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Groww Q4: Profit Zooms 122% To ₹686 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:24:39 +0000

Stock broking platform Groww’s consolidated profit after tax zoomed 122% to ₹686.4 Cr in Q4 FY26 from ₹309.1 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, net profit increased 25% from ₹546.9 Cr.

Operating revenue surged 88% YoY and 24% QoQ to ₹1,505.4 Cr. Including other income of ₹30.2 Cr, total income for the quarter stood at ₹1,535.5 Cr. Total expenses for the quarter grew 38% YoY to ₹599.2 Cr.

For the full fiscal year FY26, Groww’s PAT surged 14% YoY to ₹2,083 Cr. Operating revenue for the fiscal year grew 19% YoY to ₹4,644.6 Cr.

(The story will be updated soon)

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Razorpay To Soon File Confidential DRHP To Raise $600-$700 Mn: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:24:36 +0000

Fintech unicorn Razorpay is preparing to file its DRHP via the confidential route in the next few weeks.

As per an ET report, the company is planning to raise $600 Mn to $700 Mn (around ₹4,980- ₹5,810 Cr) at a valuation of $5 Bn to $6 Bn, lower than its last private valuation of $7.5 Bn.

Razorpay declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on its IPO plans.

The development comes months after it was reported that Razorpay shortlisted four investment bankers – Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan and Citi – to helm its IPO.

Founded in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Razorpay offers a full-stack payments and financial services platform, offering payment acceptance, disbursals, lending and business banking solutions.

It claims to cater to more than 80 Lakh businesses. Nearly 80% of its customers are small businesses, digital first brands and startups.

Backed by notable investors like Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed, among others, the company has raised a funding of over $800 Mn to date.

The development comes at a time when several new-age tech companies have opted for the confidential route to file their IPO papers with market regulator SEBI. Earlier this month, AvenuesAI’s (formerly Infibeam Ventures) subsidiary Rediff and dronetech startup Garuda Aerospace filed their DRHP with SEBI via confidential route.

While Paytm and MobiKwik are among the major fintech players which are listed on the exchanges, a number of other companies like PhonePe, Kissht, Moneyview, among others, from the segment are in the queue for public listing.

Razorpay’s AI Makeover

Amid rising advancements in AI, Razorpay, like other fintech platforms, has been rapidly adopting the technology. In March this year, it hosted its annual flagship event FTX, which saw participation from global AI leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, Emergent, and ElevenLabs.

During the event, Razorpay announced multiple AI-focused partnerships, including launching its agentic AI studio in partnership with Anthropic’s Claude, enabling use cases such as placing food orders and completing payments through integrations with ecommerce players like Swiggy and Zomato. It also announced partnerships with PVR Inox, Dermacore, BigBasket, LinkedIn, among others.

The company is offering an agentic AI stack with majorly three solutions:

Build Your Own Agent: Allows businesses to customise their agents
Agent Studio: An agent marketplace for automating business operations
Agentic Commerce: Integration with third-party apps to automate payments journeys.

On the financial front, Razorpay claimed its operating revenue surged 65% YoY to ₹3,783 Cr in FY25 from ₹2,296 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The company also incurred an ESOP expense of ₹1,209 Cr and one-time cost related to restructuring and tax payments linked to shifting its corporate domicile to India, resulting in it slipping into loss. However, the company did not disclose the exact loss figure for FY25.

The post Razorpay To Soon File Confidential DRHP To Raise $600-$700 Mn: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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India’s Patent Chasm, Weekly Funding Rundown & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 03:24:32 +0000

India’s Patent Paradox

India emerged as the world’s sixth-largest patent filer in FY26. While commerce minister Piyush Goyal was quick to hail this surge as a reinforcement of the country’s innovation ambitions, a stark disconnect seems to be beneath all these record numbers.

The Patent Chasm: Indians filed a record 1.43 Lakh patent applications in FY26, up 30% YoY. However, the number of patents granted dropped 36% YoY to 21,439. Interestingly, startups, the supposed engine of disruption, saw a mere 649 approvals.

The Stumbling Block: A primary culprit is the complex interpretation of Section 3(k) of the Indian Patent Act. By excluding algorithms and computer programs ‘per se’, the law often leaves software innovators in a legal grey area. Many applicants file without meeting the high threshold of ‘demonstrable technical advancement’, leading to a graveyard of abandoned applications that fail to survive official scrutiny.

The Red Tape: Administrative friction has also slowed the momentum. A massive internal restructuring of the patent office in 2024 initially cleared backlogs, but the subsequent promotion of 370 examiners to senior roles left a void in the trenches. While the government sanctioned 407 new examiners in early 2025, their training programmes mean the patent office is only now beginning to recover its processing capacity.

The AI Frontier: Reports suggest that AI-related filings have accelerated 7X over the last decade, with GenAI now representing nearly 28% of all tech patents. However, critics argue that India’s approval timelines still pale in comparison to advanced economies, leaving high-quality innovation in a state of regulatory limbo.

As India looks to become a global IP powerhouse, can the administrative and legal framework evolve fast enough to turn the surge in patent applications into a true global competitive edge? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Hocco Bags ₹100 Cr

The ice cream brand has raised nearly $10.7 Mn in its Series C round from existing backer Sauce.vc to ramp up manufacturing capacity and expand its footprint. The startup raised the funds at a pre-money valuation of ₹2,500 Cr.
Founded in 2023, Hocco is a D2C brand that sells a range of products such as ice cream cake tins, mud kulfis and flavoured ice creams. With nearly 200 SKUs under its belt, the startup has raised nearly $52 Mn to date.
Hocco claims to be present across 200 self-owned parlours and restaurants. It also has around 3,300 pushcarts plying on the country’s roads, which it is hoping to scale to 5,000 by next summer.

Weekly Startup Funding Tanks

Indian new-age tech companies collectively managed to raise just $60.4 Mn across 15 deals last week, down 83% from $361.5 Mn raised across 23 deals in the preceding week.
AI emerged as the most funded startup segment last week, with two startups raising $23 Mn. However, ecommerce topped the sectoral charts in terms of deal count, raking in $13 Mn across six deals.
Seed-stage funding crashed almost 86% week-on-week to $3.3 Mn. Meanwhile, Fireside Ventures and Info Edge Ventures emerged as the most active investors last week, backing two startups each.

Kiwi Cofounder Steps Down

The fintech startup’s cofounder and chief business officer, Mohit Bedi, has stepped down from his executive position, citing personal reasons. He will now transition to an advisory role within the company.
On the professional front, Bedi said that he plans to take up advisory roles, funding and angel investing. Before founding Kiwi, he also served in various roles at companies like PayU, Axis Bank and Barclays.
Founded in 2022, Kiwi issues virtual RuPay credit cards in partnership with banks. It then enables users to link those cards to their UPI account, offering credit‑on‑UPI. In FY25, its top line remained flat at ₹3.8 Cr, but losses zoomed 158% YoY to ₹64.2 Cr.

Startup Stocks In Rally Mode

Of the 56 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 46 gained in a range of 0.06% to over 20% last week. The remaining ten declined in a range of 0.17% to nearly 5%.
Overall, these 56 startup stocks ended last week with a market capitalisation of $133.72 Bn, up by over $4 Bn.
The market rally was driven by improving global sentiment, expectations of an end to the West Asian conflict and the IMF raising India’s FY27 growth forecast. Going forward, market direction will hinge on crude oil price stability and foreign capital flow trends.

Govt’s Startup India Pitch

The Centre recognised more than 55,200 startups in FY26, marking the highest number of startups recognised in a single fiscal year since the launch of the ‘Startup India’ initiative in 2016.
With this, the total number of DPIIT-recognised startups in the country jumped to over 2.23 Lakh at the end of March this year. The registered startups have collectively created more than 23.36 Lakh direct jobs so far.
Maharashtra led the list with over 38,660 recognised startups, followed by Karnataka with 22,600 and Uttar Pradesh with 21,960.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Mannlich Is Redefining Skincare For Men?

India’s grooming market still largely caters to women, even though men are increasingly spending on skin and personal care. Bengaluru-based Mannlich is trying to close this gap with personal grooming products for men.

The Mannlich Stack: Founded in 2024, Mannlich is a D2C brand that develops products designed around common but often overlooked concerns for men, such as acne, chafing, hyperpigmentation, intimate care and sun damage. Mannlich’s catalogue of 10 SKUs spans offerings like lip balms, body washes and hair removal cream.

Digital-First Focus: Mannlich primarily sells its products via marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Tira as well as quick commerce platforms. Targeting customers across metros and Tier II+ cities, the brand’s online-first distribution strategy helps it meet customers where they already shop, rather than relying on specialist channels.

Growth With Profitability: Mannlich claims to be clocking 400% YoY growth, having recently crossed ₹1 Cr in monthly net revenue while remaining profitable. It is targeting ₹24 Cr in annual recurring revenue by FY27, backed by demand in India’s emerging men’s intimate care category.

With the Indian men’s intimate care market projected to cross $780 Mn 2030, can Mannlich redefine men’s grooming in the country?

Infographic Of The Day

With the DPDP Act set to reshape how companies handle user data, a new startup segment is quietly rising to address this challenge, from offering consent managers to AI-led privacy tools. Here’s all about it…

The post India’s Patent Chasm, Weekly Funding Rundown & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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New-Age Tech Stocks Extend Rally, Yatra Biggest Gainer This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:24:43 +0000

New-age tech stocks extended their rally this week as the broader Indian market regained some footing. Forty six out of the 56 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained in a range of 0.06% to over 20% this week.

Online travel aggregator (OTA) Yatra emerged as the biggest gainer, zooming 20.15% to end the week at ₹123.2. Yatra’s competitor ixigo also gained 5.14% to end at ₹179.05, while EaseMyTrip declined 2% to end at ₹7.85.

