Page 3 - Funding

Biryani Blues raises $5 million in funding led by Yugadi Capital fund

Quick service restaurant chain Biryani Blues on Tuesday said it has raised USD 5 million (over Rs 40 crore) in a funding round led by Carpediem Capital's new fund Yugadi Capital with participation of other investors. The fund raised in a pre-Series C funding round will support expansion strategy, enhance human capital across functions, and upgrade operations and logistics. The brand plans to open over 100 new outlets over the next three years, Biryani Blues said in a statement. "We are poised to accelerate our expansion by opening over a 100 new brand stores over the next three years, in popular high street markets and malls across north India," Biryani Blues Co-founder Raymond Andrews said. Operating under Thea Kitchen Pvt. Ltd, Biryani Blues runs 68 outlets across North India and Bengaluru. Earlier, Biryani Blues raised USD 5 million in Series B funding from Rebel Foods in FY22. It had previously secured USD 2 million in Series A funding from Carpediem Capital Partners Fund I ...

Celcius Logistics raises ₹250 cr in Series B to expand to 1,000 cities

With the latest round, Celcius aims to scale its tech-enabled cold chain logistics, enter new sectors, and enhance its presence in over 1,000 cities across India

Fintech-focused VC firm QED Investors eyes India in $300 mn Asia push

After investing around $200 million in India since 2020, the VC firm is pushing deeper into Asia-now operating in Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore, and setting its sights on South Korea and Australia

Centre utilised over 98% of water resources funds in FY25, shows data

The Jal Shakti ministry has utilised nearly the entire Central allocation for water resources schemes in the last fiscal, with 98.39 per cent of funds spent by the end of March, according to an official document. The document titled 'Report on Availability and Utilisation of Scheme Funds for 2024-2025 up to March 2025' shows details of expenditure of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under both Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector schemes. Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) are programmes funded mainly by the Central government but implemented by state governments, often requiring a matching contribution from the states. Central Sector schemes are fully funded and implemented by the Central government without any financial participation from the states. According to the document, against a Central budget estimate of Rs 13,431.48 crore for Centrally Sponsored Schemes, the actual expenditure stood at Rs 13,216.34 crore. In comparison

Elon Musk's DOGE slashes $135 mn funding to fight deepfakes, misinformation

The cuts impact dozens of active grants, including several programmes focused on combating misinformation and AI deepfakes, according to the document

Tata Elxsi inks €50 million multi-year deal with Europe-based auto company

As part of this collaboration, Tata Elxsi will establish a dedicated Global Engineering Centre to support the customer's software platform roadmap and brand-aligned software engineering programmes

Tighter norms, rising compliance failures driving scrutiny for startups

Jaggi brothers case spotlights rising governance issues in startup ecosystem

India's D2C segment sees funding decline to $757 million in 2024

The decline in funding can be attributed to investor caution amid global economic slowdown, oversaturation of similar brands, and fluctuating unit economics driven by high customer acquisition costs

Why Trump froze Harvard University’s $2.2 billion funding?

The Trump administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard University. Watch the video to know why.

Trump admin freezes funding to Cornell, Northwestern over rights concerns

Trump has taken actions to toughen federal oversight over US higher education, including drastically reducing the billions of dollars in federal research funding schools receive

Smallcase raises $50 million in funding from Elev8 Venture, others

Model portfolios platform Smallcase on Friday said it has raised USD 50 million in a new funding round led by Elev8 Venture Partners. The funding round is a mix of primary issuance of shares by the company and also secondary, where existing investors have sold shares, as per a statement. Other investors who participated in the round include State Street Global Advisors, Niveshaay AIF, Faeringcapital and Arkam Ventures, it said. Newly raised money will be deployed for expanding investment product offerings across asset classes and strengthen relationships with retail investors and ecosystem partners, it said. The company launched in 2016 helps individuals take a diversified approach towards building long-term portfolios, and has witnessed transactions of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore. "The opportunity to help millions of Indians design better financial futures is one of huge responsibilities and we will continue to deliver on it," its co-founder and chief executive Vasanth Kamath ...

OpenAI close to finalising $40 bn SoftBank-led funding at $300 bn valuation

The deal is set to value the company at $300 billion including dollars raised - almost double the ChatGPT maker's previous valuation of $157 billion from when it raised money in October

Lender SMFG raises $175 mn through ECB facility on a fully hedged basis

Company to use fund to expand portfolio and provide 'greater access to credit for individuals and businesses'

Qcom player Zepto plans to raise $200-250 million ahead of IPO listing

The move is to increase the shareholding of domestic investors before the company goes for a listing this year

Ireda raises Rs 910 crore via Tier-II bonds at 7.74% coupon rate

State-owned IREDA on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 910 crore through issuance of bonds. The funds raised will enhance IREDA's Tier-II capital, increasing its net worth and capital-to-risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR), IREDA said in a statement. IREDA has raised Rs 910.37 crore through the issuance of privately placed subordinated Tier-II bonds for a 10-year tenor at an annual coupon rate of 7.74 per cent, it said. "The successful raising of Tier-II capital reflects investors' strong confidence in IREDA's financial strength and strategic vision. "This will further empower us to accelerate green energy financing, aligning with the Government of India's target to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030," IREDA Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Pradip Kumar Das said. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) is a non-banking financial institution under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

AI-powered startup Irame.ai raises $1 million from SenseAI Ventures

Irame.ai, an AI-powered enterprise productivity and audit intelligence platform, has raised USD 1 million (about Rs 8.4 crore) in funding from SenseAI Ventures. The funds will help the Gurugram-headquartered firm in enhancing operations in audit automation, anomaly detection, and enterprise compliance, a company statement said. "With this funding, Irame.ai will scale its AI-driven audit intelligence across enterprises, expand its capabilities, and set new benchmarks for governance and compliance automation in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape," it said. The investment will aid the company to scale impact and make AI-driven audit intelligence the new standard for governance and risk management, Irame.ai Co-founder & CEO Kapil Arora said.

Turbostart invests $1 mn in Lighthouse PropTech's $2.5 mn funding round

The Dabur Family Office and several other high net-worth individual (HNI) family offices joined the round, valuing the company at $13.5 million

Elon Musk's X raises close to $1 bn in fresh funding at $32 valuation

The company is considering using some of the proceeds to pay down its remaining debt load

Everhope Oncology secured $10 million seed funding for expansion

This is the largest healthcare seed round in the last 24 months

Fashion-tech brand Virgio aims to invest $1 mn across 16 stores under plan

On the international front, the fashion-tech brand plans to open two stores in Dubai. It is currently scouting locations and aims to begin operations by the end of 2025