AI agents to manage cross-platform workflows for product managers. ₹1.3CR pre-seed round. The three founders are software engineers - the CEO had short stints at Microsoft and ControlShift.

Micro-dramas platform (i.e., ReelShort for India), with episodes of 1-2 minutes each. $2.1M seed round, with funding towards creating localised content for India, SE Asia and the Middle East. Other investors in the round: 8i Ventures, Waveform Ventures, Warmup Ventures, Bombay54, Bharat Founders Fund. The three founders built used car platform Truebil, acquired by Spinny. Comps: ChaiShots (round in closing), DashReels (from Stellaris-backed Dashtoon), Kuku TV (from Kuku FM), ReelShort itself.

SaaS platform for companies to manage their recruitment process. Works with companies in FinTech and IT to manage resume verification, skill assessment and checking the cultural fit of candidates. ₹5CR seed round, investors undisclosed. Co-Founder Nihar spent close to 17 years at Axis Bank.

Hyperlocal fashion delivery out of Ahmedabad, with tie-ups with 50 local stores and brands. The app itself launches this month. Pre-seed round at a $1.2M valuation, fundraise amount and investors are undisclosed. Founders: the CEO started straight out of college; the CMO was Co-Founder at ZIPPIT, hyperlocal delhivery of anything.

Refrigerated container shipping platform for perishible goods. Operates in a niche for temperature-controlled exports of fresh produce, meat, marine products and flowers from India. "Our platform has been instrumental in solving export inefficiencies for Indian SMEs. We’ve reduced booking times from 72 hours to just 10 minutes, while also helping clients cut down spoilage and expand market reach by over 40%.” ₹2.5CR bridge round, following on ₹2.75CR raised earlier. The founders have built this business over the last nine years. The CEO comes from the freight industry. Comps: Wiz Freight, Cogoport, Intercont.

In-space servicing firm, with a goal to extend the operational lifespan of satellites and reduce orbital debris. The company is developing propulsion; robotics; and Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) systems in-house. This fundraise is to space-qualify its technology over the next year. The company aims to combine India’s cost-effective engineering with hardware capabilities from East Asia. $5.6M seed round. Other investors in the round: Antler India, DeVC, MGF Kavachh, Anicut Capital. Speciale, Antler and Veda led the $1.5M pre-seed in 2023. The company is also supported by the Ministry of Defence’s iDEX Program. Founders: the CEO has been a professor at IIT Bombay since 2010. The CTO was a researcher there for eight years.

This is Policybazaar's healthcare venture, led by it's founder Yashish Dahiya. The company was incorporated on the 1st of January this year and aims to set up a 1,000 bed hospital network in Delhi NCR. The company will operate hospitals itself, with 4-5 locations (600-800 beds) to be set up over the next year. The idea is to integrate insurance and healthcare seamlessly - removing pre-authorizations, simplifying claims, reducing avoidable surgeries with preventative healthcare. This is a $218M seed round at a $243M valuation. It appears to be tranched. So far PB Fintech (Policybazaar's parent) has invested $62M for a 26% stake; General Catalyst has invested $50M for 20.57%; while Dahiya, co-founder Alok Bansal and other execs have invested ~$15M. PB Fintech itself made ₹1,292CR in Q3 FY25 with a ₹72CR profit. In a similar move coming from the opposite direction, Narayana Hrudalaya launched its insurance arm last year. Private hospital chains in India will add over 10K beds over the next three years - 3500 by Apollo, 3700 by Max, 2200 by Fortis and 1700 by Aster. Hospital chains are growing revenues 12-14% a year with ~22% operating margins, according to ICRA. 40M Indians buy health insurance annually - while premium's have been going up 15% a year, incomes haven't been keeping pace. As noted in the Financial Express, "a study by the Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI) study found that in FY23, insurers settled 86% of claims by count, but paid only 51% of the total claim value. While insurers blame over-treatment and inflated bills, hospitals argue that rising equipment costs are to blame."

Food-tech startup offering non-refrigerated plant-based protein products - mixes for samasos, momos, kebabs and so on. The impact angle - it aims to reduce protein deficiency in markets with limited cold chain infrastructure, while also reducing emissions compared to the farming, production and transport of non-vegetarian, cold-chain dependent products. The company has 30 B2B clients, including food manufacturers and HoReCa customers. The company is looking beyond India, to West Africa and other markets. Founders: the CEO co-founded Wok Hospitality (cloud kitchen with 20 locations).

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).