GENAI STARTUP GROWTH
India’s hiring story gets a boost as e-commerce, travel and retail power the next wave: Report
India's workforce is expected to grow 5.4 percent in the second half of 2026-27, driven by several sectors. E-commerce and technology startups anticipate the highest employment growth, along with travel and hospitality. Additionally, hiring intent varies among organizational scales, with larger enterprises showing greater expansion plans. However, many employers expect challenges in filling IT and engineering roles.
Hiring outlook strengthens; workforce growth seen at 5.4% in H2 FY27
India’s employment market is set for stronger hiring momentum in October 2026-March 2027, with employers projecting 5.4% workforce growth, the highest in four half-year periods, TeamLease Services said. E-commerce, tech startups, travel, hospitality and retail lead hiring plans, though talent shortages could constrain expansion, particularly across IT, sales and engineering.
AI-focused VC firm Activate closes maiden fund at $105 million
The investment platform comprises an $85 million early-stage fund and $20 million deployed through dedicated growth-stage vehicles. The early-stage fund closed at 125% above its original target, Vaish told ET. The fund, founded in December 2025 by Vaish and former Together Fund investor Pratyush Choudhury, has made 10 investments since its first close in December 2025.
As country's AI talent gap grows, investors step in to help companies hire
A notable shortage of skilled talent in artificial intelligence roles is challenging Indian companies. The need for qualified AI engineers is soaring, far surpassing the available workforce. This increasing demand is fueling investor interest in startups aiming to attract vital tech expertise. There’s a significant uptick in hiring mid-to-senior professionals at global capability centers, as AI and machine learning sectors demonstrate consistent growth year-on-year.
Google India invites AI startups for 2026 startup accelerator programme
The three-month, equity-free programme will target Indian startups in the seed to Series A stages, building AI-led solutions across key emerging areas, including agentic AI for reasoning and automation workflows, multimodal AI covering audio, video, and image generation, physical AI in smart manufacturing and robotics, and sovereign AI for localised models. Selected startups will obtain access to advanced models, mentorship, and cloud infrastructure.
GenAI boom drives faster startup growth
The GenAI boom is accelerating startup growth, with AI companies now averaging $2.1 million ARR in their first year—double the pre-AI benchmark.
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$14 billion Meta deal, then massive layoffs? Scale AI cuts 200 roles, 14% of its workforce in stunning move
Scale AI layoffs: Scale AI has recently reduced its workforce. The company laid off 200 full-time employees. This decision follows a $14 billion deal with Meta. The restructuring impacts the Generative AI division. Key leaders have also left the company. Some clients, including Google, have paused projects. Scale AI plans to invest in other sectors.
GenAI startup Darwix AI raises $1.5 million in seed funding
The omnichannel GenAI platform that provides conversational intelligence for sales conversations to enterprises through its proprietary LLM stack will use the funds to drive product development and market expansion, besides hiring talent.
Finding Gen XX among GenAI leaders
Can generative artificial intelligence help women break the proverbial glass ceiling? There are some positive signs though a lot more needs to be done, says Himanshi Lohchab
AI leadership roles up 40-60% in FY25 as talent demand soars
Leadership roles in artificial intelligence (AI) have surged by 40-60% year-on-year in FY25, according to data from staffing firms. Firms across IT, consulting, global capability centres, BFSI, and healthcare sectors are leading demand. Startups in ecommerce and fintech are setting up dedicated AI units.
Why megabucks AI pilots may not guarantee scalable businesses for technology companies
Customer caution about potential pitfalls of GenAI in the industry wide ecosystem and lack of clarity around where they need to be deployed are reasons for the circumspect adoption. With the macroeconomic uncertainty, companies are also evaluating their discretionary spends, which includes AI pilots.
How Generative AI is transforming industries and building new startup opportunities
India’s burgeoning AI adoption presents a unique opportunity for startups to innovate and thrive.
Do agentic AI startups need to differentiate?
The agentic AI space is evolving rapidly, with OpenAI’s Operator and China’s Manus AI leading innovations. While AI models are becoming commoditised, differentiation in workflow integration, automation, and UX remains crucial for agentic startups to sustain.
Spotlighting India’s next-GenAI startups
Indian deep-tech startups in GenAI are creating solutions in sectors like finance, AI cloud, video streaming, and healthcare, targeting global markets. Ten promising AI startups are highlighted, showcasing their vision and challenges.
