SAAS STARTUPS
ET AI Awards 2027 are here: Discover if your AI innovation is ready for the spotlight of a national stage!
Celebrating the future of technology, the ET AI Awards 2027 acknowledges key innovations and leadership in AI from various industries in India. With an impressive array of over 40 categories, these awards emphasize the importance of AI developments by startups, SMEs, and large enterprises, offering a valuable stage for recognizing their contributions to the AI ecosystem.
AI innovation in sports: Technology driving the next phase of sports development
Artificial intelligence is creating new opportunities across the sports ecosystem, from performance analysis and sports administration to technology development and wider participation. The ET AI Awards 2027 recognises organisations, technology providers and initiatives advancing the application of AI in sports through its AI Innovation in Sports category.
AI deployment accelerating, but enterprises becoming more discerning: Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside
The Nasdaq-listed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company reported a 14% year-on-year increase in revenue to $245.4 million for the July-September quarter, marginally ahead of its guidance. Net profit stood at $18.3 million, compared with a loss of $4.7 million in the year-ago period.
STT Global’s India biz on the block; micro occasions power qcomm
KKR, Singtel, and the Tatas are preparing to sell STT GDC India, a major data centre platform. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Ixigo co-founder Rajnish Kumar launches Rs 1 cr fund for IIT Kanpur startups
The fund will support 10 technology-led startups from each graduating batch, with Rs 10 lakh in non-dilutive prototype funding for every selected startup, Kumar said in a statement.
Josh Pigford built Baremetrics with just $0 in reported startup costs in 2013; years later, the software business was generating an estimated $1.2 million a year
Josh Pigford built Baremetrics in 2013 to solve a problem he faced with Stripe analytics. He spent seven working days developing the first version, focusing on recurring revenue, customer churn and lifetime value. Rather than relying on expensive marketing, he used Twitter to reach software founders. By April 2014, Baremetrics had reached $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue.
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Goa aims to build innovation-driven AI ecosystem, announces return of tech conclave next year
As part of these efforts, the Goa AI Tech Conclave, which concluded on Friday, will return in October 2027 to further strengthen the state's artificial intelligence ecosystem and foster innovation, they said.
UPI MDR rollout pushed; India’s first quantum computer coming soon
Happy Wednesday! The implementation of MDR on select UPI payments has been deferred beyond Diwali. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
UPI MDR rollout delayed; Rs 7,131 crore RDI deployment
NPCI has pushed back the UPI MDR rollout until after the festive season. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.
ET Startup Awards 2026 | Govt backing and patient capital propel India's leap into AI and chips: Satyan Gajwani
Gajwani said the ecosystem, once driven by fintech, food delivery, SaaS, commerce, quick commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, was witnessing founders focused on deep, proprietary technology. Indian startups are now building semiconductor chips, AI, robotics, clean energy technologies and new materials, while investors are shaping funds, willing to wait longer for these companies to mature.
Payoneer India Cross-Border Excellence Awards 2026 closes with a blueprint for India’s next export leap
India’s exports hit a record $863.1 billion in FY26, yet the businesses driving that growth rarely share the spotlight. On September 25 in New Delhi, the Payoneer India Cross-Border Excellence Awards 2026, in association with The Economic Times, closed its 2026 cycle with a summit on market access, growth corridors and outbound compliance, and 16 category winners that show what Indian global enterprise looks like today.
India set to be ServiceNow's fastest-growing market in Asia
The California-based company employs 6,000 people in India – a fifth of its global workforce. India handles 45% of the company’s global delivery work, he said.
ETtech Q&A: From Anthropic to OpenRouter, Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy and Venky Ganesan on how the firm bets on AI
Partners Matt Murphy and Venky Ganesan on the Anthropic bet, life beyond it, where the firm is putting its money now, and why India's AI future lies with young founders.
GCCs build FDE chops in-house to claw back millions in AI spends
The shift could see GCCs bring $200-300 million worth of FDE-style consulting work in-house across the top 50 mature centres, a report called “WHO has the FDE talent and what it costs” by UnearthInsight, a market intelligence platform estimated.
Dodging SaaSocalypse: AI’s enterprise moment could belong to IT services
ITC Infotech's merger with Happiest Minds highlights the trend of mid-market consolidation in response to AI advancements. The global IT market faces challenges, requiring companies to adopt AI-centric capabilities for survival. Enterprises are burdened with legacy systems, which present both challenges and opportunities for funding technological transformations. Companies will need to adapt to the evolving landscape by integrating AI into existing frameworks effectively.
ChatGPT is coming for a bite of Google-Meta’s ad pie
Multiple Indian consumer brands, including SuperYou, Sirona, BellaVita, Sebamed, and Mamaearth have started testing the platform, as advertisers explore whether ChatGPT’s ability to capture consumers at the point of research can translate into better returns.
