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Jio Targets September 2027 Test Launch For 1,600-Satellite LEO Network

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 06:24:10 +0000

Reliance Jio is targeting September 2027 for the test launch of satellites for its proposed 1,600-satellite low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation, as the telecom giant steps up its satellite broadband play.

The test launch will involve placing a few satellites in orbit to evaluate the network’s hardware, software, and other technologies before mass deployment begins in early 2028, the Economic Times reported.

Jio plans to deploy around 400-450 satellites by 2030 and complete the constellation by 2035. It has also filed an application with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the orbital resources required for the network.

“Around 90-100 minimum coverage satellites are planned to be sent in two-three quarters after the test launch, which means India can start getting satellite connectivity in 2028,” the report quoted a source as saying.

Inc42 has reached out to Jio for comments on the development. The story will be updated on receiving a response.

The development comes two months after Jio announced that it was considering building a sovereign LEO satellite constellation as part of a broader push into satellite connectivity.

IPO-bound Jio Platforms’ MD Akash Ambani said at the time that the company could work with global constellation operators while developing its own satellite capabilities. It is also looking to build ground stations in India to support both partner networks and its future satellites.

The satellite network is expected to initially focus on India, particularly underserved regions, before expanding globally. Jio plans to use high-throughput satellites to provide broadband connectivity in areas where terrestrial networks are difficult to deploy.

Inside Jio’s Satcom Plans

Jio’s satellites are expected to operate at an altitude of around 650 kilometres and offer throughput of 100-150 Gbps each.

Once the constellation is fully deployed, around 30-32 satellites could be positioned over India at any given time, offering aggregate capacity of as much as 4.8 Tbps, according to the report.

The report claimed that this would be higher than the capacity proposed by other LEO operators in India. It pegged Starlink’s approved capacity at around 600 Gbps, while Amazon Leo has reportedly sought approval for about 3 Tbps.

Jio’s push builds on its partnership with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES. The two companies operate satellite communications joint venture Jio Space Technology Limited, formerly known as Jio Satellite Communications.

Jio has previously called for a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial telecom services. It, along with Vodafone Idea, had opposed the administrative allocation of satellite spectrum and favoured auctions.

The government, however, has opted for administrative allocation and is working on the pricing and other conditions governing the assignment of satellite spectrum.

Jio’s proposed constellation would add another major player to India’s emerging satcom market, where Elon Musk-led Starlink, Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Amazon Leo are also seeking to launch services.

The development comes at a time when Jio Platforms, which houses Reliance Jio Infocomm, is gearing up for its IPO. The company is expected to begin investor outreach for its nearly $4 Bn public issue next week and is targeting the IPO in November, Bloomberg reported.

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W Health Ventures Marks Close Of Fund II At ₹700 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:24:20 +0000

Healthtech-focused VC firm W Health Ventures has closed its second fund at ₹700 Cr (about $84 Mn), sailing past its original target corpus of ₹630 Cr. A combination of family offices and institutional investors from India and the US were the limited partners (LPs) that backed the fund.

Launched in July 2025, the fund marked its first close in February at ₹550 Cr ($60.6 Mn), it targeted to back eight to ten early stage healthtech startups over the next four years, from pre-idea stage to growth stages startups in India and the US.

W Health Ventures’ managing partner Pankaj Jethwani told Inc42 that the firm looks to identify concepts at a very early age and then spends a fairly large amount of time pressure-testing these ideas.

“Once we pick the area we’re most excited about, we build a founding team around it and surround that team with resources. We have about a 50-person in-house team of technologists, entrepreneurs, and clinicians. From there, it’s a collaborative build to bring these companies to scale — we act as co-founders of the business,” he added.

Via the second fund, the firm has established two startups and has poured in capital so far. Firstly, it partnered with Narayana Health to set up Everhope Oncology, a cancer care platform and infused $10 Mn (about ₹86 Cr) in March 2025. It launched Everbright Health in the US and infused $7 Mn, along with Sanos Capital, in October 2025.

Founded in 2020 by Sunil Wadhwani and headquartered in Mumbai, W Health Ventures builds healthcare companies from pre-idea to category leader across India and the US-India corridor. The fund typically writes cheques in the range of ₹30 Cr to ₹50 Cr, and has backed 12 startups in India and the US via its first fund, including Wysa, BeatO, Mylo, Reveal, and BabyMD.

W Health’s fund close comes at a time when India’s healthtech funding market is undergoing a reset, with investors becoming more selective about digital-health business models.

The firm is also part of a broader shift among venture investors towards company creation, as funds increasingly look to participate earlier than the traditional pre-seed or seed stage.

Instead of waiting for founders to build businesses around identified opportunities, these firms are identifying problems themselves, validating the opportunity and assembling founding teams.

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Shiprocket’s Mixed Q1, Purple Style Labs’ Muted Listing & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 03:24:40 +0000

Shiprocket Reins In Losses In Q1

Shiprocket’s first quarterly results since listing show a startup inching closer to profitability. In Q1 FY27, the logistics giant’s revenue rose, adjusted EBITDA improved and losses narrowed. Yet expenses continued to pinch and climbed almost as fast as income.

Here is a quick look at Shiprocket’s Q1 FY27 results:

Net loss declined 24% YoY to ₹13.7 Cr
Operating revenue jumped 34% YoY to ₹592.1 Cr
Adjusted EBITDA zoomed to ₹8.9 Cr from ₹1 Cr in Q1 FY26
Total expenses also surged 31% YoY to ₹619.5 Cr

The Core Engine: Shiprocket’s domestic shipping vertical remained its anchor in Q1. This core business remained cash-generative and delivered healthy growth in revenue, operating profits and margins. Operating leverage across its core fulfilment network, coupled with greater monetisation of its active merchant base, appears to be strengthening the underlying economics of the business.

This provided the financial firepower for the company to invest beyond parcel delivery.

Emerging Bets: Shiprocket continues to invest in its emerging vertical, which includes checkout, marketing, cross-border and omnichannel solutions. This business grew 3.2X faster than the core arm, improved margins and contributed 30% of Shiprocket’s revenue in Q1. However, this expansion came at a cost. Losses of the emerging business continued to widen as the company prioritised adoption and market-building.

AI & Ecommerce Expansion: The company is also adding new tools to deepen its merchant relationships, including an AI-led advertising stack and appointment-based cargo deliveries. These offerings move Shiprocket closer to the merchant’s daily operating workflow, potentially creating a stickier customer cohort.

As the ecommerce enablement giant balances a profitable core with loss-making growth bets, here’s how Shiprocket fared on the financial front in Q1…

From The Editor’s Desk

Purple Style Labs’ Muted Listing

Shares of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop parent made a muted debut on the bourses, listing at a discount of nearly 7% to the issue price of ₹575. The stock opened at ₹535 on the NSE and ₹539 on the BSE.
The stock pared some of the losses and eventually closed its maiden trading session at ₹568.05 on the BSE, a discount of 1.2% from the issue price. The company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹4,547.9 Cr at the end of the first trading session.
The muted debut came even as the company’s ₹680 Cr IPO closed with an 1.29X oversubscription. Founded in 2015, Purple Style Labs operates luxury fashion platform Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop and owns brands such as Wendell Rodricks and Hemant Trivedi.

Pixxel Bags A Mega Round

The Google-backed spacetech startup has raised $100 Mn in its Series C round co-led by Temasek and Seraphim to deepen its work on sovereign space systems and increase its satellite manufacturing capacity. The round valued Pixxel at $400 Mn to $450 Mn.
Founded in 2019, Pixxel currently operates six hyperspectral observation satellites. It is also building India’s first public-private Earth observation satellite constellation and has partnered with Sarvam to roll out an orbital data centre. It has raised $195 Mn to date.
Pixxel operates in the broader Indian spacetech ecosystem, which is seeing healthy investor interest on the back of cutting-edge solutions, rising capital inflow and policy reforms. The sector is projected to become a $77 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Swiggy To Sell Lynk To Udaan

The foodtech giant has signed a deal to sell its retail distribution platform to the B2B ecommerce unicorn in a share-swap deal for ₹500 Cr. In return, Swiggy will acquire a roughly 2.8% stake in Udaan.
As part of the deal, Swiggy will also invest ₹75 Cr in primary capital in Udaan’s Singapore-based parent entity for an additional 0.4% stake. With this, the foodtech major’s total shareholding in Udaan will increase to about 3.2%.
Founded in 2015, Lynk operates a tech-led distribution platform that connects FMCG brands with retailers. Swiggy acquired the startup in 2023.

AITMC Ventures’ FY26 Show

The drone tech startup’s net profit stayed almost flat at ₹14.2 Cr in FY26 despite a 26% YoY jump in operating revenues to ₹106.8 Cr in the fiscal under review. Sale of services generated ₹70.48 Cr in top line, while product sales contributed the remaining.
Expenses continued to bite and rose 34.7% YoY to ₹88.3 Cr during the fiscal year, while the EBITDA margin tanked to 27.2% in FY26 from 34.4% in the year ago fiscal.
Founded in 2016, AVPL International operates 70 centres across 16 states to offer drone training programmes for the agriculture sector. It has already received SEBI nod to float its ₹200 Cr IPO, but is yet to file its updated IPO papers.

Temple Incher Closer To Validation

Deepinder Goyal’s wearable startup has released its first validation study. The pre-print paper claims that Temple’s device picked up the same changes in cerebral blood-flow velocity as a transcranial doppler ultrasound.
The study, which was undertaken under controlled conditions, involved only 23 healthy adults and has been submitted for peer review. Founder Goyal acknowledged the study’s limited scope and noted that further validation is underway.
Temple is positioning its wearable around continuous tracking of cerebral blood flow, targeting longevity and performance use cases. The startup raised ₹493 Cr earlier this year, acquired Longevous last month and plans to begin shipping before 2026-end.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Bruno Milano Is Disrupting The Indian Watchmaking Sector

India’s ecommerce boom has given shoppers endless choices. Yet, users are saddled with just two options when it comes to watches: premium or mass-market. Bruno Milano is carving a middle path with design-led timepieces available at accessible price points.

Watches For Young India: Founded in 2024, Bruno Milano sells contemporary watches through its own website, major ecommerce marketplaces and quick-commerce platforms. The brand also offers customised watches for corporate gifting, tapping into both retail and B2B demand.

Crafting Timeless Pieces: Bruno Milano’s product portfolio includes the Vittorio Chrono, Ambrosiana Chic and Duomo Heritage, built around Japanese quartz movements and hand-finished cases and dials. Most models sit between ₹2,000 and ₹5,000, positioning the brand above generic mass labels but well below premium international names.

Eye On The Prize: Backed by Sauce VC, the startup has now set its eyes on nationwide expansion, debuting new designs every quarter and building a stronger presence on ecommerce and quick commerce channels. As premiumisation and online shopping open room for new D2C brands, Bruno Milano is eyeing a piece of the Indian watch market that is projected to become a $7.5 Bn opportunity by 2031.

So, can Bruno Milano become the go-to affordable design watch for India’s online-first consumers?

Infographic Of The Day

From helping teachers teach better to creating new ways for students to find opportunities, startups are quietly reshaping the ecosystem around education. Here is a look at the startups building for the people who help build everyone else…

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GalaxEye Secures US Patent for Satellite Imaging Tech

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 01:24:33 +0000

In a first for an Indian spacetech startup, GalaxEye has got a US patent for satellite imaging technology, securing its landmark intellectual property that had already been patented in India.

The patent covers the core architecture behind the startup’s proprietary OptoSAR technology, which synchronises optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors to collect spatially and temporally aligned earth observation data simultaneously from a single satellite over day and night.

“This patented technology enables us to serve the global markets and provide weather agnostic imaging capabilities across sectors like defence, agriculture, insurance, disaster response and more,” said GalaxEye founder and CEO Suyash Singh.

The grant of the patent comes on the heels of GalaxEye’s successful launch of its OptoSAR satellite Mission Drishti, its first satellite, back in May. Drishti, weighing around 190 kg, is India’s largest privately built earth observation satellite and the world’s first imaging satellite using OptoSAR.

However, GalaxEye said it lost communication with Drishti in July after an anomaly linked to a geomagnetic solar storm. It attributed the setback’s root cause to radiation effects from the event that likely impacted a critical onboard system.

During its active operating phase over a few weeks, GalaxEye said that Mission Drishti successfully validated critical technologies, operational processes, and infrastructure required to design, build, launch, and operate advanced space systems.

The startup is now targeting the launch of two new OptoSAR satellites within the next two years while expanding its in-house capabilities to further strengthen quality, reliability, and execution.

Founded in 2021 by Singh, Denil Chawda, Kishan Thakkar, Pranit Mehta, and Rakshit Bhatt, GalaxEye is building multi-sensor earth observation satellites. Last month, it acquired spacecraft engineering company StarOps to deepen its in-house satellite engineering capabilities.