Bigger companies like Eternal (up 5.14%), Groww (up 2.37%), Paytm (up 3.45%), and Nykaa (up 3.95%) were among the other significant gainers this week.

Shares of five companies – Lenskart, Ather Energy, Honasa Consumer, Groww and Aequs – also touched fresh 52-week highs this week.

Meanwhile, shares of 10 new-age tech companies declined in a range of 0.17% to close to 5% this week. While Yudiz ended the week 4.86% lower at ₹29.35, Delhivery, Ola Electric and Wakefit were among the other losers.

Overall, the market cap of 56 new-age tech companies increased by over $4 Bn to $133.72 Bn by the end of the week.

With that, let’s take a look at some of the developments at listed new-age tech companies this week.

Delhivery’s early investor Nexus Venture Partners offloaded shares worth ₹186 Cr at ₹465 apiece via block deals, taking its total selling to ₹716 Cr within a week.
Zelio E-Mobility appointed the former head of Navi’s UPI business, Divyanshu Agarwal, as its CEO. Effective April 15, Agarwal will lead the company’s growth strategy and manufacturing expansion push.
Shadowfax has initiated the acquisition of the remaining 10.41% stake in logistics company Criticalog India, which would make the latter its wholly owned subsidiary. The transaction is expected to be completed this month.
Paytm’s shareholding in defunct real money gaming subsidiary, First Games, increased to 83% from 55% upon conversion of a loan investment of ₹197 Cr into 19.68 Cr shares in the subsidiary. As per Paytm, First Games’ net worth plunged to negative ₹267.08 Cr at the end of FY25.

Now, let’s take a look at what happened in the broader market this week.

Markets Edge Higher On IMF Projection, West Asia Peace

In a holiday-shortened week, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty 50 rose 1.2% each to close at 78,493.54 and 24,353.55, respectively. The broader market rally was driven by improving global sentiment, with expectations of a permanent end to the military conflict in West Asia.

The stock exchanges were closed on April 14 (Tuesday) on account of Ambedkar Jayanti.

On the domestic macro front, inflation showed signs of firming up. CPI inflation edged up to 3.40% in March 2026 from 3.21% in February, largely due to higher food prices. Wholesale inflation accelerated to a 38-month high of 3.88%, led by rising prices of crude petroleum, fuel, and manufactured goods, pointing to building cost pressures.

In a positive signal, the IMF raised India’s FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.5%, even as it flagged global recession risks, highlighting the country’s macroeconomic resilience. However, as per IMF global GDP data, India fell to being the world’s sixth largest economy behind the US, China, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.

However, FIIs remained net sellers during the week, offloading equities worth ₹250 Cr, said Pabitro Mukherjee, AVP of research at Bajaj Broking. Despite being net buyers in three of the four trading sessions, domestic institutional investors also turned net sellers, with outflows of ₹6,290 Cr over the same period.

Going ahead, Geojit’s research head Vinod Nair believes that the market direction will hinge on progress in negotiations between the US and Iran, crude oil price stability, and foreign capital flow trends.

“Sustained de-escalation could ease inflation and currency pressures, improving risk appetite for import-sensitive markets like India. Q4 earnings and FY27 management guidance will shape sectoral leadership. Sentiment is constructive but markets will remain selective amid lingering global uncertainties,” he added.

With that, let’s take a look at what the week was like for Fino Payments Bank and PhysicsWallah.

Fino Payments Bank Recovers

Shares of Fino Payments Bank saw a modest uptick during the week, gaining over 5% to end the week at ₹142.4.

The increased investor interest in the stock coincided with the bank’s announcing on April 15 (Wednesday) its migration to a new Finacle core banking system (CBS) with a ₹200 Cr investment aimed at improving scalability and accelerating its transition into a small finance bank.

The bank said that the migration was carried out through a carefully phased approach, with a temporary moderation in business volumes during Q4 FY26 to prioritise system stability and data integrity. “Despite the scale and complexity involved, the transition was completed within the anticipated timeline, underscoring strong execution and operational discipline,” it said.

While the migration led to a temporary moderation in business volumes in Q4 FY26, it could help the bank in faster product launches, improved transaction throughput, and readiness for lending expansion.

The development comes as Fino prepares to pivot from a payments-led model to a more diversified SFB structure, which could materially expand its revenue mix beyond transaction income.

On the management side, the bank said that MD & CEO Rishi Gupta has been unavailable for over 45 days due to a pending “fit and proper” reassessment.

He will resume his responsibility only after approvals from the Reserve Bank of India and the bank’s board.

PhysicsWallah Eyes Another Acquisition

Shares of PhysicsWallah gained over 6% during the week to end at ₹108.2. During the week, the edtech company informed exchanges that a tax demand for assessment year 2023-24 (AY24) had been reduced to ₹192.76 Cr from ₹263.34 Cr following a rectification order. PhysicsWallah has challenged the revised demand as well.

The I-T department issued the tax order in March, treating investments received during the year AY24, including funds from SEBI-registered Category II AIFs, as taxable income.

Separately, a report said that PhysicsWallah was in talks to acquire test-prep platform “Rojgar With Ankit”. Responding to a query by the exchanges, the company said it was evaluating the acquisition.

“The company continuously evaluates various strategic opportunities with a view to enhance stakeholder value and drive growth for the organisation. In this regard, the company remains in discussions with relevant parties from time to time, including the one referred to above [Rojgar With Ankit],” it said.

Edited by Vinaykumar Rai
Creatives by Varshita Srivastava

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Kiwi Cofounder, CBO Mohit Bedi Transitions To Advisory Role

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:24:25 +0000

Mohit Bedi, cofounder and CBO of fintech startup Kiwi, has stepped down from his executive position citing personal reasons.

In a LinkedIn post, Bedi said he will stay closely involved with the startup as an advisor and long-term shareholder.

On the professional front, Bedi said he plans to take up advisory roles, funding and angel investing.

Founded in 2022 by Bedi, Siddharth Mehta, and Anup Agrawal, Kiwi issues virtual RuPay credit cards, in partnership with banks, and enables users to link those cards to their UPI account, offering “credit‑on‑UPI”. Once linked, users can use their Kiwi‑issued RuPay card like a regular UPI payment method.

Kiwi generates revenue by enabling credit-on-UPI transactions, earning via processing fees, rewards partnerships, and merchant commissions.

In FY25, the startup recorded an operating revenue of ₹3.8 Cr against ₹3.6 Cr in FY24. Its net loss zoomed 158.8% to ₹64.2 Cr during the year from ₹24.8 Cr in the previous fiscal year, as its expenses skyrocketed.

Last year, Kiwi raised ₹208.5 Cr in its Series B funding round, led by Vertex Ventures, to boost its growth, advance product roadmap and sharpen its focus on building sustainable unit economics.

The startup has raised a total of around $43 Mn in funding till date. It counts Stellaris Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, and Nexus Ventures among its backers.

The development comes amid a rising wave of CXO-level exits and leadership changes across the Indian startup ecosystem. For instance, Policybazaar CEO and principal office Tarun Mathur recently resigned from his position citing personal commitments.

Similarly, home interior and innovation unicorn Livspace cofounder and India CEO Saurabh Jain also quit to pursue “personal interests” in February this year.

Earlier this month, home appliance startup Atomberg also reshuffled roles among its cofounders, with Manoj Meena transitioning to the role of chairman and MD. Sibabrata (Shibam) Das will now serve as the CEO of Atomberg Technologies

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Centre Recognises Record 55,200 Startups In FY26

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:24:31 +0000

The Centre recognised more than 55,200 startups in FY26, marking the highest number of startups recognised in a single financial year since the launch of the ‘Startup India’ initiative in 2016.

With this, the total number of DPIIT-recognised startups in the country jumped to over 2.23 Lakh as of March 31, 2026, highlighting the continued expansion of the country’s startup ecosystem, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

The registered startups have collectively created more than 23.36 Lakh direct jobs so far, with over 4.99 Lakh jobs added in FY26 alone.

The number of recognised startups rose 51.6% in FY26 from over 36,400 in FY25, while direct jobs created increased 36.1% during the same period.

More than 1.07 Lakh recognised startups have at least one woman director or partner, accounting for nearly 48% of the total startup base, the statement added.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat emerged as the top startup hubs in terms of recognised entities and job creation. Maharashtra led the list with over 38,660 recognised startups, followed by Karnataka with 22,600 and Uttar Pradesh with 21,960.

State / UT	Recognised Startups (as of March 31, 2026)	Direct Jobs Created
Maharashtra	38,660+	4,13,900+
Karnataka	22,600+	2,46,000+
Uttar Pradesh	21,960+	2,11,580+
Delhi	21,120+	2,36,640+
Gujarat	19,270+	2,14,800+
Tamil Nadu	14,830+	1,52,900
Telangana	12,520+	1,36,570+
Haryana	11,620+	1,39,600+
Kerala	8,620+	74,130+
Rajasthan	8,100+	83,100+

Notably, the Centre, through the Startup India initiative, has taken a number of steps over the past decade to promote innovation and job creation. As a result, India has the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.

The Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) are some of the initiatives of the Centre to promote startups.

Under FFS, more than ₹7,000 Cr has been disbursed to over 135 AIFs, which have further invested over ₹26,900 Cr in more than 1,420 startups by the end of FY26.

Recently, the DPIIT also notified the second edition of the Startup India Fund of Funds (FoF 2.0) with a total corpus of ₹10,000 Cr. The new fund came into effect from April 13, with disbursals to SEBI-registered AIFs planned across the 16th and 17th Finance Commission cycles.

Under FoF 2.0, the DPIIT has expanded the scheme’s scope to include AIFs backing deeptech startups, micro VCs supporting early stage startups, tech-driven manufacturing startups, as well as sector- and stage-agnostic ventures.

While sectors like ecommerce, fintech and enterprise tech continue to see emergence of startups trying to address prevailing issues, the maturity in the Indian startup ecosystem has also resulted in focus turning to sectors like AI, spacetech, robotics, and more, over the past few years.

