit, Topmate, Swish, Zing and FirstClub, among others are now seen cropping up in the sector and moving beyond just grocery delivery.

Urban Company is the latest to jump on the quick commerce bandwagon with its 15-minute maid booking service – Insta Help.

Investors Cashing In On Quick Commerce

The quick commerce sector is gaining traction from a lot of investors. Quick commerce unicorn Zepto raised over $1 Bn in funding in 2024 alone. Earlier this month, Delhi NCR-based Swish raised $14 Mn from investors, including Accel, to scale its 10-minute food delivery offering.

Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto clocked sales worth nearly $1 Bn last year. These companies are also charting a path of profitability. Blinkit is expected to achieve breakeven by Q3 FY26, while Instamart will hit adjusted EBITDA breakeven by Q1 FY28, as per brokerage firm Bernstein.

As per a report by Deloitte, the Indian quick commerce market is poised to become a $40 Bn opportunity by 2030.

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Automobile ecommerce platform Droom has raised $3 Mn (around INR 24.75 Cr) in an undisclosed funding round co-led by India Accelerator and Finvolve.

The round also saw participation from a clutch of angel investors, including Rayzon Solar founder Hardik Kothiya, among others.

With the freshly raised capital, the company seeks to bolster its tech infrastructure, accelerate customer acquisition and expand its footprint in India.

The investment will also expedite Droom’s decision to refile its initial public offering (IPO) papers in the ongoing calendar year, it said in a statement.

“With this investment, we are looking forward to supporting Droom in entering its next phase of growth, towards an impactful IPO and continued leadership in the industry,” said Ashish Bhatia, cofounder of Finvolve.

This year, there is an increasing IPO activity in India’s startup ecosystem. Several major companies are preparing to go public in 2025, with quick commerce unicorn Zepto expected to file draft papers by April, while EV manufacturer Ather Energy has already filed its DRHP to raise INR 4,500 Cr. 

In the automotive space, CarDekho is reportedly in talks to raise INR 3,000-4,000 Cr through its public offering, positioning Droom’s planned INR 1,000 Cr IPO as part of a broader trend of automotive platforms seeking public market capital.

Founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal, Droom is an online platform in India for buying and selling new and used vehicles. Initially focusing on budget-friendly cars, the company shifted in 2022 to mid-premium and luxury vehicles, increasing its profit per vehicle from INR 40,000 to INR 1.6 lakh. 

Droom has expanded its services to include car financing, software solutions, advertising, and car rentals. 

To date, Droom has raised a total funding of around $296 Mn. Besides Lightbox, the company also counts 57 Stars and Seven Train Ventures among its backers.

Droom’s Second IPO Attempt: This will be Droom’s second attempt to go public. It initially filed a DRHP with SEBI to raise INR 3,000 Cr back in 2021 but later withdrew its IPO plans due to market volatility.

It also plans to raise INR 200 Cr in a pre-IPO round from existing and new investors in a bid to increase domestic shareholding in the company, mimicking the approach taken by IPO-bound quick commerce unicorn Zepto.

Droom reported a 35% decline in its consolidated net loss to INR 40.4 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 62.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year due to lower expenses.

With the improvement in its bottom line, the Lightbox-backed company’s EBITDA loss went down to INR 37.2 Cr during the year under review compared to an EBITDA loss of INR 57.3 Cr in FY23. 

However, EBITDA margin fell 21 percentage points year-on-year to -44% in FY24 as Droom’s top line took a hit. Its operating revenue slumped 66% to INR 85.4 Cr in the year ended March 2024 from INR 253.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Evolving Auto Marketplace Sector: The Indian automobile market is experiencing growth, with India aiming to become the world’s largest automobile market by 2030, focusing on electric and alternative fuel vehicles, besides, the government supporting this with infrastructure enhancements and EV charging facilities.

The online automobile marketplace sector is seeing rapid innovation and expansion with major players like CARS24, CarDekho, Spinny, and Droom adopting AI and Metaverse to revolutionise sales and promotion.

Recently, CARS24 entered the new car market with an aggregator platform offering AI-powered buying experiences and real-time pricing. 

India’s overall automotive market (including passenger and commercial vehicles) is expected to grow from 5.1 Mn units in 2023 to 7.5 Mn units by 2030, at a CAGR of 5.7%, according to a Research and Markets report.

