Latest news with #JasonKothari
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
21 Indian startups raise $139.5 million this week
Indian startups raised USD 139.5 million this week across 21 deals -- reflecting continued investor confidence despite broader market uncertainties. This week's funding activity featured five growth-stage and 13 early-stage deals, with three startups choosing to keep their funding amounts private. Delhi-NCR emerged as the leading region with eight deals, followed by Bengaluru with four. Startups from Mumbai, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, and Ahmedabad also featured in this week's funding round-up. Fintech dominated the sector-wise distribution with three deals, followed by strong performances from e-commerce and media and entertainment. Other sectors like deep tech, AI, health tech, and cybersecurity also drew interest -- showcasing the wide appeal of India's tech landscape. Seed funding dominated this week with eight deals, followed by investments across Series A, B, and D stages, indicating that investors are actively backing both new ideas and scaling businesses. In the growth and late-stage segment, startups brought in USD 65.75 million. Healthtech startup CureBay led the charge with a Series B round backed by Bertelsmann India Investments. Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK followed with a USD 19 million Series B round, while electric vehicle maker Euler Motors raised USD 15 million in another tranche of its USD 60 million round. Fintech players Dvara KGFS and Borderless (Stockal) also secured funding. On the early-stage side, startups collectively raised USD 73.75 million. Among them, Mythik -- launched by entrepreneur Jason Kothari -- stood out with a USD 15 million seed round. Other early-stage winners included deep tech firm ALT Carbon, AI startup Biostate AI, and SaaS platform Data Sutram. However, PierSight, BlackCarrot, and The Sock Street did not disclose their funding amounts. The average funding over the past eight weeks stood at USD 216.99 million across 25 deals per week. Meanwhile, in the previous week, Indian startups collectively raised around USD 194.22 million across 28 deals. The funding in the last week included nine growth and late-stage rounds and 18 early-stage deals, while one startup chose not to disclose its funding amount.
Hans India
25-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
21 Indian startups raise $139.5 million this week
Mumbai: Indian startups raised $139.5 million this week across 21 deals -- reflecting continued investor confidence despite broader market uncertainties. This week's funding activity featured five growth-stage and 13 early-stage deals, with three startups choosing to keep their funding amounts private. Delhi-NCR emerged as the leading region with eight deals, followed by Bengaluru with four. Startups from Mumbai, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, and Ahmedabad also featured in this week's funding round-up. Fintech dominated the sector-wise distribution with three deals, followed by strong performances from e-commerce and media and entertainment. Other sectors like deep tech, AI, health tech, and cybersecurity also drew interest -- showcasing the wide appeal of India's tech landscape. Seed funding dominated this week with eight deals, followed by investments across Series A, B, and D stages, indicating that investors are actively backing both new ideas and scaling businesses. In the growth and late-stage segment, startups brought in $65.75 million. Healthtech startup CureBay led the charge with a Series B round backed by Bertelsmann India Investments. Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK followed with a $19 million Series B round, while electric vehicle maker Euler Motors raised $15 million in another tranche of its $60 million round. Fintech players Dvara KGFS and Borderless (Stockal) also secured funding. On the early-stage side, startups collectively raised $73.75 million. Among them, Mythik -- launched by entrepreneur Jason Kothari -- stood out with a $15 million seed round. Other early-stage winners included deep tech firm ALT Carbon, AI startup Biostate AI, and SaaS platform Data Sutram. However, PierSight, BlackCarrot, and The Sock Street did not disclose their funding amounts. The average funding over the past eight weeks stood at $216.99 million across 25 deals per week. Meanwhile, in the previous week, Indian startups collectively raised around $194.22 million across 28 deals. The funding in the last week included nine growth and late-stage rounds and 18 early-stage deals, while one startup chose not to disclose its funding amount.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
ETtech Deals Digest: Startups raise $177.6 million this week; up 2.7 times on-year