As a result, deeptech emerged as one of the most funded startup sectors in 2025, with VCs launching dedicated funds to back startups working on core technologies. Overall, Indian tech startups raised over $11 Bn last year.

The maturity of the Indian startup ecosystem is also reflected in the fact that more than 60 new-age tech companies are listed on the stock exchanges, with most of them going public over the past few years. The IPO pipeline for startups also remains strong, with nearly 50 new-age tech companies eyeing public listings.

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From Hosteller To GobbleCube— Indian Startups Raised $60 Mn This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:24:21 +0000

Funding activity in the Indian startup ecosystem took a sharp hit this week. Homegrown new-age tech companies collectively managed to raise just $60.4 Mn across 15 deals between April 13 and 17.

This marks an 83% week-on-week decline from $361.5 Mn raised across 23 deals in the previous week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [April 13 — 17]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
16 Apr 2026	Hosteller	Travel Tech	Booking Services	B2C	$16 Mn	Series B	PROMAFT Partners, V3 Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Merisis Wealth Trust	PROMAFT Partners, V3 Ventures
15 Apr 2026	GobbleCube	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$15 Mn	Series A	Susquehanna Venture Capital, Info Edge Ventures, Kae Capital	Susquehanna Venture Capital
18 Apr 2026	HOCCO	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$10.7 Mn	–	Sauce.vc	Sauce.vc
14 Apr 2026	TraqCheck	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$8 Mn	Series A	IvyCap Ventures, IIFL	IvyCap Ventures
16 Apr 2026	Aliste Technologies	Clean Tech	–	B2C	$3.2 Mn	Pre-Series A	Big Global JSC, YourNest Venture Capital, Hbeon Labs	Big Global JSC
16 Apr 2026	Intellithink	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Internet Of Things (IoT) & Hardware	B2B	$1.8 Mn	Seed	Pentathlon Ventures, Anicut Capital, Veltis Capital	Pentathlon Ventures
16 Apr 2026	Sarla Aviation	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Aerial Vehicle	B2B	$1.1 Mn	–	IndiGo Ventures	IndiGo Ventures
15 Apr 2026	Ivory	Health Tech	Diagnostics	B2C	$1 Mn	Seed	Draper Associates, SAGE Venture Fund, MoSJE, IFCI Ventures, SIDBI	–
16 Apr 2026	Unbound	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$862K	–	Fireside Ventures	Fireside Ventures
16 Apr 2026	FIFTH SENSE	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$679K	Pre-Seed	OTP Ventures, Sadev Ventures, ISV Capital, Rohit Kapoor (Swigyy), Amit Damani (StayVista)	OTP Ventures
15 Apr 2026	Swageazy	Ecommerce	D2C	B2B	$579K	–	Info Edge Ventures, OnGrid, HROne	Info Edge Ventures
16 Apr 2026	Cohoma Coffee	Ecommerce	D2C	B2B2C	$539K	Seed	Inflection Point Ventures, Swishin VC	Inflection Point Venture
15 Apr 2026	Helium	Real Estate Tech	Real Estate Services	B2C	$539K	–	Albinder Dhindsa (Eternal), Kunal Shah (CRED), Pankaj Chaddah (Shyft), Mohit Gupta (COYU), Akriti Chopra (Eternal), Gunjan Patidar, Nitin Gupta (Uni Cards)
13 Apr 2026	Smart Garage	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	$257K	Pre-Series A	–	–
16 Apr 2026	KingdomOfChess	Edtech	Digital Learning Platform	B2C	$177K	–	BeyondSeed Angel Fund, Arjun Vaidya (V3 Ventures), Rakesh Amerneni (RevOptic), Jai Ostwal, Vikrant Potnis (FundEnable), FBSPL, Aeroflex Enterprises	BeyondSeed Angel Fund
13 Apr 2026	Dev Milk Foods	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Fireside Ventures, Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office	–
	Source: Inc42

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

The ecommerce sector minted six deals during the period under review, yet it managed to raise only $13 Mn in total. Ice cream brand HOCCO raised $10.7 Mn from Sauce.vc, which emerged as the largest deal in the segment this week
AI emerged as the most funded startup segment this week, with two startups raising $23 Mn in total.
Fireside Ventures emerged as the most active investor this week, backing two startups – Unbound and Dev Milk Foods.
Seed-stage funding crashed almost 86% to $3.3 Mn this week compared to $22.9 Mn last week.

Other Developments This Week

Ecommerce giant Flipkart is planning to raise a pre-IPO round of $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn from Indian as well as foreign investors.
The IndiaAI Mission has selected 10 homegrown AI startups for the second cohort of its ‘IndiaAI Startups Global Acceleration Programme’. The selected companies include Awiros, Flaunt, PredCo, SkyServe, among others.
Shadowfax acquired the remaining 10.41% stake in logistics company Criticalog India Private Limited, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of the listed startup.

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Delhi HC Upholds Ban On Flipkart’s Use Of ‘MarQ’ Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:24:35 +0000

The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Flipkart in its long-running trademark dispute with Marc Enterprises, effectively upholding an earlier injunction that restrained the ecommerce major from using the ‘MarQ’ brand for its appliances.

The case dates back to 2018, when Marc Enterprises approached a trial court alleging that Flipkart’s ‘MarQ’ branding infringed its registered ‘MARC’ trademark.

Marc, which has been selling electrical goods such as fittings and appliances under the ‘MARC’ mark since the early 1980s, argued that the similarity between the two names could mislead consumers.

The trial court had granted an interim injunction against Flipkart, which the ecommerce company later challenged in the HC.

In its judgment delivered on April 10, 2026, the HC refused to interfere with the order. It said the trial court had applied the correct legal principles and there was no reason for an appellate court to take a different view unless the earlier decision was clearly flawed. In this case, it found no such issue.

The court said that ‘MARC’ and ‘MarQ’ are phonetically and structurally similar and an “average consumer” with limited attention to detail could easily confuse the two. It also noted that both companies operate in closely related categories of electrical and electronic goods, and their products are sold through similar channels, including online platforms. This overlap, the court said, increases the likelihood of confusion.

Flipkart had argued that its ‘MarQ’ brand, launched in 2017, was designed to signal quality at affordable prices and was always used along with its house brand. It also said that its products are sold online, where buyers are more careful and less likely to be confused. The company also highlighted the trademark registrations it later secured for “Flipkart MarQ” and “MarQ by Flipkart”.

However, the court did not accept these arguments. It said that adding the Flipkart name does not remove the similarity between the core marks, especially when the competing words remain nearly identical in sound and appearance.

It also rejected the contention that online sales reduce confusion, noting that phonetic similarity still matters even in ecommerce settings.

On the issue of trademark rights, the court highlighted that Marc Enterprises is the prior user, with registrations dating back to 1984 and use claimed since 1981. Flipkart, on the other hand, adopted ‘MarQ’ only in 2017. The court said this gap strengthens Marc’s claim and weakens Flipkart’s defence.

It also clarified that later trademark registrations obtained by Flipkart do not override the earlier injunction or settle the question of infringement at this stage.

Notably, the ruling comes at a time when Flipkart is preparing for a public listing and exploring a $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn pre-IPO fundraise from both domestic and global investors.

The company has held discussions with multiple investment banks in the US and India to gauge investor interest, even as a final call on the round is yet to be taken by its majority owner Walmart.

On the financial front, Flipkart’s marketplace arm reported a 14% rise in operating revenue to ₹20,493 Cr in FY25. Its loss narrowed 37% YoY to ₹1,494 Cr.

The post Delhi HC Upholds Ban On Flipkart’s Use Of ‘MarQ’ Brand appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Centre Sets Up AI Governance Body To Align Policy Across Ministries

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:24:16 +0000

The Centre has set up a new high-level body to take charge of how India governs AI, as it looks to tighten oversight and bring more coordination to policymaking in the space.

Called the AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), the body will be chaired by union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson.

It will act as the government’s top decision-making group on AI policy, bringing together key ministries, regulators and advisors under one framework.

The move follows recommendations in the government’s AI governance guidelines and the Economic Survey, both of which flagged the need for a central authority to align how different arms of the government approach AI.

The AIGEG will include key stakeholders such as the principal scientific advisor, chief economic advisor, CEO of NITI Aayog, and secretaries from departments like telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat will also be part of the body.

The AIGEG will be supported by a technology and policy expert committee, which will advise on global AI developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities.

At its core, the AIGEG has been tasked with aligning AI policy across ministries, reviewing existing regulatory frameworks and issuing guidelines to ensure companies comply with Indian laws. It will also examine emerging risks, identify gaps in regulation and assess the need for legal changes, while encouraging responsible innovation and wider adoption of AI across sectors.

In addition, the group will work with industry stakeholders to draw up a roadmap for AI deployment over the next decade. This will include assessing the impact on jobs, tracking automation trends and understanding regional differences. It will also classify AI use cases based on readiness and outline strategies to manage workforce transitions.

This comes at a time when the advances and rapid adoption of AI have raised concerns on the impact on jobs. Across the globe, companies are slashing roles for higher efficiency and automation, reshaping the workforce.

Besides, AI regulations are another point of contention, with the government particularly concerned about AI-generated content. To address this, the Centre amended the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, bringing AI-generated content within regulatory ambit. The updated rules, which came into effect on February 20, 2026, define “synthetically generated information” and require platforms to clearly label such content.

Earlier, the government was reportedly also considering expanding powers under Section 69A of the IT Act to allow ministries such as home affairs, external affairs, defence and information and broadcasting to issue content blocking orders, a function currently limited to the IT ministry. If approved, platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube could receive takedown directives from multiple departments.

In March, the electronics and information technology ministry (MeitY) also moved to tighten compliance timelines for tech giants such as Google, Meta and X. The proposed changes, issued under Section 87 of the IT Act, mandate that intermediaries comply with all directives, advisories and guidelines related to the implementation of these rules.