It is planning further launches with a target of scaling towards a 30-satellite constellation over the next five years. It claims to have a growing pipeline of domestic and international customers across sectors.

The IIT Madras-incubated startup has raised $26.9 Mn in funding to date from investors like Speciale Invest, Mela Ventures, Rainmatter, and Anicut Capital. Most recently, it raised a ₹44 Cr tranche in March as part of its ongoing Series A round, Inc42 learnt.

Zooming out, the involvement of private players in the space ecosystem has been deepening over the past few years.

Investors, too, are queuing up to back spacetech startups. According to Inc42 data, the funding in the sector surged 94% to $157 Mn in 2025 from $81 Mn in 2024, with the broader market set to cross $77 Bn by 2030.

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Deeptech Startup Jaipur Robotics Raises €4.3 Mn, Eyes India Expansion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 05:24:29 +0000

Swiss deeptech startup Jaipur Robotics has raised €4.3 Mn (around ₹48 Cr) in a seed funding round co-led by EquityPitcher Ventures and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with participation from existing investors.

The latest round takes Jaipur Robotics’ total funding to nearly $6 Mn. The startup previously raised $1 Mn in a pre-seed round led by TiVentures, with participation from Techstars, in 2025.

Jaipur Robotics plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate product development, expand its international sales presence, and grow its team. It will also develop new features and integrations for waste-to-energy (WtE) plants, with crane automation emerging as a key focus area.

“The first purpose is to scale the product and grow the product. We have a very clear roadmap in terms of product features and a clear goal for what we want Jaipur Robotics to become for our clients,” founder and CEO Ermes Zamboni told Inc42.

Founded in 2024 by Zamboni and Nikhil Prakash, Jaipur Robotics develops AI-powered computer vision systems for WtE plants. Its technology uses industrial cameras and sensors to monitor waste piles, identify hazardous or oversized objects, and alert crane operators before such material reaches a furnace.

The startup also featured in the August 2026 edition of Inc42’s flagship ‘30 Startups To Watch’.

Building An ‘Intelligence Layer’

WtE plants typically store waste in large bunkers before cranes move it into furnaces. However, these piles can contain concrete blocks, metal parts, gas cylinders, and other material that can damage equipment, block furnaces, and lead to costly shutdowns.

Jaipur Robotics’ system identifies such objects and pinpoints their location, enabling operators to remove them before they cause damage. It also assesses the composition and calorific value of waste, helping operators determine which sections of a pile should be fed into a furnace to maintain stable combustion.

“We are essentially building an intelligence layer for these plants,” Zamboni said.

Building this layer requires the startup’s technology to analyse waste in far more complex conditions than a conventional conveyor-based sorting system. Inside WtE bunkers, waste is piled together and may be crushed, buried, or partially obscured. Jaipur Robotics claims its AI models have been trained on more than 50 Mn labelled waste images and are customised for conditions at individual plants.

The startup is now extending its technology from waste detection to crane automation. Its system can map waste piles, estimate the location and volume of different materials, and determine what should be removed or fed into a furnace.

“We want to move from an object-detection company to a full-stack OS-type company for these facilities,” Zamboni said.

Rather than replacing existing cranes, Jaipur Robotics is developing a software layer that can be integrated with a plant’s existing infrastructure. The startup believes automation can also help address a shortage of trained crane operators by enabling them to supervise automated systems instead of manually controlling cranes.

While its crane-automation capabilities remain under development, Jaipur Robotics’ waste-detection technology is already deployed commercially. The startup claims the technology can detect hazardous material with up to 99% accuracy. Its systems currently analyse more than 5 Mn tonnes of waste annually across over 35 facilities in Europe.

India Expansion On Radar

While Europe remains Jaipur Robotics’ primary market, the startup is also eyeing India for expansion.

The startup already has an engineering team in Bengaluru and plans to establish an Indian legal entity by the end of 2026. It is also in discussions with potential customers in the country.

Jaipur Robotics is looking to tap WtE plants in India, where waste handling and crane operations remain heavily dependent on manual intervention. The startup believes its computer vision and automation technology can help such facilities improve operational efficiency and safety.

India’s WtE market was valued at $1.56 Bn in 2025 and is projected to reach $1.97 Bn by 2034, according to IMARC Group.

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Ola Electric Eyes ₹1,500 Cr, Weekly Funding Rundown & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 03:24:32 +0000

Ola Electric Wants More Money

Barely three months after its ₹780 Cr QIP, Ola Electric is back again in the market for fresh capital. The move arrives amid falling sales, a dealer-network pivot, a new energy storage business and another senior exit. Can this fresh capital reset the EV maker’s trajectory?

Hungry For More Capital: Ola Electric’s board has approved a proposal to raise up to ₹1,500 Cr via equity shares or convertible securities. The fundraise is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. The EV maker has not specified how it will use the proceeds, but the timing suggests that financing needs remain significant as the OEM forays into new territories.

The Debt Question: Borrowings continue to exert significant financial pressure on Ola Electric. Saddled with over ₹1,600 Cr in debt as of May 2026, the EV maker had to allocate a big chunk (₹225 Cr) of its recent ₹744 Cr QIP to repay existing loans. This debt load means that the newly proposed ₹1,500 Cr infusion is vital to ensure loan obligations don’t stifle its aggressive push into the energy storage market.

Charting A Turnaround: The fundraise also comes as Ola Electric is attempting to turn the corner via a combination of product expansion, wider distribution and tighter cost control. To curb losses and declining sales, the EV maker has launched a new scooter and energy storage. It is also planning to build a 500+ dealer network over the next two quarters, signalling a broader effort to revive demand, improve reach and rebuild investor confidence.

The Leadership Test: Adding to the operational churn, chief operating officer Hyun Shik Park has resigned due to personal reasons. Meanwhile, the company’s board has re-appointed Manoj Kohli and Shradha Sharma as independent directors for second terms. As C-suite transitions unfold alongside structural shifts, can Ola Electric translate fresh funding into sustained market dominance? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Rundown

Indian startups raised a combined $176.5 Mn across 22 deals last week, down 16% from the $210.3 Mn across 23 transactions in the preceding week. Ultrahuman and Yuma Energy bagged the biggest cheques at $70 Mn and $35 Mn, respectively.
Healthtech emerged as the most funded sector last week as four startups secured a combined $74.5 Mn. Cleantech raked up the biggest number of deals, with five startups raising $46.3 Mn last week.
Early-stage funding saw healthy traction as six startups collectively secured around $12 Mn across seed, pre-seed and pre-Series A rounds. Equentis and Info Edge Ventures remained the most active backers, backing two startups each.

Zeelab’s Affordable Pharma Play

Founded over six years ago, the epharmacy started with one store in Delhi to cut pharma middlemen. It has since scaled to 300+ company-owned outlets, nearly 10,000 daily orders and an operating revenue of about ₹110 Cr in FY26.
Zeelab’s core pitch is structural affordability. It claims to sell equivalent formulations at 50–90% lower prices than branded MRPs, positioning itself against both private pharmacies and the government’s Jan Aushadhi generic network.
On the back of its micro-market strategy and using its offline stores as dark stores, the startup is targeting ₹200 Cr in revenue in FY27. It also plans to scale its daily online orders to 15,000 and offline orders to 35,000 in the next six months.

NoPaperForms Files UDRHP

The SaaS startup has filed its updated draft red herring prospectus with SEBI. The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹375 Cr and an OFS component of up to 3.8 Cr equity shares, which will only see participation from Info Edge.
Founded in 2017, NoPaperForms offers two products. While Meritto offers SaaS-based enrolment automation and CRM tools for educational institutions, Collexo enables fee-collection and payments-related solutions. It claims to cater to 1,183 clients.
On the financial front, NoPaperForms’s operating revenue rose 25.2% YoY to ₹115.6 Cr in FY26, while net profits surged 534% YoY to ₹11.9 Cr in the fiscal under review.

Bearish Week For Startup Stocks

Rising crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions weighed on investor sentiment last week. Of the 62 listed new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 26 gained between 0.03% and 13% last week. The remaining 36 declined by up to 15%.
Klassroom and ArisInfra emerged as the biggest losers, while Yudiz and Shiprocket gained the most. The combined market cap of the 63 new-age tech companies, including ESDS that listed last week, stood at $170.50 Bn.
Industry watchers expect markets to remain sensitive to crude prices, geopolitical developments and global monetary policy. They also caution that rising global bond yields could limit sustained FPI inflows in the coming week.

Mokobara Bags ₹170 Cr

The D2C luggage brand has raised around $18 Mn in a Series C round, which saw participation from Sauce.vc, Peak XV Partners and AYRA Ventures. Sauce.vc led the round with a ₹109 Cr infusion in its startup.
Founded in 2019, Mokobara sells a range of luggages, travel bags, wallets and kits on its website and online marketplaces. It also operates about 50 stores across India and the UAE.
The fundraise comes as India’s luggage market is witnessing strong growth, driven by rising travel, premiumisation and a shift towards branded products. The homegrown luggage industry is projected to become a ₹26,700 Cr opportunity by 2028.

TCS To Build A New Data Centre

The IT giant’s data centre subsidiary, HyperVault, and its partners will invest up to ₹70,000 Cr to build and operate a large-scale AI data centre campus in Hyderabad, with a capacity of up to 1 GW capacity.
TCS said that it has secured 264 acres of land in Hyderabad to develop the facility. Once completed, the campus will offer high-density, liquid-cooled compute workloads for frontier AI companies and hyperscalers.
Established last year, HyperVault has been envisaged with building AI-focussed data centres across India. TCS, along with TPG, plans to invest up to ₹18,000 Cr over the next few years to scale the subsidiary.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Building Autonomous Systems For The Indian Army

Modern warfare is shifting to autonomous systems that can surveil, strike and operate where risking human personnel is difficult. Auxobit Aerospace is building exactly this: a portfolio of drones, surface vehicles and counter-drone systems for India’s defence forces.

Auxobit’s Unmanned Stack: Founded in 2023, Auxobit develops unmanned systems across air, surface and sub-surface domains. Its lineup includes a swarm-enabled aerial platform for tactical payload delivery called Hell Fire, an autonomous surface vehicle for hydrographic and bathymetric surveys named Mystic One, and other autonomous aerial platforms.

The Shield In The Sky: The startup claims that it is building capabilities in loitering-munition swarms, weapon-mounted airborne systems, unmanned single-rotor helicopters, underwater rovers and counter-UAV systems. It has showcased its products in military exercises and caters to the Indian armed forces.

Riding The Defence Wave: Auxobit is entering a competitive field that includes ideaForge, Raphe mPhibr and Garuda Aerospace. However, it differentiates from rivals with a broader focus across aerial, surface and autonomous defence systems. As defence budgets tilt towards networked systems and regulatory push for indigenous technologies, can Auxobit make India’s defence stack autonomous?

Infographic Of The Day

Beyond helming Zerodha, there’s another side to Nithin Kamath as well. From CRED and Licious to Infra.Market and Nazara, the Zerodha cofounder has built a rather interesting startup portfolio. Here is all about it…

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Why India’s Sovereign AI Push and 2026 Tech IPO Wave Mark the End of the "Growth at All Costs" Era

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 11:32:14 +0000

Over the past decade, the playbook for Indian tech ventures was largely borrowed: build a consumer distribution layer using aggressive subsidies, rely on US cloud providers for computational muscle, and defer profitability to a distant future funding round.

By late 2026, that playbook has officially collapsed—and something far more durable is replacing it.

Two distinct forces are fundamentally reshaping the Indian tech ecosystem this year: the d

ecentralization of AI compute through the IndiaAI Mission and a disciplined IPO pipeline that rewards operational margin over GMV vanity metrics. Here is an analytical breakdown of why this shift matters and what it means for operators building in India today.

1. Sovereign Compute: Slashing the Startup "Innovation Tax"

Historically, training proprietary language models or fine-tuning enterprise neural architectures meant paying a steep premium to offshore hyperscalers. For Indian startups, currency depreciation combined with rising GPU lease costs created an artificial barrier to deep-tech defensibility.

Under the expanded IndiaAI Mission and national compute initiatives—now deploying structured access across high-density GPU clusters—the structural dynamics have inverted:

Lower Cost per Inference: Subsidized public compute credits (running as low as ₹65/hour on state-backed pools) have reduced early prototyping overhead by up to 60%.
Domain-Specific Language Models: Teams like Sarvam AI and BharatGen are proving that 3B-to-100B parameter models trained natively across 22 scheduled Indian languages outperform monolithic Western foundation models on regional Indic OCR, speech-to-text, and document indexing.
The New Enterprise Moat: Differentiation is no longer about writing another lightweight wrapper over a standard OpenAI API endpoint. Defensibility now belongs to startups with proprietary data pipelines integrated into Indian public infrastructure (UPI, Aadhaar, DigiLocker, and ONDC).