Live Events Startups raised around $177.6 million between May 17 and May 23, marking a 2.7 time increase compared to the same period last also represents a 12.7% increase from last week's total of $157.7 week, startups across seed, early, and late stages raised funds through 15 deals, compared to 34 in the year-ago period, when they raised a total of $65.8 million, according to data from commercial vehicle maker Euler Motors raised around $75 million in a funding round led by Hero MotoCorp . Existing investor British International Investment (BII), the UK government's development finance arm, also participated in the hybrid healthcare platform, CureBay raised $21 million in a funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments. The round also saw BII and existing investor Elevar Equity cybersecurity Cloudsek raised $19 million in a fresh funding round led by Tenacity Ventures and Commvault. Others participating in the round include Inflexor Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and Prana Ventures, along with some strategic technology company Mythik, founded by former and Freecharge CEO Jason Kothari, raised $15 million in a funding round from Sakal Media Group, Venture Catalysts-backed VC Grid, actor Shah Rukh Khan's family office, and Visceral Capital, among others.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Shiprocket on way to D-Street; Google unleashes AI
Next Shiprocket on way to D-Street; Google unleashes AI Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Shiprocket files confidential DRHP for Rs 2,500 crore IPO Tell me more: Shiprocket aims to raise Rs 2,000–2,500 crore through its initial public offering (IPO). Of this, Rs 1,000–1,100 crore will be via a fresh issue of shares. Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra, JM Financial and Bank of America are acting as book-running lead managers. Why this route? IPO rush: The caveat: Key takeaways from Google I/O 2025 Gemini takes centre stage: Gemini will now be integrated across Google's key apps, including Chrome, Maps, Gmail and Calendar. The new Gemini 2.5 Pro introduces Deep Think, an advanced reasoning mode. Google is also developing an Agent Mode, enabling Gemini to perform multi-step tasks on websites. Smart replies are becoming more intelligent, drawing on emails and files for personalised responses. Users can now upload files directly, with support for Google Drive and Gmail integration coming soon. Next in interaction: Google unveiled Beam, a 3D video conferencing system using a six-camera array to create immersive, life-like meetings. It also showcased progress on smart glasses, powered by Android XR, its extended reality operating system. AI in search: Also Read: TCS bags add-on advance purchase order worth Rs 2,903 crore from BSNL Deal details: A look back: Accenture to promote 50,000 staff after six-month delay Up the ladder: Also Read: Maharashtra notifies cab policy; 10% penalty for driver cancellations Driving the news: A Government Resolution (GR) issued on Tuesday lays down rules to ensure fair practices and smoother commutes. It introduces financial penalties for trip cancellations by drivers and passengers. The policy standardised fares by linking them to the Regional Transport Authority rates. Discounts are capped at 25%, and surge pricing is limited to 1.5x the base fare.. Drivers must receive at least 80% of the fare, with a minimum trip distance of 3 km. Tell me more: Driver cancellations: Drivers who cancel after accepting a booking will be fined 10% of the fare or Rs 100, whichever is lower. The amount will be credited to the rider. Drivers who cancel after accepting a booking will be fined 10% of the fare or Rs 100, whichever is lower. The amount will be credited to the rider. Passenger cancellations: Passengers who cancel without a valid reason will be charged 5% of the fare or Rs 50, whichever is lower. The amount will be credited to the driver. Jason Kothari's entertainment startup Mythik raises $15 million from Sakal group, Shah Rukh Khan's family office Company overview: Aarthi Ramamurthy launches VC firm Schema Ventures with first fund of $20 million Focus areas: Verbatim: Shiprocket has taken a significant first step towards its public market listing. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ TCS bags big deal■ Maharashtra's new cab policy■ Schema, Mythik fundraiseSaahil Goel, CEO, ShiprocketD2C logistics provider Shiprocket has confidentially filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), marking the first step towards its public market we first reported Filing confidentially allows companies to keep sensitive business information out of the public domain until they are ready to proceed with the joins Bluestone and Urban Company on the road to listing. Others, including Zetwerk Lenskart and Meesho , are also at various stages of preparing for their new-age companies are re-evaluating their IPO plans amid valuation concerns driven by volatile market conditions.'If founders aren't happy with how the street is willing to price them, they might delay the IPOs,' according to Kashyap Chanchani, managing director at The Rainmaker Group, a homegrown investment Pichai, CEO, GoogleArtificial intelligence (AI) took centre stage at Google I/O 2025 , with major upgrades announced across Gemini, search, and smart flagship AI app is getting powerful new capabilities:Google Search now features richer AI integration , offering more visual, interactive results, such as AI-generated graphs and virtual try-ons for also introduced two new generative models: Imagen 4 for text-to-image generation and Veo 3 for video creation Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has received an add-on Advance Purchase Order (APO) worth Rs 2,903 crore from state-run telecom company a regulatory filing, TCS said the order includes planning, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning, and annual maintenance of a 4G mobile network across 18,685 Networks, which is majority owned by Tata Sons, will supply the Radio Access Network (RAN) and other equipment for the project, valued at around Rs 525 May 2023, TCS bagged a Rs 15,000 crore mega deal from BSNL to drive its 4G rollout using a fully indigenous stack, avoiding dependence on global vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, or Accenture will promote 50,000 people, including 15,000 in India , after a six-month delay prompted by a slowdown in IT to Bloomberg, the promotions include 11,000 across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 10,000 in the Americas. With a workforce of 800,000 employees, the move covers 6% of the decision follows reduced discretionary spending and tighter scrutiny of US government contracts under the Trump has released its official aggregator policy for ride-hailing platforms such as Ola and Uber, outlining regulations on fares, driver training, electric vehicles (EVs), and cancellation penalties, the Times of India policy also promotes a shift towards electric startup Mythik, founded by Jason Kothari, has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Sakal Media Group, VC Grid, Shah Rukh Khan's family office, and Visceral last month, Mythik aims to bring Eastern mythology and history to a global audience. Kothari's team includes former Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Jio, and Tencent Valley technologist Aarthi Ramamurthy has launched a venture capital firm, Schema Ventures , which debuts with a $20 million fund. Ramamurthy and her husband, Sriram Krishnan, are widely known as the hosts of 'The Aarthi and Sriram Show'.Schema Ventures will invest in early-stage companies across diverse sectors, including industrial software, robotics, and technology for industries such as construction, logistics, and manufacturing. The fund will also target workflow intelligence and developer stated that her fund aims to support individuals who create based on their lived experiences rather than "pedigree or proximity."
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Entrepreneur Jason Kothari launches Mythik
Entrepreneur Jason Kothari has launched Mythik , a new tech-first global entertainment company from India. Mythik's vision is to tell Eastern mythology , history and folktales to a worldwide audience for the first-time and create the ' Disney from the East '. These ancient stories have a total built-in audience of 3.5 billion people globally and will be brought to life in a modern, immersive way using cutting-edge technology. Mythik's mission is to tell these legendary stories in a way that is impactful and inspires happiness, peace, and hope, the press note stated . 'Global entertainment has been dominated by Hollywood and Western stories. It's time to share Eastern stories - our history, culture, values, and greatest legends - with the world, leveraging cutting-edge technology across all aspects of the business to create a new tech-first entertainment company,' said Kothari, founder of Mythik. Kothari is an experienced entrepreneur and turnaround chief executive officer in entertainment and technology. While a Wharton college student, he acquired his childhood favourite comic book company Valiant Entertainment out of bankruptcy and became the chief executive office at 24 years old. He recruited the management team behind the historic Marvel Entertainment turnaround and led the turnaround of Valiant, resulting in the sale of the company to China-based DMG Entertainment . Following this, Kothari was chief executive officer of Softbank-backed where he led the transformation of the company and merger with a News Corp portfolio company. He was also chief executive officer of FreeCharge, where he led the strategic sale of the company to Axis Bank.