The framework also seeks to strengthen content takedown requirements. Platforms hosting content that could be used to commit unlawful acts may be required to remove it within three hours of receiving directions from the government.

Separately, MeitY has extended the deadline for stakeholders to submit feedback on the draft amendments. Comments can now be submitted until April 29, instead of the earlier April 12 deadline.

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Startups In DPDP Maze, Flipkart Eyes $2.5 Bn & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:24:35 +0000

Can Startups Solve The DPDP Puzzle?

A regulatory scramble has ignited a ₹10,000 Cr compliance market. With a year left for enterprises to comply with the DPDP Act, a new wave of startups is racing to turn the privacy mandate into a billion-dollar infrastructure play. So, what is this hullabaloo all about?

Compliance Gold Rush: The DPDP Rules, notified last year, have set a tight deadline for enterprises – consent manager obligations begin in November 2026, while full core operational requirements must be met by May 2027. This roadmap has unlocked an estimated $1.2 Bn compliance-as-a-service market.

Startups are racing to fill this readiness gap as implementation across the BFSI and ecommerce sectors remains dangerously uneven.

The New Frontrunners: Leading the charge is IDfy, which recently won the IT ministry’s challenge by beating giants like Jio Platforms as well as Zoop and Concur. However, they aren’t alone in this crowding ecosystem:

Perfios has launched its DPDP Suite to operationalise consent for fintechs
Cross Identity unveiled Vishwaas AI, a portal designed for identity and access management.
IT giant TCS is also joining the fray, seeking consent manager permit under the Act.

The SME Woes: While tech giants possess the capital to build bespoke stacks, India’s millions of SMEs face a disproportionate burden. A failure to adapt could lead to slower tech adoption or severe penalties. In response, the market is pivoting toward accessibility. IDfy plans to open-source parts of its code to help smaller players achieve minimum compliance, while Cross Identity is offering its platform with zero licence fees for an initial period.

That said, all eyes will be on India’s compliance ecosystem as the first major DPDP Act enforcement milestone looms in late-2026. So, can homegrown step up to the challenge or will they crumble under the regulatory pressure? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Flipkart Mulls Mega Pre-IPO Round

The ecommerce giant is exploring raising $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn in its pre-IPO round from Indian and foreign investors. The final call on the matter will be taken by parent Walmart, which is not keen on diluting its stake prior to the much-anticipated IPO.
Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is said to have held meetings with multiple domestic and global bankers (in the US, Singapore and UK) to discuss the potential fundraise and investor appetite for the listing.
This comes as the ecommerce major has been gearing up for its listing. Last month, the company, which was last pegged at $36 Bn, completed its reverse flip to India from Singapore. CFO Sriram Venkaraman also stepped down from his post last month.

Decoding Agnikul’s Cosmos Race

As India’s spacetech story moves to commercial ambition, Agnikul Cosmos wants to become a key homegrown player in the sector. Its recent Agnite engine test-firing grabbed headlines for being the world’s largest 3D-printed single-piece rocket engine.
Agnikul was founded nearly a decade ago, with a deliberate focus on affordable, flexible launches for smaller payloads. As a result, the company zeroed in on 3D printing for its core design choice, which trims the process from months to about a week.
However, the startup’s real proposition is not raw lift capacity but mission control. It wants to give customers flexibility on timing, orbit and drop-off rather than forcing them into fixed schedules and routes, and claims it can price that experience competitively.

Krutrim’s AI Chatbot Goes Offline

Ola Krutrim’s Kruti is no longer accessible on app marketplaces. The AI assistant app has also been removed from the Ola platform, with the Kruti website showing a “site not found” error message.
Launched in June last year, Kruti is an AI assistant capable of handling text, voice and image inputs. Built on Krutrim’s V2 model with 12 Bn parameters, it was integrated into Ola’s services for cab booking, food ordering and bill payments.
The disruption comes amid growing turbulence at Krutrim. The company has undertaken multiple rounds of layoffs since last year, while its offerings have seen limited adoption so far. Top-level exits have also marred the company in recent months.

Desi Farms’ FY26 Show

The D2C dairy brand’s revenue crossed the ₹300 Cr mark in FY26, up about 8X YoY, on the back of the company scaling its business via acquisitions and expansion of distribution channels. It is eyeing ₹800 Cr revenue in FY27.
Almost 38% of the startup’s FY26 sales came from the D2C channel, while B2C and B2B avenues contributed 34% and 28%, respectively. Value-added milk products brought in the majority of Desi Farms’ revenue during the fiscal.
Founded in 2022, Desi Farms claims to deliver chemical-free and preservative-free milk and dairy products within 12-24 hours of milking. It claims to be present at over 10,000 outlets, and has raised more than ₹200 Cr till date.

The Hosteller Bags ₹150 Cr

The hostel chain has raised around $16 Mn in its Series B round co-led by PROMAFT Partners and V3 Ventures to strengthen operational capabilities and brand building. It also plans to set up 25,000 beds across the country in the next 36 months.
The startup is also looking to foray into the supper app domain by launching a dedicated app, which offers accommodation, F&B, mobility, and curated experiences under a single platform.
Founded in 2014, The Hosteller currently operates more than 75 properties across 13 states. It also allows users to book private rooms or villas to stay in groups. It has raised more than $26.5 Mn to date.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Mafkin Is Disrupting Maritime Maintenance

India’s maritime maintenance ecosystem still depends heavily on manual labour, which makes work slower, costlier and riskier for operators. Mafkin Robotics wants to change this with an autonomous robotic fleet that can clean, inspect and repair maritime megastructures.

Robots For The Sea: Founded in 2023, Mafkin Robotics is building an autonomous robotic fleet for cleaning, inspection, analysis, report generation and minor repairs of assets such as ship hulls, cargo holds, and oil storage tanks. The company recently piloted its flagship vertical crawler Angad at L&T’s Kattupalli shipyard and Cochin shipyard.

The Safety Pitch: The startup claims its systems can reduce operational downtime and labour costs by up to 60%, while also improving safety and resource management. This is relevant in high-risk maritime environments, where manual inspection often remains the default despite multiple operational risks.

The Leasing Model: Instead of selling its fleet, Mafkin uses a contract-based model that allows maintenance operators to lease or rent the robots instead of making large upfront investments. That approach could make adoption easier in a sector where capital discipline matters and downtime can be expensive.

The startup operates in the ship hull cleaning and maritime maintenance services market, which is projected to cross $2.6 Bn by 2030. So, can Mafkin’s robots become the new standard for maintaining maritime assets?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s family offices are slowly but steadily carving out a niche in the homegrown startup ecosystem, mixing founder instincts with long-term conviction. Here are the family offices bankrolling India’s startup boom…

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Pocket FM Claims EBITDA Profitability, Crosses $400 Mn ARR

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 20:24:41 +0000

Audio entertainment platform Pocket FM’s cofounder and CEO Rohan Nayak yesterday said that the company crossed the $400 Mn (₹3,720 Cr) annualised revenue rate (ARR) mark in March 2026.

A picture attached with Nayak’s post on LinkedIn implied that Pocket FM’s ARR stood at $430 Mn (₹4,000 Cr) last month, with a projected $450 Mn (₹4,185 Cr) expected by April 2026. This represents a 2X YoY jump from March 2025, when the platform’s revenue run rate stood at $198 Mn.

Nayak also claimed that the company is free cash flow positive at nearly 5% EBITDA, without specifying the period for the same. He, however, attributed the surge to AI-native “storytelling system”.

“While building Pocket, we reimagined the entertainment playbook by pivoting to an AI-native storytelling system. At the core of this AI-native engine is our fiction writing co-pilot, trained on billions of minutes of engagement data. It… (allows) us to rapidly identify potential blockbusters and adapt stories across languages and cultures almost instantly,” added Pocket FM CEO.

Nayak also said that the company is operational in 20+ countries, adding that 3 Lakh creators produce 80,000+ hours of content every month on its platform. Pocket FM also claimed that it has 4.25 Lakh hours of content in its kitty, with users consuming 10,400 Cr minutes (173 Cr hours) of content yearly on its platform.

Founded in 2018 by Nayak, Nishanth KS and Prateek Dixit, Pocket FM is an audio streaming platform that offers diverse content across multiple languages and genres. Backed by Lightspeed, Stepstone Group, Tencent and Times Internet, the startup has raised $196 Mn to date. It was last pegged at $750 Mn during its $103 Mn Series D fundraise in 2024.

The surge in numbers comes after years of firefighting by the company. After initially struggling with monetisation, the OTT platform last year laid off 75 employees. As if this was enough, rival Kuku FM’s cofounder and CEO Lal Chand Bisu last year also accused Pocket FM of running a smear campaign against his company.

Last year, Inc42 also reported that Pocket FM was facing multiple lawsuits in the US, where about eleven “independent contractors” alleged that the company circumvented a number of US laws related to the classification of workers, wage provisions and working conditions.

However, the tide changed after the company began leveraging AI to automate content production and providing writers with tools like ‘Copilot’ for scripting. The platform also uses AI for generating voices and automating sound design to speed up publishing and enhance engagement.

On the back of this, the company claimed that its revenues grew 68% to ₹1,768 Cr in FY25, up from ₹1,052 Cr in the previous fiscal. The startup is eyeing a piece of the Indian audio OTT space, which is projected to become a $3.2 Bn opportunity by 2030.

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D2C Brand Desi Farms’ Revenue Surges 8X To ₹300 Cr In FY26

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:24:44 +0000

D2C dairy brand Desi Farms’ revenue crossed the ₹300 Cr mark in FY26, marking an about 8X jump from ₹38 Cr in FY25, as the brand scaled its business via acquisitions and distribution expansion.

The brand is targeting breaching the ₹800 Cr revenue mark in FY27, founder and CEO Sunil Shahi told Inc42. However, he didn’t disclose the bottom line number.

