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Business Standard
a day ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Indian AI founders tapping global capital, building international products
While there is a well-developing local market in India, US customers are more eager to try new products and are willing to pay for them, says Krishna Mehra, AI partner at Elevation Capital Udisha Srivastav New Delhi Listen to This Article AI-focused Indian founders are increasingly tapping into global capital as well as markets, building products with international relevance rather than restricting themselves to domestic demand. Krishna Mehra, AI partner at venture capital firm Elevation Capital, said: "After the first couple of rounds, founders generally want to start tapping into more global capital. However, that is a template we are seeing more often, as ambitious founders want to build globally relevant products. Given the amount of white space in AI, there is an opportunity to build companies and products that are winners on a global stage." Citing portfolio company Composio, Mehra
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
VCs chase Indian developer tools startups amid AI frenzy
Indian AI startups attract venture capital, especially in developer tools and infrastructure. Investors like Accel and Lightspeed are backing AI-led integration and automation startups. UnifyApps and Emergent AI secured significant funding. Agentic AI is evolving with memory capabilities, requiring new infrastructure. Indian GenAI startups raised $524 million in the first seven months of 2025. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India's early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, especially in developer tools and infrastructure segments, is drawing strong venture capital interest as enterprise adoption of AI accelerates and agentic platforms gain tools refer to software or platforms that help build AI applications, such as code editors and debugging tools, while infrastructure includes cloud services and computing resources that support AI investors such as Accel , Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, and WestBridge Capital are backing startups focused on AI-led software integration, DevOps automation, and large-scale adoption platforms.'Each time the underlying models advance, the platforms shift, and with that come entirely new opportunities,' said Krishna Mehra, AI partner at Elevation Capital. Such cycles create room for founders to build globally competitive companies, he has closed 15–20 AI investments in the past two years, compared with an average of 5–6 deals annually sector is seeing several sizeable early-stage funding Francisco-based UnifyApps, which helps enterprises connect and streamline their software tools, is raising about $20-25 million in a round led by diversified fund WestBridge Capital, people aware of the matter company had earlier secured $20 million from Iconiq Growth in November 2024. Elevation Capital is also an investor in it. Founded in 2023 by a 10-member team including Pavitar Singh and Abhishek Khurana, UnifyApps is among the fastest-scaling enterprise integration AI, an AI-backed platform for building, testing and deploying applications, has raised about $20 million in a round led by Lightspeed Venture claims to have crossed $10 million in annual recurring revenue just two months after launch. The startup, a Y Combinator alum, had earlier raised a $500,000 seed round in September 2024, according to Emergent and Lightspeed did not respond to ET's queries until press time Monday. WestBridge declined to reported on July 22 that agentic AI startup Composio is raising $25 million led by Lightspeed. Early this month, Refold AI, which automates enterprise API integrations, came out of stealth with a $6.5 million seed round co-led by Eniac Ventures and Tidal Ventures. Around the same time, software productivity platform CodeKarma raised $2.5 million from Prosus, Accel and Xeed Ventures (formerly 021 Capital).Together Fund founder Manav Garg said AI is entering its next phase, with agents moving from basic reasoning to having memory. 'Earlier, an agent would forget past interactions. Now they can retain context and build on previous conversations. This shift will require an entirely new layer of infrastructure,' he told Venture Partners has also been aggressive. In a LinkedIn post, investor Arjun Gandhi said the fund has backed 20 AI startups across infrastructure and applications in India and the US over the past three years and plans to double down ET spoke with acknowledged heightened investments, especially in vertical and coding agents.'Coding agents or domain-specific agents are getting funded because investors believe they have a clear path to scale. But globally, most of the money is going into the foundational layer,' one founder had earlier reported that several founders are relocating to the US, followed by investors setting up shop there, to stay close to the global AI India has advantages.'Indian companies, backed by a deep tech talent pool, are faster and cheaper to scale compared with global competition. We don't have the same access to Silicon Valley capital, but the economics here are stronger,' said Praveer Kochhar, cofounder of Delhi-based agentic AI startup GenAI startups raised $524 million in the first seven months of 2025, as per Venture Intelligence. This is the highest in five years, up from $475 million in all of 2024 and 4x the $129 million raised in GenAI startups raised $49.2 billion in the first half of 2025, according to EY, up from $44.2 billion in all of AI space has become hypercompetitive worldwide. India, with its lower costs and strong engineering talent, is emerging as a serious contender in AI infrastructure and developer tools even as the deepest pools of capital remain in the US.