2. The 2026 IPO Crucible: Margin Discipline vs. GMV Chasing

While deep-tech infrastructure matures on one end, consumer internet giants are facing their ultimate public test. Companies like Zepto, Razorpay, Cult.fit, and RentoMojo have either cleared SEBI hurdles or filed updated DRHP paperwork to test Dalal Street’s appetite.

Indian retail and institutional public investors have made their criteria unmistakably clear: they are not subsidizing cash burn.

Metric Priority	The 2021 Venture Bubble	The 2026 Public Reality
Primary Valuation Anchor	Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) / Top-line ARR	EBITDA margin & Free Cash Flow (FCF)
CAC Strategy	Heavy discount vouchers & influencer blitzes	Organic retention, referral loops, and B2B SaaS cross-selling
Corporate Structure	Overseas holding entities (Delaware / Singapore flips)	Reverse-flipping back to Indian domicile for domestic listing readiness
Tech Expenditure	Bloated third-party SaaS stacks	In-house operational AI agents & internal workflow automation

The recent financial disclosures from IPO-bound firms indicate that survival is now tied directly to unit economics. Even fast-moving sectors like quick-commerce and enterprise fintech are trimming discretionary spend, renegotiating payment gateway take-rates, and optimizing dark-store delivery radii to post net-positive operational earnings.

3. The AskWiki Take: Where the Next Opportunity Lies

For founders and engineers evaluating what to build over the next 18 to 24 months, the signals are straightforward:

Vertical AI over General Purpose Chat: Enterprise buyers in BFSI, logistics, and pharma are rejecting generic copilots. The real commercial traction is in domain-specific agentic systems that run compliance audits, streamline customs clearance, or automate claims processing within Indian legal boundaries.
The "Bharat" Context is Untapped: Building tech exclusively for top-tier urban pin codes is facing saturation and margin erosion. The startups generating durable margins are those embedding multilingual voice-first agents into Tier-2 and Tier-3 commerce, agri-finance, and regional logistics.
Public Infrastructure Integration: Startups built around open digital rails (such as ONDC for decentralized commerce or OCEN for credit enablement) possess a built-in customer acquisition tailwind that closed platforms cannot replicate.

The era of effortless seed rounds raised on pitch-deck buzzwords is definitively over. For the Indian startup ecosystem, 2026 marks the arrival of mature, infrastructure-backed, cash-generative technology businesses built to last.

India’s UPI Is Entering the Age of Agentic Payments: How AI Agents Could Start Paying for You

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 11:30:12 +0000

Imagine telling your AI assistant:

“Book me the cheapest cab to the airport tomorrow morning.”

Instead of simply showing you three options, the AI finds the best option, checks the price, books the ride and completes the payment — all within rules you have already approved.

That future could be closer than it sounds.

India is reportedly preparing a framework that would allow AI agents to make certain small digital payments through UPI without requiring users to approve every individual transaction. The development could transform UPI from a payment system used primarily by people into infrastructure that can also be used by AI agents acting on behalf of people.

What Are Agentic Payments?

Agentic payments are payments initiated or completed by an AI agent on behalf of a user, based on permissions and rules defined by that user.

This is different from today's typical digital payment.

Today:

You → Select product → Pay → Confirm

With agentic commerce:

You → Tell AI what you want → AI finds it → AI evaluates options → AI completes the transaction

The important difference is that the AI isn't merely answering a question.

It takes action.

For example:

“Order my usual coffee every Monday morning if the price is below ₹250.”

An AI agent could potentially find the appropriate product, check the price and availability, and complete the transaction within the spending rules you've authorized.

Why UPI Is So Important to This Development

India already has one of the world's largest real-time digital payment ecosystems.

According to Reuters, UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions worth ₹29.82 trillion in August 2026.

That enormous existing network gives India a significant advantage as AI moves from simply generating information to performing transactions.

Instead of creating an entirely new payment network for AI agents, India can potentially build an agentic layer on top of infrastructure that millions of consumers and businesses already use.

That could be a major strategic advantage.

How Would an AI Agent Pay Through UPI?

The exact implementation is still evolving, but the basic concept is relatively simple.

A user could give an AI agent permission such as:

Maximum transaction: ₹1,000
Purpose: Food and travel
Daily limit: ₹2,000
Valid period: 30 days

The AI agent could then make eligible payments without asking the user to manually approve every transaction.

The proposed framework is expected to include mechanisms such as spending limits, identity verification, rules for transactions and liability provisions. Reuters has reported that the initial use cases could focus on relatively low-value and routine transactions.

This is important because AI autonomy needs boundaries.

The future isn't likely to be:

“AI can spend unlimited money.”

It is more likely to be:

“AI can spend your money within clearly defined rules.”

Agentic Commerce Could Change Online Shopping

This development becomes particularly interesting when combined with ecommerce.

Today's shopping journey looks something like:

Search → Compare → Click → Add to cart → Checkout → Payment

An agentic shopping experience could become:

Tell AI what you want → AI searches → AI compares → AI recommends → AI buys

For example:

“Find me a wireless keyboard under ₹3,000 with good reviews and delivery by Wednesday.”

An AI agent could potentially:

Search multiple merchants
Compare prices
Check delivery availability
Evaluate reviews
Apply the user's preferences
Purchase the selected product
Make the payment

This is why agentic AI and digital payments are becoming closely connected.

The AI needs a way to move from recommendation to transaction.

What Is the Unified Agent Protocol?

India is also reportedly working on a framework known as the Unified Agent Protocol (UAP) for the agentic payments ecosystem.

The idea is to create a trusted and interoperable infrastructure through which AI agents can potentially be identified, verified and authorized to transact across the UPI ecosystem.

The protocol is expected to address important questions such as:

Who is the AI agent?
Who authorized it?
How much can it spend?
What can it purchase?
What happens if the AI makes a mistake?
Who is responsible for a fraudulent transaction?
How can a user revoke authorization?

These questions may ultimately be just as important as the technology itself.

Why This Could Be a Big Moment for Indian Fintech

Indian fintech companies are already experimenting with agentic AI.

Paytm, Pine Labs, Razorpay, Cashfree and Juspay are among the companies exploring AI agents for merchant and payment-related workflows. Some applications focus on areas such as failed-payment recovery, merchant operations, customer interactions and AI-driven commerce.

Pine Labs, for example, has been developing an agentic payment protocol, while other fintech companies are exploring AI interfaces for merchants.

This suggests that agentic payments aren't simply a theoretical concept.

The Indian fintech ecosystem is already preparing for the next stage.

The Bigger Opportunity: AI Becomes the New Shopping Interface

For years, the internet was organized around websites.

Then it became organized around apps.

Now we could be moving toward a world where AI agents become the interface between people and digital services.

Instead of opening:

Amazon
a food-delivery app
a travel website
a banking app

you could simply tell your AI what you want.

The AI becomes the front door.

Behind that front door are merchants, banks, payment networks and service providers.

And UPI could become one of the rails underneath that entire ecosystem.

What Could Change for Consumers?

If agentic payments become widely available, consumers could eventually use AI for tasks such as:

🛒 Shopping

“Buy my regular groceries if the total is below ₹2,000.”

🍔 Food

“Order lunch around 1 PM, but don't spend more than ₹300.”

🚕 Travel

“Book an airport cab if the fare is below ₹700.”

💳 Bills

“Pay my recurring bills before their due dates.”

📱 Subscriptions

“Renew my subscriptions unless the price increases by more than 10%.”

The key concept is conditional automation.

Consumers don't necessarily have to give AI unlimited freedom.

They can give it rules.

But There Are Serious Risks

Agentic payments also introduce an entirely new category of risks.

1. AI mistakes

What happens if an AI misunderstands what you asked?

2. Fraud

Could criminals manipulate an AI agent into making an unauthorized payment?

3. Prompt injection

Could malicious instructions hidden inside a webpage influence an AI agent?

4. Overspending

Could an agent repeatedly make purchases without the user realizing it?

5. Accountability

If an autonomous AI agent makes an incorrect payment, who is responsible?

6. Privacy

An AI agent that handles shopping, travel and payments could potentially know an enormous amount about a person's behaviour.

These issues mean that security, authorization and consumer protection will be fundamental to the success of agentic commerce.

India's Potential Advantage

India has something that many countries don't have at the same scale:

A huge digital identity + payments + commerce ecosystem.

India has already demonstrated that digital payments can scale to billions of transactions.

Now the next challenge is to make that infrastructure AI-native.

If India successfully combines:

UPI + AI Agents + Digital Identity + Ecommerce + Open Protocols

it could create an ecosystem where AI agents can transact at enormous scale.

That could have implications far beyond payments.

It could influence:

Ecommerce
Travel
Food delivery
Banking
Insurance
Financial services
SaaS
Advertising
Logistics
Customer service

AskWiki Analysis: The Real Change Isn't Payments

The most important development may not actually be AI making payments.

It is the possibility that AI becomes an economic actor operating within rules defined by humans.

Today, AI primarily helps us:

Search → Understand → Create

The next generation of AI could increasingly:

Decide → Execute → Transact

That is a much bigger shift.

And India has an opportunity to make UPI one of the foundational pieces of that transition.

What Happens Next?

The proposed agentic payment framework is expected to evolve around safeguards, authorization and low-value transactions before potentially expanding into more complex use cases. Reuters reported that the framework could be introduced around the Global Fintech Fest, with mechanisms designed to control spending and verify identities.

The technology will therefore probably evolve in stages:

Stage 1: AI recommends

↓

Stage 2: AI prepares transactions

↓

Stage 3: AI executes low-value transactions

↓

Stage 4: AI manages recurring transactions

↓

Stage 5: AI becomes a full commerce agent

The final stage could fundamentally change how consumers interact with the internet.

The AskWiki Take

Agentic payments could represent the next major evolution of India's digital payment ecosystem.

UPI made digital payments extremely simple for humans.

The next challenge is making payments simple for AI agents acting under human control.

If India gets the combination of trust, security, authorization and interoperability right, UPI could become more than a payment network.

It could become one of the foundational rails of India's agentic commerce economy.

And that could make the humble UPI payment button look very different in the years ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are agentic payments?
Agentic payments are transactions initiated or completed by AI agents on behalf of users according to predefined permissions, rules and spending limits.

Can AI agents make UPI payments in India?
India is developing a framework intended to enable AI agents to conduct certain transactions through UPI, particularly lower-value and routine payments. The framework and safeguards are still evolving.

What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce is a model where AI agents can discover products or services, evaluate options and potentially complete transactions on behalf of users.

What is the Unified Agent Protocol?
The Unified Agent Protocol is a reported framework being developed around agentic payments to help establish trusted identification, authorization and interoperability for AI agents operating within the UPI ecosystem.

Why is UPI important for agentic AI?
UPI already operates at enormous scale in India. Adding controlled AI-agent capabilities could allow existing payment infrastructure to support automated transactions.

Will AI be able to spend money without permission?
The emerging model is expected to rely on explicit authorization, spending limits and other safeguards rather than unlimited AI access to a user's money.

Is agentic commerce the future of online shopping?
It could become an important part of online commerce if AI agents can reliably search, compare, purchase and transact while maintaining strong consumer protections.

Keywords: Agentic Payments in India, Agentic AI Payments, UPI Agentic Payments, AI Agents UPI, Agentic Commerce India, AI Payments India, UPI AI Payments, Unified Agent Protocol, UAP India, AI Agents Making Payments, Future of UPI, AI Commerce India, Agentic AI India, NPCI Agentic Payments, AI Shopping India, Autonomous Payments, AI Fintech India, UPI Future, AI Agents India, Digital Payments India

ESDS Listing Pushes New-Age Tech Stocks’ Market Cap Past $170 Bn

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:24:37 +0000

The first week of September was marked by stake sales by institutional investors, fresh ESOP allotments, and continued momentum in the new-age tech IPO market.

Of the 62 previously listed new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 26 gained between 0.03% and 13% during the week, while the remaining 36 declined by up to 15%. Honasa ended the week flat.

After leading the gainers last week, BSE SME-listed edtech startup Klassroom emerged as the biggest loser this week. Its shares fell 15.37% to end at ₹184.50.

FirstCry also touched a fresh all-time low of ₹170 on Wednesday before recovering to close the week at ₹180.10. The stock fell 3.07% during the week and ended about 61% below its IPO price of ₹465.

Shares of Ola Electric, Delhivery, Eternal, Swiggy, and Nykaa also ended the week marginally lower.

Despite most stocks declining, the combined market capitalisation of the 62 previously listed new-age tech companies rose to $169.39 Bn from $166.91 Bn last week.