Shahi claimed that Desi Farms has been profitable for the past three years. It reported a net profit of ₹2 Cr in FY25, a 42.8% jump from a profit of ₹1.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

While 38% of the startup’s FY26 sales came from the D2C channel, 34% came from B2C and 28% from B2B. Value-added milk products brought in the majority of Desi Farms’ revenue in FY26, while milk sales contributed about 5% of its total sales.

The brand’s top line growth came on the back of its inorganic acquisitions. Last year, it acquired the ‘Healthy Mithai’ brand from Nivasat Foods Pvt Ltd in an all-equity deal. The deal size was not disclosed.

Notably, Healthy Mithai is a Mumbai based D2C brand founded in 2021 by Deepak Jain and Prabhinder Singh. It specialises in producing and selling sugar-free, diabetic-friendly, and preservative-free traditional Indian sweets.

In July 2025, Inc42 exclusively reported that Desi Farms acquired Suruchi Dairy, a 28-year-old dairy firm with a daily processing capacity of up to 3.5 lakh litres, for ₹130 Cr.

To power the acquisitions, Desi Farms raised ₹155 Cr in FY26 from investors including NAV Capital, NOVA Capital, 3 State Ventures, among others, Shahi said.

Founded in 2022, Desi Farms started as a B2B dairy brand before pivoting to a farm-to-table D2C model. It claims to deliver chemical-free and preservative-free milk and dairy products within 12-24 hours of milking, and markets freshness as a key differentiator.

The brand also expanded into new product categories, including A2 milk-based ice creams with low sugar and high fibre, flavoured milk drinks, high-protein paneer and low-fat dahi in FY26. It has launched 62 ice cream SKUs priced between ₹10 and ₹50 under the Suruchi brand.

From an initial presence in Maharashtra, it has expanded to cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Delhi NCR, and is now pushing deeper into North India.

Its omnichannel strategy spans its own app and website, quick commerce platforms such as Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy, as well as ecommerce and offline retail. The brand claims to be present at over 10,000 outlets, including kirana stores and modern trade, building on its earlier network of exclusive stores.

Quick commerce is emerging as a key growth driver, with Desi Farms expecting to cross ₹9 Cr in monthly sales in April. Its sugar-free sweets, including the ‘Healthy Mithai’ range, are now available online and across ecommerce platforms.

Desi Farms competes with the likes of Amul, Mother Dairy, Milky Mist, Country Delight, among others, in India’s large and growing dairy market, where demand for fresh and value-added products is rising.

The post D2C Brand Desi Farms’ Revenue Surges 8X To ₹300 Cr In FY26 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Flipkart Eyes $2-2.5 Bn Pre-IPO Round: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:24:36 +0000

Ecommerce giant Flipkart is exploring raising a pre-IPO round of $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn from Indian and foreign investors.

The company has held meetings with multiple investment bankers in recent months, Moneycontrol reported, citing sources. However, the final call on the potential mega round will be taken by Walmart, which owns 80% of Flipkart and might not want to dilute its stake prior to a much-anticipated IPO.

Flipkart didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the development till the time of publishing this story. It, however, told Moneycontrol that it doesn’t comment on market speculation and remains focused on “strengthening its business and long-term growth”.

The report added that Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy held meetings with bankers across the US, Singapore and London to discuss the potential fundraise and investor appetite for it. Flipkart’s leadership spoke to bankers like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America (BofA), Citigroup, among others, in the US to discuss both the private market raise and its upcoming IPO.

In India, the company has been in talks with heads of banks including Axis Bank, JM Financial and Kotak Mahindra Bank to understand investor appetite, the report said.

Krishnamurthy also met US-based investment management firm Capital Group to discuss the raise. Other institutional investors have also expressed interest in participating in the round, the report added.

While a valuation for the round hasn’t been decided yet, a pre-IPO round could provide an offramp for existing investors prior to the IPO, increase paper returns for Walmart, and also provide a good idea for investor interest in the public listing, which is expected to happen in the next 12-18 months.

Notably, Walmart invested $16 Bn to acquire Flipkart in 2018. The ecommerce giant was last valued at $36 Bn when it raised a private round worth $350 Mn from Google in 2024, making it one of the highest valued startups in India.

Last month, Flipkart completed its reverse flip to India from Singapore as it prepares for the IPO. Its CFO Sriram Venkaraman also stepped down from his post last month after a 15-year stint with the ecommerce giant.

Over the past year, Flipkart has been investing in its quick commerce offering, Flipkart Minutes, amid the explosive growth in the segment. In the first quarter of 2026, Flipkart Minutes scaled to 800 dark stores and is on track to touch 1,200 in the near term.

On the financial front, Flipkart Internet, the company’s marketplace arm, reported a 14% uptick in its FY25 operating revenue to ₹20,493 Cr from ₹17,907 Cr in FY24. During the same period, its net loss declined 37% to ₹1,494 Cr from ₹2,359 Cr in the previous year.

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The Hosteller Raises ₹150 Cr To Expand Footprint

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 07:24:38 +0000

Hostel chain The Hosteller has raised ₹150 Cr (around $16 Mn) in its Series B funding round co-led by PROMAFT Partners and V3 Ventures, with participation from ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Merisis Wealth Trust, and undisclosed family offices.

The Mumbai-based hostel chain plans to deploy the capital to expand across key travel destinations, strengthen operational capabilities, and brand building.

The Hosteller is targeting setting up 25,000 beds across the country within the next 36 months. Additionally, it is also preparing to launch a travel super app comprising accommodation, F&B, mobility, and curated experiences into a single platform.

“This round is about sustained acceleration to 25,000 beds, a full stack travel platform, and building the kind of company that can define this category for decades,” The Hosteller founder and CEO Pranav Dangi said.

Founded by Dangi in 2014, The Hosteller offers affordable and accessible backpacker hostels across India. It currently operates more than 75 properties in 13 states. It claims to have added more than 30 properties and grown traveller capacity by nearly 70% in the last 12 months.

Apart from offering hostels, it also offers options like properties for workations. The Hosteller Colive allows users to book dorm rooms, private rooms or villas to stay in groups.

Prior to this round, The Hosteller raised ₹48 Cr in a fresh funding round led by V3 Ventures in 2024. Overall, it has raised about $26.5 Mn to date from the likes of BlackSoil, Synergy Capital Partners, Faad Network, JITO Angel Network, among others.

This comes at a time when staycations and workations are becoming popular among the young working professionals. As a result, hostels and dorm rooms have gained a lot of traction over the past decade.

Investors are backing hostel companies and startups as they look to capitalise on the growing opportunity. For instance, goSTOPS secured ₹35 C in its Series A funding round last year.

Similarly, coliving startup Tribe Stays recently raised $2.8 Mn in its seed round co-led by Artha Venture Fund and Riverwalk Holdings to increase its total bed count to 25,000 across cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram, and Pune.

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Schmooze Unveils Voice AI Matchmaker ‘Riya’ To Tackle Swipe Fatigue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 07:24:41 +0000

India’s crowded dating app market may be inching towards a shift beyond swipes. Bengaluru-based Schmooze, a Gen Z-focused dating platform, has launched an AI-powered personal matchmaker, signalling a new approach to how young users discover potential partners.

The feature, called ‘Riya’, uses conversational voice AI to interact with users, understand their personality, and recommend matches based on deeper compatibility signals rather than surface-level preferences.

Founded by a Stanford Business School alumna, Vidya Madhavan and Abhinav Anurag, Elevation Capital backed Schmooze uses a meme-led matching format where users swipe on memes, not photos, to gauge humour and personality. With the launch of Riya, the startup is now betting on AI to address one of online dating’s biggest pain points, finding meaningful matches in a sea of profiles.

The move comes as India’s dating apps market is projected to grow to $1.42 Bn by 2030 from $788 Mn in 2024, driven largely by Gen Z users, even as global players like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge dominate user mindshare.

Schmooze, which also got featured on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, claims that over 300K users have already interacted with Riya as part of a phased rollout. “We are also seeing that retention among users of the personal matchmaker is now 2X higher,” said cofounder Vidya Madhavan.

The AI assistant engages users in natural, voice-led conversations, ranging from casual questions about their weekends to deeper discussions around values, lifestyle, and relationship goals, before suggesting matches tailored to their preferences. Notably, Schmooze has built its own voice AI stack and an underlying large language model, fine-tuned on dating-specific data, with the aim of reducing costs while maintaining greater control over user privacy.

Moving Beyond Swipes: Schmooze’s AI Bet

At its core, Schmooze is attempting to move away from the swipe-based model that has defined dating apps for over a decade. While platforms like Tinder and Bumble rely heavily on photos and short bios, Schmooze has focused on personality-first matching, initially through memes and now via AI-led conversations.

The idea for Riya stemmed from an earlier AI feature, ‘People Finder’, where users entered highly specific partner preferences. “People were extremely particular, typing things like ‘extrovert who works in tech and likes to cook’ or ‘6 ft, chiselled jaw, Malayali, prefers to laze in their free time’,” said Madhavan. The insight: while some users are open to random matches, others have sharply defined expectations that existing apps struggle to capture effectively.

Riya aims to bridge this gap by replacing manual filtering with active, voice-based discovery. The AI captures nuanced preferences such as humour style, communication patterns, and family orientation through one-on-one conversations. In some cases, the company claims users spent 40-50 minutes interacting with the assistant, even seeking advice on date ideas, prompting Schmooze to expand into personalised recommendations.

This approach also aligns with broader Gen Z behaviour, where interacting with AI assistants is increasingly normalised, positioning Schmooze as a more intuitive alternative to swipe-heavy platforms.

Competition, however, remains intense with players like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge and Aisle, who are experimenting with differentiated formats including compatibility quizzes, human-assisted matchmaking and swipe-and-bio models.

