Nanomaterials for energy storage. Has developed ion-selective membranes that serve as critical components for electrolysers used in green hydrogen production and for redox flow batteries in long duration energy storage (LDES) systems. Existing membranes fall short in durability, efficiency or cost-effectiveness - solving these is critical for the clean energy transition. ₹25CR seed round - Ankur Capital's first deal from Fund III. The startup is Philadelphia and BLR based. The founders are material scientists. Murari has been working on this for the last six years, almost straight out of U-Penn; Nagesh spent 10 years at Thermax and was Founder in Residence at Entrepreneur First.

AI-integrated medical device for early disease detection - scans a person's health in 60 seconds without the need for a doctor. 700 biomarkers are monitored with patents in India (US pending). ₹6.6CR (~$770K) seed round. Other investors in the round: Sanchi Connect. Both founders are engineers: Saniya started almost straight out of the Symbiosis University of Applied Sciences; Lokant out of IIM-Lucknow. (BTech at IET DAVV Indore). Comps: Prantae Solutions (IAN); Neuranics (IPV) - much more specific use cases.

Homegrown watch brand - precision mechanical watches - ₹8-20K price points ($100-250). Sold only through its website - a D2C brand that earns its label. ₹25CR (~$3M) FY25 revenue, wants to double this FY. India's luxury watch market is ₹10K CR (~$1.1B) - this is not luxury but you can understand the aspirational positioning. ₹6.5CR (~$750K) angel round (investors undisclosed) at a ₹45CR ($5.2M) valuation. Co-Founder Mustafa's only profession: watchmaking. Comps: here is a nice user review comparing Argos and the classic Indian brand - HMT - https://www.watchcrunch.com/siddharthb/posts/a-tale-of-two-indian-watch-brands-one-old-and-one-new-389530

QSR chain of fresh fruit juice bars, starting with one location in Indiranagar, ₹99+ price points. This is India, so the juice bar also does burgers. "Drinking juice from a place you can trust for transparency, value and quality, all at an unbelievable price point.” $1.2M seed round from Prakash Sikaria (Super.money), Ravi Iyer (Flipkart), Arpan Sheth (Bain) and others. Abhishek and Vikram were Head of Marketing and Head of Business Strategy & Growth respectively at 4700BC, the popcorn brand. That brand, incidentially, is at ₹125CR of revenue for FY25.

AI for the insurance industry - automates complex document processing that has traditionally been manual - submission processing, audits, claims intake. "Think of FurtherAI as ChatGPT for insurance that automates complex workflows". $5M seed round. Other investors in the round: Y Combinator, ConvergeVC, Xceedance. Founders: Aman was Co-Founder & CRO (earlier CPO) at TurboHire; Sashank from Apple, Oracle. Comps: Consint.AI (Equanimity Ventures, Seafund)

Musculoskeletal (MSK) care - in centre and online. First centre in HSR - 12K sessions in 8 months. Six more centres coming up in Bangalore this year, followed by another city next year. $1M pre-seed round, including angels: Sriharsha Majety + Nandan Reddy (Swiggy), Kulin Shah (Onsurity). Founders: Rohit is from Dukaan, Bounce; Ninad from Portea, Swiggy, Pine Labs. Comps: OSSO (Blume Founders Fund, funded last week); FlexifyMe (GSF/IvyCap/Flipkart Ventures); Nivaan Care (Endiya).

Wearable device for mental health. The device sends calming signals in 10 minute sessions to the brain’s "relaxation centres", helping users reduce stress and anxiety. How does it do that? - it stimulates the vagus nerve (our longest cranial nerve that stretches from our brain to abdomen) with electrical signals. Tested on a thousand users and endorsed by 100 specialists. ₹12K+ price, pre-orders at ₹8k. ₹4.5CR (~$525K) pre-seed round. Angels in the round: Arjun Vaidya (V3), ​Sharan Hegde (finfluencer), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO)l, Aman Gupta (BoAt). The startup had earlier raised ₹2CR (~$230K) in the first tranche of this round from government bodies - SISFS, MeitY Startup Scheme, NGIS, (BIRAC). Mental health comps: many, but they're not device-centric. Founders: Siddhant ran a startup delivering keto-meals; Shalmali ran a climatetech startup.

Biofortified grains brand. Parent co. GreenDay works with 15,000 farmers to grow grains (rice, wheat, millets) naturally, albeit with higher levels of essential nutrients - zinc, iron, protein, and calcium. PV Sindhu is brand ambassador and investor. ₹10CR (~$1.2M) seed round, including angels - Namita Thapar, Shantanu Deshpande, Akshay Ghulati, Apurva Chamaria, Karan Jindal. The founders started soon after business school (IIM-A; Jaypee). Competes with traditional brands that artificially fortify - where nutrients are added during food processing.

Mass-premium shapewear brand, alà SKIMS, by influencer Kusha Kapila. 192K IG followers one week after its launch (Kusha has 4M+ followers). Priced 30-40% lower than global competitors. ""Our goal is to be the first brand Indian women think of when they need shapewear, just as SKIMS has done globally". ₹8-10CR (~$900K-1.1M) seed round (exact amount undisclosed), Ghazal Alagh also participated. Comps: Zivame, Clovia, Krvvy.

AI agents for the pharma industry - streamlines FDA compliance for regulatory, medical affairs and commercial teams. Two tools: Labeling AI streamlines label updates and competitor comparisons; Ads Promo AI helps review promotional materials and ensures their compliance. $500K seed - YC remains a draw for many of our founders. SF/BLR based. Founders: Sanskar is from GlobalBees; Hemant from Zolve, Oyo; Rishabh a two-time founder.