Meanwhile, Lenskart, Ather Energy, and LEAP India touched fresh all-time highs during the week. NSE SME-listed Yudiz Solutions topped the gainers, rising ₹3.10, or 13%, during the week. Shiprocket, Urban Company, BlueStone, and Shadowfax also recorded sizable gains.

ESDS Software Solution, which listed yesterday, became the 63rd listed new-age tech company. After its IPO was oversubscribed 135.9X, the enterprise cloud, data centre, GPU, and AI infrastructure company listed at a 74% premium on the BSE and 76.5% on the NSE over its issue price of ₹429.

The stock subsequently hit the 20% upper circuit and ended its first trading session at ₹895.50 on the BSE and ₹908.40 on the NSE, more than doubling from its issue price.

Including ESDS’ market capitalisation of about $1.11 Bn, the combined market cap of the 63 new-age tech companies crossed $170 Bn to reach approximately $170.50 Bn.

Despite the sharp expansion in recent years, new-age tech companies account for just over 3% of the Indian stock market’s total capitalisation.

With that, here’s a look at some of the other major developments of the week.

Info Edge-Backed Meritto Files IPO Papers: After receiving SEBI’s clearance for its confidential DRHP, Meritto parent NoPaperForms filed its updated IPO papers. The proposed public issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹350 Cr and an OFS of up to 3.8 Cr equity shares. Info Edge will be the sole selling shareholder in the OFS.

RentoMojo IPO Next Week: Furniture and appliance rental startup RentoMojo filed its RHP for its public issue, which will open for bidding on Wednesday and close on Friday. The company has set a price band of ₹384 to ₹404 per share. At the upper end, the ₹1,255.6 Cr IPO will comprise a ₹150 Cr fresh issue and an OFS of up to 2.7 Cr shares worth ₹1,105.6 Cr.

Investors Pare Stakes: Institutional investors continued to pare their holdings in listed new-age tech companies through block deals. SoftBank offloaded shares worth ₹1,650 Cr in Meesho, while Alpha Wave sold Pine Labs shares worth ₹550 Cr. Lenskart and Eternal also saw shares worth ₹2,670.2 Cr and ₹3,265 Cr, respectively, change hands during the week.

Nykaa Raises Earth Rhythm Stake: Nykaa completed the acquisition of an additional 24.2% stake in skincare and personal care brand Earth Rhythm, increasing its ownership in the subsidiary to 18.6%.

Purple Style Labs IPO Subscribed 1.29X: Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop parent Purple Style Labs’ ₹680 Cr IPO was subscribed 1.29X. Investors placed bids for 88.54 Lakh shares against the 68.49 Lakh shares on offer. The company’s shares are scheduled to debut on the stock exchanges on Monday.

BlackRock Buys Ather Shares: Asset management giant BlackRock bought 25.9 Lakh shares of Ather Energy for ₹445.3 Cr through an open-market transaction. BlackRock Global Funds purchased the shares at ₹1,713.02 apiece as the electric two-wheeler maker’s stock continued to trade near its all-time high.

Nazara Raises Funky Monkeys Stake: Nazara Technologies acquired an additional 4.1% stake in Funky Monkeys Play Centre for ₹1.90 Cr through a secondary transaction with founder Binita Putcha. The acquisition of 75,972 shares increased Nazara’s holding in the indoor play-centre chain to 68.1% from 64%.

Fractal Liquidates Sweden Arm: Fractal Analytics initiated the voluntary liquidation of its step-down subsidiary Fractal Analytics Sweden AB. The AI company said the move was aimed at simplifying its corporate structure and reducing administrative and legal compliance costs.

Now, let’s take a look at the performance of the broader market this week.

Global Rate Risks Weigh On Markets

Indian equity markets extended their decline for the fourth consecutive week. The Nifty 50 fell 1.15% during the week to close at 23,897.70, while the Sensex declined nearly 1% to 76,515.43.

Rising crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions, and uncertainty around global interest rates weighed on investor sentiment. A marginal recovery yesterday snapped a four-session losing streak, but the rebound remained limited amid concerns over foreign investor flows and elevated global bond yields.

Brent crude emerged as a key pressure point, rising about 7% during the week to hover around $96 per barrel as escalating US-Iran tensions raised concerns over energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

Higher crude prices could add to India’s inflation and current-account pressures and weigh on the margins of companies sensitive to energy and other input costs.

Global interest-rate expectations also remained a major driver. US non-farm payrolls rose by a stronger-than-expected 1.62 Lakh in August, increasing expectations of a potential rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. Dovish comments from Fed governor Christopher Waller, however, offered some relief earlier in the week.

Domestic indicators offered some support, with India’s GDP growing 7.8% YoY in Q1 FY27 and gross GST collections rising 14.8% YoY to ₹1.99 Lakh Cr in August.

Ajit Mishra, SVP of research at Religare Broking, expects markets to remain sensitive to crude prices, geopolitical developments, and global monetary policy. He sees 23,600-23,700 as the Nifty’s immediate support zone, with resistance at 24,150-24,200.

Geojit Investments chief investment strategist VK Vijayakumar said FPI flows had turned positive, with foreign investors pumping ₹2,374 Cr into Indian equities during the first four days of September. However, he cautioned that rising global bond yields could limit sustained inflows.

Against this backdrop, let’s take a closer look at the performance of LEAP India and Ola Electric.

LEAP India Slips Despite Profit Growth

LEAP India’s shares came under pressure despite the recently listed logistics company reporting healthy YoY growth in its first quarterly results since going public.

The stock fell 10.65% during the week to close at ₹150.55, taking its market capitalisation to about ₹6,632.3 Cr, (about $700 Mn).

LEAP India’s consolidated net profit rose 30.3% YoY to ₹24.7 Cr in Q1 FY27, while operating revenue increased 19.1% to ₹203.4 Cr. EBITDA grew 21% to ₹114.1 Cr, with the margin expanding 108 basis points to 53.5%.

However, sequential growth remained muted. Revenue was largely unchanged from ₹203.5 Cr in Q4 FY26, while net profit declined 5.6% QoQ.

LEAP India listed on August 14 at a premium of 4.4% to its ₹159 issue price. However, the stock has since fallen below the issue price, with investors likely to focus on whether the company can sustain its targeted revenue growth of more than 20%, improve asset utilisation, and translate its expansion into higher earnings.

The company has identified higher asset movement, cross-selling, expansion into new industries, and growth in its GCC operations as its key growth drivers. Meanwhile, broad analyst coverage of the stock is yet to emerge.

Ola Electric Ends Lower

Ola Electric’s shares fell 1.92% during the week to ₹38.23 as investors weighed the EV maker’s funding requirements against its product launches and turnaround efforts.

The decline came despite a series of operational developments, including the rollout of Ola Electric’s first dealer-operated stores and the launch of its mass-market S1Z range.

Priced from ₹79,999, the S1Z is the company’s first scooter range powered by its indigenously developed 46-series Bharat Cell LFP technology. The cells are manufactured at Ola Electric’s Gigafactory.

The company has said that producing cells in-house could lower battery costs and enable it to offer LFP technology at more affordable prices.

The battery push comes alongside a broader restructuring of Ola Electric’s retail operations. The EV maker has begun rolling out dealer-operated stores and is targeting more than 500 such outlets as it looks to expand its distribution network and improve its sales and service reach.

Ola Electric also secured an incentive of ₹95.81 Cr under the PLI-Auto scheme for FY27, marking the third consecutive year in which it qualified for the incentive. Its battery manufacturing subsidiary is separately eligible for incentives of up to ₹7,240 Cr under the ACC PLI scheme.

However, investors continue to focus on Ola Electric’s financial turnaround. Its net loss narrowed 22% YoY to ₹336 Cr in Q1 FY27, but operating revenue plunged 45% to ₹455 Cr.

Amid its continuing losses, the company is considering another fundraise, with its board scheduled to meet today to evaluate the proposal.

Edited by Vinaykumar Rai
Creatives by Varshita Srivastava

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From Ultrahuman To Comet — Indian Startups Raised Over $177 Mn This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 04:24:25 +0000

India’s startup funding market opened September on a softer note, extending its decline for a second straight week. Between August 31 and September 4, 22 startups raised a combined $176.5 Mn, down 16% from the $210.3 Mn raised across 23 deals in the previous week.

Healthtech and cleantech accounted for most of the week’s funding, raising a combined $120.8 Mn across nine deals. Together, they captured nearly 68% of the total raised by Indian startups during the week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Aug 31– Sep 4 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors
3 Sep 2026	Ultrahuman	Health Tech	Fitness & Wellness	B2C	$70 Mn	–	Qualcomm Ventures, Alpha Wave, Blume, Nexus, Alteria	–
1 Sep 2026	Yuma Energy	Clean Tech	Electric Vehicles	B2B2C	$35 Mn	Series A	Magna International	Magna International
4 Sep 2026	SUGAR Cosmetics	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$15.3 Mn	–	A91 Partners	A91 Partners
2 Sep 2026	Cradlewise	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$12 Mn	Series A	3one4 Capital, Prudent Investment Management.	3one4 Capital, Prudent Investment Management.
4 Sep 2026	Comet	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$10.6 Mn	Series B	Verlinvest, Elevation Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Ajit Mohan (Snapchat), Abhiraj Singh Bhal (Urban Company), Anand Ahuja (Bhaane)	Verlinvest
1 Aug 2026	Kepler Aerospace	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Space Tech	B2B, B2G	$8 Mn	Seed	Blue Ashva Capital, Finvolve, India Accelerator,	Blue Ashva Capital
2 Sep 2026	Aeron Systems	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Space Tech	B2B, B2G	$4.7 Mn	Pre-Series B	Riverwalk Holdings, MGF-Kavachh	Riverwalk Holdings, MGF-Kavachh
1 Sep 2026	Zenergize	Clean Tech	Electric Vehicles	B2B	$4 Mn	Pre-Series A	Giraffe Studios, Nikhil Sawhney (Triveni Turbine), Varun Agarwal (Ellenbarrie) , Shyam Bagri (Bagrry’s Holdings), Raoul Bajaj (Trafigura), Sunil Kalra, Ajith Pai (ex-Delhivery), Sandeep Barasia (ex-Delhivery) , Nitin Jain (Neo Group), Hemant Daga (New Bank CEO)	Giraffe Studios
1 Sep 2026	Minimac Systems	Clean Tech	Climate Tech	B2B	$3.2 Mn	–	Rainmatter	Rainmatter
1 Sep 2026	Alteon	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Aerial Vehicles	B2B, B2G	$2.5 Mn	Pre-Seed	Lachy Groom, Together Fund	Lachy Groom
4 Sep 2026	Medulance	Health Tech	–	B2B2C, B2G	$2.5 Mn	Series A	Auxano Capital, Alkemi, Equentis	–
31 Aug 2026	YOGa Clean Air	Clean Tech	Climate Tech	B2B2C	$2.1 Mn	Series A	Info Edge Ventures, Deepider Goyal (Zomato), Three Words Capital	Info Edge Ventures
2 Sep 2026	DocPharma	Health Tech	–	B2B	$2 Mn	Pre-Series A	Equentis,100Unicorns, Vinners	Equentis
4 Sep 2026	Leanwatts	Clean Tech	Electric Vehicles	B2B, B2C	$2 Mn	Seed	Trivest Partners, Abraham George, Alok Rungta	Trivest Partners
3 Sep 2026	Makr Microsystems	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Semiconductor	B2B	$1.1 Mn	Seed	Bluehill VC, Artha Venture Fund	Bluehill VC
1 Sep 2026	72 Street	Fintech	Invest Tech	B2C	$480K	–	–	–
1 Sep 2026	Oppex AI	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$445K	Pre-Seed	Info Edge Ventures	Info Edge Ventures
2 Sep 2026	Creedom	AI	Application Layer	B2C	$434K
31 Aug 2026	CHINI KUM	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$174K	–	–	–
1 Sep 2026	SpeakX	Edtech	Digital Learning Platform	B2C	–	–	MS Dhoni (cricketer)	MS Dhoni
1 Sep 2026	WLDD	Enterprise Services	Advertising	B2B	–	–	Adfactors, Vikas Khemani (Carnelian Asset Management & Advisors)	Adfactors
1 Sep 2026	xStep	Health Tech	–	B2C	–	–	Titan Capital	Titan Capital
	Source: Inc42

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Healthtech was the most funded sector this week, with four startups raising a combined $74.5 Mn. The strong week for the sector was largely a one-startup story. Ultrahuman’s $70 Mn round made up 94% of the sector’s total funding.
Cleantech trailed healthtech with five startups raising $46.3 Mn this week. Yuma Energy’s $35 Mn fundraise provided the biggest boost, accounting for a substantial chunk of the sector’s haul.
Beyond the top two sectors, advanced hardware and technology and ecommerce segments saw four funding deals materialise apiece.
Early-stage funding remained active, with six startups collectively raising around $12 Mn across seed, pre-seed and pre-Series A rounds. The week also saw three startups raise undisclosed amounts in equity.
On the investor front, Equentis and Info Edge Ventures were the week’s most active backers, participating in two startup deals each.

