Nitin Sharma

Space-tech company Dhruva Space has raised ₹51.76 crore ($6M) in a pre-Series B round led by AVCF1, with participation from 33 investors including Aranya Holding Ventures and Hyderabad Angel Fund. The round values the deep-tech startup at $215M post-money. Founded by Sanjay Nekkanti and Chaitanya Dora, Dhruva Space works across satellites, launch integration and ground systems, and has launched eight payloads in the last 24 months. With over $22M raised so far, the company continues strengthening India’s private space-tech sector, which is rapidly expanding with players like Skyroot, Agnikul, Pixxel and Bellatrix. #dhruvaspace #startupcityindia #preseriesB #spacetechstartup #businessstartups #fundingupdate #avcf1 #satelliteinnovation #hyderabadstartups #technewsindia #newspaceeconomy #payloadlaunch #deeptechindia #startupgrowth #launchservices #spaceinfrastructure #venturecapitalnews #startupupdates #aerospaceengineering #indianstartups #marketmomentum #businessnews #spacedevelopment #futureoftech #orbitalsolutions #entrepreneurship #investorecosystem #spaceindustryindia #technologygrowth

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Former Kae Capital partner Natasha Malpani has launched Boundless Ventures, a Rs 200 crore early-stage fund dedicated to AI-native startups. The fund will focus on pre-seed and seed rounds, investing in consumer AI, infrastructure, agent tooling, healthcare, logistics, and Make-in-India AI hardware. Boundless Ventures has already made six investments, including SuperHealth, Armatrix, Piersight, and Knot. Beyond capital, the fund aims to provide storytelling, market access, and network support, leveraging Malpani’s experience in venture capital and media entrepreneurship. #boundlessventures #natashamalpani #venturecapital #aistartups #startupindia #fundingnews #earlystagefunding #seedfunding #preseed #aiinnovation #aifuture #healthcareai #logisticsai #robotics #spacetech #foundersupport #makeinindia #businessnews #investmentnews #growthstory

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Arkam Ventures is raising its second fund, Unitary Fund II, targeting $150 million to invest in early-stage Indian tech startups. The IFC - International Finance Corporation is considering an equity investment of up to $15 million to support the fund's strategy in sectors like fintech, SaaS, and healthtech. Led by Rahul Chandra and Bala Srinivasa, the fund aims to increase access to venture capital for technology companies. This initiative is designed to foster business growth and drive innovation across India's startup ecosystem. More at: https://lnkd.in/eUhjyti4 #VentureCapital #India #Startups

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Deep-tech VC firm Speciale Invest is launching a new growth-stage fund targeting a ₹1,400 crore corpus, marking a shift beyond its traditional pre-seed and seed focus. Fund strategy and cheque size: The firm plans to invest $5–8 million per company in Series A and later rounds, with 30–40% of the corpus reserved for follow-on investments to support portfolio companies as they scale. Why now: Managing Partner Vishesh Rajaram says the fund aims to address the shortage of growth capital in deep tech, as the sector moves from experimentation to mainstream adoption. Leadership update: Venture Partner Vijay Jacob has been elevated to General Partner - Growth, to lead the new investment push. The firm will continue backing space-tech, AI, energy, advanced manufacturing, biosciences, and emerging areas like semiconductors and defence tech. Track record: The move follows the recent close of Speciale Invest’s ₹600 crore Fund III. Over eight years, the firm has backed deep-tech startups including AgniKul Cosmos and Metastable Materials. Read more, from the link in comments. By Sai keerthi #SpecialeInvest #VentureCapital #DeepTech #StartupFunding #GrowthStage

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FUNDED: PowerUp Money raises $12M Series A led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from existing investors Accel, Blume Ventures, Kae Capital, 8i Ventures, and DeVC.