Key trends driving this growth include integration of AI and AR technologies for enhanced customer experiences, increasing use of digital platforms, and consumer preference for the convenience and transparency offered by online transactions. 

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Lab-grown diamond jewellery brand Firefly Diamonds has raised $3 Mn (around INR 25 Cr) in a seed funding round led by WestBridge Capital.

The Mumbai-based startup plans to use the fresh capital  to accelerate its retail expansion, strengthen digital presence and launch new collections.

Founded in December 2023 by brothers Adit and Aayush Bhansali, Firefly is an omnichannel brand that sells lab-grown diamond jewellery via its website as well as retail stores in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

The startup plans to increase its store count by 20 in the next two years. Firefly Diamonds also claims that its entire supply chain, comprising growing, cutting, polishing and jewellery setting, is based in India 

“… Our brand is built on a legacy of trust, innovation, and craftsmanship… With this funding, we wish to usher in a new era of Indian luxury, that celebrates beauty, individuality, and the art of fine craftsmanship,” said Adit Bhansali. 

Why Are Indians Rushing To Buy Lab-Grown Diamonds? The biggest factor driving the popularity of lab-grown diamonds is their affordability. Such diamonds offer 80-95% cost savings compared to natural diamonds while maintaining identical chemical, optical and physical properties.

Coupled with the combination of quality and unique designs, many Gen Z and millennials are wearing such diamonds for daily use. Another key factor driving this shift is the changing ethical perspective of people as lab-grown diamonds are not mined, meaning no exploitation of labour or destruction of land.

Tapping Into The Indian Lab-Grown Diamond Opportunity: The growing adoption of lab-grown diamonds has kicked off a gold rush, with legacy giants like Tata Group and Senco Gold and established D2C jewellery players like GIVA and Bluestone are only splurging heavily to corner the market. 

As per reports, the Indian lab-grown diamond jewellery market is projected to become a $1 Bn market opportunity by 2033. 

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Dental hypersensitivity is a common problem among Indians, affecting between 20% and 32% of the Indian population, and current solutions only include desensitising toothpaste, gels, or liquids that may not be too adept in eradicating the root of the issue.

Now, imagine microscopic robots, each a fraction of the width of a human hair, deployed inside a patient’s mouth to deliver targeted treatments just for that. 

This is exactly what Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Theranautilus is trying to achieve, offering oral & dental treatments with the help of nanobots. Yes, you read it right — nanobots.

Now, before we get to exploring how Theranautilus is using its magic bots to treat dental ailments among Indians, let’s learn more about the startup, which seems to be stirring a revolution in the realm of Indian dentistry.

Incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and founded in 2020, Theranautilus is developing magnetic nanorobots that can be precisely controlled inside the human body using external magnetic fields.

The startup’s vision is hidden in its name. While ‘Thera’ stands for therapeutic, ‘Nautilus’ is the name of a submarine, helmed by Captain Nemo, a character created by the French novelist Jules Verne. Put together, the name represents a submarine with therapeutic abilities that can navigate fluids inside the human body.

At the captain’s seat is the trio of scientists and engineers — professor Ambarish Ghosh, a physicist who returned to India after working at Harvard; Dr Peddi Shanmukh Srinivas, a trained dentist; and Debayan Dasgupta, an engineer. 

But, this alliance, called Theranautilus, did not happen overnight and had been in the works for over a decade.

Theranautilus’ Sci-Fi Solution To Tooth Decay

The trio of cofounders told Inc42 that they have been working on their nanobots for the last 15 years. This includes Ghosh’s work at Harvard before he returned to India to continue his research at the IISc.

According to Ghosh, what began as a pure science experiment evolved into something much more significant once the team started demonstrating its ability to move tiny objects, which led to the realisation that their research could have many practical applications. 

Being a dentist, Srinivas, who has bigger plans to change the face of the Indian health space, initially thought of a single 10-minute treatment that rebuilds damaged tooth tissue from within, providing lasting relief without ongoing maintenance. 

“There are certain anatomical features in the tooth where there is loss of enamel or gum recession, and we can rebuild a tooth-like material inside. It’s like nano engineers, nano surgeons going in and building a part of the tooth that is lost,” CEO Srinivas said. 

