Inc42

D2C femtech brand Nua is in talks to raise $20 Mn (about ₹189 Cr) to $25 Mn (about ₹236 Cr) in its Series C round, sources told Inc42.  The funding round will be led by Peak XV Partners, and is likely to see participation from existing investors Mirabilis Investment Trust, Kae Capital, among others, the sources added.  Questions sent to Nua and Peak XV Partners didn’t elicit any response till the time of publication.  Nua last raised ₹35 Cr (about $3.9 Mn) in its pre-Series C round from Mirabili

Adding to its effort to electrify transportation in the national capital, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta announced the government’s plans to invest a sum of ₹15,000 Cr to support electric mobility over the next four years. The state government’s cabinet approved the EV policy today, which will remain in effect till 2030. “Of the total investment, a sum of ₹7,000 Cr will be specially earmarked for boosting electric vehicles in the city in the four-year period, while ₹8,000 Cr will be allocated

Escalating its battle with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Apple has accused the antitrust regulator’s investigation team of “copy-pasting” allegations made by rival companies instead of conducting an independent probe into its App Store practices.  As per a Reuters report, Apple has asked the CCI to set aside an antitrust investigation that found the company had abused its position in the iOS app ecosystem, arguing that the findings relied largely on competitors’ submissi

Update | June 29, 17:00 IST Shares of insurtech startup Turtlemint failed to breach their issue price on the first day of listing, closing the session at ₹135.4 on the BSE, down almost 11% from the issue price of ₹152. This was also 0.6% lower than the opening price of ₹136.2. On the NSE, the stock ended the day at ₹137.5, down 9.5% from the issue price but up almost 2% from the opening price of ₹134.9. The stock reached an intraday high of ₹144.9 on the BSE and ₹144.95 on the NSE on the first d

John Wanamaker, one of the biggest retailers of the 1900s, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.” And marketers held this as an absolute for a hundred years.  But the truth is, it wasn’t just a marketing problem.  The operations head didn’t know what was slowing deliveries down. The product team didn’t know which feature users actually wanted. The finance team was forecasting expenses without comp

Major consumer internet companies Swiggy, Zepto, Urban Company and Eternal have jointly moved the Karnataka High Court (HC) challenging the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025. The consortium of the startup unicorns argue that the law creates a parallel regulatory framework to the Centre’s already existing social security framework for gig workers. The matter is yet to be listed before the High Court. As per a report b

Prosus-owned fintech platform PayU India’s revenue jumped 12.5% to $781 Mn (about ₹7,384 Cr) in FY26 from $694 Mn posted in the previous year.  According to Prosus’ annual report for FY26, the payments service provider also turned adjusted EBITDA positive in the second half of FY26 (H2 FY26). Its adjusted EBITDA improved to $19 Mn during the period under review compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $6 Mn in H2 FY25. The adjusted EBITDA number stood at $18 Mn for the entire FY26. Adjusted EBITDA

Bollywood production house Yash Raj Films has made a “strategic investment” in digital entertainment startup Rusk Media to expand its digital offerings, focused around Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences. The financial deals of the announcement were not disclosed by YRF. The legacy production house, which has been operational since 1970, will leverage Rusk’s combined expertise of digital media, younger audiences and mobile-first viewing to expand its content reach, which has traditionally been r

Broking giant Zerodha is looking to expand its financial services portfolio as it eyes a foray into the investment banking business. The company has sought a Category I merchant banking licence from SEBI through its wholly owned subsidiary, Zerodha Corporate Advisors Pvt Ltd.  According to SEBI’s records, the application was filed on April 27 and is currently under review. Responding to Inc42’s queries, Zerodha said, “We have filed an application for the merchant banking (Category I) licen

Managed workspace provider Incuspaze has raised ₹150 Cr (about $15.9 Mn) in a fresh funding round led by Bharat Value Fund and other financial institutions as it gears up for its planned IPO in FY29. The fresh capital will be used to expand Incuspaze’s footprint across key markets, invest in technology, and bankroll strategic acquisitions, the startup said in a statement. The development comes weeks after Incuspaze acquired a 100% stake in Hyderabad-based managed workspace operator iKeva.

