Naagin is a bold and flavour-first Indian hot sauce brand founded in 2019 by Mikhel Rajani, Arjun Rastogi, and Kshitij Neelakantan. The company fuses regional chilli heritage with chef-crafted sauces, oils, and spice blends, all designed for modern kitchens. Today it’s available in over 700 premium Indian retail outlets and on international platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Carrefour, having served over one million customers to date . With a focus on sustainable, traceable sourcing using blockchain tools and operating a plastic-neutral business- Naagin is positioning itself as a global contender in the spicy condiment category. The company recently raised ₹18CR (c. $2.1M) in a pre‑Series A round led by 360 ONE Asset. Existing investor 8i Ventures participated for the third time, alongside 12 new and returning angel investors. The proceeds will fund factory scaling, team expansion, R&D, and marketing- fueling growth across B2B, D2C, quick commerce, and global exports. Mikhel Rajani, Co‑Founder & CEO, brings deep experience in F&B innovation from Francesco’s Pizzeria and Mandala; Arjun Rastogi, Co‑Founder & COO, is an alumnus of BlackRock and EY; Kshitij Neelakantan, Co‑Founder & Head of Operations, comes with a background in public policy and supply chain, holding a degree from SOAS London.

Pehle Jaisa is a Gurugram-based agritech startup that transforms village-level organic and agricultural waste into high-quality organic fertilizers and bio-stimulants. Using decentralized processing units integrated into local waste centers, it slashes the “first-mile” logistics cost and enables villages to produce their own fertilizers, gas, and electricity, empowering a circular rural economy. After selling over 1,500 MT of fertilizer and generating ₹2.5 crore in FY25, the company is targeting ₹100 crore in revenue in the coming years. $300K Pre-Series A. Founders: Pankaj Pandey previously founded Eggoz, CropCoin and KrishiGo; Ehtesham Farooqui has deep expertise in sustainable agriculture and climate-tech.

Kisah Apparels is a rapidly scaling ethnic wear brand for Gen Z and millennial men, headquartered in Kolkata. Since its inception in 2018, the company has evolved from a marketplace-first play to a digitally-native, omnichannel fashion label. Kisah seamlessly combines direct-to-consumer online strategies with physical retail presence—currently operating two stores and planning three more—while achieving a ₹25CR revenue in FY24 (a 42 percent YoY increase) and reaching a run‑rate of approximately ₹100CR in FY25, all while remaining cash-flow positive and profitable.The company recently raised ₹13CR in a pre‑Series A round, led by Sagar Daryani, founder of Wow Momo. Other investors in the round: Apoorv Salarpuria (Salarpuria Investments), Rahul Todi (Shrachi Group), Vinod Dugar (RDB Group), Inflection Point Ventures . Yash Sarawagi, Co‑Founder and CEO, previously worked as an investment banker, bringing a strong strategic and data-led mind to the business. Yashwi Sarawagi Ladsaria, Co‑founder & Director, was formerly a consultant at EY and manages Kisah’s design and operations . Recently, Saurav Kothari, an e-commerce specialist, joined the founding team to strengthen their digital retail engine.

Vecmocon Technologies is a Delhi-based deep-tech startup founded in 2016 by IIT and ISB alumni to drive the transition to smart, sustainable electric mobility. Its full-stack solutions include safety-compliant Battery Management Systems (BMS), smart chargers, motor controllers, vehicle intelligence modules, secure over-the-air update platforms, and AI-driven analytics. With deployments across 100K+ EVs- from two- and three-wheelers to light commercial vehicles, the company is enabling OEMs and fleet operators in India and globally to build connected, software-defined EVs tailored to Indian conditions. The company closed an $18M Series A round, with Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) leading both the initial $10M tranche in November 2024 and the latest $8M segment in June 2025. Other participants in this round: Aavishkaar, British International Investment (BII), Blume Ventures (follow-on). This capital will fuel R&D in embedded EV systems, 5G-enabled connectivity, high-voltage platforms, and domestic manufacturing. The team comprises five tech-focused Co-Founders: Peeyush Asati, CEO and IIT Delhi alumnus; Adarshkumar Balaraman, Co‑founder; Shivam Wankhede, Co‑Founder & CTO; along with Akash Bansal and Nikesh Bisht, who hold board-level roles and drive engineering innovation for Ve­cmocon’s hardware-software stack.

