Page 5 - Start Ups

Offline, ecom, qcom platforms witness surge in N95 masks, purifier sales

Toxic air levels across northern India are pushing consumers to stock up on N95 masks, home and car air purifiers, driving a major surge in sales across e-commerce, quick commerce, and offline stores

Tech firm LightSpeed Photonics raises $6.5 mn in round led by Pi Ventures

Startup's optical interconnects technology speeds up data transfer while lowering powering consumption

Mahanagar Gas backs EV push, leads ₹120 crore funding round for 3ev

Investment marks the gas distributor's first major bet on electric mobility as 3ev expands manufacturing and charging services

PayU India nears breakeven in H1 FY26 as Prosus backs profitable growth

Prosus says PayU India is sharpening its focus on higher-margin services, improving cost discipline, and leveraging payments, VAS, and SaaS to move towards sustainable profitability in H1 FY26

Wealthy secures ₹130 cr in funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments

The Series B round led by Bertelsmann India Investments will help expand Wealthy's AI platform and support MFDs who still rely heavily on manual processes

Spacetech major Agnikul raises $17 mn in funding round at $500 mn valuation

The company will use this capital in scaling production units of aerospace and rocket components and advance its stage-recovery programme

Ultrahuman raises ₹100 crore in venture debt to fuel market expansion

The Bengaluru health-tech firm plans to use the Alteria Capital financing to scale its wearable ecosystem, deepen product innovation and expand sports and research partnerships

Pulse secures 100 mn euros funding from Castlelake to expand SME lending

The deal follows Pulse's acquisition of Nucleus and supports new AI-driven credit products aimed at faster, smarter lending

Yubi Group raises ₹411 crore to fund global expansion and AI investments

Yubi Group has secured Rs 411 crore through structured debt and fresh equity, enabling the fintech firm to expand into global markets

Hyderabad Angel Fund launches ₹100 crore VC initiative for Indian startups

On its radar are areas such as generative AI, gaming, SpaceTech, drones, HealthTech, consumer tech, FinTech, enterprise SaaS, and sustainability

India's defence startups attract government contracts, investor funding

A clutch of domestic private firms are challenging state-run suppliers with advanced tech-driven hardware for India's defence services, signalling growing confidence in homegrown military technology

Job-tech platform Masai aims to triple revenue, plans overseas expansion

The company offers both pre-paid and pay-after-placement models, and has partnered with leading Indian institutions like IITs and IIMs for its upskilling programmes

IFC invests $60 million in Everstone Capital's new Fund V initiative

IFC's $60-million investment in Everstone Capital's Fund V will target high-growth sectors such as healthcare, technology, consumer goods, and financial services across India and Southeast Asia

BirlaNu acquires Clean Coats for ₹120 crore to strengthen portfolio

Move part of strengthening portfolio amid Rs 1300 crore growth outlay

Arya.ag NBFC arm plans to exceed ₹3K crore in commodity financing in FY26

Arya.ag does commodity financing through its NBFC arm, Aryadhan Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd

SMBC to invest $200 million in Indian startups amid booming IPO market

A fund co-run by the banking arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. plans to pour the bulk of the $200 million it has raised into Indian startups

Giga raises $61 million to scale AI-driven customer support platform

Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures will help expand the technical team and accelerate enterprise deployments of Giga's AI customer support agents

MeshDefend raises $2.3 million to bring AI intelligence to enterprise data

Kalaari Capital leads the pre-seed round as the startup, founded by former Dell executives, builds an AI-native platform to secure and automate enterprise data infrastructure

Urban Company reports 37% revenue growth as core business stays profitable

Adjusted Ebitda loss of ₹35 crore driven by investments in new vertical Insta Help; international markets achieve breakeven

Snabbit raises $30 mn Series C to expand into child, elder and cooking care

The Bertelsmann-led funding marks Snabbit's third raise in nine months, helping the women-led quick services startup expand into new home care categories