Theranautilus raised $1.2 Mn in seed funding last year from pi Ventures, Golden Sparrow Ventures, and angel investors, including Tracxn’s founder and CEO Abhishek Goyal and Groww’s Lalit Keshre to scale the business.

The company plans to offer its products in two categories — for over-the-counter use by patients with mild to moderate hypersensitivity cases and for dental offices to treat severe cases.

Priced at around INR 2,500 per unit, the product aims to be competitive with existing treatments while offering a dramatically improved patient experience and long-term cost savings.

Engineering Nanobots To Fix Tooth Damage

Primarily composed of food-grade silica (the same material used as an anti-caking agent in cereals) with some amount of iron, each of Theranautilus’ nanorobots is a small sphere with magnetic properties inside and specific chemicals on the outside. 

These bots can be guided to form chains that move at high speeds inside microscopic tunnels within the body such as dentin tubules, microscopic channels that run through the middle layer of the tooth.

“You can imagine them talking to each other magnetically and moving forward to form little chains. Once this chain of particles is formed inside your tooth, a little chemical reaction starts happening around this chain and effectively, a little bone gets developed,” said Ghosh.

He claimed that the precision of this movement is so remarkable that these nanodevices can travel between two points covering a distance that is shorter than the thickness of a human hair. 

The startup has already conducted extensive animal trials, finding its nanorobots to be completely nontoxic at a cell level for animals. It is now preparing for human clinical trials. 

Its nanobots have been categorised as “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) by the FDA, alleviating safety concerns for internal medical use.

Betting Licensing To Scale Its Nanobot Tech Globally

Theranautilus plans to enter the market on the back of a licensing model — similar to how companies like Intel make IPs and license them to global companies.

According to Srinivas, the strategy would allow Theranautilus to focus on its core strength of developing cutting-edge nanorobot technology while leveraging the market presence and distribution networks of established healthcare companies.

This has started attracting significant interest in the market, and four Fortune 100 companies have initiated discussions about potential partnerships or licensing agreements. 

As of now, to fuel its ambitions, Theranautilus is using its seed funding to build an ISO-certified globally dedicated manufacturing facility to scale up the production of nanorobots — transitioning from producing in milligrams to manufacturing at scale for commercial applications. 

However, this transition won’t be easy. Srinivas and his team face a mammoth task of not just manufacturing at scale and quality maintenance but also packaging it and giving clinics access to their tech.

Theranautilus’ Nanotech War Against Cancer

While Theranautilus has started with dental applications, its ambitions extend far beyond oral healthcare. The company envisions its nanorobot technology addressing multiple medical conditions, with cancer topping its priority list.

In cancer applications, nanorobots can deliver therapeutic agents directly to tumour sites, minimising damage to healthy tissue. 

According to Ghosh, the biggest challenge in cancer treatment is delivering drugs directly to the tumour without affecting healthy tissue. 

“If we program these little particles, which can carry drugs, in a way that they go towards the tumour and infiltrate inside the tumour, then they can deliver the drugs locally and only cause harm to the cancer cells as opposed to the normal cells,” he said.

But, the biggest challenge for the company currently lies in convincing people to accept microscopic robots as a treatment option. This is primarily why the company has started with dental applications, which are less invasive and have lower regulatory hurdles than more complex interventions.

“We are in for the long game. We’ll go slowly from very non-invasive, very commonly present problems so we can relate with people. Then we will build that trust and take it further,” said Srinivas. 

In the near term (next three to four months), Theranautilus has plans to commence human clinical trials for its dental applications. This trial will be done on 300 patients. Following this, the cofounders anticipate to begin commercial production by 2026.

As Theranautilus moves toward human trials and eventual commercialisation, it stands at the frontier of what’s possible in medicine — navigating not just the microscopic tunnels inside our bodies, but also charting a course for how nanotechnology could reshape healthcare delivery for generations to come.

While it remains to be seen if the startup succeeds in scaling its nanorobots from the lab to widespread clinical use, Theranautilus’ potential to revolutionise healthcare is undeniable.

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E-Mobility-as-a-Service (eMaaS) platform Billion Electric Mobility has elevated its chief operating officer (COO) Sanjeev Kulkarni to the role of chief executive officer (CEO).

In his new role, Kulkarni will focus on expanding Billion Electric’s business, strengthening industry partnerships and accelerating the rollout of commercial EV solutions, the company said in a statement.