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Pune-based deeptech startup Intangles has raised $30 Mn (INR 266 Cr) in a Series B round led by Avataar Venture Partners, with participation from Baring Private Equity Partners India and Cactus Partners. Founded in 2016 by Anup Patil, Neil Unadkat, Aman Singh, and Jayshri Patil, Intangles offers AI-powered predictive analytics solutions for fleet providers and OEMs. Its clients include Tata Motors, Volkswagen, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda, among others. The startup’s platform supports over 4 lakh vehicles across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, helping fleet owners boost profitability by up to 50% and achieve 5x ROI per truck. With this new funding, Intangles aims to expand into new international markets, grow its team, and enhance its product portfolio. Team Intangles✅ Anup Patil | Neil Unadkat | Aman Singh | Jayshri Patil | Aniket Didolkar | Swapnil Kumbhar | Gobinda Pal | Saumyadeep Dutta | Amit Pote | Dhiraj Gaikwad | #intangles #funding #deeptechStartups #iotDevices #startupUpdates #startupro

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Digital lending platform Optimo Capital has raised Rs 150 crore in a Series A equity funding round led by founder Prashant Pitti, who is also the co-founder of EaseMyTrip, alongside existing investors Blume Ventures and Omnivore. Pitti resigned as Managing Director of EaseMyTrip in August 2025 and is now leading Optimo’s push into the secured lending space. The company operates as a fintech-NBFC specialising in digital loans against property (LAP) and noted in the release that it has quickly expanded since its inception 18 months ago, building a Rs 350 crore loan book and opening 56 branches across five states in India. Additionally, Optimo raised Rs 110 crore in debt from IDFC and Axis Bank. The company plans to use the new capital to build its technology and AI infrastructure, develop co-lending partnerships, and extend its reach across Tier III cities. The startup targets India’s roughly 4.8 crore small-business owners, most of whom lack formal credit histories despite owning valuable property. Using 77 lac digital land records & AI-driven processes, Optimo does property valuation and title verification quickly and provides in-principle approvals within hours & loan disbursals in under a week, something that traditionally takes 4 to 6 weeks. In just 18 months, Optimo has built a ₹350 crore loan book and opened branches in 56 cities in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh with a team of 480. The company became profitable within three months of inception and has stayed profitable for over 15 months, a rare milestone in the fintech lending space. "Optimo is unlocking India’s biggest asset (53% of nation's wealth), its land & property, by allowing property-owners to quickly get secured-loans by WhatsApping at 7996.796.796", said Prashant Pitti. “India’s Mortgage-to-GDP ratio is just 9% versus above 50% in developed economies, clearly we are not utilising our biggest wealth to grow our GDP faster.” #startuppedia #startupJourney #startupstory #startupnews #startupbusiness #india

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Natasha Malpani Malpani, a former partner at Kae Capital, has launched Boundless Ventures, a ₹200 crore early-stage venture capital fund to back Indian AI (artificial intelligence)-native startups at the intersection of science, systems and identity. The fund, which has already made four investments, will invest in the pre-seed and seed stages, and its focus spans from consumer AI, AI infrastructure, agent tooling to vertical AI applications in sectors such as healthcare and logistics, and make-in-India hardware and deeptech.

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Bengaluru-based startup Pronto announced a $25 million Series B funding round, catapulting its valuation to $100 million in under a year. Led by Epiq Capital with participation from Glade Brook Capital Partners LLC, General Catalyst, and Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), the round brings total funding to about $40 million. Revolutionizing the Informal Domestic Help Sector Pronto is bringing structure to India's vast offline house help market by offering on-demand services like sweeping, mopping, and utensil cleaning with pros arriving in roughly 10 minutes. Trained and verified professionals, 99% women, earn a median of ₹23,000–₹25,000 monthly for 20 shift days, achieving over 70% retention rates.

