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

Sustainable packaging for fresh produce. The packaging is in the form of plant-based films, that extend shelf life of fruits and vegetables by up to 3x. It is both biodegradable and compostable, with R&D as well as production in Visakhapatnam. Naturally (pun intended), this is a B2B business, working with farmers, exporters and retailers. It has two products, for bulk shipments and for retail. Building both sales and compliance functions in the US and India. Current revenue scale not provided. $1M seed round. Founders Taraka and Venkata built out SBioTech, an aquaculture startup that specializes in probiotics for fish, for seven years. That overlapped with them building MicGene Lab, a state of the art research laboratory in Visakhapatnam. Founded in Aug 2020.

Kids lifestyle brand - blankets, towels, school gear. Currently at ₹12CR annualised revenue, growing at 40% QoQ. The focus is on scaling collectible-driven seasonal drops. ₹4CR seed round. Angels In the round: Shivali Vij (Michelin), Deepank Kumar (ESR India), Pratik Mathurkar (Honest Chocolat), Uday Sodhi (Kurate Digital Consulting), Stoffer Norden (former CEO, Booking.com). Founders Ritvik and Karishma are from NIT Tiruchirappallii. They founded XOOG, a safe social network for kids. Founded in Feb 2023.

Consumer food brand with products from the Mithila region which lies in Bihar as well as Jharkhand. This is a clean label brand which covers Indian superfoods, "heritage staples" (e.g., Katarni rice, a unique short grain rice only grown in this region) and a healthier variety of snacks. Five months since launch, its currently at ₹3CR annualised revenue, 20 SKUs and 25K customers in aggregate. ₹1.5CR seed round. Founders Shubham and Ankit are IIT Bombay, Anshu is from Ramaiah College. CEO Shubham co-founded a marketing agency; Protego, a car accessories brand; and BreadnPulp, a hyperlocal breakfast delivery platform in Mumbai. Ankit is from Timemytask (on demand home services), Anshu is from Thokbaazar (hyperlocal B2B platform). Founded in Dec 2024.

Consumer food and beverage brand, with fun, nostalgic products - flavoured sodas, cotton candy and tapioca crips for example. The goal is to scale distribution across typical channels (Q-Com) as well as food service outlets and abroad. No data on scale. ₹1.5CR seed round. Co-Founder and CEO Rahul Johar was Executive Director at iResearch Services for 17 years, while also building national distribution for his family owned firm JOHARS Group, a wholesaler/importer. Founded in Jan 2023.

Formerly HealthPresso. $300K angel round from undisclosed investors that closed in July. Founders: Daleep was Senior VP & Country Head of McCann Health for 12 years; Manuj, ex Sapient and Accenture, was Director of Client Services at Essence Software Solutions for close to a decade. The fourth co-founder, Dr Swadeep Srivastava, is not linked here. Founded in May 2023.

Marketing automation system called MAGI (Marketing AGI) that brings together the intelligence and orchestration layer. $1.9M pre-seed round. Founders: Deepesh and Shrestha are both IIT Kharagpur. Deepesh was the Co-Founder of Drivebarn (SaaS for car dealers in the US) and a PM at energyX Solutions and Sonatype; Shrestha was a Team Lead at Meta in the UK, prior to which he was a software engineer at Swiggy and Clip. Founded in Oct 2024.

Defence-tech company building quantum-encrypted laser communications and directed energy weapon (DEW) systems. With five years of R&D and field deployments, its communication system aims to send infrared laser beams using a constellation of satellites, enabling ultra-fast and secure data links; while its DEW system is developing weapons for use in anti-drone, anti-UAV and anti-satellite defence. The communication system will require a network of satellites to function across Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) along with geostationary satellites (GEO). $3M seed round.

IoT startup with a RF-mesh communication stack for use in smart meters (for use across water, gas and electricity utilities) and smart-city projects (for example, street lighting). An RF-mesh communication stack is the architecture that enables wireless communication between multiple devices on a local area network using radio frequency signals. RF-mesh systems have lower downtime and maintenance costs versus telecom-based systems. The Indian government has a Smart Meter National Programme in place to replace 250M conventional meters with smart meters. $2M seed round. Founders: Amarjeet was the Founder & CEO of Shrama Technologies (consulting firm for IoT rollouts); Vikas was with Secure Meters for close to twenty years (large scale Indian manufacturer of metering systems). Founded in Apr 2022.

AI native infrastructure to automate software integrations at enterprises. AI agents plan, build and maintain integrations across the tech stack. In current use cases, agents have automated reconciliation in finance workflows; unified inventory and ordering systems; built real-time ERP-to-CRM data syncs. Currently at 30 paying enterprise clients, 1500 active users and a seven figure ARR. Typically, integration hurdles have stalled enterprise sales for 95% of SaaS vendors. $6.5M seed round. Other investors in the round: Ahead VC, Karman Ventures, Z21. Founders Jugal (IIT Kharagpur) and Abhishek (IIT Roorkee) were co-founders of JustDoc, a remote digital health platform to connect with doctors which was acquired by NetMeds. Jugal was then Head of Strategy, BD & New Products and Abhishek was Head of Product at Netmeds - before and after Netmeds' acquisition by Reliance. Founded in Jan 2023, based in San Mateo and Bengaluru.

Manufacturer of automated patient repositioning systems (placed on top of patients beds), for use in hospitals, rehabilitation centres and for home care. Funding will be used towards the manufacturing setup for its first product, Eturnal. ₹1.66CR seed round. Founder Asish (IIT Kanpur) was a Biodesign Fellow at the School of International Biodesign (AIIMS x IIT) and a Design Fellow at IIT Kanpur. Founded in Dec 2019.