With over 32 years of leadership experience in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, he served as the CEO of Kalyani Powertrain Limited from April 2021 to September 2022, and later took up the role of executive vice president for sales and business development until May 2023.

Prior to that, Kulkarni also held various senior positions at Bosch Limited between 2014 and 2017.

“Since 2023, Kulkarni has been part of our leadership team and over the last 2-years, Billon Electric Mobility has seen the foundation laid for the eMaaS business with his strategic foresight and extensive industry experience. His proven ability to scale operations, drive innovation, and foster collaborations will be critical as we expand our EMaaS business,” said Mustafa Wajid, Cofounder at Billon Electric Mobility.

“Our focus will be on scaling our E-MaaS (electric mobility as a service business) with various corporate customers with our range of Electric Trucks for inter-city transport, maximising operational efficiency, and strengthening collaborations with OEMs and fleet operators,” Kulkarni said.

Founded by Kartikey Hariyani in 2021, Vadodara-based Billon Electric Mobility specialises in electric mobility solutions for trucks and buses. The company aims to offer comprehensive services, including electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in collaboration with CHARGE+ZONE.

In 2023, the startup reportedly secured $10 Mn in a seed funding round to address challenges in the Indian commercial mobility sector. 

In October last year, it was reported that Hinduja Group’s flagship vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland started delivery of its AVTR 55 tonne electric, BOSS 19 tonne electric and BOSS 14 tonne electric trucks to Billon Electric Mobility.

The commercial vehicle major had bagged a contract to supply 180 electric trucks worth around INR 150 Cr to Group Billion Electric. These vehicles will be operated on the Chennai-Bengaluru and Chennai-Vijayawada routes.

Billion Electric turned profitable in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24). The startup posted a net profit of INR 0.4 Cr during the year under review against a net loss of INR 2.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The turnaround came on the back of strong growth in its top line. Operating revenue skyrocketed 1260% to INR 6.8 Cr in the reported period from INR 0.5 Cr in FY23.

India’s Booming EV Charging Landscape: Kulkarni’s appointment comes at a time when India’s EV charging infrastructure is experiencing unprecedented growth. 

According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries data, public EV charging stations in India reached 25,202 by November 2024, more than doubling from 12,146 stations in January 2024. Karnataka leads with 5,765 stations, followed by Maharashtra (3,728) and Uttar Pradesh (1,989).

Meanwhile, the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme was introduced in September 2024, replacing the previous FAME scheme. It has an increased outlay of INR 10,900 Cr over two years, surpassing the initial allocation of INR 10,000 Cr under the FAME-II scheme. 

The scheme aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) across the country. Additionally, INR 5,000 Cr is allocated for deploying electric ambulances, and another INR 5,000 Cr is designated to incentivise the replacement of polluting trucks with electric trucks.

Simultaneously, private players are making significant investments in charging networks. Hero Electric’s partnership with BOLT aims to establish 50,000 charging stations by 2025, with installations planned across 750+ Hero Electric touch points. 

Recent investment activity underscores investor confidence in the sector. According to Inc42’s data, EV startups have raised over $3.7 Bn since 2014, with Ola Electric ($1.3 Bn), Ather Energy ($574 Mn), and Smartron ($225 Mn) receiving the highest funding. 

The overall EV market in India is projected to reach $132 Bn by 2030, capturing 40% of India’s automotive market according to the latest Inc42 report. 

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Quick fashion delivery startup Slikk Club has raised $3.2 Mn (around INR 27 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed.

The fundraise also saw participation from Multiply Ventures, along with a host of angel investors, including Tracxn cofounder Abhishek Goyal, Orios Venture Partners’ senior partner Madhav Tandan and Perpule cofounder Abhinav Pathak among others.

The Bengaluru-based company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its operations, making 80% of the city’s pincodes serviceable through multiple dark stores. Besides, it also aims to strengthen its leadership team across technology, category management, operations and supply chain.

“We just want to pull in two levers – expansion across Bangalore and launching a couple of more categories on the platform,” Slikk Club’s cofounder and chief executive Akshay Gulati told Inc42.

Founded in 2024 by Gulati, Om Prakash Swami, and Bipin Singh, Slikk Club delivers fashion items within 60 minutes and offers instant return and refund options.