Zepto’s cash burn; Razorpay grants Esops
Zepto’s moves in the high-stakes quick commerce sector will determine how the sector evolves. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
InMobi counts on GenAI to drive growth
InMobi, a mobile advertising company, is leveraging generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to drive business growth. Founder Naveen Tiwari said InMobi has developed a GenAI-powered advertising platform, set to launch in the US in three-four months and globally in six months, transforming the advertising landscape.
Generative AI funding in India soars 6x in Q2 FY25: report
Total funding grew 3.4 times year-on-year, boosted by investments in enterprise applications and agentic AI. The number of funding rounds grew three times, with early-stage investments accounting for 77% of all rounds, including angel and seed funding.
Coursera sees spike in GenAI course demand, India leads enrolments
Raghav Gupta, Coursera's Managing Director for India and Asia Pacific, highlighted that while overall online learning growth has slowed compared to the pandemic boom, genAI courses have surged, with enrollments reaching 950,000—a 1600% year-over-year increase.
India added 174 GenAI startups in one year: Nasscom report
The report highlighted that despite being in an early stage, India’s GenAI startups have attracted over $750 million in cumulative funding since 2023.
A family affair: Looking to grow with GenAI
ET brings a snapshot of how India’s top family offices are increasingly betting on GenAI startups. Among Indian family offices, Premji Invest, founded by veteran philanthropist and businessman Azim Premji alone accounted for three of the four big investments in AI in 2024 with the latest being Colorado-based Enveda.
Nasscom announces cohort of 37 GenAI startups for its foundry programme
On average, startups in the cohort are two years old and have already raised $750,000 from institutional investors, Nasscom said.
AWS picks seven Indian startups for global accelerator program: a look at what they do
Amazon Web Services has selected seven Indian startups for its global accelerator programme, providing up to $1 million in AWS credits. These startups will use the credits to develop generative AI solutions and will benefit from AWS and NVIDIA's expertise. This marks the highest number of participants from a single Asia-Pacific country.
ET Infographic: Global GenAI gold rush
The generative AI boom has led to the creation some of the biggest tech companies in the past few years. For example, OpenAI, the company behind the viral ChatGPT, is the world's most valuable startup with a market cap of $86 billion. Chipmakers like Nvidia have also enjoyed the GenAI boost.
Indian startup ecosystem is mature, set to bolster Indian economy: AWS' Kumara Raghavan
AWS' Kumara Raghavan discussed the mature Indian startup ecosystem's potential to become the third largest economy, citing labor addition, infrastructure growth, and GenAI technology as key factors.
Flipkart Ventures to fund, mentor GenAI-based early stage startups
Flipkart Ventures' Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) programme accelerates early-stage startups with USD 200,000 to USD 500,000 equity investments, mentorship from industry veterans, and a focus on GenAI solutions for hyper-growth.
GenAI has potential to completely transform India's healthcare system: PwC India
A report by PwC India highlights the potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to revolutionize India's healthcare system, improving efficiency in patient treatment. GenAI, already adopted in various industries, is expected to drive significant growth in India's healthcare sector, with the number of GenAI startups doubling between 2021 and 2023. By leveraging technologies like natural language processing and predictive analytics, GenAI offers real-time clinical support and personalized patient care. However, the report emphasizes the need for robust governance frameworks to address data privacy and security concerns.
Despite challenges, India saw birth of over 950 tech startups last year: Report
Despite facing global challenges in 2023 like valuation issues, few IPOs, regulatory changes and macroeconomic and geopolitical trends, India remains the third largest tech start-up ecosystem globally, with over 950 tech startups founded last year, a report showed on Thursday.
Flipkart’s $1 billion fundraise; Zomato offers to acquire Shiprocket
Ecommerce giant Flipkart is in the middle of closing a $1 billion funding round in which Walmart has committed $600 million. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
GenAI to generate economic value worth $2.6-$4.4 trillion annually: Report
Generative AI (GenAI) is expected to generate economic value worth $2.6-$4.4 trillion annually, of which around 75 per cent is expected to be concentrated in software engineering, customer operations, product and R&D, and sales and marketing, which are core service lines of many technology service providers in India, a new report showed on Thursday.
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