Clean label regional snacking brand. No palm oil, no preservatives and no artificial chemicals. Focused on South Indian snacks which is, predictably, a ₹25,000CR market. The goal is to build the Haldirams of South Indian snacks, and to build a consumer (not just D2C) brand. It currently serves customers in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad (soon, Delhi) through its own website, Zomato and Swiggy and will now drive offline channels (modern trade). Currently fulfills 25K orders a month, revenue scale unavailable. ₹2.14CR interim round. Follows a ₹2.2CR pre-seed round by Titan in June 2025. Founded in Nov 2023, Chennai based. Founders: Rajakumaran (IIM Kozhikode '21) was Head of Growth at ShopUp (B2B e-commerce for Bangladesh), VP of Product at Uniform Junction and a category manager at VOONIK, and also co-founded school uniforms supplier Schoolay; Anbarasan was Principal Product Manager at ShopUp and co-founded WholesaleX (B2B grocery ordering).

AI-native wearables startup. The first product, Neo 1, is a Personal AI Assistant (PAIA) that transforms everyday conversations into actionable insights. It builds upon persistent memory and analyzes emotions from conversations. Conversations are transcribed, not audio recorded. The larger goal is to build out NeoOS, their OS layer for AI assistants, for use on all wearable devices - from glasses to pendants, to watches and rings. Neo 1 is worn on a chain around your neck, currently priced at ₹11,999. $2M seed round. Angels in the round: Awais Ahmed (Pixxel), Anupam Mittal (Shaadi.com), Sameer Mehta (boAt), Namita Thapar (Emcure), Aprameya Radhakrishna (Koo). Founded in Jan 2023, Bangalore based. Founders: CEO Dhananjay (Christ Univ. '11, Virginia Commonwealth Univ. '12) is from Homelane (leading product and marketing for lead gen), ClearTax (head of marketing) and Razorpay (marketing); CTO Aryan (IIT Madras dual degree '21) had a brief prior stint as co-founder of SqFt 51 (co-pilot for architects) and as a PM at ICICI. Order here - https://neosapien.xyz

Skincare brand. 30 products across acne care, sunscreen, cleansers and serums. It has 2.5M customers till date (up from 1M since Sep 2024) and is CM3 profitable - no data on current revenue. $1.8M (₹15CR) bridge round, it last raised ₹12CR from Atomic in Sep 2024. Founded In July 2020, Gurgaon based. Founders: CEO Robin spent three years as BD Manager at Yumchek (HORECA cashback platform); COO Prakher was at Schindler (sales) and PropTiger (marketing).

Orthopedic recovery and rehabilitation products, i.e. wrist braces, ankle walkers and lumbar support belts. Sold online and via orthopedic specialists at hospital chains. Used for post surgical care, pain management and long term mobility support. No information on current sales. $1.2M (₹10CR) seed round. Other investors in the round: SIDBI and angels including Ashish Gupta, Saket Narang (Steinberg India), Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Arjun Vaidya (V3 Ventures). Founded in Sep 2024, Bangalore based. Founders: Saumaric (IIT Kharagpur '16, HBS '23) is from Bain/LEK/EY Parthenon; Ankit (also IIT Kharagpur '16) was at Dezerv for two years, with earlier stints at Brookfield/Steinberg (a hedge fund), JP Morgan.

Apparel brand for all day clothing - think polos, shorts and jackets from ₹2-10K. This is longer duration wear, distinct from fast fashion and trend-led brands. India's functional clothing market is c. $9B a year, growing 5% annually. Design direction advised by Josh Hiney who led product innovation at Under Amour and Lululemon. Brand identity by Afternoon, a creative/branding agency. ₹6.8CR ($750K) first round. Other investors in the round: DeVC and angels including Shantanu Deshpande (Bombay Shaving Co.), Revant Bhate (Mosaic Wellness), Ashish Goel (OctoLife), Sangeet Agarwal and Navin Parwal (Mokobara), Nikhil Bhandarkar (Panthera Peak), Arjun Vaidya (V3 Ventures). Founded in May 2025. Founder & CEO Rushabh founded The Stiff Collar, a shirts brand (2010-2012); following which he was Chief Merchandising Officer at Urban Ladder; had a brief stint as Director for Private Labels at Flipkart (in furniture and home); and then moved to Melbourne to join BROSA (a leading online furniture retailer in Australia) as Chief Commercial Officer for close to five years. He moved back to India in early 2025.

Lab-grown diamond jewellery brand, with four stores in Bangalore that are profitable and are collectively at a run rate of ₹2CR per month, within 11 months of launch. ₹5.5CR pre-seed round. Angels in the round: Vijay Arishetty, Abhishek Kumar, Shreyans Daga, Rohit Jindal (the four founders of MyGate), Amal Mishra (UrbanVault), Alkendra Pratap Singh (Crescendo Industries). Founded in Oct 2024. Founders Himani (IIT Guwahati) and Gaurav (IIT Kanpur) worked together as product leads at xto10x (startup scaling tools + education). Himani then led product for the Resident App for MyGate. Both also had brief overlapping stints as PMs at Ola.

Artisanal spirits brand from Goa with a vodka and rum offering, and plans to grow its portfolio across categories - whisky, gin, agave-based spirits, as well as its own mixers and non-alcoholic functional drinks. Offers "world-class products that don't alienate the Indian consumer on the price front". The fundraise is towards expanding this portfolio as well as its distribution in South and West India. Seed round of an undisclosed round from Ah Ventures' First Gear platform and angels including Mukesh Singh (Robo Capital), Probir Roy (Alize Capital). Founded in Jan 2023. Founder John was the South India operations head for Kaama Breweries (owner of Witlinger Craft Beer). He started out as a McDonald's branch operations manager.

Premium haircare brand designed for Indian hair types and weather conditions. Partners with 1,500 stylists across 300 premium salons in Tier 1 cities for its professional product range, along with a D2C line of shampoos and conditioners for home use. ₹6.5CR pre-seed round. Founded in Sep 2023, &Done is the brand name, Ionic Professional is the company name. Founders: Atit (BITS Pilani) was the Co-Founder & COO Of Bulbul (live commerce; Peak XV, InfoEdge; acquired by Good Glamm), and Co-Founder & CEO of Pluss (acquired by Netmeds) - he was also an AVP at Elevation; Saumya (IIT-D, Stanford GSB) was the Co-Founder & CEO of Udayy (live classes for English and Maths; Norwest, InfoEdge).

Luxury footwear brand. ₹1.5CR raised on JioHotstar's show - "Pitch to Get Rich".

Beauty and personal care startup that will launch its first brand this quarter. Starting with a premium offering in the haircare space. ₹7CR round. Founded in Jan 2025 by Founder & CEO Siddharth, who spent five years at Honasa (MamaEarth's parent co.), building two of their brands - Dr. Sheth's and Staze Beauty.