Healthtech startup Mykare has raised an additional $1 Mn (₹9.4 Cr) from US-based healthtech company Papa.com cofounders Andrew Parker and Alfredo Vaamonde, and a Middle-Eastern family office, closing the undisclosed funding round at $3.2 Mn (₹30.2 Cr). The startup said the additional funding was part of the seed round it raised in 2023. Mykare had then bagged $2.2 Mn from OnDeck ODX, Avaana Seed and others. The startup plans to deploy the fresh funds to enhance its AI capabilities, accelerate pr

Why India Needs An ‘Open’ AI Playbook For years, enterprises evaluated AI models on performance, cost and capabilities. But as AI becomes deeply embedded across business operations, a new question is emerging: what happens when AI access depends on decisions made by a handful of external providers? A Big Threat: As GenAI systems begin to power everything, access to AI models is beginning to resemble access to critical infrastructure. A simple pricing revision, API deprecation, policy change, ser

As enterprises increasingly embed AI into customer support, software development, financial operations, healthcare systems and decision-making workflows, access to AI models is becoming as important as access to essential infrastructure. But, here is the catch: when access to one of the world’s most advanced AI models can be restricted with the stroke of a policy update, how much control do businesses really have? Recent instances of restrictions on access to frontier AI models, like Fable

Five years ago, Nykaa was seen as India’s premium beauty retailer. Today, it wants investors to believe it’s building something much bigger. At its recent Investor Day, founder Falguni Nayar looked back at Nykaa’s journey from an online beauty retailer to a broader beauty and lifestyle platform. However, her focus was firmly on the future. By FY30, Nykaa wants to cross $5 Bn in gross merchandise value (GMV), grow revenue by 2.5-3X, expand EBITDA by 4-5X, and deliver a return on

The month of June kept the Indian fintech sector busy on multiple fronts. The headline move came from CRED raising ₹8,550 Cr ($900 Mn) in a Series H round led by Meta, valuing the company at $4.5 Bn post-money.  In what can be defined as the watershed moment for the country’s fintech ecosystem, Kunal Shah, the founder of CRED, is now the global head of WhatsApp at Meta. Meanwhile, Razorpay, which confidentially filed its draft IPO papers with SEBI is targeting a fundraise of ₹5,000-6,000 Cr.  On

“Kunal Shah represents the very best of India’s startup ecosystem: bold thinking, intellectual curiosity, relentless execution and the ability to challenge conventional wisdom.”  That was Amitabh Kant, the former CEO of Niti Aayog, on social media platform X, just as hordes of luminaries and key figures in the startup ecosystem had already proclaimed on various social media platforms.  And a similar sentiment was echoed by the majority of startup founders and investors that we spoke to this week

The Indian startup ecosystem continued to mature in FY26, with 22 new-age tech companies making their public market debut as against 13 in FY25. At the same time, a growing number of startups turned profitable or moved closer to profitability after years of cost rationalisation to adjust to the new funding realities.  Despite a tough Q4 for many startups due to geopolitical uncertainties, Indian startups are expected to improve their top and bottom line numbers in FY26. Of the 34 startups in the

Vibe coding startup Rocket is in talks with US-based Susquehanna International Group (SIG) to raise a fresh round of funding, sources told Inc42.  “The startup has held multiple rounds of discussions with SIG for its Series A round. The talks are progressing well,” one of the sources said. The funding round will also see participation from Rocket’s existing investors, including Salesforce Ventures and Accel, the sources added.  Inc42 could not independently ascertain the size of the funding roun

Government-backed cooperative ride-hailing platform Bharat Taxi plans to expand to more than 500 cities and towns across India within the next 2 years, union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah said today. He also alleged that private cab aggregators were engaging in unfair competitive practices by slashing fares to block Bharat Taxi’s growth.  Speaking at the official launch of Bharat Taxi in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, Shah said the platform will rapidly expand its footprint across

It was a mixed week for new-age tech stocks, with 23 of the 57 stocks gaining in a range of 0.01% to about 15% and 34 stocks declining between 0.15% to 11.75%.  After an extended period of bearish sentiment, NSE SME-listed Yudiz jumped 14.46% to end the week at ₹28.10. Meesho and Smartworks followed, gaining 7.37% and 5.65%, respectively. Shares of Amagi, Aequs, Nykaa, Kissht, Shadowfax and SEDEMAC touched fresh highs during the week, while none of the new-age tech stocks recorded fresh lows. H