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-enabled astrology platform. AI is used to crunch astrological data while a network of vedic astrologers provide consultations. It has a registered user base of 30-40K, with 11 in-house astrologers. The model is pay per minute, with sessions starting at 5 minutes and going up to 20-40 minutes. $1.5M seed round. Angels in the round: Sumer Juneja and Sarthak Mishra (Softbank). Founders: the CEO founded bootstrapped Yeebo (Indian ethnic products marketplaced), before heading B2C Product at Atlys; the CTO had brief stints as tech lead at Atlys and Ripin, and co-founded Now&Me (mental health). Comps: Ask My Guru (Lumikai), Astrotalk (Elev8). India's "spiritual market" was ~$59B in 2023, of which 1.5% is online so far. The horoscope segment is $10B.

Privacy compliance and data governance startup. $400K pre-seed round. The founder is based in the Netherlands, started a dev firm there and was also the CIO of Mobinck (the incubation arm of AutoBinck Group).

Logistics startup providing last mile delivery for D2C brands and e-commerce sellers. It operates a network of dark stores, offering 4-hour, same day and next day delivery. It processes 15,000 orders a day, helping brands reduce RTOs and increase on-time delivery. ₹6.5CR seed round. Founders: the CEO managed procurement at Greaves Electric, Ola and Honda Motorycles; the COO was former COO at GO with DOT (last mile delivery).

SaaS product that enables live video eCommerce for brands as well as shoppable reels. It combines live video shopping, Agentic AI and conversational commerce to reduce bounce rates and drive engagement up by 2x, as well as increase sales by up to 30%. It has over 300 clients from Manyavar to Thomas Cook. $300K seed round. It had previously raised from 100x and Pentathlon Ventures. Founders: The CEO comes from Publicis Sapient (heading Cloud Managed Services) and Infosys; the CTO is from Publicis Sapient and Globallogic.

Chain of skincare clinics. "Korin": Korea+India, "Mi" = Beauty. ₹3CR pre-seed round led by angels including Vikas Agarwal (Kaya Skin Clinic UAE), Vivek Kumar (VentureGarage). Currently operates from two locations in NCR (Worldmark, Defence Colony), with 25 outlets planned over the next three years (entering Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad). The company is also launching its own skincare brand, sold D2C and via Nykaa etc. “We are formalising a new category in professional Korean skincare tailored for Indian consumers with a high-trust clinical approach". Founders: the CEO was a Senior Brand Manager at Mars (confectionary), the COO is a cosmetologist.

Gut-health D2C brand, as the name suggests. It offers at-home testing kits (a saliva-based pH test for acidity) along with clinically validated Ayurveda-inspired nutraceutical supplements. $360K raised in this extended seed round. It has previously raised $500K at seed. Founders: Mukul, ex-NestAway, was the Founder & COO of YoloBus. Mansi is ex-Honeywell and managed Customer Experience at YoloBus.

Lab grown diamond and polki jewellery brand. Targetting ₹60CR this FY, from ₹14CR in FY25. Current stores: Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Surat, Nagpur - now opening in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. However, IG+their own website contribute 60% of sales. ₹2CR seed round. Founder Ayushi Jindal is from Pearl Academy and was the founder of House of Her (fashion brand). Comps: Firefly Diamonds (WestBridge), True Diamond (Titan, Huddle, Zeropearl), COLUXE (angels), Fiona Diamonds (Venture Catalysts, AC Ventures), Limelight Lab Grown Diamonds, Jewelbox (V3)

Offline social networking platform from the founder of Aisle. Launched last September, the product is in its early days - focused on getting the number of jams (group hangouts offline) to 500 a week. Aiming at a weekly frequency use case - "we've consistently seen over 40% weekly activity from our core member base". The company is also testing a second unnamed product in beta mode - "a link-in-bio to turn visitors into friends, clients, teammates and more". Seed round, amount undisclosed. Founder Able Joseph built dating app Aisle over a decade and sold 76% of it for ₹91CR to InfoEdge in 2022. Aisle has ~1M MAU today, made ₹35CR for IndoEdge in FY24 and is now focused on getting to profitability.

AI-driven English learning platform. Offers a voice-first tutor for English as a second language. Users improve their spoken English - across fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. The app has 4M installs, ~500K MAUs and 45K paying users. Expansion will focus on Latin America (40% of revenue today) and South East Asia. The majority of users are already outside India. $3.75M Pre-Series A round. Other investors in the round: Rebright, Force Ventures, GradCapital, Operators Studio. The founders started building Stimuler midway through college - three are from IIT BHU, the fourth, CTO Akshat Baranwal (not linked below) is from IIIT Allahabad.

Platform aggregating hostels and PGs. Assures a common quality of service through the brand - food, hygiene, security - at 25 locations. ₹8.5CR round, including primary and secondaries. Vaibhav, Co-Founder & CEO, is from KPMG. Full stack student housing operators (not aggregators) have seen a clearing out in recent years - YourSpace (₹143CR revenue in FY24) and Stanza Living (₹458CR in FY23, now raising at a down round) continue to operate; NestAway raised $115M and sold for $11M in 2023; Oxfordcaps raised $11M and was sold in a distressed deal in 2021.