Agentic-AI led debt recovery platform that connects financial institutions (banks and NBFCs), legal teams, recovery agents and valuers on a single automated system. Traditionally, manual and branch-dependent processes lead to compliance issues for banks as well as delays (40% of delays could be avoided with automated workflows). "Banks rely on Excel spreadsheets and manual procedures for something that ought to be highly automated and compliance-driven. This increases operational costs and also diminishes recovery efficiency". Pre-seed round of an undisclosed amount. Founder Abhishek was the co-founder of SYAN Automation (IoT for home) with brief stints at BCG and Deloitte.

Hyper personalised and effortless travel planning using AI. Launching a new app soon with one-click bookings and 24x7 concierge support. ₹13.5CR in GMV till date. ₹2CR pre-seed round. Founders: the CEO and CTO started the company six years ago during college. Comps: Holiday Tribe (GSF, Powerhouse), Rimigo (Reazon, SGgrow), 30Sundays (InfoEdge), GydeXP (Rukam Sitara, last week).

Clean label snacking brand with complete ownership over its supply chain and a manufacturing facility in Haryana. ₹3CR seed round. Founders: the CEO is a software engineer who started Khari 5 years ago, prior to which he co-founded Square Sales India (marketing agency).

QSR chain bringing Mumbai's street food to the mass-premium segment. Started out with one store in JP Nagar (Bengaluru), with 15 more planned for this year across multiple formats - cloud kitchens and in malls, tech parks and on the high street. Pre-seed round of an undisclosed amount. Angels in the round: Karan Bhagat/Yatin Shah (360One), Mohit Gulati (ITI GO), Ankit Agarwal/Varun Limaye (Mesa School of Business) and more. The two founders started out after a postgraduate program at the Mesa School of Business, one of them is a professional chef.

Fresh farm produce and supply chain startup, which operates on a B2B2C model. Formerly known as Sorted, it was founded by the Milkbasket team. The company sources directly from local farmers, takes orders on its app and leverages a network of micro-entrepreneurs for last-mile delivery. ₹21.7CR extended seed round. Other investors in the round: Stargazer Ventures, Eximius Ventures, Sunrise Sunset Family Trust, Infinyte Club Angel Fund. Founders: Anant, CEO, was the Co-Founder & CEO of Milkbasket; CTO Nitin was the Head of Product and Engineering; and Sahil was the VP/Head of Growth over there. Comps: Otipy (recently shut shop a few weeks ago), Pluckk (Exponentia).

Premium sneaker brand designed through the lens of Indian culture. Sold D2C, now establishing its own exclusive brand outlets. ₹7.6CR seed round, along with ₹1.1CR raised in venture debt from Stride Ventures. Angels in the round: Vivekananda Hallekere (Bounce), Suhasini Sampath (Yogabar), Nishchay AG (Jar), Ashutosh Valani (Renee Cosmetics) and more. Founders: Arjun comes from Graph Advisors (back office for fund managers), OnDeck, J.P. Morgan; Animesh is from Bain and E&Y. Both are from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology. Comps (funded shoe brands): Neeman's (Sixth Sense, Anicut); Comet (Elevation, Nexus); Yoho (Gulf Islamic Investments, Rukam, Rajeev Misra (SoftBank)).

Homegrown brand for pickleball gear. US Pickleball Association certified pickleball paddles are sold at ₹7,000-9,000 - almost half the price of international brands. "Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in India, yet access to quality, affordable gear remains limited". Seed round of an undisclosed amount. Investors: Manish Poddar ( Rare Rabbit), Pratham Mitta (Tetr), Malika Sadani (The Moms Co.). Founded by "a diverse team of students from the US, Cuba, Mexico, Germany, and India while studying at Tetr College of Business". Comps: GoRally runs pickleball courts (Bharat Founders Fund).

Programmable banking and card infrastructure to "launch your fintech within a month". Offers APIs and infrastructure for credit cards, prepaid cards and forex programs, so regulated entities can launch digital credit products with speed, compliance and reliability. In addition to infra, a no code platform allows its customers to launch their own banking app within days; along with tools to drive down CaC. $1.85M pre-seed round. Angels in the round: Kunal Shah (CRED), Sayandeb Banerjee (The Math Company) , Suresh Rayasam (GTM), Ravi Sudhakar (Microsoft). Founders: the CEO had data science roles at Uber and Linkedin; the CTO was co-founder at Stree (women's health companion) and worked at BNP Paribas, AMP (Australia) and Wipro. Both worked at Mu Sigma.

Connects travelers with passionate local guides. Tackling "three deep-rooted travel challenges: fragmented planning, superficial connections, and post-trip memory loss". Pre-seed round of an undisclosed amount at a ₹15CR valuation. The three founders started this out of IIT Delhi last year.

SportsTech startup with a mobile app that standardises sports assesments for young athletes and delivers data-based feedback to improve their athletic potential. Benchmarking tools are in line with globally accepted frameworks. It then connects these athletes with scouts from Indian and global leagues, along with sponsors. Coaches and parents get to track progress in real time. $1M round. Other investors in the round: M Pallonji, Jeena and Co., Ayaz Billawala, Nimesh Kampani, Jaimin Bhat (ex-Kotak). Founders: the CEO was Head of Engineering, GetMega; the CTO was an Android Engineer at the same startup; the third co-founder was a Managing Partner at Thermotech (transformer components). Comps: SportsSkill (Waimea Bay Investments); KIBI Sports (angels).