Schmooze, however, is leaning on its data advantage with over 5 Mn users and 3.5 Bn+ meme swipes to refine its understanding of user preferences. The company claims a relatively balanced gender ratio of 3:1 (male-to-female), significantly better than many mainstream platforms, where skewed ratios often affect user experience.

As dating apps grapple with user fatigue and declining engagement from repetitive swiping, Schmooze’s conversational AI could signal the next phase of the category’s evolution. Whether conversational matchmaking can deliver on its promise of deeper compatibility at scale remains to be seen, but for now, the startup is betting that users are ready to trade swipes for conversations.

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GobbleCube Nets $15 Mn To Help Brands Scale On Digital Marketplaces

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:24:14 +0000

AI-powered analytics startup GobbleCube has raised $15 Mn (about ₹139 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Susquehanna Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors InfoEdge Ventures and Kae Capital.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to enhance its AI capabilities and expand its global footprint, including in the US, China, and Southeast Asia. It also plans to use a part of the capital for hiring to strengthen its global go-to-market efforts.

A portion of the funds will also be deployed to deepen its presence across digital marketplaces, where it already supports over 30 platforms across India, MENA, and LATAM.

Founded in 2022 by former Blinkit executives Manas Gupta, Srikumar Nair, and Nitesh Jindal, GobbleCube is building an AI-powered platform that helps consumer brands improve revenue management by automating data analysis and decision-making. It acts as a copilot to help brands increase sales across ecommerce and quick commerce platforms by identifying revenue leaks, demand gaps, and high-growth micro-markets.

How GobbleCube Is Helping Brands Scale

Cofounder Gupta told Inc42 that the platform pulls in data from different places – stock levels, marketplace performance, and how people are searching and buying – and turns it into insights that brands can use. Instead of switching between multiple dashboards, teams get a unified view of product availability, demand upsurge, and how they stack up against competitors.

On top of this sits an AI layer that analyses millions of data points in real time to identify the most critical problems or opportunities for a brand. Instead of requiring teams to manually interpret data, the system prioritises high-impact actions and can recommend or execute them through what the startup describes as an agentic AI framework.

“We’ve designed our AI models to identify the most important problems and act on them. If human intervention is needed, the system flags it to the relevant teams. The idea is to keep everything under the hood and give users a simple answer-first system that tells them what is happening and what needs to be done, instead of making them navigate multiple dashboards like data analysts,” Gupta said.

GobbleCube’s platform connects key functions such as sales, supply chain, pricing, and performance marketing, ensuring decisions are not made in silos. For instance, if a product faces supply constraints, the system can flag the issue, prevent unnecessary marketing spends, and guide inventory allocation accordingly.

GobbleCube also focuses on hyperlocal decision-making, analysing demand variations across regions to help brands tailor their strategies.

With the latest round, the startup’s total funding to date has reached over $20 Mn, including its $3.5 Mn pre-Series A round.

The startup, which came out of beta mode in September 2024, claims to have onboarded over 400 brands across enterprise and D2C segments, including 45 large consumer processed goods companies such as HUL, P&G, Tata Consumer Products, ITC, Godrej, Beiersdorf, MTR, L’Oréal, and Hershey’s. It said it has seen 10X revenue growth over the past year.

It competes with the likes of Dcluttr, CommerceIQ, 42Signals, and Saras Pulse, which offer retail analytics solutions for brands operating on quick commerce platforms.

Notably, India’s ecommerce market is projected to grow to $400 Bn by 2030, while the 10-minute delivery segment is expected to expand to become a $35-40 Bn opportunity by the same time, fuelled by rising consumer demand for convenience, faster delivery, and increasing adoption across urban markets.

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Another Reshuffle At BharatPe, Justdial’s Q4 Show & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:24:24 +0000

BharatPe Cofounder Steps Down

BharatPe’s cofounder and COO, Shashvat Nakrani, has stepped down from its executive role to “explore” new ventures. As the fintech unicorn rebuilds after years of leadership churn, legal feuds and business reorientation, what does his departure mean for BharatPe?

Founder Steps Back: Nakrani will now shift to a strategic advisor role at BharatPe from May, while continuing as a board director. In his new position, he will oversee fundraising, M&A, IPO planning and long-term strategy. The company will continue to be led by existing management.

Post-Turbulence Era: Nakrani’s departure comes at a time when BharatPe is trying to show its investors that its governance architecture has stabilised. The 2022 board-led internal probe and the removal of fellow cofounder Ashneer Grover triggered a wider leadership reset, with multiple senior exits across technology, lending, payments and finance.

Cofounder Bhavik Koladiya also eventually left, while Nalin Negi, who came in as interim CEO, took over in 2024. Since then, BharatPe has tried to rebuild around a more structured and less founder-centric leadership model.

Business Rebounds: Meanwhile, BharatPe’s business has been improving. FY25 losses narrowed sharply by 82% YoY to ₹88.2 Cr, while operating revenue climbed nearly 17% YoY to ₹1,667 Cr. The shift away from pure payments toward lending-led growth has become the centrepiece of this recovery. While merchant loans and subscription products bring most of the revenue, the company’s wealth tech play is also cushioning its growth.

With an IPO target still in play over the next 10-12 months, BharatPe is trying to prove that its governance and business reset are finally moving in the same direction. Amid this backdrop, here is all about Nakrani stepping down from BharatPe…

From The Editor’s Desk

Justdial’s Q4 Show

The digital classifieds platform’s net profit tanked 37% YoY to ₹100 Cr in Q4 FY26, despite operating revenue rising 6% YoY to ₹307.2 Cr. Including other income of ₹48.6 Cr, Justdial’s total income stood at ₹355.9 Cr.
Meanwhile, total expenses increased 6% YoY and 3% QoQ to ₹231.2 Cr. Alongside its financials, the company also announced the departure of its CFO, Abhishek Bansal, after a nearly twelve-year-long stint.
Founded in 1993, Justdial operates an online, hyperlocal search engine that provides both B2C and B2B listings of small businesses across India. In 2021, Reliance Retail acquired a 65% stake in the company.

New CFO At Cashfree

The fintech startup has roped in former Visa executive Sameer Gandhi as its new chief financial officer. The outgoing CFO, Vikas Guru, will support Gandhi through a transition period.
A qualified chartered accountant, Gandhi has been helming the finance department at Visa since 2017. Prior to this, he also held various roles at companies like Vodafone, Citigroup and CRISIL in a career that spans 25 years.
Founded in 2015, Cashfree offers payment gateways and banking API solutions to clients like Zomato, CRED and Delhivery. It has raised $90 Mn to date. On the financial front, its net loss rose 14% YoY to ₹154.1 Cr in FY25 while the top line remained flat at ₹640 Cr.

Ola Electric Stock Dips Again

Shares of the EV maker ended yesterday’s trading session nearly 7% lower at ₹38.22 on the BSE. This followed Ola Electric announcing that Bombay HC (at Goa) quashed a bailable arrest warrant issued against its founder, Bhavish Aggarwal.
In February, a consumer court issued a bailable arrest warrant against Aggarwal after he failed to show up for a scheduled hearing for a case. The matter involved an escooter that was submitted at one of its service centres but then disappeared.
This follows Ola Electric rallying more than 65% in the past month on the back of a slew of positive developments, including unveiling in-house LFP cells, improving sales, PLI certification for its ebike Roadster X+ 4.5 kWh, among others.

ShareChat Chases Microdramas

With ₹1,000 Cr+ in revenues and improving cash flows, ShareChat is now betting on shifting away from imitation-led social media towards new formats like microdramas to carve out a niche in the AI-driven content era.
To grow, ShareChat is betting on microdrama through its platform QuickTV. But instead of relying only on subscriptions, it is combining short-form content with its existing apps (Moj and ShareChat) to increase user engagement and ad revenue.
Simultaneously, the company is also cutting costs through engineering changes and negotiating with cloud providers, which has helped bring its cost down to about $0.60 per user. This helped ShareChat become cash flow positive in 2025 and reduce losses.

Scope Extended For Fund Of Funds 2.0

DPIIT has officially notified the second phase of the Startup India Fund of Funds (FoF) scheme, with a total corpus of ₹10,000 Cr. This comes a couple of months after the Union Cabinet approved the same.
FoF 2.0 will come into force from April 13 and disbursals to alternative investment funds will be spread over the 16th and 17th finance commission cycles. The second iteration will also back deeptech-focused AIFs, micro VCs and manufacturing-centric funds.
Under the scheme so far, supported AIFs have invested ₹25,548 Cr in 1,371 startups across 29 states and UTs.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Confluxe Is Helping Global Giants Scale In India

Global fashion and lifestyle brands see India as a major growth market, but entering the country can still be messy, fragmented and operationally complex. Confluxe is trying to solve that gap by giving international brands a single platform to enter, launch and scale across India.

Built For India: Founded in 2026, Confluxe is designed to help brands understand India before they commit funds. Its playbook begins with market-entry strategy, studying demand, pricing, consumer behaviour and regulatory requirements to shape a sharper local launch.

The startup then takes brands live across digital channels to test demand quickly, gather early customer signals and refine the brand’s positioning before broader expansion.

From Data To Distribution: Confluxe’s next layer is omnichannel execution. Using analytics, it helps optimise pricing, assortment and inventory as brands move into an integrated omnichannel model. That gives global labels a way to scale with more control and less guesswork.

The Supply Chain Edge: The platform also helps brands build local sourcing, manufacturing and logistics support. With the Indian apparel segment projected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030, can Confluxe become the go-to launchpad for global fashion brands betting on India?

Infographic Of The Day

Q1 2026 funding data shows that deal activity continues to remain concentrated in key hubs, with Bengaluru and Delhi NCR leading the pack. Here is how the numbers stack up…

The post Another Reshuffle At BharatPe, Justdial’s Q4 Show & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Flipkart Elevates Sharon Pais To The Role Of Myntra Head

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:24:43 +0000

Ecommerce major Flipkart has elevated Sharon Pais to the role of the head of its fashion marketplace arm Myntra. She will replace Nandita Sinha, who as per Flipkart, has decided to move on from the company.