Economic Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
VCs chase Indian developer tools startups amid AI frenzy
ETtech India's early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, especially in developer tools and infrastructure segments, is drawing strong venture capital interest as enterprise adoption of AI accelerates and agentic platforms gain tools refer to software or platforms that help build AI applications, such as code editors and debugging tools, while infrastructure includes cloud services and computing resources that support AI workloads. Leading investors such as Accel, Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, and WestBridge Capital are backing startups focused on AI-led software integration, DevOps automation, and large-scale adoption platforms. 'Each time the underlying models advance, the platforms shift, and with that come entirely new opportunities,' said Krishna Mehra, AI partner at Elevation Capital. Such cycles create room for founders to build globally competitive companies, he has closed 15–20 AI investments in the past two years, compared with an average of 5–6 deals annually earlier. Big fundraises The sector is seeing several sizeable early-stage funding Francisco-based UnifyApps, which helps enterprises connect and streamline their software tools, is raising about $20-25 million in a round led by diversified fund WestBridge Capital, people aware of the matter said. The company had earlier secured $20 million from Iconiq Growth in November 2024. Elevation Capital is also an investor in it. Founded in 2023 by a 10-member team including Pavitar Singh and Abhishek Khurana, UnifyApps is among the fastest-scaling enterprise integration AI, an AI-backed platform for building, testing and deploying applications, has raised about $20 million in a round led by Lightspeed Venture claims to have crossed $10 million in annual recurring revenue just two months after launch. The startup, a Y Combinator alum, had earlier raised a $500,000 seed round in September 2024, according to Emergent and Lightspeed did not respond to ET's queries until press time Monday. WestBridge declined to comment. ET reported on July 22 that agentic AI startup Composio is raising $25 million led by Lightspeed. Early this month, Refold AI, which automates enterprise API integrations, came out of stealth with a $6.5 million seed round co-led by Eniac Ventures and Tidal Ventures. Around the same time, software productivity platform CodeKarma raised $2.5 million from Prosus, Accel and Xeed Ventures (formerly 021 Capital). Together Fund founder Manav Garg said AI is entering its next phase, with agents moving from basic reasoning to having memory. 'Earlier, an agent would forget past interactions. Now they can retain context and build on previous conversations. This shift will require an entirely new layer of infrastructure,' he told Venture Partners has also been aggressive. In a LinkedIn post, investor Arjun Gandhi said the fund has backed 20 AI startups across infrastructure and applications in India and the US over the past three years and plans to double down further. Founders' perspective Founders ET spoke with acknowledged heightened investments, especially in vertical and coding agents.'Coding agents or domain-specific agents are getting funded because investors believe they have a clear path to scale. But globally, most of the money is going into the foundational layer,' one founder had earlier reported that several founders are relocating to the US, followed by investors setting up shop there, to stay close to the global AI India has advantages.'Indian companies, backed by a deep tech talent pool, are faster and cheaper to scale compared with global competition. We don't have the same access to Silicon Valley capital, but the economics here are stronger,' said Praveer Kochhar, cofounder of Delhi-based agentic AI startup GenAI startups raised $524 million in the first seven months of 2025, as per Venture Intelligence. This is the highest in five years, up from $475 million in all of 2024 and 4x the $129 million raised in GenAI startups raised $49.2 billion in the first half of 2025, according to EY, up from $44.2 billion in all of AI space has become hypercompetitive worldwide. India, with its lower costs and strong engineering talent, is emerging as a serious contender in AI infrastructure and developer tools even as the deepest pools of capital remain in the US. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Hacking, ransom, lawsuits: Why social engineering is TCS, Cognizant's latest headache Govt easing policies to boost growth; when will industry play ball? 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Time of India
12-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
P2P lenders' RBI plea; GenAI dreams draw dollars