“We’ve been growing 1.5 to 2x month on month. We’ve noticed a spike in the repeat orders on the platform, with compounding numbers,” Gulati said.

The startup, which currently features over 80 brands, including Snitch, The Souled Store and Bewakoof, plans to onboard 100 more brands in the next three months.

Slikk Club is also investing in AI-powered personalisation to enhance user experience. “We’re building modules and data sets to deepen our understanding at customer level internally to provide a hyper personalised homepage,” Gulati said.

India’s fashion quick commerce segment is heating up as established players expand their horizons.

In October last year, Blinkit introduced a 10-minute return option for clothing and footwear in select cities including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, addressing what CEO Albinder Dhindsa called “size anxiety” among customers.

Other specialised startups include Bengaluru-based Blip, which began experimenting with fashion quick commerce in 2023 before formally launching in October 2024. 

Meanwhile, Myntra also entered the ‘quick fashion’ scene with its M-Now feature, offering deliveries in 30 minutes to 2 hours in certain parts of Bengaluru. It turned profitable in FY24, posting a net profit of INR 30.9 Cr on revenue of INR 5,121.8 Cr, up 15% year-on-year. 

The company has also received an $81 Mn infusion from parent Flipkart in November 2024 as it expands its quick commerce offerings.

Recent funding activities underscore investor confidence in India’s ecommerce sector. 

In January, ecommerce major Meesho reportedly closed a $250-270 Mn funding round with participation from new investors including Tiger Global and Think Investments, bringing its total raise to approximately $550 Mn.

With India’s fashion market valued at approximately $93 Bn and expected to reach $200 Bn by 2030, the opportunity is substantial. 

According to a Redseer Market report, E-commerce’s share of India’s fashion sector increased from 14% to 15% in 2023, with online fashion projected to grow by $36 Bn by 2030 at an annual rate of 20%.

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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with cosmetics giant Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) to incubate Indian beauty and personal care startups.

As part of the pact, DPIIT’s Startup India platform will be integrated with ELC’s accelerator initiative, BEAUTY&YOU India, to help emerging brands access funding, mentorship, industry insights and avail global networking opportunities.

“India’s beauty industry is undergoing a major transformation, and collaborations like this play a pivotal role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship,” said DPIIT  joint secretary Sanjiv Singh.

Meanwhile, ELC also announced the expansion of its BEAUTY&YOU India programme, with the addition of a new category specifically focused on supporting women-founded startups in the beauty space.

“Through BEAUTY&YOU India, ELC has established a record of supporting founders and innovations that are shaping the future of beauty in India. We are proud to add a dedicated category for female-founded startups, which reflects our longstanding mission to promote women’s advancement and leadership in our business, industry, and communities in India,” said Rohan Vaziralli, general manager at the Estée Lauder Companies India.

Launched in 2022, BEAUTY&YOU India is ELC’s flagship initiative designed to discover and back Indian beauty entrepreneurs through grants, mentorship and industry access to help startups scale and innovate.

The latest collaboration is part of DPIIT’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the Indian startup ecosystem across various sectors. In the past three months alone, it has extended strategic partnerships with several organisations, including Walmart, Stride Ventures, Apna, and Bhaane Group to support startups in manufacturing, employment, and supply chain development.

In January, DPIIT partnered professional networking platform Apna to offer DPIIT-registered startups access to talent resources. In the same month, the department also signed an MoU with Walmart to provide support, mentorship and training to manufacturing startups, particularly those from Tier II and III cities.

The partnership comes at a time when India’s beauty and personal care market is witnessing rapid growth, with several homegrown D2C beauty brands gaining significant market share in recent years.

As of January 31, 2025, India was home to over 1.61 Lakh (1,61,150) DPIIT-recognised startups, according to commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal’s statement in Parliament on March 11. 

Maharashtra led with 28,511 startups, followed by Karnataka with 16,954 and Delhi with 16,356 registered startups. The minister noted that nearly 48% of these startups now emerge from tier-II and tier-III cities.

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Bengaluru-based sexual health and wellness startup Allo Health has secured INR 16 Cr ($1.8 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Zerodha’s Rainmatter, along with participation from existing investors.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital for clinic expansion, develop AI-driven treatment protocols and advance its patient-first healthcare innovations.

Founded in 2022 by Pranay Jivrajka, Allo Health provides sexual healthcare services through a hybrid model that combines physical clinics with AI-powered treatment protocols and trained medical professionals.