Pais will report to Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Meanwhile, Myntra’s outgoing CEO Sinha is expected to work with Pais over the “coming months” through a transition period.

“Myntra has built a strong position in the fashion and lifestyle space over the years. Sharon has worked closely with the team and understands the business well. This change reflects the depth of our internal leadership and our continued focus on execution. I thank Nandita for her contributions and wish her the very best for the future,” Flipkart group CEO Krishnamurthy.

Meanwhile, Kapil Thirani will succeed Pais as the lead of Flipkart Fashion. He will report to senior VP and head of marketplace for Flipkart, Sakait Chaudhary. The company will now initiate a process to identify a successor for Thirani.

An alumna of IIT-BHU, Sinha joined Flipkart as an associate director in 2013 and rose through the ranks to become the CEO of Myntra in 2022. She previously also served with companies like Unilever and Britannia.

Meanwhile, Pais also joined the ecommerce major as a sales and revenue lead back in 2013. She was appointed as Myntra’s chief business officer (CBO) in 2021, and was moved internally to Flipkart as a senior vice-president last year.

Founded in 2007 by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena, Myntra is an online marketplace which allows third-party sellers to sell their fashion products such as apparels and other accessories. The Bengaluru-based startup was acquired by Flipkart for $240 Mn in 2014.

Under Sinha, the fashion ecommerce arm of Flipkart has turned profitable and grown its operations. The company’s net profit zoomed about 18X to INR 548 Cr in FY25, up from INR 31 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Myntra’s revenue from operations rose 18% to INR 6,043 Cr from INR 5,122 Cr in FY24.

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Justdial Q4: PAT Dips 37% To ₹100 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:24:38 +0000

Digital classifieds platform Justdial’s net profit slipped 37% to ₹100 Cr in the fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) from ₹157.6 Cr in the year-ago quarter. On a sequential basis, the company’s PAT dipped 18% from ₹118.1 Cr.

Operating revenue increased 6% YoY and 0.5% QoQ to ₹307.2 Cr. Including other income of ₹48.6 Cr, Justdial’s total income for the quarter under review stood at ₹355.9 Cr.

Meanwhile, total expenses increased 6% YoY and 3% QoQ to ₹231.2 Cr.

For the full fiscal year FY26, Justdial’s net profit slipped 15% YoY to ₹497 Cr, while operating revenue for the fiscal jumped 6% YoY to ₹1,213.9 Cr.

Besides announcing its financial performance for the March quarter, the Reliance Retail-backed internet giant announced the departure of its chief financial officer (CFO) Abhishek Bansal after a nearly twelve year-long stint.

Bansal, who joined Justdial as a VP for corporate strategy in 2014, resigned to pursue opportunities outside Justdial.

“This decision is based on personal career considerations, including my intention to take a short professional break and explore opportunities outside the company,” he said. He would continue to serve as Justdial’s CFO till April 15.

(This story will be updated soon)

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BharatPe Cofounder Shashvat Nakrani Quits To Launch New Venture

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:24:44 +0000

In another leadership change for BharatPe, cofounder and COO Shashvat Nakrani has stepped away from his executive role at the fintech unicorn to “explore new ideas and ventures”.

In a post on Linkedin, Nakrani said he will transition into a strategic advisor role from May and will continue to serve as a director upon BharatPe’s board. In his non-executive role, Nakrani will be engaged in areas such as fundraising, IPO plans, mergers and acquisitions, and long-term strategy.

Nakrani cofounded BharatPe with Bhavik Koladiya in 2018. Later, ex-Grofers CFO Ashneer Grover joined the startup as its third cofounder within the same year. Both Koladiya and Grover departed from the startup in 2022.

Nakrani said he remains the largest individual shareholder in BharatPe. He intends to stay invested in the startup’s long-term journey.

The startup, he noted, will continue to be led by its existing management team and board, which he said are well placed to guide its future.

His exit from daily operations comes at a time when BharatPe is working to strengthen its business and governance after a series of leadership changes over the past few years.

Nakrani also pointed to the larger opportunity in the market, saying millions of small merchants in India still lack access to simple financial tools, a problem BharatPe set out to solve.

(The story will be updated soon)

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Cashfree Payments Appoints Ex-Visa Exec Sameer Gandhi As CFO

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:24:19 +0000

Fintech startup Cashfree Payments has roped in ex-Visa finance head Sameer Gandhi as its new chief financial officer. In a statement, the startup said that Gandhi would anchor its financial strategy, enhance the efficiency of its financial operations and revenue planning. It is also eyeing to accelerate its growth and become profitable in the coming quarters.

Gandhi helmed the finance department at Visa since 2017. The chartered accountant has held various roles in companies like Vodafone, Citigroup and CRISIL, during a career that spans over 25 years.

“Being the first payments platform in India to hold all three RBI payments licenses gives a significant edge to Cashfree Payments over other players. I look forward to working as a strategic business partner – balancing cost discipline with funding innovation, and contributing to shared vision and goals by ensuring robust financial foundation and governance across all functions,” Gandhi said.

Meanwhile, Cashfree’s current CFO Vikas Guru is expected to support Gandhi through a transition period. His last working day at Cashfree is yet to be determined.

The CFO appointment comes at a time when Cashfree is looking to improve its financial performance. In the fiscal year FY25, the KRAFTON-backed startup’s net loss rose 14% to ₹154.1 Cr from ₹135 Cr in the previous fiscal. Its top line remained flat at around ₹640 Cr.

At the operating level, EBITDA loss also increased to ₹131 Cr from ₹109.5 Cr in FY24, with margins slipping further to -20% from -17%.

Cashfree is yet to disclose its financial position for the fiscal year FY26.

Notably, Cashfree has recently secured all three RBI licences, payment aggregator (PA), cross-border (PA-CB) and prepaid payment instrument (PPI). It claims this has helped drive strong growth, especially in its cross-border payments business, which grew 250% YoY.

The fintech startup claims to be processing over $80 Bn in annual transactions and serves more than 1 Mn businesses.

Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree offers payment gateway, payouts and banking API solutions. It serves clients like Zomato, CRED and Delhivery.

The startup has raised over $90 Mn from investors like KRAFTON, Y Combinator, Smilegate Investment, Musha Ventures, among others.

Important to highlight that the startup was recently penalised by the RBI for flouting payment aggregator norms.

The central bank found that the startup made certain non-permissible debits from its escrow account during the inspection period between April 2024 and June 2025.

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Ola Electric Slumps 8%, Ather Energy Hits All-Time High

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:24:14 +0000

After the recent rally, EV maker Ola Electric’s shares fell 7.79% to an intraday low of ₹37.71 on the BSE, tracking a sharp decline in the broader market following stalled negotiations between the US and Iran.

At 13:45 IST, the stock was trading 6.97% lower at ₹38.05 on the BSE. The company’s market capitalisation stood at 16,783 Cr (about $1.8 Bn).

Ola Electric has zoomed 61% so far in April. The stock surged nearly 20% on April 9 (Thursday) alone to hit upper circuit at ₹36.34.

This came after the EV maker announced that its in-house developed 46100 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cell is ready, a key step in its push towards vertical integration and cost-efficient EV manufacturing.

The 46100 format LFP cell is bigger than the current NMC 4680 Bharat Cell, improving scale and cost efficiency with diverse uses across mobility and energy storage. The new cell is expected to be integrated in Ola Electric’s products from the coming quarter (Q2 FY27).

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company is currently ramping up its Gigafactory’s capacity to 6 GWh from 2.5 GWh, while vehicles integrated with 4680 Bharat Cells are already on the road.

Additionally, its sales figures saw an improvement in March. The company said its registrations jumped over 150% MoM to 10,117 units in March from 3,973 units in February. Daily registrations crossed 1,000 units in the last week of the month and cumulative registrations surpassed the 1 Mn mark. The company had been facing declining sales and share price over the past year on the back of eroding consumer confidence and servicing backlogs.

As a result, the stock fell to as low as ₹21.21 in March from its 52-week high of ₹71.24 it touched in September 2025.

Recent positive momentum also came after Ola Electric secured the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) certification for its ebike Roadster X+ 4.5 kWh, confirming compliance with domestic value addition norms and making it eligible for government incentives.

Ather Energy Surges Nearly 10%

The decline in shares of Ola Electric today came amid selling pressure in the broader market. While Nifty 50 fell over 2% to a low of ₹23,555.6 during the intraday trading today, BSE Sensex fell 2.16% to a low of ₹75,868.32. At 13:30 IST, both indices were trading 0.94% and 0.98% lower than their previous close.

This came after US president Donald Trump announced that the country will oversee a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Iran failed to reach a solution.

Despite this, Ola Electric’s rival Ather Energy continued its upward trajectory. The stock surged 9.84% to touch an all-time high at ₹948.45 intraday. At 13:45, the stock was trading over 8% higher at ₹932.90 compared to the previous close of ₹863.45.

While Ather Energy was on an upward trajectory this month on the back of improved outlook for the EV market, the current rally came after the company said it aims to cut down on aluminum usage to protect itself from shrinking profit margins amid volatile supply chains and commodity prices.

Cofounder and CTO Swapnil Jain told Business Standard that while some of its models have a high aluminium usage to offer better performance and lighter weight, recent surge in aluminum prices due to the Strait of Hormuz closure has significantly increased manufacturing costs.

To control the same, and increase focus on family-oriented vehicles that are not necessarily performance-oriented, Ather Energy aims to increase the intake of recycled aluminum while reducing overall aluminum usage. Through this, the EV maker is expected to achieve a 15% reduction in engineering costs for each vehicle for its upcoming EL platform.

