AI STARTUP FUNDING
Bigger cheques, fewer winners in India’s AI boom
Indian AI startups raised $1.6 billion in funding during the first nine months of 2026. While AI infrastructure attracted significant investments, application startups faced declining funding and challenges in securing customers. Large transactions constituted most of the total funding, highlighting a disparity in investment distribution.
Lenskart, Meesho deliver gains of nearly $400 million for SoftBank Vision funds
Lenskart saw returns of $273 million, the highest among the Vision funds' listed investments, while Meesho gained $121 million, according to SoftBank's earnings presentation released on Tuesday. The gains come as SoftBank continues to monetise its Indian investments, having sold shares worth more than Rs 9,300 crore in Lenskart and Meesho since June.
Rippling steps up AI hiring in India, looks to expand enterprise push
The firm is hiring principal engineers, senior staff engineers and senior directors among others as the lab focuses on developing core components of Rippling’s global AI platform, Parandekar told ET in an exclusive interaction.
Qcomm’s Diwali boost; Energy startups attract funds
Happy Wednesday! Quick commerce powered a strong festive season for D2C brands. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
AI training startup Mercor valued at $20 billion in latest funding round
Mercor said on Tuesday it had raised $750 million in a funding round that valued the AI training startup at $20 billion. The Series D round drew participation from Benchmark, Felicis, Fundomo, Nvidia and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo, among others.
How China gets the Nvidia chips it needs to develop AI
Nvidia's dominance in the global AI chip market has come under scrutiny as US export restrictions fail to fully prevent China from accessing advanced processors. Chinese firms are reportedly obtaining Nvidia chips through smuggling and overseas data centres, while domestic players such as Huawei race to develop competitive alternatives.
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Israeli AI security startup Bay raises $50 million
Bay says it addresses a primary barrier to AI adoption by "allowing autonomous agents to perform business-critical work safely while enterprises retain control and accountability at scale".
Anthropic's IPO: A close look at AI frontrunner's rapid growth, spiraling costs
Anthropic aims to raise up to $64.4 billion in an upcoming IPO, representing a significant market debut. The company plans a valuation of up to $1.02 trillion, showcasing its ambitions in AI. Founded by former OpenAI researchers, Anthropic's revenue has rapidly surged with enterprise adoption of its AI models. While facing substantial operating losses, the company remains committed to its substantial infrastructure investments.
From streaming to software, microdrama startups rewrite their growth pitch
Peak XV Partners-backed Dashverse has discontinued its consumer platform DashReels and is looking to raise $30-40 million, largely for Frameo AI, its video production software for businesses. Eloelo, which raised $80 million this week led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, is investing in Dolphin AI, its new production suite, alongside content creation and international expansion.
South Korea says Nvidia issues won't affect contracted GPU supplies
Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Jemyung told a parliamentary budget committee that 10,000 GPUs funded under a 2025 supplementary budget had already arrived and were in use.
Arunoday Singh-headed O-Health secures strategic funding
O-Health has received strategic funding from several investors to advance its healthcare technology solutions. The company aims to enhance its voice-first AI-enabled clinical pre-assessment platform for better patient information management. The investment will support the expansion into additional healthcare sectors and development of indigenous AI models and clinical hardware. O-Health plans to broaden its focus to include preventive health technologies and intelligent hospital workflows.
ETtech Deals Digest: Eloelo leads as weekly funding rises to $142 million, down 35% on-year
Eloelo led deal activity with $80 million, followed by Peppermint Robotics at $10.6 million, altM at $10.3 million, Two Point O Capital at $10 million, and PowerUp Money at $10 million. Crane Venture Partners was among the most active investors, backing Peppermint Robotics and Armatrix. Omnivore invested in altM and Two Point O Capital, while Flourish Ventures backed PowerUp Money.
Who are Sassie Duggleby and Andrew Duggleby? Houston couple behind America's first rotating detonation rocket engine raised $91 million; what is their Mach 4 jet dream?
Venus Aerospace was founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife team Sassie Duggleby and Andrew Duggleby. They established the company with an ambitious idea. It was to develop a new propulsion system that could make extremely fast passenger aircraft commercially viable. They spent several years working on the technical challenge on making the engine withstand the extreme heat generated by rotating detonation.