Startup M&As This Week

upGrad completed the acquisition of Unacademy for just over $200 Mn, marking a more than 90% drop from its $3.5 Bn peak valuation in 2021.
Adobe acquired Peak XV Partners’ backed startup Rilo, backed by Peak XV Partners, for an undisclosed amount. It is Adobe’s second Indian startup acquisition after Rephrase.ai in 2023.
Niyo agreed to acquire Capital India Finance’s RemitX business for ₹11.4 Cr, expanding its forex and cross-border payments play.
Truemeds is said to be eyeing the buy out of ecommerce unicorn DealShare via a share-swap deal that could value it at over $90 Mn, far below its $1.7 Bn peak valuation.

Startup IPO Developments This Week

After an overwhelming investor response to its IPO, AI cloud provider ESDS Software Solution made a strong public market debut, listing at an over 75% premium on the bourses. The stock closed at ₹908.4, gaining 111.7% on its first trading day.
After ESDS, Yotta Data Services is also planning to go public. The company is likely to file its draft papers with SEBI by October, eyeing the raise of up to $1.5 Bn via its IPO.
Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop’s parent Purple Labs ₹680 Cr IPO was oversubscribed by 1.29X on the final day, with retail investors leading demand at 1.57X. The shares are set to list on Monday (September 7).

Other Developments Of The Week

Fintech unicorn-turned-SFB slice is reportedly raising around $100 Mn at a $450 Mn-$465 Mn valuation, down sharply from its previous $1.25 Bn valuation. The round could see participation from Neo Group, Kado Global and Moore Strategic Ventures.
Jagdish Farshan has raised ₹43.5 Cr ($4.6 Mn) in its first institutional round, led by Sharrp Ventures and angel investors, as the 88-year-old brand looks to expand through quick commerce.

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KRAFTON To Invest $250 Mn In Indian AI & Deeptech Startups

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 21:24:29 +0000

Doubling down on India, South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON plans to invest an additional $250 Mn (₹3,300 Cr) in Indian startups over the next three to four years.

Beyond gaming, KRAFTON said that the new corpus will expand its focus to emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, deeptech, among others.

This is in addition to the $250 Mn that the gaming giant has already invested in the country, taking its total planned investment in India to $500 Mn (₹6,600 Cr). Separately, KRAFTON, in partnership with Mirae Asset Global Investments and NAVER, had also launched a $670 Mn (₹6,000 Cr) venture fund to back Indian startups last year.

The announcement came as KRAFTON chairman Byung Gyu Chang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. In a statement, the company said that Chang, during the meeting, reaffirmed KRAFTON’s commitment to India and its rapidly growing gaming, technology and digital entertainment ecosystem.

The two also discussed opportunities for India and the Republic of Korea to work closely in areas of gaming, innovation and emerging technologies.

“… Through our investments, skill-development initiatives and focus on emerging technologies, we look forward to working alongside India’s growing community of creators, developers and entrepreneurs to build globally relevant experiences and technologies,” added Chang.

The BGMI maker has been making investments in India since March 2021. Its India portfolio counts the likes of names such as esports startup NODWIN, streaming platform Loco and self-publishing platform Pratilipi. It also acquired a controlling 75% stake in Pune-based gaming studio Nautilus Mobile last year.

Besides investments, India is also a key market for KRAFTON given the country’s high smartphone penetration and ease of access to digital payments, which enable micro transactions. The South Korean gaming giant’s flagship product is Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), formerly known as PUBG, which has surpassed 260 Mn downloads in the country.

KRAFTON is expanding its investment focus in India as the ban on real-money gaming (RMG) last year suffered a big blow to the local ecosystem. Many big names have either crumbled since then or pivoted to new business models, while early stage funding activity has remained tepid for the sector.

As a result, KRAFTON likely sees deeptech and AI as the next big frontier for its investments in India. And it is not without reason. Buoyed by policy clarity, government sops, capital inflows, growing demand and brewing investor confidence, Indian AI startups raised $676 Mn during the first six months of 2026.

As per Inc42 data, India’s AI economy is projected to become a $126 Bn opportunity by 2030.

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Meritto Parent NoPaperForms Files Updated DRHP For ₹375 Cr+ IPO

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 20:24:29 +0000

SaaS startup Meritto’s parent NoPaperForms has filed its updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public issue (IPO).

The startup’s proposed public offering will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹375 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 3.8 Cr equity shares.

As reported earlier, only investor Info Edge will participate in the OFS. As per the UDRHP, the venture capital giant, via Startup Investments (Holding) Ltd, will offload 3.8 Cr shares.

Around ₹148 Cr of the fresh proceeds will be utilised to bolster its tech stack and cloud infrastructure, while ₹96 Cr will be deployed for customer acquisition and retention. A chunk of the capital will also be used for general corporate purposes and fueling inorganic growth via acquisitions.

This nearly a year after the enterprise tech startup first filed its DRHP with the market regulator via the confidential route in November 2025. It then received SEBI’s nod to float its IPO in March this year.

Founded in 2017 by Naveen Goyal and Suraj Sapra, NoPaperForms offers two products: Meritto and Collexo. The former offers SaaS-based enrolment automation and CRM tools for educational institutions, helping them manage student recruitment, admissions and fee collection.

Under Collexo, it offers fee-collection and payments-related solutions for educational institutions. Its Pixi brand, under Collexo, also sells co-branded cards to students. The startup also enables educational organisations to deploy AI agents across student-facing and institutional workflows with its Mio AI suite.

The startup claimed to have catered to 1,183 customers in the fiscal year ended March 2026, including 104 overseas clients. India accounted for 91.2% of its total revenue in FY26, while international operations contributed the remaining 8.8%.

NoPaperForms processed invoices worth ₹124.6 Cr in FY26 and ₹39.9 Cr in Q1 FY27. Meanwhile, average revenue per customer improved to ₹9.8 Lakhs in the fiscal year ended March 2026 as against ₹9.2 Lakh in FY25.

On the financial front, NoPaperForms reported an operating revenue of ₹115.6 Cr in FY26, up 25.2% from ₹92.3 Cr in the year ago fiscal. Meanwhile, the startup’s profits surged 534% to ₹11.9 Cr in the fiscal under review as against ₹1.9 Cr in FY25.

The startup also posted an operating revenue of ₹44.8 Cr in Q1 FY27 against a net profit of ₹6 Cr in the quarter under review.

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Leanwatts Bags $2 Mn To Build Portable EV Chargers In India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 23:24:36 +0000

Clean tech startup Leanwatts, which manufactures EV chargers, has raised $2 Mn (around ₹18 Cr) in its seed funding round led by Trivest Partners. The round also saw participation from angel investors Abraham George and Alok Rungta.

The startup plans to utilise the fresh capital to accelerate research and development (R&D), strengthen its supply chain and ramp up manufacturing capabilities.

“As we scale, our focus is on strengthening our supply chain, increasing localisation and continuing to invest in manufacturing capability. The new capital will allow us to accelerate this journey and build the capabilities required to reliably scale India-engineered power electronics,” said Leanwatts cofounder Abhilash Reddy.

Founded in 2023 by Reddy, Pradeep Chowdary and Sujith Kumar, Leanwatts designs and manufactures power electronics products for EV OEMs. Its product portfolio includes portable and onboard chargers, ranging from 500W to 6.6kW, which cater to electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers and tractors.

It claims to have developed in-house capabilities across hardware design, embedded firmware and software, product engineering and testing. The startup also operates a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad.

Going forward, Leanwatts plans to expand into new areas including public charging solutions, rectifiers, power modules, hybrid inverters and other power conversion applications. On the back of this, the startup is targeting an annualised revenue run-rate (ARR) of nearly ₹60 Cr by March 2027.

“… At Leanwatts, we are investing in our laboratories, engineers and ability to industrialise efficient architectures, cost-effective designs, advanced materials and emerging technologies, with the objective of building technological capability that compounds over the long term,” added cofounder Chowdary.

The fundraise comes amid the rapid build-out of India’s charging ecosystem. As of December 2025, the country was home to 29,151 EV charging stations, including 8,805 fast-charging stations. To fuel this, the Centre has rolled out a slew of sops under the PM E-DRIVE scheme to improve the EV charging network.

As a result, investors are slowly making a beeline for the space. Earlier this week, Zenergize, which also manufactures chargers for EVs, raised $4 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Giraffe Studios.

In February, EV charger manufacturer Statiq also secured $18 Mn, via a mix of equity and debt funding, in a round led by Tenacity Ventures. Last year, IPEC also bagged $3 Mn in a funding round from Gruhas.

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RentoMojo’s FY26 Profit Zooms 142% YoY To ₹104 Cr, Revenue Up 46%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 22:24:27 +0000

IPO-bound furniture and appliance rental startup RentoMojo’s restated profit after tax (PAT) surged nearly 142% ₹104.2 Cr in the fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) compared to ₹43.1 Cr in the year ago fiscal.

The bottom line surge came on the back of a healthy jump in top line and a one-time tax credit of ₹36.6 Cr during the fiscal under review.

Meanwhile, operating revenue zoomed 45.5% to ₹387 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2026 as against ₹266 in FY25. Including other income of ₹7.1 Cr, the startup’s total income stood at ₹394 Cr in FY26.

The startup’s EBITDA rose 38% to ₹163.5 Cr in FY26 from ₹118.4 Cr in the previous fiscal, while the EBITDA margin declined to 41.5% from 43.6% in FY25.

Founded in 2014 by Geetansh Bamania and Ajay Nain, RentoMojo operates a platform for subscription-based rental of furniture, appliances and home essentials. Backed by Accel, Chiratae Ventures and Bain Capital, the startup has raised over $45 Mn in funding to date.

On the operational front, RentoMojo claims to operate 20 warehouses and 82 offline stores across 29 cities. It had a portfolio of 8.5 Lakh products across furniture and appliances at the end of March 2026 and catered to 2.5 Lakh active users in FY26.

RentoMojo also noted that “gross items ordered” on its platform stood at 9.89 Lakh in FY26, up 42.5% from 6.9 Lakh in the year ago period. Meanwhile, product occupancy rate improved to 83.3% from 82.8% in FY25.

The disclosures came as the platform filed its red herring prospectus with market regulator SEBI for an IPO, which will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹150 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of 2.7 Cr shares.

RentoMojo cofounder Bamania and early backers, including Accel, Chiratae Ventures, Edelweiss Mutual Fund and GMO Venture, plan to offload shares via the OFS. If the listing materialises, RentoMojo will become the first listed Indian furniture rental startup in the country.

Where Did RentoMojo Spend In FY26?

RentoMojo’s total expenses stood at ₹323.9 Cr in FY26, up 41.5% from ₹228.9 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Employee Benefits Expenses: The rental platform spent ₹60.8 Cr towards salaries, wages, bonuses, gratuity, provident fund contributions and other employee benefit expenses in FY26. This was 46.7% higher than ₹41.4 Cr spent by the startup under this bucket in FY25.

Contractual Manpower Expenses: Expenditure under this bucket rose 54.2% to ₹38 Cr in the fiscal under review as against ₹24.6 Cr in FY25.

Logistics Expense: The startup spent nearly ₹28 Cr on logistics in FY26, up 44.7% from ₹19.3 Cr in the year ago period.

Performance Marketing: Expenses under this line item zoomed 86.3% to ₹20.9 Cr in the fiscal under review as against ₹11.2 Cr in FY25.

The post RentoMojo’s FY26 Profit Zooms 142% YoY To ₹104 Cr, Revenue Up 46% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Cars24 Trims FY26 Net Loss By 19% YoY To ₹441 Cr, Revenue Slides 18%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 20:24:41 +0000

Used car marketplace Cars24 managed to trim its net loss for the fiscal year FY26 by 18.7% to ₹441.1 Cr from ₹542.7 Cr in the previous fiscal.

The improvement in the bottom line came despite a dip in the IPO-bound startup’s top line. Cars24’s operating revenue declined 18.3% to ₹5,091.7 Cr in the fiscal under review from ₹6,233.2 Cr in FY25.

The startup’s top line from sale of products declined by 22.7% to ₹4,438.8 Cr in FY26 from ₹5,746.1 Cr in FY25. Meanwhile, revenue from services more than doubled to ₹205.6 Cr from ₹89.5 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue from other segments increased 12.5% to ₹447.3 Cr from ₹397.7 Cr in FY25.

Including other income of ₹128.3 Cr, the startup’s total income for the fiscal stood at ₹5,220 Cr.

