Start- Ups

West Asia conflict sends Indian startups into wait-and-watch mode

Indian startups are turning cautious on expansion and investments in West Asia amid the ongoing conflict, with fintech and travel sectors seeing early stress while edtech remains relatively stable

Company, customers, and professionals can all win: Pronto's Anjali Sardana

Pronto's 23-year-old founder says daily bookings have grown 18-fold in seven months, as the startup targets 70,000 bookings a day by June

Tamil Nadu govt to invest ₹25 crore in space startup Agnikul Cosmos

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will invest Rs 25 crore in Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos under the TIDCO Startup Investment Policy 2025. Established in 1965, TIDCO is a premier industrial development agency of the Tamil Nadu government, and undertakes joint ventures and facilitates big industrial and infrastructure projects in the state. The latest investment would help accelerate Agnikul's operational readiness, supporting the scaling of its aerospace manufacturing capabilities, advancing its stage recovery program, and strengthening the development of its integrated space campus on the 300 acres allocated by the Tamil Nadu government near Kulasekharapatnam. In a statement, Moin SPM, co-founder and COO of the company, said, "This investment from the state government is a strong motivation for all of us to build and give back to the local community." Agnikul is currently scaling its first orbital launch with Agnibaan, a small satellite launch vehicle capabl

TIDCO board approves investment of ₹25 crore each in AgniKul Cosmos, Raptee

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation will invest ₹25 crore each in AgniKul Cosmos and Raptee Energy under the Startup Investment Policy 2025

Snabbit founder seeks fresh funding in India's $60 bn housework market

Less than 1 per cent of paid household help is currently ordered through online platforms, Redseer estimates, leaving them with ample room to gain market share

Agri-tech startup Verdant Impact raises $3 mn in seed funding round

AI-driven bovine genetics startup Verdant Impact raises $3 million in a seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures to expand markets, scale its Pashu.AI platform and strengthen tech capabilities

Women-led startups saw 9% funding drop in 2025, says Tracxn report

Deal activity also fell significantly, with the number of funding rounds dropping 29 per cent from 2024

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Rozana raises ₹290 cr in Series B to scale rural retail across Bharat

Round led by Bertelsmann India Investments with participation from Fireside Ventures, Spark Growth Ventures, Bikaji Family Office, FE Securities

Sarvam AI launches startup programme to back AI builders in India: Details

The programme offers startups up to 12 months of API credits, access to Sarvam's language AI tools, and direct engineering support

Fashion qcom startups prioritise experience-led shopping over speed

Fashion quick commerce startups are shifting focus from speed to experience-led shopping, offering features such as discovery, personalisation, try-at-home options to tackle online shopping challenges

"India missed out on chips, models but real opportunity is in applications"

Nitin Sharma, partner at venture capital firm Antler India, discusses where Indian AI startups can compete globally and why founder quality matters more than age

"Platforms that combine scale with sustainable unit economics will win"

Kapil Thirani, vice president for Shopsy and Flipkart Marketplace, shares insights about Flipkart's zero-commission push to capture India's value-conscious Gen Z and first-time rural shoppers

How two engineers built Sarvam AI from an idea to a summit showcase

The summit spotlight was recent, but Sarvam AI's rise began years earlier, as two engineers built an India-first AI startup focused on sovereign models, local datasets and real-world applications

India placed third in global AI vibrancy index after US, China: Report

India placed third after the US and China in AI vibrancy index, scoring strongly on R&D and talent while advancing data governance and policy frameworks

TN must join hands with Centre to boost startup ecosystem: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday urged the Tamil Nadu government to work closely with the Centre to further strengthen the state's startup ecosystem, noting that despite significant progress, it still has immense untapped potential. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day Research, Industry, Start-up and Entrepreneurship (RISE) Conclave here, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences highlighted India's exponential growth in the sector, which has increased from 350 startups in 2014 to over 2 lakh today. "Tamil Nadu has contributed 34,000 registered startups, but there is still significant untapped potential. We need to create an enabling ecosystem, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities, to accelerate innovation-driven entrepreneurship," Singh said. He encouraged youth in growth hubs like Chennai and Coimbatore to leverage central initiatives to scale up their ventures, pointing out that startups have already ...

Delhi-NCR startups raise $2.9 bn in 2025; auto tech jumps: Report

Total funding in the Delhi-NCR tech ecosystem rose 9 per cent to USD 2.9 billion in 2025, driven by a massive surge in late-stage investments and a blockbuster year for the auto tech sector, according to a report by data intelligence platform Tracxn. While the total capital raised saw an uptick from USD 2.7 billion in 2024, the ecosystem witnessed a significant 34 per cent decline in deal volume, with the number of funding rounds dropping to 415 from 630 in the previous year. This indicates a "shift toward higher conviction in fewer assets", the report noted. Total funding growth was driven by a sharp rise in late-stage investments, while seed and early-stage funding fell compared to previous years. Late-stage funding witnessed a 47 per cent surge, reaching USD 1.8 billion in 2025. In sharp contrast, seed-stage funding plummeted by 38 per cent to USD 260 million, while early-stage funding dropped 18 per cent to USD 839 million. The auto tech sector emerged as the frontrunner of ...

UIDAI plans fund to back tech companies innovating around Aadhaar

UIDAI is exploring setting up a fund to back seed-stage start-ups building innovative Aadhaar-based solutions, aimed at improving the quality, security and trustworthiness of the system

Homegrown Indian startup founders outperform returnee diaspora, finds study

A study by AnnaLee Saxenian and Vivek Wadhwa reveals that domestic founders lead in commercial outcomes, while returnees play specialized roles

Scrapping of courier export cap brings cheer to logistics, ecom players

The scrapping of the Rs 10 lakh per-consignment cap on courier exports in the Union Budget 2026 is expected to ease bottlenecks for MSMEs and D2C startups and improve cross-border e-commerce economics