Next P2P lenders' RBI plea; GenAI dreams draw dollars Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: P2P lenders look to RBI for regulatory relief Driving the news: Quick rewind: Also Read: Major players pull out: Loan book impact: India's GenAI startups rake in the moolah as investors double down Tell me more: Enterprise software players such as Fractal Analytics, AtomicWork and TrueFoundry are driving the surge, according to market research firm Venture Intelligence. Venture capital firm Elevation Capital has sharply increased its bets, closing 20 AI investments in the past two years, compared to its usual five to six annually, Krishna Mehra, AI partner at the firm, told us. Miles to go: Some of the largest deals in H1 2025 include OpenAI's mega $40 billion round, xAI's $10 billion raise, Databricks securing $5 billion, and Anthropic's $3.5 billion round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The US alone represented 97% of global deal value and 62% of deal count, the report added. Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Pronto bags fresh capital at $45 million value Deal details: The latest funding was jointly led by General Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital. Existing backer Bain Capital Ventures also participated in the round. The round values Pronto at $45 million, or around Rs 394 crore. Expand footprint: Pronto plans to expand in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other Indian metros over the next 18 months. The company intends to build micro-hubs in residential clusters to ensure rapid service. It will also hire and train 10,000 professionals, build quality-assurance systems, and introduce real-time operations technology. Rivals build war chests: Elivaas raises $10.4 million to fund expansion plans Graas to kick off AI upgrade with $9 million fresh capital Also Read: BlueStone IPO opens: Day 1 sees 39% subscription led by institutional buyers By investor class: Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), who typically bid late, swept up 57% of their allocation. Retail investors picked up 38% of their allotment. Non-institutional investors took 4% of the shares on offer. Deal structure: Rs 820 crore in fresh issue. 1.39 crore shares in an offer-for-sale from existing investors, including Accel, Saama, Kalaari, Iron Pillar, and Sunil Kant Munjal. At the top price band, BlueStone commands a valuation of Rs 7,823 crore. Financials: Also Read: Keeping Count Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Awfis' 3x profit surge: Daily needs top UPI usage in July: Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Tuesday! P2P lenders are hoping for some respite from India's central bank amid regulatory squeeze. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ Ettech Done Deals■ BlueStone IPO opens■ Awfis' Q1 report cardPeer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms are knocking on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) door, seeking relief as the sector grapples with stringent rules that have gutted under management (AUM) by P2P lenders have collapsed to Rs 1,500 crore from nearly Rs 10,000 crore a year ago, industry executives told us.P2P lending first came under formal regulation in 2017. The real squeeze, however, began late last year when the RBI tightened norms and issued changes upended business models, disrupted partnerships with big fintechs and forced several platforms to shrink or shut lending leaders Faircent and Liquiloans have almost stopped fresh disbursals. LenDenClub retooled its operations and is cautiously trying to rebuild after nearly a year of battling the new fresh disbursals drying up, bad loans are now in full view. Industry estimates suggest nearly 20% of loans are overdue beyond 90 to the pain, the RBI's T+1 settlement rule has led to a lot of capital remaining generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) startups are firmly in the spotlight, pulling in $524 million in funding in the first seven months of 2025. That's four times the $129 million raised in 2021, and comfortably ahead of the $475 million total for all of last pace mirrors a global investment wave, though India's numbers still pale in comparison. Worldwide, GenAI startups raised $49.2 billion in the first half of 2025, up from $44.2 billion for all of 2024, according to a recent EY Ireland Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship Sardana, CEO, ProntoHome services startup Pronto has raised $11 million (approximately Rs 96 crore) as it flipped back to quick home services sector is warming up. Urban Company filed documents in April for a Rs 1,900-crore initial public offering . In May, Mumbai-based Snabbit secured $19 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed, with expansion on its Miglani and Ritwik Khara, cofounders, ElivaasLuxury vacation rental platform Elivaas raised $10.4 million (Rs 87 crore) in a funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. Existing investors Peak XV Partners and venture firm 3one4 Capital also participated in the company will deploy the funds to expand into the Indian market and build a global Bhatia, CEO, Graas AIEcommerce technology company Graas AI secured $9 million in a funding round led by venture capital fund Tin Men Capital. Other investors participating in the round include Incred Wealth, Orzon, Integra Partners, and Yuj will use the funds to build a stack of AI agents to replace brands' fragmented dashboards, disconnected tools, and manual Singh Kushwaha, CEO, BluestoneOmnichannel jewellery retailer BlueStone's Rs 1,541 crore initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed 39% on the first day of the issue's launch, with institutional buyers leading the charge. The grey market premium (GMP) was Rs 9, signalling a modest 1.74% gain on the upper price band of Rs issue closes on August surged to Rs 1,770 crore in FY25 from Rs 771 crore in FY23, a CAGR of about 52%. Losses widened to Rs 222 crore as the company poured money into store rollouts and marketing, though gross margins improved to 37.94%.As ET had reported last week, BlueStone had trimmed the size of its fresh issue component from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 820 company, which had initially targeted a valuation of over Rs 10,000 crore, has adapted to current market sentiment and is now going public at a lower Ramani, MD, AwfisCoworking space provider Awfis Space Solutions reported a threefold rise in the net profit for the April-June quarter to Rs 10 crore against a 30% jump in operating revenue to Rs 335 crore, driven by sustained demand and healthy occupancy levels across its and supermarkets were the top category by transaction volume on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in July, clocking 3.03 billion payments worth Rs 64,882 crore, per National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data.■ Behind the Curtain: Your smarter fake friends ( Axios ■ GitHub just got less independent at Microsoft after CEO resignation ( The Verge ■ These countries want to be the next big semiconductor hubs ( Rest of World