Intel's former CEO Pat Gelsinger says this Georgia Tech memory chip could be the industry's biggest breakthrough in 30 years; what is it and how could it transform AI industry?
Nagare Labs was founded by Georgia Institute of Technology professors and researchers Suman Datta and Shimeng Yu. They spent years working on next-generation memory technologies. Their work involves oxide semiconductors. The company is based on research conducted at Georgia Tech and is seeking to turn its laboratory developments into a commercially viable memory product.
AI backlash could threaten Anthropic IPO timing, potential investors say
Investors are pushing for a more attractive valuation to commit to the offering, with some viewing the recently discussed $1.5 trillion valuation as being at the high end of expectations, the people told Reuters.
Ex-Ultrahuman executive launches AI ring startup Aina for agentic interactions
The startup said it is positioning the device as an alternative interface to smartphones for everyday interactions with AI systems. It has spent the past 15 months developing the product and is now opening pre-orders globally, with prices starting at $399 (about Rs 36,000), the startup said in a statement.
Ripik.ai in talks to raise Rs 150 crore from Gaja Capital
The startup deploys its hardware and software systems at large manufacturing and industrial units, including cement and steel plants, using cameras, sensors and proprietary AI models to monitor equipment, materials and production processes. It counts Accel and Venture Highway (now merged with General Catalyst) among its existing investors.
AI sales startup Nooks secures $500 million in funding for expansion
Unlike traditional investors that buy a stake in a company, General Catalyst's commitment involves taking a share of the returns its capital helps generate, Nooks CEO Dan Lee said. He declined to give details on the terms of the deal.
From enterprises to SMBs: How Flashfox AI plans to change the hiring game
GetWork’s AI hiring business, now spun off as Flashfox AI, is targeting 500 enterprise clients in the next 24 months as it expands into Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
L&T Finance Pitch Point 2.0: Where an AI startup’s big idea meets enterprise scale
Pitch Point, L&T Finance’s contest for AI startups, is back for a second edition. Last year’s winners, Arrowhead AI and SpoofSense, talk about what they got out of it and what they would tell this year’s new applicants.
Beyond ‘no subscription’, NeoSapien sees a paid future for advanced AI features
The Bengaluru-based AI wearables startup is exploring another funding round in early 2027 but its CEO said there was no pressure to raise capital because its cash burn remained low and capital from earlier round was still in the bank.
Cert-In gets Mythos access, being careful with testing: Officials
Government agencies cannot download the AI’s source code or weights for running on their own, completely isolated or ‘air-gapped’ systems. Instead, to use Mythos, they must send their proprietary data, code, or network blueprints over the internet to Anthropic’s cloud servers.
Chip startup Agrani Labs looks to raise $108 million from Peak XV, Google, Samsung
Peak XV Partners is leading the round and is expected to contribute more than half of the total funding. Google, HCL Tech, Samsung Ventures and Stargazer, an investment firm set up by Groww's founders, are also expected to participate, the people cited above said.
Apple’s robust India quarter; Giva’s $100 million funding
Apple posted record sales in India in the September quarter. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
OpenAI’s India user base doubles; Rapido GOV quadruples
Happy Tuesday! India has become ChatGPT’s largest market globally, with its user base doubling. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Wealthtech firm PowerUp Money raises $10 million led by Flourish Ventures
PowerUp Money was founded in 2024 by Jindal, who had previously cofounded Uni Cards. It offers mutual fund advisory services to retail investors, at time when the Indian mutual fund industry is seeing record SIP inflows. The company has more than 1.5 million customers tracking portfolios worth over Rs 2.5 lakh crore on its platform.
OpenAI cuts funding target by $10 billion: FT
AI startup OpenAI has slashed the target for its latest funding round by $10 billion and is now seeking to raise $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, the Financial Times
ETtech Deals Digest: Even Healthcare, Different lead October funding to $694 million, down 51% on-year
Even Healthcare led deal activity during the month with $50 million, followed by Different at $48 million, Boldfit at $41.5 million, Baba Care at $40 million and GreenCell Mobility at $34.5 million. Early-stage deals accounted for 61.9% of the capital raised during October, while late-stage transactions made up 19.4%. Seed-stage companies comprised the remaining 18.7%.
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