This follows Cars24, in May, claiming that it had turned adjusted EBITDA profitable for the first time in Q4 FY26, posting an adjusted EBITDA of ₹20 Cr for the quarter. At the time, It had attributed the improvement to AI-led efficiencies, growth across its core businesses and lending vertical, network effects and lower customer acquisition costs.

The FY26 numbers also revealed that CARS24’s cash and cash equivalents more than halved to ₹377.1 Cr at the end of March 2026 as against ₹860.8 Cr a year earlier. Meanwhile, its total borrowings, including current and non-current debt, increased nearly 17% to ₹958.6 Cr from ₹820.4 Cr.

Founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid, and Ruchit Agarwal, Cars24 operates an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars. It also offers financing, insurance support, warranties and other related services. It also entered the market for buying new cars last year.

It has raised over $1.3 Bn to date from investors such as SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global, and Peak XV Partners and was last valued at over $3.2 Bn.

Its financial services subsidiary, Cars24 Financial Services, also reported improvement in profitability in FY26. The subsidiary’s turnover increased to ₹299 Cr from ₹264.5 Cr in FY25, while its profit after tax more than tripled to ₹21.4 Cr from ₹6.8 Cr in FY25.

The decline in net loss comes at a time when the startup is looking to go public soon. Earlier in January, CEO Chopra had said that the startup was planning to launch its IPO over the upcoming twelve months (January 2027). While he had highlighted significant improvements in the startup’s financial health, he refrained from delving into the exact particulars of the IPO.

Meanwhile, Cars24 has been aggressively doubling down on enhancing its AI stack amid a decline in its overall sales. It is looking to invest about $20 Mn to build AI-first products under a new initiative, AI Labs.

Nevertheless, the startup claims to be leveraging AI to reduce inspection timing, conduct audits at its retail hubs and handle 15 Lakh+ minutes of calls per month across 7 languages.

Zooming Into Cars24’s FY26 Expenses

The startup maintained a tight leash on costs during the fiscal under review. Total expenses fell 17.8% to ₹5,673.6 Cr from ₹6,898.4 Cr in FY26. It also incurred ₹7.03 Cr worth of an exceptional item expense in the fiscal.

Employee Benefit Expenses: Expenditure under this bucket 33.4% to ₹806 Cr in FY26 from ₹604.1 Cr in the year ago period. This was primarily due to a 482% jump in ESOP expenses to ₹212.3 Cr from ₹36.5 Cr in FY25.

Purchases of Stock-In-Trade: This was the biggest cost centre for Cars24 in FY26. Expenses under this bucket declined 20.7% to ₹4,256.2 Cr from ₹5,369.1 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2025.

Advertising and Promotional Expenses: The startup also spent ₹105.4 Cr towards marketing and advertising in FY26, broadly flat compared to ₹106.1 Cr in FY25.

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Ultrahuman Bags $70 Mn To Build An Integrated Healthtech Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:24:32 +0000

With an eye on expanding its health intelligence platform, smart ring maker Ultrahuman has raised $70 Mn (nearly ₹662 Cr) in a fresh funding round, which saw participation from Qualcomm Ventures, Alpha Wave, Blume, Nexus and Alteria and others.

The startup plans to use the fresh proceeds to scale research and development (R&D) in sensing, AI, miniaturised electronics and health algorithms. A chunk of the capital will also be utilised to expand its blood testing product ‘Blood Vision’ and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) platform Ultrahuman ‘M1’ globally.

The startup also said that the funding will help it expand beyond wearables and build an integrated platform combining physiological, biochemical and environmental data.

“Building this requires us to go unusually deep across sensing, materials, electrical engineering, algorithms, physiology and clinical science… This capital lets us push much harder on it, and bring what we build to millions of people around the world,” said Ultrahuman cofounder and CEO Mohit Kumar.

Founded in 2019 by Kumar and Vatsal Singhal, Ultrahuman has built a health tracking ecosystem around its smart rings. Its platform currently combines data from the Ultrahuman Ring, Blood Vision, CGM, environmental sensors and software and AI tools.

Including the current round, the startup has raised more than $173 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Blume Ventures and Premji Invest as backers.

Going forward, it plans to create a broader computing platform that can continuously understand signals from the human body, including sleep, cardiovascular health, metabolism, hormonal rhythms, blood biomarkers and recovery.

Alongside, it is also building a software layer around its hardware. This includes PowerPlugs, which allow users to derive insights and add specialised health capabilities across areas such as cardiovascular health, reproductive health, circadian alignment, respiratory health and pregnancy.

Earlier this year, the startup also launched Pulsomics, an opt-in research platform that allows Ring users to participate in large-scale studies that use longitudinal real-world data.

Ultrahuman’s Many Troubles

The funding comes as Ultrahuman continues to douse fires on multiple fronts. In March this year, the startup suffered a cybersecurity breach after hackers gained access to certain personal information of its users. This, as per Ultrahuman, led to the leak of wellness data of about 0.1% of its users.

On the other hand, Ultrahuman is locked in a legal tussle with Finnish competitor Oura in the US. Last year, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Ultrahuman’s smart rings infringed on a patent held by Oura, which resulted in a months-long import ban.

It re-entered the US market in March 2026 with Ring Pro, a redesigned smart ring it claimed addressed the patent claims that triggered the ban.

On the financial front, the smart ring manufacturer posted a net profit of ₹71.5 Cr in FY25, against a loss of ₹37.7 Cr in the previous fiscal. However, Ultrahuman’s operating revenue grew nearly 5X to ₹564.7 Cr in the year under review, up from ₹104.6 Cr in FY24.

The funding comes as India’s wearable ecosystem is rapidly moving beyond conventional fitness trackers, with startups pivoting towards AI-powered preventive healthcare, recovery and stress management. This comes amid surging consumer demand for integrated wellness platforms spanning diagnostics, coaching, nutrition and skincare.

As a result, investor appetite for the segment has also grown notably in recent months. In May this year, wearable startup Sychedelic raised $3.5 Mn in its seed round, while rival Gabit also bagged around ₹36.2 Cr.

Prior to this in March, another healthtech startup Mave Health also secured $2.1 Mn its seed round led by Blume Ventures, while Deepinder Goyal’s wearables startup Temple raised $54 Mn in a funding round in February this year.

At the heart of all this is the Indian healthtech market, which is reportedly projected to become a $106 Bn opportunity by 2033.

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Uber To Lay Off 200-250 Employees In India Amid Global Restructuring

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:24:20 +0000

Ride-hailing major Uber is laying off around 200-250 employees in India as part of a broader global restructuring that will see the company eliminate about 3,300 roles.

The India layoffs, which are expected to impact both individual contributors and managers, come barely six months after Uber cut around 80 jobs in the country. The latest exercise is expected to primarily affect the company’s technology and operations teams, with its AI solutions team slashed by half, according to an ET report citing sources.

Responding to Inc42’s queries, an Uber spokesperson said, “Globally, we are making organisational changes to remove layers so we can move faster. As part of these changes, we will be saying goodbye to some valued team members in India, whom we will support through this transition. Our commitment to India as a key market, and our ambition to innovate locally for riders and drivers, remain unchanged – in fact, we are expanding India’s strategic footprint by strengthening our regional operations here to drive our mobility business across Asia-Pacific.”

Globally, Uber is cutting about 10% of its workforce as it looks to simplify its organisational structure, reduce management layers, and redirect resources towards its core mobility and delivery businesses as well as its autonomous vehicle ambitions.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, in a note to employees, said the company has become increasingly complex following years of rapid expansion, with additional layers of management, greater coordination requirements and fragmented ownership slowing down decision-making.

The company plans to reduce by around 20% the number of employees who sit seven or more organisational layers below the CEO. It will also nearly halve the number of “micro-teams” with only one or two direct reports and consolidate several functions, the company said in a blog post.

Uber is also merging its separate delivery operations teams covering restaurants, retail and direct delivery, while bringing together its core services engineering and science teams.

The company said the savings generated from the organisational reset would be redirected towards growth, innovation and capabilities that will be important to its future. It also plans to invest more than $10 Bn in autonomous vehicle technology over the coming years as robotaxis threaten to reshape the traditional ride-hailing model.

Uber said the restructuring followed a period of strong business performance, with its top line tripling over the past five years as it added products, expanded into new businesses, and reached more consumers and earners.

As part of the restructuring, Uber will also ask the vast majority of its remote employees to return to the office. Going forward, only around 1% of its employees will work remotely, while the company will continue enforcing its hybrid policy requiring employees to work from the office three days a week.

Uber India Cuts Come Amid Broader Reset

The layoffs come at a time when Uber is stepping up its investments in India, particularly in technology and AI.

In February this year, the company infused nearly ₹3,000 Cr into its India arm, Uber India Systems. The parent company invested ₹2,921 Cr through two tranches, as competition intensified in India’s ride-hailing market, especially from Rapido.

Khosrowshahi previously acknowledged Rapido as the company’s biggest competitor in India.

Notably, Uber and Rapido reportedly held talks earlier this year to potentially combine their India ride-hailing operations. The discussions broke down over the structure of the proposed deal. Rapido subsequently denied that it was exploring a merger.

Uber India’s net loss surged nearly 15X to ₹1,511 Cr in FY25 from ₹89 Cr in FY24, while its gross revenue remained largely flat at ₹2,604 Cr.

In March, Uber shut its shuttle service in Delhi NCR, following similar shutdowns in Mumbai and Hyderabad, as it shifted its focus towards employee transportation services for businesses. The company is looking to tap India’s growing corporate commute and GCC ecosystem through its B2B mobility offering.

At the same time, it announced plans to open two new technology centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, along with its first data centre in India, being set up with the Adani Group.

In June, Prabhjeet Singh stepped down as Uber’s India and South Asia head after more than a decade with the company to join OpenAI as its India MD.

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Flipkart’s Microdrama Foray, Purple Style Labs’ IPO & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:24:17 +0000

Flipkart Enters The Microdrama Fray

India’s microdrama war has a new challenger. Flipkart is diving into the entertainment industry with short-form scripted shows and microdramas. Already experimenting with food delivery and ticketing, can entertainment become the ecommerce giant’s next growth engine?

Flipkart’s Latest Tryst: The ecommerce giant is testing a dedicated microdrama feed within its main app rather than building a standalone platform. It also plans to partner with Terribly Tiny Tales, Pratilipi and others to produce microdramas exclusively for its platform. Flipkart is also expected to source content from its digital media arm, Pinkvilla.

To lead its content push, Flipkart has roped in ex-JioStar executive Vivek Mohan Sharma as the new CEO of Pinkvilla, replacing founder Nandini Shenoy.

But Why Microdramas? Flipkart’s microdrama feed is designed to boost engagement and retain users. Simultaneously, the ecommerce giant also aims to create impulse purchase moments by embedding content inside the main app. The integration also leverages the ecommerce giant’s existing media assets to produce exclusive content.

The Many Tailwinds: What also sets Flipkart apart is that it does not have to worry about distribution costs, unlike specialist players, as its 500 Mn-strong network effects make it easy to acquire users. It may also not have to worry about monetisation as Flipkart so far appears to be treating microdramas as a sales funnel. Advertising could also add a parallel revenue stream if the company goes that way.

Beyond Ecommerce: The microdrama entry is part of Flipkart’s broader diversification spree. Having already launched its quick commerce vertical in 2024, the ecommerce major is now exploring foraying into food delivery and online ticketing. Together, these moves reflect Flipkart’s ambition to capture more of consumers’ daily time and spending under one platform.

But as the ecommerce giant rejigs its top brass and prepares for an eventual IPO, will Flipkart’s microdrama bet pay off? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Purple Style Labs Wraps Up IPO

The Pernia’s Pop Up Shop parent’s public issue was oversubscribed by 1.29X on the final day of bidding, with investors placing bids for 88.54 Lakh shares against 68.49 Lakh on offer.
Retail investors and QIBs led the demand, oversubscribed their quotas by 1.57X and 1.43X, respectively. However, NIIs subscribed their portion by just 84%, placing bids for 15.70 Lakh shares against 18.68 Lakh shares on offer.
Founded in 2015, Purple Style Labs is an omnichannel luxury fashion company that operates and owns designer brands such as Wendell Rodricks and Hemant Trivedi. Its public issue consisted solely of a fresh issue of shares worth ₹680 Cr.

Jagdish Farshan’s Q-Comm Bet

In its first institutional fundraise since 1938, the Gujarat-based snacking brand has raised ₹43.5 Cr in a round led by Sharrp Ventures to expand manufacturing capacity, add new retail stores and deepen its quick commerce presence.
Digital sales and exports currently account for about 15% of Jagdiish Farshan’s revenue, with the company viewing quick commerce as a better fit for impulse-led snack purchases because of shorter delivery times and higher immediacy.
Established 88-years ago, Jagdish Farshan operates 27 retail outlets in central Gujarat and two in North America, offering over 500 SKUs across traditional Gujarati snacks, namkeen and sweets. It claims to process 250-300 online orders a day.