The startup claims to have treated over 200,000 patients across India, with an 85% improvement in patient outcomes. It currently operates in more than 35 clinics across cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysuru and Ranchi.

“Sexual health in India has been overlooked for too long. We are not just creating a business but building an entire ecosystem,” Jivrajka said.

Allo Health plans to invest in diagnostics, digital therapy, and private label solutions to strengthen its sexual healthcare ecosystem. The startup is also planning to expand into mental health, replicating its expert-led model.

Allo claims that in 2022 it raised $4.4 Mn as a part of its seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, along with participation from Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal and cofounder of Cloudnine Rohit M A. 

The fundraise also comes at a time when competition in the sexual wellness space is heating up. While startups like MyMuse, Sassiest, among others, have made a name for themselves, many established players are also looking at expanding their play in the segment.

For instance, last month, D2C sexual wellness startup Bold Care raised $5 Mn in its Series A funding round led by Zerodha’s Rainmatter. The round also saw participation from CaratlLane founder Mithun Sacheti, Jaipur Diamond’s Siddhartha Sacheti, Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund, Claris Capital, among others.

Last year, MyMuse raised $2.7 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round from Trifecta Capital and CRED’s founder Kunal Shah to strengthen its omnichannel presence. 

Also, three months back, D2C sexual wellness brand Peppy roped in content creator Bhuvan Bam as an investor and cofounder after raising $500K in a pre-seed round. 

According to an imarc report, the Indian sexual wellness market is expected to grow to $2.4 Bn by 2032, at a CAGR of 6.75%. This growth is driven by increasing awareness about sexual health, rising health concerns regarding sexual dysfunction and government initiatives promoting comprehensive sex education.

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Pune-based energy storage solutions provider AmpereHour Energy has raised $5 Mn (about INR 43.5 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Avaana Capital, with participation from UC Impower and existing angel investors.

The startup will use the fresh capital to accelerate the deployment of its energy storage solutions, expand manufacturing capabilities, enhance R&D efforts, and broaden its product offerings.

Founded in 2017 by IIT Bombay alumni Ayush Misra, Rahul Shelke, Harshal Thakur, and Neehar Jathar, AmpereHour Energy develops modular, scalable, and software-led battery energy storage systems (BESS). 

The startup claims that its proprietary ELINA Energy Management Software optimises battery performance and enables flexible utilisation across various applications. 

AmpereHour Energy claims to have already commissioned projects of 40 MWh, with about 1,000 MWh under execution. It offers turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for seamless integration.

It counts Indigrid, Cummins, Siemens, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Yellow Door (UAE) among its customers.

Commenting on the funding, CEO and cofounder Misra said, “The current investment round is another vote of confidence in AmpereHour Energy’s expertise and ability to create technological innovation as well as deliver projects at scale.” 

The funding comes at a time when increasing awareness about climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions has resulted in the climate tech sector seeing a lot of traction. As a result, Indian climate tech startups have raised a total funding of more than $4 Bn since 2014.

Most recently, FluxGen raised INR 28 Cr ($3.36 Mn) in its pre-Series A funding round led by IAN Alpha Fund. Last month, Bengaluru-based The Energy Company secured $2 Mn (around INR 17.4 Cr). 

In December last year, Sustainiam secured $1.45 Mn (about INR 12.3 Cr) in its pre-Series A round led by Orios Venture Partners.

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Healthtech startup Even Healthcare has announced its first-ever employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback, within three years of launch.

The buyback programme, valued at $500K, will be executed at the company’s primary valuation without any discount, Even Healthcare said in a statement.

This comes nearly five months after the startup raised $30 Mn in its Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, along with participation from Founders Fund, 8VC and Lachy Groom among others.

Even Healthcare grants stock options to every full-time employee under the same terms as its founders. The company also provides guaranteed refresher benefits to ensure continuous stock-based rewards for employees, the statement added.

“At Even Healthcare, we believe in creating long-term financial opportunities for our employees. This buyback is a testament to our commitment to ensuring everyone who contributes to Even’s growth benefits from it,” said Even Healthcare cofounder Matilde Giglio.

Founded in 2020 by Giglio, Mayank Banerjee and Alessandro Ialongo, Even Healthcare operates as a subscription-based managed care provider. The company charges an annual fee for services including doctor consultations, diagnostic tests, and preventive care, with optional health insurance for hospitalisation.

