Page 6 - Start Ups

IntrCity SmartBus secures ₹250 crore as India's intercity travel booms

Asset-light aggregator plans to double fleet and reach Rs 1,000 crore revenue as sector grows 10-13% annually

E-commerce giants adopt fiscal discipline to trim losses, stave off rivals

Firms are tightening spending, optimising supply chains, and expanding into smaller cities, positioning themselves for public listings as post-pandemic demand growth slows

Mem0 raises $24 million Series A to build memory layer for AI agents

Mem0 aims to become the default memory layer for AI agents and large language models with fresh funding led by Basis Set Ventures

Momentum Capital invests in climate, health startups with Rs 60 crore fund

India is among the world's most climate-vulnerable countries, but attracts less than 4 per cent of global climate-tech VC funding, with most of it concentrated in mobility

Blume Ventures secures $175 million in first close for its fifth fund

Early-stage VC firm Blume Ventures has announced an initial close of $175 million for its fifth fund, targeting $250-275 million by early 2026, with continued LP support

Smallest.ai raises $8 mn seed round led by Sierra Ventures for expansion

The full-stack enterprise voice AI platform plans to scale operations in North America and India and expand into regulated sectors such as banking, healthcare, and retail

Unicorn India Ventures to close ₹1,200 cr Fund III by December 2025

The VC firm has raised over ₹1,000 crore and plans to invest 80% of Fund III in deep-tech, defence, and semiconductor startups across 20 companies

Indian-origin startup offers jobs to laid-off Meta staff, pay up to ₹5.2 cr

Meta to cut 600 positions from its AI labs; Smallest AI, led by Indian-origin founder Sudarshan Kamath, has offered to hire these affected employees with top salaries of $600,000

AI firm Uniphore secures $260 mn from Nvidia, AMD, Snowflake and Databricks

Uniphore values at $2.5 billion as it boosts its Business AI Cloud platform and ecosystem for enterprise-scale adoption

Kerala's climate tech startup gets ₹75 lakh grant from Cochin Shipyard

The cheque for the amount was handed over at a function at IIM-Kozhikode, where the official agreement was signed with the startup founded by CEO Akhil Raj Pottekkat

Quick commerce major Zepto raises $450 mn; valuation soars to $7 bn

The funding comes nearly a year after its USD 350 million funding round in November last year, which valued the firm at USD 5 billion

Snabbit shifts corporate headquarters to Bengaluru, expands leadership

The company has plans to double its workforce by 2025-26

A new playbook: Startups go vertical in India's quick commerce race

Investors say that specialised vertical players can offer better availability and domain-specific expertise

Beyond KYC: Lenders turn to 'alternative' data to assess risk, detect fraud

Risk assessment firms are using data available publicly or obtained through user consent but is not available through credit bureaus to detect mule accounts, syndicates, and risky borrowers

Biopeak bets bespoke longevity plans can go beyond bold-and-beautiful set

The company uses AI and cellular diagnostics to optimise performance for professionals by going to the root causes of poor health, with individually-targeted programmes starting at ₹40,000

HouseEazy raises ₹150 cr in Series B round from investors to grow business

In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it has raised this amount in a Series B funding round led by Accel, with participation from existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Antler

Myntra adds 2 million new shoppers as non-metros power festive sale

Ethnic wear, beauty, and sportswear drive growth as smaller cities account for 70% of orders during Myntra's Big Fashion Festival, reflecting strong festive sentiment

EcoEx raises $4 million to expand waste-tech and clean solutions

EcoEx's $4 million seed funding from Dovetail Global Fund and others will fuel tech upgrades, expansion, and ESG-aligned waste management solutions across India

Fintech firm Kiwi launches interest-backed EMI on UPI with cashback option

Fintech Kiwi introduces interest-backed EMI on UPI, offering cashback on interest across tenures, as it expands credit access and targets one million credit cards

Startups get a makeover, rename parent firms to signal scale, IPO readiness

The latest to join this rebranding wave is Oravel Stays Limited, the parent company of OYO, which earlier this month unveiled a new corporate identity - PRISM