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

AI native cloud platform for enterprises, which is yet to launch. Developers can define performance, compliance or cost objectives while the platform auto-manages deployment and execution across infrastructure stacks. $9.6M seed round. Other investors in the round: Climber Capital and angels including Ritesh Agarwal (Oyo), Ritesh Malik (Innov8), Aditya Virwani (Embassy Group). Founders: all three are IIT Kharagpur. Abhinav (HBS) was Global COO & CPO at OYO; Vamshidhar (ISB, Stanford) was a Partner at McKinsey for 13 years after 5 years at AMD; Abhijeet was with AT&T for 15 years in the US followed by three years at Jio as VP Cloud Tech & Infra. Founded in Apr 2025. Comps: Neysa ($30M Series A from Nexus, NTTVC, Z47).

AI digital marketing automation for small businesses in India, e.g. gyms, salons, hospitality providers and clinics. Manages SEO and automates all communication (automated responses, follow-ups and ongoing customer conversations). Used by 21,600 businesses since its beta. ₹15.5CR seed round. Other investors in the round: Vernalis Capital and angel investors including Revant Bhate, Vaibhav Domkundwar, Ramakant Sharma, Sumit Gupta. Founders: CEO Ashutosh built Matrix funded Testbook for 13 years before it was acquired by Classplus; CTO Ayush (IIT Kanpur), CPO Arpit (IIT Bombay) and CMO Narendra Agrawal (IIT Bombay) were also respectively CTO, CPO and CMO at Testbook. Narendra is is not linked here. Founded in May 2024.

SpaceTech startup incubated at IIT Madras. The company is developing autonomous, re-usable vehicles for in-orbit and microgravity experiments (i.e. commercial space research). Products that come out of such environments include special semiconductors, high purity protein crystals for pharma and artificial retinas. Microgravity environments are hard to recreate on earth and more options are needed in space as the International Space Station nears decommissioning in 2030. It aims to launch its first vehicle by Q1 2028. $1M pre-seed round. Founders: Aravind IB (IIT Madras) spent nine years as Graduate Research Assistant at the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development (NCCRD); Vishal graduated from VIT and Columbia with two years in-between joining Inbound; Abhijit (Goa Univ., Nalsar) was a Commanding Officer of the Indian Navy. Founded in Oct 2023.

Fitness sessions organised within apartment complexes - strength training, yoga, weight loss offered via both individual and group training. ₹2CR pre-seed round. Currently operational in 40 complexes in Bangalore, with 500 customers to date. Angels in the round include Pranay Jivrajka (Allo Health). Founder Shalabh (IIT Guwahati, IIM Lucknow) managed growth and brand marketing at Allo Health, worked across various verticals at and spent two years with Ola. Curefit Founded in Oct 2023.

D2C travel accessories with a multi-brand approach. Travel products include luggae, backpacks and neck pillows, all offered with an aim of two hour delivery. The company also plans to open 100 stores in the next two years. $5M seed round from First Cheque at Jungle Ventures and Fireside Ventures. Angels in the round: Revant Bhate (Mosoaic Wellness), Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Harsh Shah (Fynd), Chirag Taneja (GoKwik), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace) and more. Founders: Abhinav Pathak built Kalaari, Venture Highway and Prime backed Perpule, a cloud-based POS which was acquired by Amazon in 2021, before spending two years with Amazon; Abinav Zutshi is from Landmark Group, Trent and Big Bazaar. Founded in Feb 2025.

SaaS tools for hospitals and other healthcare service providers, including an outpatient (OPD) department management system, an end-to-end hospital OS, a clinical AI notetaker and an app for patients. Incubated at IIT Madras, the company is also integrating blockchain into a number of tools, for e.g. in managing sensitive organ donation databases. ₹6.5CR seed round. Founders: all three are IIT Madras. Prabhu is Head of the School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at IIT Madras; Vijayaraja was co-founder at Gemicates (automation systems) for six years; Anirudh started out while still studying at IIT. Founded in Apr 2023.

Rocket manufacturing company with a flagship product - InfinityOne - that will deliver payloads of up to 350kg to altitudes of up to 800km (i.e. in Low Earth Orbit). The rocket has a reusable first stage which means it can relaunch within 24 hours. Its first commercial launch is planned for Jan 2028. $3M pre-seed round from undisclosed investors ("a family office and an angel investor"). Founders: CEO & CSO Dr. Ravindra Raj BM started Omspace straight out of IIT Madras; Chief Propulsion Engineer Maulik Mota joined after a brief stint at Essar Oil; Founded in Jun 2020.

Engineering simulations through high performance computing combined with "quantum-inspired" algorithms (i.e. algorithms that draw on quantum computing theory but use classical hardware, not quantum computers). Clients from the aerospace, automotive, energy and defence industry can use the platform for faster design cycles, with cheaper compute. The company has a collaboration with the US Air Force Research Lab, as well as paid pilots with ABB, BMW and Maruti Suzuki. $5M seed round. Other investors in the round: Transpose Platform, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, ARKA Venture Labs, Grifiss Institute, Paradigm Shift Capital and Pranatech. Founders: Co-Founder & CEO Abhishek (BS, Aerospace from Rutgers; MEng from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) started this almost straight out of Rutgers; along with CTO Rut, also straight out of Rutgers; and COO Jash, after graduating from University College London (UCL). Founded in Sep 2020, HQ In New York with tech out of Bengaluru.

Parking solutions provider which offers a range of IoT solutions - a smart parking barrier that secures individual parking spaces for particular customers (using a pop-up barrier), automated boom barriers and EV fleet charging infrastructure. A marketplace also allows private parking owners to rent out their unused spaces by the hour, using the parking barrier/lock. The company currently facilitates 20,000 parking slot bookings a month. ₹2.09CR seed round. Founders: Amrit started Nick IT Solutions, a services firm, 18 years ago; Raj Kumar is from the advertising industry. Founded in Apr 2023.

Business intelligence platform, focused on automation and conversational analytics. Pre-seed round of an undisclosed amount. Angels in the round include Gaurav (Noise) and Amit (Central Warehousing Corporation). Founder Vipul Prakash had brief stints at Delhivery and IndusInd Bank, and was a Zonal Head at BharatPe. Founded in Dec 2023.