This comes at a time when several startups are expanding their employee stock option pools. Just today, fintech giant Paytm granted 1.09 Lakh stock options under its ESOP 2019 scheme, while also noting that 4.1 Lakh options have lapsed.

Logistics player Delhivery approved allotment of 11.79 Lakh equity shares under multiple ESOP schemes yesterday (March 10), increasing its paid-up capital to INR 74.55 Cr. Meanwhile, travel platform ixigo approved a new ESOP scheme with a substantial 1.2 Cr stock options pool, with unique vesting terms tied to market capitalisation milestones.

D2C brand Mamaearth allotted 3.59 Lakh shares worth nearly INR 80 Cr last week, while agritech startup Ninjacart expanded its ESOP pool by 36%.

According to Bajaj Finserv AMC data, the Indian healthcare market where Even operates is projected to reach $638 Bn by 2025, growing at a 17.5% CAGR over the past decade. The hospital market alone has expanded from $62 Bn in 2020 to $132 Bn in 2023.

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Edtech startup Dreamtime Learning has secured an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series A funding round from Gruhas, the investment firm co-founded by Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai.

The Hyderabad-based company will use the fresh capital to expand its micro school model across metro cities and scale up its global online school, which currently serves learners in over 40 countries.

Founded by Lina Ashar, who previously established Billabong High and Kangaroo Kids, Dreamtime Learning offers technology-integrated education solutions focused on critical thinking and adaptability rather than traditional learning methods.

“This investment is not just about financial growth, it is a validation of our mission to revolutionise education. With the backing of Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai-led Gruhas, we are set to scale our impact and reshape education for a rapidly evolving world,” Ashar said.

The investment in Dreamtime Learning adds to Kamath’s growing portfolio of education and technology startups. The Zerodha cofounder has been actively investing in early stage companies through various vehicles, including Gruhas and WTFund.

Last month, WTFund announced its second cohort of nine startups, including Bengaluru-based BYTES, which develops AI-powered safety systems for two-wheelers. 

Dreamtime Learning’s funding also comes at a time when India’s edtech market shows significant growth potential. According to Statista, the sector is projected to reach $10.4 Bn by 2025 and expand to $29 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 25.8%.

By 2030, the edtech industry is expected to contribute 0.4% to India’s GDP with the market projected to have over 100 Mn paid users during the same period.

This expansion is driven by increasing internet penetration, demand for personalized learning solutions, and adoption of AI-powered education platforms. The K-12 segment, where Dreamtime Learning operates, is valued at $48.9 Bn and expected to reach $125.8 Bn by 2032.

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Listed dronetech company DroneAcharya has bagged an INR 46.25 Lakh project from consulting firm EY to focus on advanced drone training in Nepal under a six-month project called “Nepal drone ecosystem acceleration program”.

The project, which was floated by the World Bank, aims to accelerate the adoption of drone technology in Nepal for critical applications such as infrastructure development, disaster management, security, and precision agriculture, DroneAcharya said in an exchange filing.

The dronetech company said that consultancy firm EY secured the contract from the World Bank and subsequently subcontracted the project to its consortium partners. Besides DroneAcharya, the firm has also partnered with IIT Ropar for the project. 

“This collaboration combines expertise in consultancy, academia, and technical training to drive a comprehensive program focused on ecosystem analysis, gap identification, model development, and advanced drone training,” DroneAcharya said. 

The development comes less than two weeks after DroneAcharya received the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) type certification for its multipurpose drone, AgriVeer. 

The company has also bagged multiple new contracts in the ongoing calendar year. In January, it secured new contracts from the Indian Army, defence ministry, and Tata Communications.

These developments come in the run up to the proposed merger of the BSE-SME listed company with AITMC Ventures. The companies signed a signed term sheet for a ‘strategic company merger’ in January 2025. 

Back then, DroneAcharya’s founder and CEO Prateek Srivastava said that the merger will act as a “force multiplier” for both the companies and make the resultant entity a leader in India’s burgeoning drone tech space. Post the merger, the new entity will eye a mainboard listing in the near future.

Despite largely positive developments in recent times, the company’s shares have been on a downward trajectory for some time now amid the fall in the broader market. Since January, DroneAcharya’s shares have tanked over 40%, hitting a fresh all-time low of INR 66 on March 3. 

