Page 4 - Indian Startups

Myntra expands the 'Rising Stars' programme to back D2C home brands

Homegrown brands like Sleepyhead and Chumbak join Myntra Rising Stars Home Edit with curated selections across decor, furnishings, smart cookware and more

Indian startups face funding, regulation, trust challenges: Rukam founder

Indian startups today contend with a range of hurdles, including access to consistent funding, navigating intricate regulatory and tax frameworks, overcoming bureaucratic obstacles, retaining talent, and earning consumer confidence in a price-sensitive market, according to Rukam Capital's Archana Jahagirdar. Jahagirdar -- the Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm, which has invested in startups like Beco, Sleepy Owl, Indus Valley, GO Desi, Burger Singh, and Antithesis -- believes that while ambition and innovation of Indian startups are undeniable, access to consistent funding, especially at the early stage, remains a major roadblock. "Unlike more mature ecosystems, India still sees uneven distribution of capital, with non-metro startups facing even steeper barriers. Operating within a maze of complex rules and taxing systems is another industry challenge. "Beyond funding, Indian startups often grapple with regulatory bottlenecks, talent retention, and building ..

Zopper eyes expansion after raising $25 mn, IPO likely in 3-5 years: COO

Insurtech firm Zopper is currently focussed on scaling up its operations and may consider going public in the next 3 to 5 years, a top company official said. The company has recently raised USD 25 million in growth capital from investors to accelerate its expansion and invest in new-age technology. "As such, our business has a positive gross margin. But in a growth company, you keep investing the profits into future growth, which we have also been doing for many years," Zopper co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Mayank Gupta told PTI. He also said the company is not looking to break even at this stage but is instead investing every earned money towards expansion. "If we want, we can break even today, but that will mean that we stop investing in the future, and growth will become stunted," he said. The B2B insurance infrastructure company is even open to inorganic routes for expansion. "We are not actively looking at any acquisition, but keep doing a sense check of the market.

Uniqus Consultech raises $20 mn in Series C funding, round led by Nexus

The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from Sorin Investments. Both are existing investors in the company

India's startup failure isn't about ambition, it's about the economy

Criticism of Indian startups may be valid, but the real culprit behind their consumer focus and lack of innovation is the govt's economic model

How Indian traditions helped this London woman create a $4M haircare brand

London-based influencer Erim Kaur has earned nearly $4 million with ByErim, a luxury haircare brand inspired by traditional Indian oiling rituals

Govt to give bulk of ₹10,000 cr startup fund to AI, tech sectors: Official

The commerce and industry ministry will allocate a major part of the second Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) for startups to budding entrepreneurs in sectors such as new-age technology, artificial intelligence, and machine building, an official said. In the Budget, the government announced a new FFS with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore. In 2016 also, the government had launched a similar scheme. "We are going to dedicate a lot of this Rs 10,000 crore fund of funds largely for the new age tech, AI, and machine building," the official said. The 2016 scheme was set up to catalyse venture capital investments and is operationalised by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), which provides capital to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered AIFs, which in turn invest in startups. SIDBI is expected to manage the second scheme also, the official added. With an intent to build a strong ecosystem of the country for nurturing innovation and promoting ...

US tariffs: Global trade tensions hit IPO outlook for Indian tech startups

A wave of market uncertainty has tempered investor appetite, leading many firms to consider delaying their listings, according to industry sources and analysts

US VC firm Expert Dojo to invest $45 mn in Indian startups by FY28

US-based venture capital firm Expert Dojo on Friday announced plans to invest USD 45 million (about Rs 387 crore) in Indian startups over the next 3-4 years. Launching its USD 100 million global fund at the Expert Dojo Investors Conclave 2025 in Bengaluru, the firm earmarked USD 15 million to be invested in 20-25 Indian startups in FY26. "Expert Dojo will deploy the USD 15 million in the first year to fund 20 to 25 early-stage startups across sectors such as fintech, B2B, SaaS, and AI. While sector-agnostic, the fund will focus on startups with global scalability. Founders can expect investment cheques ranging from USD 50,000 to USD 1 million, alongside access to Expert Dojo's international mentorship and go-to-market network," the company said in a statement. Over the next 2 to 3 years, Expert Dojo plans to invest an additional USD 30 million in Indian startups, the statement said. The company has also opened its India office in Bengaluru, positioning it as a central hub for ...

Nanotech startup Vimano raises Rs 25 cr in seed round led by Ankur Capital

Vimano's membranes can reshape how energy is stored across multiple formats, with green hydrogen alone projected to grow nearly 10-times to over $60 bn by 2030, according to the investor Ankur Capital

Payments firm Juspay raises $60 mn days after open-sourcing routing layer

The Bengaluru-based company, which operates as a technology service provider (TSP), plans to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities

Indian startups respond to Piyush Goyal's ecosystem comment

Goyal on Thursday had questioned if startups were content with low-paying gigs

Startup Mahakumbh: Fintech sector proposes new SRO India Fintech Foundation

The India Fintech Foundation (IFF) has 100 members at present

Tech startups worth $100 bn set to pursue IPOs by 2027: Rainmaker Group

Walmart-owned Flipkart, financial technology (fintech) leader PhonePe, SoftBank-backed Lenskart, Razorpay, Zetwerk, and Meesho are among the top companies preparing to go public in India

India's tech startups worth $100 billion seen seeking IPOs by 2027

Young companies are now in better shape than in 2021 and 2022, when several startups that sought to capture India's booming capital markets cratered after listing at high valuations

Indian startups raise $1.65 bn in February, median valuation at $83.2 mn

Indian startups raised a total of USD 1.65 billion (about Rs 14,418 crore) in funding at a median valuation of USD 83.2 million in February 2025, according to data from Traxcn. This brings the total funding in FY25 (April-February) to USD 25.4 billion, spread across 2,200 rounds, the data showed. The February figure marks a 19.5 per cent uptick from USD 1.38 billion in total funding in January 2025. On a year-on-year basis, the total amount of fundraise was down from USD 2.06 billion secured in February 2024. Entrepreneurs in the country's startup capital, Bengaluru, secured funding worth USD 353 million, with a median round size of USD 2 million. Those in Mumbai grabbed total funding of USD 102 million but with a higher median round size of USD 5 million. Fintech firm Oxyzo led the February funding pack, having raised USD 1 billion in conventional debt. It was followed by online B2B platform udaan, which closed a Series G equity funding round of USD 75 million, led by M&G ...

Global Investor Summit to take MP startups to new heights: CM Mohan Yadav

Chief Minister further mentioned that startups will not only contribute to the state's economic growth but also create new employment opportunities for the youth

In a first, 7 Indian space startups picked for Indo-US defence programme

Under the programme, they will work with the US Defense Innovation Unit, the Department of Defense and other government agencies on satellite observation, emerging space and defence technologies

Google-backed Pixxel launches India's first private satellite constellation

This launch marks the first phase of Pixxel's commercial constellation, with three additional Firefly satellites scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2025

From 500 to over 159,000 and counting: Nine years of Startup India

As the country celebrates the 9th edition of Startup India, the ecosystem now boasts over 1.59 lakh DPIIT recognised startups and 110 unicorns, making it the third-largest globally