SOFTWARE STARTUPS
He joined a fire department as a volunteer at 15, left Goldman Sachs to build a $225 million used fire truck marketplace targeting a $1 trillion market
Martin Hunt joined a volunteer fire department at 15, worked at Goldman Sachs and then left finance to build Garage, an AI-powered marketplace for used heavy equipment. Now 27, he has raised $41 million for the startup, which is valued at $225 million and aims to tap a $1 trillion market.
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.
Farmer's son from small Tamil Nadu village builds Rs 1.5-crore software business after quitting nine-year Chennai IT career & starting with just two laptops
Eswaran Arumugam started his software company, Yaa Creations, in Tamil Nadu with Rs 1 lakh borrowed from his brother and just two laptops. After facing financial difficulties, Covid-19 disruptions and Rs 5 lakh in debt, he gradually expanded the business. Based in Rasipuram, Namakkal, the company now has 26 employees, clients across seven countries and undertook projects worth Rs 1.5 crore in 2025, as per a YourStory report.
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.
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.
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Meet Marcin Kleczynski, who was 14 when a computer virus led him to start a side hustle; how did he turn it into a multi-hundred-million-dollar company?
Marcin Kleczynski was not initially an experienced professional programmer. He taught himself coding using online communities and programming resources. He started developing malware-removal utilities to tackle infections that many antivirus products were missing. His early work included a tool that helped remove rogue security software. One of the people he connected with through an online security forum was Bruce Harrison, who later became his business partner.
Google sued over suicide-related AI chats on school computer
The parents of a 13-year-old girl have sued Google claiming she planned a potential suicide and funeral using its AI technology on a school-issued computer. Developers of fast-evolving AI technology are facing a litany of similar lawsuits in the US. OpenAI faces several wrongful death suits, including from the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, a teenager who committed suicide allegedly using methods advised by ChatGPT. Google and the startup Character.
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.
AI Team of the Year: How high-performing AI teams are driving business innovation
The success of AI adoption significantly hinges on the expertise of the professionals implementing these technologies. Teams that blend technical proficiency with business acumen are essential to guarantee that AI applications align with operational requirements and performance benchmarks. Acknowledgment of their contributions becomes crucial, especially for projects that are pivotal to driving business results.
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.
AMD's OpenAI, Meta chip deals trigger $1 billion quarterly charge
AMD in February agreed to sell up to $60 billion worth of AI chips to Meta over five years, giving the Facebook owner warrants that could let it buy as much as 10% of the chip firm if it meets certain milestones. The deal followed a similar agreement with OpenAI last year, giving the startup the option to buy up to roughly 10% of the chipmaker.
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.
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.
AMD's OpenAI, Meta chip deals trigger $1 billion quarterly charge
AMD in February agreed to sell up to $60 billion worth of AI chips to Meta over five years, giving the Facebook owner warrants that could let it buy as much as 10% of the chip firm if it meets certain milestones. The deal followed a similar agreement with OpenAI last year, giving the startup the option to buy up to roughly 10% of the chipmaker.
Premji Invest goes big on strategic output & tech
Premji Invest and Singularity AMC are likely to lead a $30-40 million round in Sanlayan at a valuation of about $200 million, according to the people. Separately, Premji Invest is in advanced talks to lead Hical’s first institutional funding round of $30-40 million, alongside TVS Capital.
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.
'You don't need to crash a plane to...': Adam Robinson's April tweet goes viral after entrepreneur's death in Florida plane crash
An old tweet by tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson has gone viral after he died in a Florida plane crash at 44. Robinson, founder of Retention.com and RB2B, had written, “You don't need to crash a plane to learn to fly ... and you don't need VC to build a business.” Nine people died in the crash.
Krafton steps up India bets to build next global gaming franchise beyond PUBG
Krafton Inc. is actively investing in India's gaming industry to fuel its growth and develop new titles. The company aims to expand beyond its successful PUBG franchise, which has achieved immense popularity in India. With plans to acquire another studio, Krafton seeks to leverage India's talent pool and expertise in software development. The Bangalore team is expected to grow significantly, aided by advancements in artificial intelligence.
Karnataka invites Japanese firms to scale manufacturing, tech alliances
Karnataka seeks collaboration with Japanese companies for manufacturing and innovation in various high-tech sectors. The state presents dedicated incentive packages to support electronics manufacturing and other industries. More than 200 Japanese companies currently operate in Karnataka, enhancing bilateral business relations. Agreements have been signed for Japanese language training to better equip local students.
Friedrich Merz says Germany must preserve 'digital sovereignty' in AI era
German chancellor Friedrich Merz appointed a minister for digitalisation and modernisation when he took office last year and his government has vowed to intensify efforts to make up the technological lag with European economies that have moved faster, including the Netherlands and Denmark.
China's robot makers have mastered the moves. Now comes the race for brains
The shift is fuelling an investment boom in embodied AI, a field focused on software that allows robots to understand their surroundings, learn unfamiliar tasks and adapt without having to be programmed for every job.
Mistral AI publicly releases Large 4, targets cybersecurity users
Mistral said the released version was an upgrade from the one unveiled three weeks ago, following testing with governments and corporate users, which helped improve its performance.
The next AI advantage for India's developers: Turning code into companies
In India's rapidly growing builder economy, AI is revolutionising software creation, allowing developers to generate code and build prototypes in minutes. But speed is only half the battle-code to deployment is the other half. Through tools like GoDaddy's Developer Platform, the real opportunity is achieving this next half of the challenge seamlessly and turning fast-built applications into viable, long-lasting products and thriving companies.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sees AI-led software overhaul amid PHP security concerns
The discussion comes just days after two critical security flaws in PHP were disclosed. PHP is a programming language that runs websites. It works behind the scenes. When a user loads a page, the server running PHP assembles the content and sends the finished page to the browser.
Freshworks acquires AI startup Robusta to strengthen IT operations platform
The acquisition will bring Robusta’s AI-based incident investigation technology to Freshservice, Freshworks’ IT service management platform. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Why big IT firms are buying stakes in AI startups
From HCLTech's $150 million investment in Indian AI startup Sarvam to Accenture's investment in Within, an enterprise AI company, IT firms are backing AI companies to access new technology and offer it to their clients.
Intel to buy quantum firm Classiq for about $2.3 billion: Report
The Israeli startup would also add quantum processors to Intel's lineup, which already includes central processing units and graphics processors. Intel said it plans to keep Classiq's software compatible with other companies' hardware after the deal closes.
Robinhood CEO's AI startup Harmonic expands into software, chip design verification
Backed by Nvidia's venture capital arm, Sequoia and Ribbit Capital, Harmonic raised $120 million in a funding round last November that valued it at $1.45 billion.
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