Aeron Systems Bags ₹45 Cr

The deeptech company has raised about $4.7 Mn in its pre-Series B round co-led by Riverwalk Holdings and MGF-Kavachh to expand its manufacturing capacity, accelerate R&D and strengthen its presence in international markets.
Founded in 2008, Aeron designs and manufactures inertial navigation and IoT-based weather-monitoring systems for aerospace and defence applications. It claims to have so far deployed 10,000 inertial systems and over 2,500 weather stations globally.
The funding comes amid growing demand for aerospace and defence technologies that can operate in complex and contested environments. At the heart of all this is the Indian deeptech market, which is projected to become a $27 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Yotta Gears Up For 2027 IPO

The AI data centre provider plans to file its DRHP with the SEBI by October this year. With this, the company has set its eyes on going public within the March quarter of the ongoing fiscal year.
The company is looking to raise up to $1.5 Bn from its IPO, which will likely consist solely of a fresh issue of equity shares. The fresh proceeds will go towards repaying debt, purchasing new GPUs and expanding sovereign cloud infrastructure.
Founded in 2019, Yotta started out as a colocation centre and integrated data centre services provider. The Hiranandani Group-backed firm has since grown to offer AI compute to companies. It has so far raised $150 Mn and was last pegged at $3.9 Bn.

JioHotstar Goes Global

Expanding its footprint beyond India, the streaming giant has now rolled out its services in the UK, Canada and Singapore. With this, it aims to capture the South Asian diaspora and wider audiences in the three nations.
JioHotstar said that it will roll out 1.6 Lakh hours of content, including webseries, TV shows, films and regional programming, across 12+ languages in the new markets. It has so far introduced only quarterly and annual plans in the three geographies.
With this, JioHotstar appears to be trying to convert cultural affinity into a sticky streaming proposition in the three markets. The launch is also expected to act as a test bed for tracking the demand for JioStar’s products overseas.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Antimattr Make Voice The Primary Interface For AI?

AI assistants are getting smarter. But noisy surroundings still break voice interactions, forcing users back to the screens. Antimattr is tackling this problem with a voice-first hardware system that makes memory and productivity hands-free.

An Audio Computer: Founded in 2025, Antimattr is building Project Mnemosyne, which it describes as the “world’s first audio computer” built for memory and voice productivity. Its hardware combines a smart ring with a pair of voice-isolation earphones to enable clearer conversations and dictation in noisy environments.

The Wearable Stack: The earphones use six microphones, bone-conduction sensors and proprietary voice-isolation algorithms to capture only the wearer’s voice. On top of this, the companion smart ring acts as a quick-access interface to record ideas and conversations. The combined system then transcribes speech to text, organises notes, summarises meetings, supports live translation and lets users query an AI assistant.

The Road Ahead: Backed by Y Combinator and Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund, the startup now plans to begin shipping Mnemosyne in Q4 2026. It has a longer-term roadmap that extends to a privacy-focused AI computer and eventually an AI-native vehicle. With India’s AI wearable market projected to reach $19.1 Bn by 2033, can Antimattr make voice the default interface for the AI era?

Infographic Of The Day

From paid loyalty programmes to premium grocery push, quick commerce giant Zepto is betting on bigger carts and higher-value customers. But can premiumisation make the unicorn profitable?

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Adobe Acquires Peak XV-Backed AI Martech Startup Rilo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:24:30 +0000

Software giant Adobe has acquired Peak XV Partners-backed martech startup Rilo for an undisclosed amount.

An Adobe spokesperson confirmed the development to Inc42. However, there appears no clarity on the deal size. This is Adobe’s second acquisition of an Indian startup, after it bought Rephrase.ai in 2023.

According to Adobe, the deal brings a “strong” technical team into its fold. The acquisition will also enable the software giant to build broader marketing workflows for its customers and integrate Rilo’s agentic capabilities into its enterprise suite.

“Beyond excited to announce that Rilo is joining Adobe to help bring AI to Fortune 500 marketers. This month last year, I started Rilo with Georgi to expand the power of AI to all knowledge workers beyond just engineers,” said cofounder Dhruv Jaglan wrote in a LinkedIn post.

As per reports, existing clients will no longer be able to access Rilo’s platform, which will shut down post acquisition. Its team will also be integrated into Adobe.

Founded in 2025 by IIT Bombay alumni Dhruv Jaglan and Georgi Boby, Rilo’s AI tools help marketing and go-to-market teams build complex workflows in plain English and execute them autonomously with AI agents. The platform handles use cases such as competitor intelligence, social media outreach and marketing, and campaign research.

It is pertinent to note that Jaglan previously founded AI recruitment platform Babblebots.ai, while Boby led technology at robotics tech firm CloudChef.

Prior to the acquisition, Rilo last raised $1 Mn in seed funding from Peak XV Partners and DeVC at a valuation of $10 Mn. As per Jaglan, the startup scaled to 10,000 users within months of launch.

This is Adobe’s second acquisition of an Indian startup. Earlier, the software giant acquired homegrown Rephrase.ai, which operated in the AI video creation space. The startup’s text-to-video AI tools helped influencers and marketers create digital avatars and synthetic video content.

The acquisition comes as more and more enterprises deploy AI to automate workflows across industries. While a clutch of new-age tech startups are building AI use cases from scratch, bigger companies are acquiring smaller players to get their foot in the door.

In July, Mukesh Bansal-led enterprise AI startup Nurix AI announced plans to acquire Verloop.io to expand its voice AI offerings. SaaS major MoEngage also bought US-based AI infrastructure startup Aampe to strengthen its customer engagement stack.

US-based AI finance platform Numero also acquired Chennai-headquartered finance automation startup Royu in a cash-and-stock deal in May, while enterprise tech platform Nitro Commerce snapped up Gurugram-based AI copilot company Zodiac Labs AI in March.

As per Inc42’s Bharat AI Startups Report 2026, India’s growing AI economy is projected to become a $126 Bn opportunity by 2030 and will add $1.7 Tn to the national GDP by 2035.

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Eutelsat OneWeb Seeks Urgent Security Nod To Launch Satcom Services In India: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 07:24:38 +0000

Bharti Group-backed satcom services provider Eutelsat OneWeb has sought the immediate grant of security approval for its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which would take it closer to commercially launching its services in India.

Many of OneWeb’s satellites are nearing the end of their operational lives and could become useless if there are further delays in launching its services in India, the Economic Times reported, citing sources.

The company has been awaiting security approval for more than 18 months after conducting its security compliance demonstration in January 2025.

OneWeb has informed the DoT that it submitted all the required data and information related to the security demonstration and responded to additional queries raised by law enforcement agencies. However, the approval is yet to come, the report said.

Questions sent to OneWeb remained unanswered till the time of publication. The story will be updated on receiving a response.

The clearance covers requirements related to lawful interception, network monitoring, and the localisation of critical network functions.

OneWeb’s Long Wait

OneWeb was the first satcom operator to secure a GMPCS licence in India, receiving the permit from the DoT in August 2021. The company was initially looking to launch its services in the country in 2022.

However, its rollout has faced repeated delays due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which disrupted the launch of its satellites, and the wait for approvals from Indian authorities, the report said.

The company subsequently received authorisation from IN-SPACe in November 2023 to provide the capacity of its satellite constellation in India.

OneWeb has established the necessary ground infrastructure, including gateways in Mehsana, Gujarat, and Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, as well as two points of presence in Mumbai and Chennai.

The gateways will connect with OneWeb’s global LEO satellite constellation and enable the delivery of satellite broadband services in India.

OneWeb operates a global constellation of more than 600 LEO satellites. ISRO launched 72 OneWeb satellites across two dedicated LVM3 missions in October 2022 and March 2023.

The report said OneWeb is replacing some satellites that have completed their operational lives. However, the number of operational satellites in its existing constellation could decline as more reach the end of their lives.

Even after securing security approval, OneWeb will require spectrum assignment before it can commercially launch services in India.

India’s Satcom Race

Elon Musk-led Starlink and Jio Satellite are also awaiting security clearance to commercially launch their satcom services in India.

However, the three companies are targeting different customer segments. OneWeb plans to cater primarily to businesses, while Starlink intends to offer services directly to retail consumers. Jio Satellite, meanwhile, plans to offer services through Reliance Jio’s joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES, which operates a medium Earth orbit satellite constellation.

Reliance Industries is also said to be evaluating a multi-billion-dollar investment in its own LEO satellite constellation. The conglomerate is exploring both organic and inorganic expansion opportunities, including possible acquisitions of satellite companies with existing orbital slots and infrastructure.

Last month, Starlink reapplied to IN-SPACe for authorisation for its second-generation constellation comprising nearly 30,000 satellites, which will include direct-to-device connectivity capabilities.

The post Eutelsat OneWeb Seeks Urgent Security Nod To Launch Satcom Services In India: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Edtech’s Big Consolidation, ESDS’ Bumper IPO & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 05:24:34 +0000

Unacademy Joins The upGrad Campus

After months of negotiations and regulatory approvals, upGrad has officially completed the acquisition of rival Unacademy in a deal valued at just over $200 Mn, a 94% drop from the latter’s peak $3.5 Bn valuation in 2021. So, can the combined entity unlock real value?

Strategic Fit For upGrad: The acquisition gives upGrad, which focuses on upskilling, a foothold in K-12 and competitive exam preparation. Beyond test prep, CEO Ronnie Screwvala also highlighted Unacademy’s tech stack, brand equity and the global potential of its language-learning app, Airlearn, as key drivers for the acquisition.

The Upside For Unacademy: For the troubled edtech platform, combining forces with upGrad offers a better growth trajectory. The all-stock deal gives Unacademy shareholders a stake in upGrad, while retaining CEO Gaurav Munjal to lead its core verticals. It will also leverage upGrad’s upskilling network, expertise and cash to explore new avenues.

But, the deal did not happen overnight. It was, as Screwvala said, six years in the making.

From Unicorn To Exit: Starting as a YouTube channel in 2015, Unacademy raised $600 Mn during the peak of the pandemic to build an edtech juggernaut. However, the reopening of offline institutions hit demand, prompting layoffs, burn reduction and shutdowns of several verticals. To tide over the issues, Unacademy explored a potential sale to Allen and K-12 Techno.

But the discussions failed over valuation before a term sheet was finally signed with upGrad this year. With the deal now sealed, the work is cut out for the combined entity.

The Road Ahead: Combining two distinct corporate cultures and operating models presents an immediate execution challenge for upGrad. The merged entity will also have to prove that Unacademy’s consumer reach can drive sustainable operating margins and justify the $200 Mn price tag. So, can upGrad and Unacademy together build what eluded them separately? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Whatfix’s CEO Passes Away

The cofounder and CEO of the SaaS soonicorn has passed away due to a cardiac arrest. He was about 50 years old. Friends and peers condoled his demise, remembering Batti as a friend and mentor who supported the wider Indian startup ecosystem.
Founded in 2013 by Batti and Vara Kumar Namburu, Whatfix offers an AI-powered digital adoption platform that helps enterprises train employees and drive the adoption of software. It has grown to cater to more than 700 enterprises today.
The Indian startup ecosystem has lost many luminaries this year. In July, Accel’s Akhilesh Agarwal passed away, while the ecosystem also mourned the demise of SaaS startup Xpedize’s cofounder Regan Mithani in March.

ESDS Wraps Up Bumper IPO

The enterprise cloud and AI company’s public issue was subscribed 135.88X on the final day of the bidding. QIBs subscribed their portion 261.5X, while NIIs and retail investors booked their quotas 192.9X and 39.7X, respectively.
ESDS’ ₹720 Cr IPO, which comprises entirely a fresh issue of shares, is priced in the range of ₹408 to ₹429 per share. Meanwhile, PSL’s public issue also consists solely of a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹680 Cr, with no OFS component.
Meanwhile, Purple Style Labs’ IPO was subscribed a mere 24% on the second day of bidding. Retail investors led the charts (93% subscription), followed by NIIs (13%) and QIBs (6%).

Yuma Energy Bags $35 Mn

The battery swapping platform has raised around ₹333 Cr in its Series A round from existing backer Magna International to expand its footprint, diversify its client base and strengthen its tech platform.
Founded in 2023 as a JV between Magna and Yulu, Yuma offers battery swapping infrastructure and services for EVs. It operates more than 2,500 charging stations across 18 Indian cities and has accumulated 1 Lakh batteries so far.
Yuma operates in the growing Indian battery tech market, which is being driven by novel products, need for convenience and substantial subsidies from the Centre. It is eyeing a piece of the Indian EV market, which could become a $132 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Whistleblower Whiplash At Icertis

Anand Subbaraman stepped down as the CEO of the SaaS giant in July after whistleblower complaints accused him of misconduct, inappropriate behaviour and favouritism towards a junior employee.
This came after the company’s board received the complaint in May, prompting an internal probe and his eventual departure. CFO Rajat Bahri and board member Jim Moffatt have been appointed interim co-CEOs as the company searches for a successor.
The allegations come as Icertis is working with Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale at around a $5 Bn valuation. Founded in 2009, Icertis operates an AI-native contract lifecycle management platform serving enterprises in over 90 countries.