Janitri is an India-based medtech startup developing smart, AI-enabled wearable tools for real-time monitoring of maternal and fetal health during the 1,000-day journey from pregnancy through postnatal care. Its flagship device, Keyar, enables continuous tracking of vital signs in labor and remote settings, aiming to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality across hospitals and homes. With deployment across 800+ hospitals and monitoring over 200,000 mothers monthly, Janitri recently posted revenue of ₹8.5 crore in FY24–25 and expects to double in Q1 FY26 . $1.4M pre‑Series A round. Other investors in the round: Prateek Maheshwari; Pradip Todi (O2 Angels); tal64 syndicate. Founders: CEO Arun Agarwal is a VIT graduate who, inspired by preventable maternal deaths in Rajasthan, built Janitri’s mission-driven device ecosystem; lead technologists and co-founders are documented on Janitri’s site and LinkedIn, leading R&D in wearable diagnostics

Unified data engine for security and observability. Companies are spending 30-40% of their cloud budget on observability, but struggle maintain a single long-term repository that serves developers, security teams and compliance officers. Pre-seed round, amount undisclosed. Both founders are engineers, IIT Kanpur and IIT-B.

Female wellness and hygiene brand catering to Tier 2/3 cities. ₹3CR pre-seed round. Other investors: BeyondTeQ Ventures, Black Pepper Holding.

Another month, another LAMF (Loan Against Mutual Funds) product gets funded (see Quicklend, funded 5th Feb). LAMFs are available at rates starting from 10.5%, vs. ~30% for personal loans. Now expanding into lending against stocks, insurance and digital assets. ₹9.2CR round. Ashutosh is ex-Navi and Swiggy, Aryan is ex-BrowserStack.

Ayurvedic skincare brand, sells on Nykaa in India and Sephora in the UK, now launching with Sephora in the US. Part of the Sephora Accelerate program. $5M seed round. The company last raised a seed round in 2022. Diipa is an influencer (2M followers on IG).

fka Gyaan AI. Customer journey management platform for SaaS companies to bridge the gap between customer acquisition and customer success. SaaS teams currently use an average of 14 disconnected tools to manage these functions. $7.8M seed round. This is the second deal by Dell's venture arm in the last month, following Singulr AI. SF and Pune based. Founder Sonny Aulakh was most recently VP of Products, Solutions & Vertical Marketing at Pure Storage. Coincides with the appointment of a CEO and CRO, who bring leadership experience from Palo Alto Networks, EMC, and most recently Securiti.ai.

Workforce optimization - field agent monitoring, attendance management, expense management. Seed round, amount undisclosed. Basudha, CEO, comes from Ericsson and Serco. Manoj was (or still is) the founder of VegaStack.

Creatives automation platform joining the race to provide higher conversions for sellers on eCommerce, with AI generated ads and catalogs. Their pro plan is <$10 a month. $2.7M seed round. Venus and Aneesh co-founded AppyHigh, developer of productivity and utility apps; Akshit was the Head of Data Science there as well as a Venture Partner at Shastra VC.

As the name might suggest, low-GI mithai made with stevia. ₹1.3CR pre-seed round. Angels in this round: Kavirut (OYO), Dhruva Dubey (Vishal Mega Mart), Rachna Bahadur (Wellness Forever). Prabhinder was a production executive at Nestle, before stints at Amazon, OYO, Flipkart.

Capsule hotels come to India! Starting with one location in Noida, the startup will provide affordable, hygienic, tech-driven stays in IT hubs and near religious sites. The budget hotel market in India is $20B and growing 13-15% a year. $500K pre-seed round. Nitin was the founder of 247around (acquired by Servify), repair and maintenance for home appliances. Himanshu comes with a decade of experience as a customer experience manager.

Building a network of nano satellites for enterprises to run compute in lower earth orbit. Their test satellite was launched on ISRO's PSLV in December. ₹5.5CR pre-seed round. Other investors in this round: AC Ventures. Ronak, a software engineer, spent 12 years as co-founder of Reliance acquired NowFloats.