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Karnataka Scraps Tax Breaks For EVs, Two-Wheelers Exempted

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:24:16 +0000

The Karnataka government has notified the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 2026, formally bringing electric vehicles under a lifetime road tax structure that the sector was earlier exempted from.

The amendment will affect EVs like cars, jeeps, buses and other private vehicles, while two-wheelers will continue to enjoy an exemption.

Under the tax structure, the lifetime tax structure will be determined by the cost of the vehicle at the time of purchase and needs to be paid at the time of registration. If the EV is priced under ₹10 Lakh, the buyer will need to pay a 5% tax. If the vehicle is priced between ₹10-25 Lakh, it will be taxed at 8%. For vehicles about ₹25 Lakh, the tax liability will be at 10%. All EVs enjoyed a 100% road tax exemption in the state prior to the amendment.
For pre-registered vehicles, the tax demand will range from 93% to 25% of the total lifetime tax, with the levy decreasing with the vehicle’s age.
The move is aimed at generating an extra revenue of about ₹250 Cr for the state government.

Earlier, several electric car OEMs had written to Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah seeking relief from the taxation, especially as EV penetration still remains nascent and additional tax demands will make them costlier than ICE counterparts.

The exemptions were first introduced in 2016 to aid adoption of electric vehicles in the state.

Notably, EV adoption in the country has witnessed increased momentum in recent months, especially with the West Asian war causing fuel shortages and fears of price hikes, making the switch to EVs more cost-effective. In March, total EV registrations in the country rose 46% month-on-month to almost 2.8 Lakh units.

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From KreditBee To Nava— Indian Startups Raised $362 Mn This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 04:24:21 +0000

After a drought of mega deals in the first quarter of 2026, April began with lending tech startup KreditBee entering the unicorn club after raising $280 Mn in its Series E.

The fintech major’s mega funding round led to a spike in the overall fresh capital infusion in the Indian startup ecosystem this week. Between April 6 and 10, twenty three startups raised $360.5 Mn, marking a 174% jump from the $131.5 Mn raised across 18 deals last week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [April 06 — 10]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
8 Apr 2026	KreditBee	Fintech	Lending Tech	B2C	$280 Mn	Series E	Motilal Oswal Alternates, Hornbill Capital, Dragon Funds, WhiteOak Capital, A.P. Moller Holding, Premji Invest	Motilal Oswal Alternates, Hornbill Capital, Dragon Funds
9 Apr 2026	Nava	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$22 Mn	Series A	Greenoaks, RTP Global, Unicorn India Ventures	Greenoaks
7 Apr 2026	OFF/BEAT	Ecommerce***	–	–	$10.7 Mn	Seed	Bessemer Venture Partners	Bessemer Venture Partners
9 Apr 2026	Pluckk	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$10.7 Mn	Series A	Euro Gulf Investment	Euro Gulf Investment
9 Apr 2026	Astranova Mobility	Cleantech	Electric Vehicles	B2B	$6.4 Mn	Series A	IvyCap Ventures, Trucks Venture Capital, Asian Development Bank, Advantedge Founders	IvyCap Ventures
8 Apr 2026	Atlas	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$6 Mn	Seed	Accel, Stellaris Venture Partners	Accel, Stellaris Venture Partners
6 Apr 2026	GoSats	Fintech	Banking	B2C	$5 Mn	Series A	Konvoy, Y Combinator,Taisu Ventures	Konvoy
7 Apr 2026	KisaanSay	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$3.7 Mn	Series A	NABVENTURES	NABVENTURES
7 Apr 2026	Ecoil	Clean Tech	Climate Tech	B2B	$2.5 Mn	Series A	Fundalogical Ventures, Caspian Impact Investment, Momentum Capital, Chennai Angels	Fundalogical Ventures
8 Apr 2026	RoshAi	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Internet Of Things (IoT) & Hardware	B2B	$2.4 Mn	–	IAN Group	IAN Group
7 Apr 2026	WorkOnGrid	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$2.4 Mn	–	Transition VC, IAN Group	Transition VC
6 Apr 2026	SatLeo	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Space Tech	B2B	$2.2 Mn	Seed	Unicorn India Ventures, Merak Ventures, Java Capital, IIMA Ventures	Unicorn India Ventures
7 Apr 2026	Helium Air	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Internet Of Things (IoT) & Hardware	B2C	$2 Mn	Seed	India Quotient	India Quotient
7 Apr 2026	H2LooP	AI	AI Infrastructure & Development	B2B	$2 Mn	Seed	Speciale Invest, 3one4 Capital	Speciale Invest, 3one4 Capital
9 Apr 2026	Swageazy	Ecommerce	Vertical Marketplace	B2B	$583K	–	Info Edge Ventures,OnGrid, HROne	Info Edge Ventures
8 Apr 2026	ClayCo	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$400K**	–	Twenty Nine Capital Partners Ventures, ICMG Global Ventures	Twenty Nine Capital Partners Ventures
8 Apr 2026	Trev Mobility	Travel Tech	Ride-Hailing	B2C	$394K	–	–	–
7 Apr 2026	Cozy Farms	Real Estate Tech	–	B2C	$388K	–	–	–
9 Apr 2026	Angoor AI	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$215K	Pre-Seed	Venturizer, Uday Sodhi (Founders Room Capital), Tarun Billa (JP Morgan), Mayank Singh Tomar	Venturizer
7 Apr 2026	Filli & Me	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$161K	Pre-Seed	Super Angels	Super Angels
9 Apr 2026	DAAKit	Logistics	Shipping & Delivery	B2B	$138K	Pre-Seed	Inflection Point Ventures	Inflection Point Ventures
7 Apr 2026	Xccelera	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$129K	–	Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Asad Khan (TestMu AI), Amiya Pathak (Zipdial)	–
6 Apr 2026	Satark AI	AI	Application Layer	B2B	–	Pre-Seed	–	–
	Source: Inc42 Mix of equity and debt Part of larger round ** Tentative tagging as the product and sector details currently undisclosed

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Fintech segment regained the top funded startup segment title this week on the back of KreditBee’s $280 Mn funding round. Besides, GoSats also netted $5 Mn this week.
In terms of deal count, AI and ecommerce sectors recorded the highest six deals each this week. While AI startups raised $30.3 Mn, ecommerce startups netted $25.8 Mn, respectively.
Seed funding skyrocketed 940% to $22.9 Mn in the week under review, from $2.2 Mn in the previous week
IAN Group and Unicorn India Ventures’ were the most active startup investors this week, backing two startups each.

Startup IPO Updates This Week

Study abroad startup Leverage Edu has initiated discussions with investment bankers for an ₹2,000-3,000 Cr IPO in the upcoming 12-18 months.
CureFit onboarded four independent directors — JPMorgan’s Kalpana Morparia, Celesta Capital’s Arun Kumar, Ayushman Bharat’s Indu Bhushan, OpenAI’s Pragya Misra — on its board ahead of its IPO.

Other Developments Of The Week

Exotel acquihired the leadership team of voice AI platform Dubverse, including cofounders Anuja Dhawan and Varshul Gupta to strengthen its AI capabilities for enterprise CX
Investment firm Bay Capital Partners appointed Sandeep Barasia (former Delhivery CBO) and Tej Kapoor (former IvyCap Ventures MD) as partners to helm its upcoming digital fund
PE firm TR Capital committed to invest $1 Bn in India via secondaries over the next five years. It has also appointed Umang Agarwal as its India MD, along with multiple senior leaders.

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WinZO Cofounder Bail: K’taka HC Warns ED Of Costs For Frivolous Appeal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 19:24:37 +0000

The Karnataka High Court (HC) yesterday reportedly warned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that a cost of ₹1 Lakh would be imposed on the agency if the appeal against bail granted to gaming platform WinZO’s cofounder Paavan Nanda is found to be unnecessary.

As per a Bar and Bench report, Justice S Rachaiah said the agency’s appeal must show either a violation of bail conditions or an active attempt by Nanda to suppress facts in the case to avoid the cost.

“Without these two, if I find this is an unnecessary challenge, I will impose ₹1 Lakh cost,” Justice Rachaiah reportedly said. The matter has been posted for next hearing on April 23.

This follows a Bengaluru sessions court, in February, granting bail to Nanda in a money laundering case filed by the ED.

The case stems from FIRs registered across Karnataka, Rajasthan and Delhi, alleging offences such as cheating, impersonation, misuse of KYC details and wrongful blocking of user accounts.

ED has alleged that WinZO’s gaming platform used algorithmic manipulation and bots, leading to alleged wrongful gains of about ₹177 Cr. It has also claimed that the company diverted funds to overseas subsidiaries and routed proceeds of crime through cloud infrastructure hosted on Amazon Web Services.

The agency has further alleged large-scale identity misuse and cross-border fund flows of around $55 Mn.

Nanda, who has denied the allegations, reportedly said that he is cooperating with the investigation and has challenged the legality of the ED’s search and seizure operations.

The latest development comes as WinZO faces a wider legal and operational crisis following ED action in late-2025.

The agency had conducted searches at multiple locations linked to the company and froze assets worth hundreds of crores under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Overall, around ₹700-₹880 Cr of the company’s funds remain under freeze, putting pressure on its cash flows.

The ED has also alleged that the company continued real-money gaming operations in overseas markets such as the US, Brazil and Germany even after India’s regulatory clampdown in August 2025, with operations allegedly controlled from India.

According to investigators, funds were routed to overseas jurisdictions, including the US and Singapore, under the guise of foreign investments, with a portion parked in accounts linked to an overseas entity.

The crackdown has significantly hit the company’s operations. WinZO has scaled down its business, with a majority of its workforce exiting in recent months, and has slowed down new initiatives such as its short-video platform.

At the same time, the company is facing vendor disputes. Paytm has approached the National Company Law Tribunal over alleged unpaid dues. WinZO is also awaiting relief from the high court in a separate plea challenging the freezing of its funds, even as its cofounders continue to contest the ED’s case.

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