VinFast Rejigs India Playbook

The Vietnamese EV giant has directed its suppliers to halt production of select cars in India to reassess costs. This came as VinFast could not achieve the planned costs for developing and sourcing parts locally.
The OEM has sought details of investments already made by suppliers for the three vehicle programmes. It remains to be seen whether the vendors will be compensated for tooling, engineering and other investments undertaken for the projects.
Just last year, VinFast planned to boost its annual EV production in India for exports to the Middle East and Africa. The OEM was banking on local manufacturing to reduce costs, but the cost conundrum appears to have put a spanner in the works.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How AlgoFET Is Building Autonomous Docking Stations For Drones

Tactical drones may be getting smarter, but they still need to land, recharge or swap batteries with human help. This creates a bottleneck for continuous, remote operations. AlgoFET is building the infrastructure to change this with autonomous docking.

Ground Layer For Fleets: Founded in 2023, AlgoFET offers an integrated stack covering autonomous docking stations, battery management systems, high-power charging, embedded electronics and cloud-based fleet monitoring. Its AlgoDOCK enables precision landing and autonomous recharging, while AlgoBMS provides real-time battery health, diagnostics and predictive maintenance.

From Labs To the Field: Incubated at IISc, the Bengaluru-based startup operates a 12,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. It claims to have deployed more than 2,000 units, with a pipeline exceeding 4,000 units and an order book worth around ₹100 Cr. Catering to drone makers and the Indian Army, the startup has so far deployed its products in areas like defence, agriculture, logistics, surveillance and infrastructure inspection.

The Road Ahead: Backed by Piper Serica, the startup now plans to focus on next-gen product development, in-house manufacturing expansion and deeper proprietary IP. It also plans to scale deployments and expand to the US and Europe. With India’s drone ecosystem projected to cross $3.2 Bn by 2030, can AlgoFET build the infrastructure that keeps drones airborne round the clock?

Infographic Of The Day

From Tata and Bikaji to dedicated players like Vratam and Upvasa, brands are lining up to capitalise on the latest D2C goldmine: fasting food. Whatever the reason someone’s fasting, there’s now a whole aisle for it…

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JioHotstar Rolls Out Services In The UK, Canada and Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:24:12 +0000

Expanding its footprint beyond India, streaming giant JioHotstar today said that it is launching its services in the UK, Canada and Singapore.

The move marks a significant shift for the India-focused streaming giant, which will now also target the South Asian diaspora and wider audiences in the three nations. In a statement, JioHotstar said that it will roll out 1.6 Lakh hours of content across 12+ languages in the new markets.

The content lineup will include webseries, TV shows, films and regional programming. JioHotstar also said that it will add over 30,000 hours of fresh content every year to expand its library for these new geographies.

The streaming giant has also introduced region-specific pricing for the three geographies across two tiers – quarterly and annual. Users in the UK will have to shell out £19.99 (₹2,562) for the quarterly plan and £69.99 (₹8,972) for the annual plan.

Meanwhile, customers in Canada will be able to avail its quarterly and annual tiers for CAD 19.99 (₹1,365) and CAD 49.99 (₹3,415), respectively. The subscription plan in Singapore starts at SGD 29.98 (₹2,235) for three months and SGD 69.98 (₹5,217) for a year.

“… South Asian audiences have a deep connection with Indian entertainment across languages, generations and households. At the same time, audiences globally are increasingly seeking stories and cultures beyond their own. We see an opportunity to build for this broader, underserved global audience – not simply export an Indian streaming service to new markets,” said JioStar’s head of international business Amit Malhotra.

JioHotstar said that it is betting on product experience, technology, dubbed content and the demand for vernacular content among the Indian diaspora to power its international foray.

The platform is using a mix of new originals, iconic franchises and early TV access to attract subscribers in these three markets. In Singapore and Canada, popular daily soaps will be available before TV, while key shows will stream simultaneously with their TV broadcast in the UK.

With this, JioHotstar appears to be trying to convert cultural affinity into a sticky streaming proposition in the three markets. The launch is also expected to act as a test bed for tracking the demand for JioStar’s products.

This comes nearly two years after Disney and Reliance officially signed agreements to create a joint venture (JV), merging Viacom18 with Star India Private Limited. Since then, the combined JioStar entity has become one of the biggest entertainment giant in the country, with more than 100 channels under its belt.

Streaming arm, JioHotstar, has also grown alongside. The platform currently claims to have a library of more than 3 Lakh hours of programming and 50 Cr monthly average users. In its Q1 FY27 results, Reliance had also said that its newly launched microdrama vertical Tadka crossed 10 Cr active users within two months of launch.

JioHotstar’s international foray comes amid intensifying competition in the Indian OTT space. From Netflix and Amazon Prime to Zee5 and SonyLIV, streaming platforms are aggressively rolling out new content slate and offering lower subscription tiers to woo and retain users in India.

Just last month, rival Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that India is central to the company’s global strategy and launched a new programme to train and support creators across animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC). Homegrown Zee5 also recently locked both TV and digital rights for the now-over 2026 FIFA World Cup to capture the on-demand sports segment.

At the heart of all this is the Indian OTT streaming ecosystem, which is being driven by affordable mobile data, widespread smartphone adoption, 60 Cr OTT users and the demand for vernacular content. As per reports, the homegrown OTT market is expected to become a $27 Bn opportunity by 2033.

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Oracle To Lay Off Another 3,000 Employees In India: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 21:24:20 +0000

Big tech giant Oracle is preparing to lay off thousands of employees globally as part of a fresh round of job cuts. India too is reportedly expected to bear the brunt of the retrenchment exercise.

According to Times of India, the company plans to axe nearly 3,000 jobs in the country starting September 1. However, a separate Moneycontrol report claimed that the layoffs could begin in the middle of September.

It remains unclear which specific teams or functions would be targeted. If the fresh round of layoffs materialises, as much as 10% of Oracle’s 30,000-strong Indian workforce would be eliminated.

Sources also told Moneycontrol that teams have been asked to reduce costs, adding that even managers do not have complete visibility into the final list of impacted employees or the timing of the exercise.

Inc42 has reached out to Oracle for a comment and the story will be updated upon receiving a response.

Oracle operates multiple hubs across India, spanning Bengaluru, Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and other major cities. The country has become an important centre for the company’s operations and is home to large engineering, cloud, support and other teams.

This is not the first time that Oracle is laying off its employees in the country over the past year. In March this year, the big tech giant downsized its India-based staff by nearly 12,000 citing AI-led automation.

At the time, reports said that many employees received their termination emails at roughly 6 AM, informing them that it was their last working day. Many employees also reportedly said at the time they received no HR call before getting pink slips.

The layoffs come at a time when Oracle is aggressively shifting its focus away from traditional workforce expansion to aggressively investing in AI and automation.

Oracle spent $55.7 Bn on capex in FY26, a steep jump from $21.2 Bn in FY25, to build out massive data centres and server capacity for high-profile AI clients like OpenAI and NVIDIA. To fund this, the company has been raising billions of dollars in debt and slashing its headcount.

However, Oracle is not alone in this as other big tech giants are also following similar playbooks. Earlier this year, Amazon cut 16,000 jobs globally, while Meta also downsized its metaverse division by 1,500 as it prioritised AI. Jira’s parent company Atlassian also gave 1,600 employees the pink slip with 16% of those impacted being India-based.

Closer to home, home interior unicorn Livspace also laid off 1,000 employees, or 12% of its workforce, citing its AI push.

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Exclusive: MS Dhoni Joins Edtech Startup SpeakX’s Cap Table

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 02:24:20 +0000

AI-based edtech startup SpeakX has onboarded cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a strategic investor and brand ambassador, founder Arpit Mittal told Inc42. The financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet.

The English tutoring startup said Dhoni’s investment is part of a larger funding round that it plans to raise next year. CEO Mittal said that Dhoni resonated strongly with the mission of SpeakX, understanding the merits of the business before backing it.

To note, SpeakX, which was erstwhile known as Yellow Class, is currently focusing on expanding its presence across India by doubling down on regional-language offerings. Moving from its earlier Hindi-first approach, the startup now caters to users across Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi, and further plans to deepen its presence across the aforementioned language markets.

According to Mittal, the platform is currently seeing stronger traction in South India.

In its initial phase, SpeakX’s audience was largely restricted to the Hindi-speaking belt, with these users making up 80% of its total audience. Mittal claims that users speaking regional languages now account for half of its user base.

Founded in 2020 by Mittal, the startup initially offered free extracurricular and co-curricular classes in over 40 categories like art, craft, dance, yoga, general knowledge, among others.

Yellow Class officially pivoted and rebranded as SpeakX in November 2023, focusing on English-speaking skills for children in India and overseas. GenAI helped in the pivot, with Mittal telling Inc42 earlier this year that SpeakX’s bid to help learners practice everyday conversations with an AI tutor has emerged as its key mission.

“There is no human touchpoint on the platform. The only exception is customer support, where users are connected to a person in specific cases when the product is unable to resolve their issue,” Mittal added.

The startup, which follows a freemium model, has around 2 Lakh active paid subscribers on its platform. Its paid user retention stands at around 30% on a monthly basis, Mittal told Inc42. SpeakX’s subscription is priced at ₹299 per month.

On the financial front, Mittal claims that the startup became EBITDA profitable in FY26. While the company’s top line touched the ₹45 Cr mark in the fiscal, the CEO is projecting revenue of ₹70-80 Cr in FY27.

To add more streams of revenue, the startup is now set to launch a B2B English-learning product in the coming months. The product will initially target sectors including hospitality, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Prior to this round, SpeakX raised $16 Mn in its pre-Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital last year. Backed by Elevation Capital, Goodwater Capital, Tidal Capital, Ronnie Screwvala, among others, SpeakX has raised over $20 Mn till date.

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BNP Paribas, Societe Generale & Millennium Sell Lenskart Shares Via ₹2,670 Cr Block Deals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:24:39 +0000

Financial services giants BNP Paribas and Societe Generale and US-based hedge fund Millennium Management have offloaded omnichannel eyewear giant Lenskart’s shares worth ₹2,670.2 Cr via multiple bulk deals.

As per NSE data, BNP Paribas Financial Markets sold 1.3 Cr Lenskart shares at ₹662.22 apiece to rake in ₹855 Cr, while Societe Generale sold 1.4 Cr shares at ₹661.5 each to lap up ₹930.8 Cr.

Meanwhile, Millennium Management, via its affiliate Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) Pte Ltd also dumped nearly 1.4 Cr shares of the eyewear giant for ₹661.15 each to rake in ₹893.3 Cr.

Of the shares that flooded the market, asset management giant BlackRock lapped up 2.83 Cr shares at ₹662.63 apiece for ₹1,876.3 Cr. Separately, BlackRock also 3.1 Lakh shares for a sum of ₹20.3 Cr.

Besides selling a big chunk of their stakes, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale also lapped up shares worth ₹98.6 Lakhs and ₹2 Cr, respectively.

The stake sale came as Lenskart, besides Groww, was included in the MSCI global standard index. However, this is not the first time that Lenskart is seeing a major selloff in the past couple of months.

Last week, early backer Alpha Wave Ventures sold 2.94 Cr shares of the omnichannel eyewear giant for ₹1,856.8 Cr. In August itself, Japanese tech giant SoftBank also offloaded Lenskart stake worth ₹2,887.9 Cr.

In July, Temasek also dumped 2.05% stake in the omnichannel eyewear company for ₹1,934 Cr, while Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) sold 4 Cr shares of the company in a block deal for ₹1,960 Cr in June.

The bulk deals come as investors look to book profits amid a healthy jump in Lenskart stock price. Shares of the company have zoomed 26.5% in the past three months and are up 46.9% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.

This has come on the back of multiple brokerages raising their target prices on the eyewear giant after its healthy Q1 FY27 results. While Jefferies raised its target price for Lenskart to ₹680 from ₹600, Macquarie raised its target price to ₹675 from ₹625.

The positive outlook came as the omnichannel eyewear giant’s consolidated net profit surged 273% to ₹228.4 Cr in Q1 FY27 from ₹61.2 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue jumped 43% YoY and 8% QoQ to ₹2,714.2 Cr.

Shares of Lenskart closed Monday’s trading session 4.15% higher at ₹662.55 on the BSE.

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