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Gupshup, the San Francisco-headquartered business messaging startup founded and led by Beerud Sheth Seth, has raised over $60 million in a new equity and debt round from Globespan Capital Partners and EvolutionX Debt Capital, though the exact valuation and debt portion remain undisclosed. Once valued at $1.4 billion, Gupshup's internal valuation has since been cut by prior investor Fidelity, yet Seth emphasizes that the company has tripled revenue and grown profitability since its last raise in 2021. The funding will support global expansion across India, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, and further development of its AI agent-powered communication tools, as the startup eyes an IPO in the next 18–24 months. INVESTORS: Globespan Capital Partners & EvolutionX Debt Capital AMOUNT: $60,000,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #California #VentureCapital #Gupshup #GlobespanCapitalPartners #EvolutionXDebtCapital #BeerudSeth #TradedVC

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Natasha Malpani, former partner at Kae Capital, has launched Boundless Ventures, a Rs 200 crore fund focused on early-stage investments in AI startups from India. The fund will target pre-seed and seed companies across consumer AI, infrastructure, AI agent tooling, healthcare, logistics, and Make-in-India AI hardware. Boundless is designed to back AI-native startups that have global ambition but deep Indian roots. She raised the fund entirely from her network of friends and family, showing her strong credibility within the ecosystem. Boundless has already made six investments, including healthcare venture Superhealth, robotics firm Armatrix, spacetech startup Piersight, quick commerce venture Knot, and two stealth AI firms. Malpani emphasizes that founders who combine technical depth with cultural fluency will shape the future of AI from India. Alongside funding, Boundless offers storytelling, network access, and market expertise to help founders scale. Shivam Kalkar #AIStartups #VentureCapital #BoundlessVentures #NatashaMalpani #IndianStartups #TechInnovation #AITech #StartupFunding #FutureOfAI #MakeInIndia

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Home Grown VC Fund Raise Pyramid 👇 From the Venture Intelligence India VC Landscape Report. Download for free at https://lnkd.in/g_sxghB4 #VentureCapital #startupindia #infographic #VCIndia #startups #startup #homegrown #fundraising #funds #VC #VCfunds

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Eternal Capital (India), an early-stage VC fund started by former bharatpe COO Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl, has rebranded itself as Sadev Ventures. The firm said the new name aligns with its family office identity and values. With this change, Sadev Ventures will continue its India-first focus while also helping portfolio companies expand globally through support from international LPs and strategic partners. Read full article link in the commment 👇 #sadevventures #eternalcapital #vc #rebrand #startupnews

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#StartupEcosystem Leo Capital Backs Early-Stage Startups Building Global Tech from India Leo Capital, a USD 200 million fund with 60 portfolio companies and six exits, focuses on seed to pre-Series A investments, where capital is most catalytic. Partner Ravi Srivastava says the firm supports AI-native SaaS, deep tech, and cross-disciplinary innovations in areas like fintech, insurtech, and applied AI. “We are sector aware, not sector bound,” he notes. Srivastava emphasizes hands-on support in go-to-market, hiring, and product strategy. Highlighting startups like LambdaTest, which scaled to USD 50 million ARR globally, he believes the next wave will emerge from India’s native infrastructure—identity, payments, compliance, ESG, and AI-embedded products. “Constraints create the best opportunities,” he adds, backing founders with clarity, ambition, and capital efficiency. Read the story: https://ow.ly/7bb850XiQUz #VentureCapital #IndianStartups #TechInvesting #EarlyStageFunding #SaaSIndia #DeepTech #FintechIndia

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Uncertainty is a given in the venture capital business. While the Q2 2025 decline in PE-VC investments is cause for concern, good businesses will be able to weather any uncertainty. Watch Sandeep Murthy deconstruct the the latest wave to hit sentiments in India’s PE-VC market. And what it means for our portfolio companies. More in the latest edition of The Brief, our weekly newsletter. Sign up here https://lnkd.in/duiCaSje

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Natasha Malpani, a former partner at Kae Capital, has launched Boundless Ventures, an early-stage investment firm with a Rs 200 crore corpus to invest in AI–native startups from India. The fund will write pre-seed and seed cheques for companies working across the AI spectrum, including consumer applications, infrastructure, agent tooling, vertical use cases in healthcare and logistics, and Make-in-India hardware. Read the full story here:👇 https://lnkd.in/d_hYCV3T #venturecapital #funding #investors #investment #ai #startup #indianstartupnews

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