Time of India
12-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Indian GenAI companies turn into bigger investment magnets
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills ETtech The Indian GenAI startup ecosystem has raised a total funding of $524 million in the first seven months of 2025, the highest in the last five years, as investors double down on artificial intelligence investments in the country, according to data from market research firm Venture four times the $129 million AI companies raised in 2021 and $475 million in all of last the investment stakes are enterprise software companies such as Fractal Analytics, AtomicWork and TrueFoundry this year, according to the Indian venture capital firms have a strong focus on AI Capital has closed 15-20 investments in the last two years, compared with an average five-six per year, said Krishna Mehra, AI partner at the VC firm. Investments include Composio, AdoptAI and significant momentum in AI deal flows in 2025 compared with 2024, said Mohamad Faraz, managing partner, Upsparks comes amid rising AI adoption by enterprises, which are looking to automate services that are not core to their business, verticalisation of solutions, and agentic AI development is in line with global investment trends though the India numbers are relatively much to the latest EY report, global GenAI startups raised $49.2 billion in the first half of 2025, up from $44.2 billion in all of is a key moment for artificial intelligence startups focused on enterprise businesses ripe for automation and could unlock trillions of dollars in market value, said a Bengaluru-based investor at a large VC firm.'Unlike product-led startups such as Cursor, this (enterprises) is a messy business, where the Indian startups have a significant advantage. I'm starting to see the green shoots already. In the next 12 to 24 months, we will see more companies coming out of India,' he investors told ET that a key focus area is GenAI solutions that can disrupt the software services industry. Others seeing momentum include vertical specific solutions, voice AI and agentic apart, Elevation's areas of interest include middleware and infrastructure layer, and applied AI, Mehra Indian founder currently building an AI model for healthcare said enterprises are looking for founders with deep domain knowledge. After dabbling with building a foundational model, he shifted his focus to one focused on healthcare, for which there is great demand from hospitals and insurance project is currently in stealth exemplifies a key shift from last year. Startups are now focused on verticalisation in areas such as finance, where functions such as payroll and invoice matching are being automated by startups built on specific domains, said spending by enterprises on vertical AI solutions is expected to reach $47 billion by 2030, according to a report by Bengaluru-based AI accelerator Upekkha. That puts Indian AI startups at an advantage. Some vertical AI companies include Signzy (BFSI), Prudent AI (US mortgages), Dozee (healthcare) and Uptime AI (manufacturing), according to the Upekkha report.A challenge in AI adoption is lack of clarity about how technology is evolving, said Upekkha managing partner Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan recently. That is beginning to change and enterprises are opening up their purse strings, he shift is building for the global stage.'Unlike early 2024, every founder is focused on building for the global market. With such focus, we have seen some Indian founders able to reach $10 million annual recurring revenue in two months,' Faraz reported earlier that there has been a significant movement of founders to the AI epicentre, the US, followed by investors, who are now setting up there to help founders and spot trends early. This includes Blume Ventures and Peak XV, which already have investors in the US, and others like Z47 looking to expand in that firms are also hiring AI partners as they look to double up on investments in the space. Stellaris Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Elevation Capital have hired AI experts in recent this growth is not without a section of startups is seeing success globally, the Indian AI startup ecosystem is yet to reach maturity. The quantum of investments barely registers when compared to the global founders, on condition of anonymity, pointed out that Indian investors continue to be risk averse. While significant investments flow into consumer startups in the country, late-stage investments in deeptech and research, requiring a long gestation period, are hard to come Krishnan, founder of NuWare and NuVentures, said the biggest challenge for startups is the go-to-market strategy. The companies struggle to get customers on board. 'We are yet to see path-breaking AI come out of India compared to companies in the US,' he is further compounded by lack of access to key resources such as quality AI talent and compute access.