Shares of the company ended Monday’s (March 10) trading session 4.99% lower at INR 70.95 on the BSE.

The post DroneAcharya Bags INR 46 Lakh Contract For World Bank’s Drone Initiative For Nepal appeared first on Inc42 Media.

B2B agritech startup Ninjacart has expanded its employee stock option plan (ESOP) pool by adding fresh 2,397 new equity shares. 

As a result of this, the ESOP pool will increase by 36% to 8,919 equity shares from 6,522 equity shares. 

In a regulatory filing, the company said its shareholders approved the ESOP expansion through a special resolution at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on January 17, 2025. 

The filing further added that the current expansion won’t affect the respective shareholding percentage of existing shareholders.

Founded by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Kartheeswaran K.K., Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Sharath Loganathan, Ashutosh Vikram and Sachin Jose in 2015, Ninjacart is an agritech company that streamlines fresh produce supply chain by directly connecting farmers, traders and retailers. 

Through its B2B marketplace, it claims to eliminate inefficiencies, ensures fair pricing for farmers, and delivers fresher produce to retailers. 

Ninjacart offers tailored solutions like Ninja Mandi for traders and Ninja Kisaan for farmers, along with financial and business support tools. 

Backed by investors like Tiger Global, Accel, Flipkart, and Walmart, it has raised $417.24 Mn over 16 rounds, according to Inc42 reports. 

The company reported a 74% increase in the operating revenue in FY24 to INR 2,002.7 Cr from INR 1,153.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

It also trimmed its net loss by 20% to INR 259.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 326.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The company has also invested in Philippines-based agri-fisheries startup Mayani and entered the Brazilian market through a partnership with Arado last year.

This development aligns with a growing trend among new-age tech companies leveraging ESOPs to attract and retain top talent in India’s competitive startup ecosystem. 

Yesterday (March 6), FirstCry allotted 9.84 Lakh equity shares and transferred 5.37 Lakh additional shares through its multiple ESOP schemes, while earlier on March 5, BlackBuck allotted 7.36 Lakh shares worth INR 30.5 Cr to its employees. 

Late last month, food delivery giant Swiggy also allotted 8.64 Lakh shares valued at INR 30.62 Cr under its ESOP Plan 2021.

The post Ninjacart Expands ESOP Pool With Fresh Equity Shares appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry has allotted 9.84 Lakh equity shares to its workforce under various employee stock option plan (ESOP) schemes.

In an exchange filing on Thursday (March 6), the company also announced the transfer of 5.37 Lakh equity shares under Brainbees ESOP 2022 scheme through cash exercise and cashless exercise methods.

For context, a cashless exercise method authorises a trust to sell shares on behalf of its employees to recover the exercise price, tax amount, among others, out of the options exercised by the employees

Of the 9.84 Lakh ESOPs allotted, 5.28 Lakh shares were allotted under ESOP 2011 initiative while the remaining 4.56 Lakh shares were earmarked under Brainbees Employees Stock Option Plan 2022. Following this allotment, FirstCry’s paid-up share capital increased to INR 104.03 Cr from INR 103.83 Cr earlier.

The ESOP allotment coincides with a significant rally in FirstCry’s stock, which surged as much as 17.1% to INR 428 during intraday trading on the BSE today, rebounding from its 52-week low of INR 356.55 a day ago. 

This also comes close on the heels of FirstCry narrowing its consolidated net loss by 69.5% to INR 14.78 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 48.41 Cr in the year-ago quarter. The company’s revenue from operations surged 14.3% year-on-year to INR 2,172.30 Cr during the period.

Recently, the company also announced plans to invest INR 300 Cr in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Digital Age Retail Private Limited, to establish new modern stores and make lease payments for existing stores. 

The company has also undertaken strategic cost-cutting measures, including the closure of 38 underperforming company-operated stores in Q3 FY25.

This development comes at a time when several new-age tech companies are expanding their ESOP pools to retain talent. Recently, BlackBuck allotted 7.36 Lakh shares worth INR 30.5 Cr, while Swiggy allotted 8.64 Lakh shares worth INR 30.62 Cr under their respective ESOP schemes.

Shares of FirstCry closed 11.8% higher at INR 408.40 on the BSE today.

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