India Mobile Congress 2026 launches 'Viksit Tech 47' platform to build Indian technology brands for global markets
India Mobile Congress 2026 has introduced Viksit Tech 47 to aid Indian technology firms in achieving global prominence. This platform aims to support companies in several technology sectors, including artificial intelligence and IoT. A flagship report assessing over 200 Indian tech companies will be released at the event. Viksit Tech 47 will also implement the Dr Zarabi Indigenisation Award for startups in hardware development.
Rs 57 lakh remote job vs Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru offer: Techie asks if the difference is worth the travel from Madurai every week
A software engineer earning Rs 57 lakh at a fully remote startup is considering a Rs 68.2 lakh base-and-bonus offer from a public US SaaS company that requires two days a week in Bengaluru. The move could also mean spending around Rs 17 lakh to exercise existing startup options. His plan for weekly overnight train journeys between Madurai and Bengaluru has sparked varied reactions on Reddit.
ET AI Awards 2027: 40+ categories across Innovation, Functional Excellence, Leadership and Emerging AI
The ET AI Awards 2027 return for the second edition, recognising organisations, teams, and leaders driving measurable impact through applied AI. With 40+ categories across 4 tracks, the awards cover AI Innovation, Functional Excellence, Leadership and emerging applications across startups, SMEs and enterprises, evaluated through a structured, expert-led process.
Rs 57 lakh remote job vs Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru offer: Techie in Madurai plans 20-hour weekly train commute, asks if it’s worth it
A tech professional in Madurai is weighing a Rs 57 lakh fully remote job against a Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru offer. The new role offers a Staff Software Engineer position, public-company RSUs and higher monthly in-hand pay, but requires two office days weekly. He is considering a 20-hour weekly overnight train commute instead of relocating. Leaving his current startup could also mean spending Rs 17 lakh to exercise vested private options.
AI Is Changing How Customers Choose Your Business
As AI increasingly mediates how customers research, evaluate, and choose suppliers, competitive advantage is shifting from direct customer understanding to managing AI-shaped interactions. Drawing on the experiences of three small-to-medium sized businesses they worked with, the authors show how firms can adapt. A manufacturer improved sales efficiency by screening AI-generated inquiries before investing engineering time in quotations. A boutique hotel learned to monitor how AI tools described its business and revised public content to improve accuracy and differentiation. A B2B software company replaced periodic customer reviews with continuous monitoring of customer feedback and AI-generated market perceptions. Across all three cases, the lesson is that firms must treat AI as a new intermediary in the customer relationship. Winning companies will not necessarily spend the most on technology; they will build systems for continuously listening, interpreting signals, and adapting strategy in markets where both customers and the information they rely on are increasingly AI-mediated.
TypeSafe AI's Jev doesn’t write, code or chat. So why are developers obsessed with it?
TypeSafe AI has introduced Jev, a model that makes structured decisions using unstructured information. It outputs typed choices, scores, or probabilities instead of generated text. Developers are excited because it improves efficiency and speed for small decision-making tasks in AI systems. Jev is inexpensive, costing $0.042 per million tokens processed and responding quickly.
Getaway to the UAE: Delhi roadshow charts India’s next leap into global markets
The Delhi edition of the Gateway to the UAE Delhi Roadshow, hosted by Ajman Free Zone in partnership with The Economic Times and Times of India Digital, brought together business, tax and trade experts to examine opportunities for Indian companies seeking to establish a regional presence in the UAE.
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.
Routine IT roles may feel the pinch as Oracle India workforce shrinks to 27,000
The company has not publicly made any disclosures this month on job cuts until press time Tuesday. It slashed 21,000 jobs including about 12,000 in India, earlier this year, amid a shift in focus and spending to AI infrastructure.
ET Startup Awards 2026: Habuild leans on repeat users to expand beyond yoga into strength training, nutrition
Habuild, winner of the Bootstrap Champ title at the ET Startup Awards 2026, has built a profitable digital wellness business driven largely by repeat subscriptions. The platform, which started with free yoga sessions during Covid, reported Rs 112 crore revenue and Rs 57 crore net profit in FY25, while expanding into strength training and AI-led nutrition tools.
GPT-6 Astra signals new leap in AI autonomy
Unveiled on Thursday, Astra has outperformed rival models from Anthropic, Google, Meta and Chinese labs Alibaba and Moonshot on key benchmarks for coding, cybersecurity, computer use and reasoning, according to the Sam Altman-led company.
SaaS company Whatfix's cofounder and CEO Khadim Batti passes away
Whatfix CEO Khadim Batti passes away: Vara Kumar, Batti's cofounder and a close friend, told Whatfix employees in an email that Batti had spoken with him at length on Monday night and that they had discussed their respective health situations. “He had been maintaining his health very well,” Kumar wrote.
Funding for Indian SaaS to rise 62.5% to $6.5 billion this year: report
According to the report, titled ‘India SaaS: Punching through the global pecking order’, overall funding for Indian SaaS startups is expected to touch $6.5 billion this year, from $4 billion in 2021 – an increase of 62.5%.
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