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The Print
24-07-2025
- Business
- The Print
Gurugram: ED arrests 3 promoters of Universal Buildwell in Rs 1000 crore money laundering case
M/s Universal Buildwell Private Limited is a real estate company, involved in developing residential and commercial properties, including projects like Universal Trade Tower, Universal Business Park, and Universal Aura. The company was placed under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in 2018. The trio — Raman Puri, Varun Puri and Vikram Puri — who were absconding from court summons for more than seven years, were declared proclaimed offenders in multiple predicate offences and were recently apprehended by the Delhi Police, the ED said in a statement. Gurugram, Jul 24 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Gurugram zonal office, on Thursday claimed to have arrested three promoters and former directors of M/s Universal Buildwell Private Limited, in connection with a money laundering case involving more than Rs 1,000 crore. The accused were produced before a special court in Gurugram on the strength of a production warrant and have been remanded to ED custody till July 29, it said. The case pertains to fraudulent mobilisation of funds from homebuyers by the three on the basis of false assurances of project completion by 2010 and promised returns from commercial projects. They also allegedly defrauded several financial institutions and entered into fake agreements for personal gain, officials said. The agency said the three raised more than Rs 1,000 crore over 12 years through eight real estate projects in Gurugram and Faridabad, including Universal Trade Tower, Universal Greens, Universal Business Park, Aura, Universal Square, Market Square, The Pavilion and Universal Prime. However, only a portion of the funds was used in the construction, it said. 'The accused are also charged with criminal misappropriation, cheating, forgery and embezzlement of money to acquire properties for their personal gain through fraud. They are under interrogation', an ED official said. The probe was initiated on the basis of more than 30 FIRs registered across Delhi-NCR under various IPC sections, it said. PTI COR OZ OZ This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Time of India
23-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Real estate fraud: Absconding promoters of Universal Buildwell arrested
1 2 Chandigarh: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Gurugram Zonal Office, on Wednesday claimed to have arrested Raman Puri, Varun Puri and Vikram Puri – promoters and former directors of M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd – under the prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case related to alleged real estate fraud. The arrested accused, apprehended Tuesday night, were absconding for more than seven years and were declared proclaimed offenders by various courts in predicate matters. They were apprehended by the Delhi Police. The special PMLA court in Gurugram on Wednesday remanded the trio into ED custody until July 29. The ED had initiated an investigation into the case based on more than 30 FIRs registered under various sections of the IPC across Delhi NCR against M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd, Raman Puri, Vikram Puri, and Varun Puri for failing to complete real estate projects on time and cheating the homebuyers/investors of their hard-earned money. The company was taken to the CIRP (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process), which resulted in a resolution plan for homebuyers/other financial contributors being accepted and NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) ordering some assets to be delivered to the homebuyers, who were the financial creditors, and the remaining assets to be liquidated. Most of the homebuyers had invested in the project before 2010. The case stems from the fraudulent mobilisation of homebuyers/investors' funds by the accused persons through Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd, based on false promises of completing the project by 2010 and also promising assured returns in commercial projects. The arrested persons are also accused of cheating various financial institutions through forgery and fraud. They reportedly transferred some assets at negligible rates, oversold existing inventory, and executed forged agreements for their personal benefits. In this matter, data collected from the resolution professional revealed that the company, through their accused promoters, collected more than Rs 1,000 crore over 12 years on eight different projects in Gurugram and Faridabad, namely Universal Trade Tower, Universal Greens, Universal Business Park, Aura, Universal Square, Market Square, The Pavilion, and Universal Prime. They allegedly utilised only part of the funds for development and siphoned off the funds to acquire lands and other assets for their personal gains through criminal misappropriation, cheating, forgery, and fraud.
The Hindu
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
ED arrests three in ₹1,000 crore real estate fraud case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested three persons in connection with an alleged real estate fraud involving Universal Buildwell Private Limited. The accused - Raman Puri, Varun Puri and Vikram Puri - are promoters and former directors of Universal Buildwell. According to the agency, they had been 'absconding from court summons for more than seven years and were declared proclaimed offenders by various courts in predicate matters and were subsequently apprehended by the Delhi police'. The ED's investigation is based on over 30 first information reports (FIRs) registered against the company and its associates for allegedly failing to complete several real estate projects on time and for cheating homebuyers and investors. The company was taken through Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process proceedings, which culminated in a resolution plan. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directed that some assets be handed over to the homebuyers, while the rest were to be liquidated. Most of the homebuyers had reportedly invested their funds before 2010. 'The case stems from the fraudulent mobilisation of homebuyers/investors funds by the accused persons through Universal Buildwell Pvt. Ltd., based on false promises of completing the project by 2010 and also promised assured returns in commercial projects,' the ED said. According to the agency, data provided by the resolution professional showed that the company, through its promoters, had collected more than ₹1,000 crore over 12 years across eight projects in Gurugram and Faridabad. These projects include Universal Trade Tower, Universal Greens, Universal Business Park, Aura, Universal Square, Market Square, The Pavillion and Universal Prime. The ED has alleged that only a portion of the collected funds was used for development, while the remaining amounts were diverted for acquiring land and other assets for personal gain.
Geek Wire
21-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Yoodli CEO Varun Puri on startup grit, filtering out noise, and building the ‘AI roleplay' category
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . The Yoodli team. Varun CEO and co-founder Varun Puri is back row, second from left. (Yoodli Photo) Yoodli CEO Varun Puri talks too fast. He spends too much time on small talk. And he 'question stacks,' or asks multiple questions at once. That's what his own startup tells him, at least. I caught up with the Seattle entrepreneur to talk about the company's fresh $13.7 million investment round and its ambition to create a new 'AI roleplay' software category. Yoodli's software analyzes speech and offers feedback. Companies such as Databricks, RingCentral, Snowflake and others use Yoodli to help their employees prep for sales pitches. It can also boost interview prep and leadership development — or even grade President Trump's inauguration speech. During our interview, Puri demoed Yoodli by role-playing a mock conversation with a virtual version of me — a use case for media training. The energetic CEO describes Yoodli as a 'batting cage before game time,' or a flight simulator for communication. The idea is to replace passive formats such as slide decks and training videos with interactive practice that builds conversational muscle memory. Yoodli is riding tailwinds from the rapid adoption of generative AI tools, and is an example of how AI is being used as a virtual coach. The startup is part of a broader shift as companies use AI not just to automate tasks, but to train and enable employees. 'The idea of people practicing on their own with generative AI isn't strange,' Puri said. Yoodli spun out of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) incubator in 2021 and started with a consumer-focused offering targeted at practicing public speaking. Now it is focusing on the enterprise market. Its revenue has grown by 5X over the past eight months. 'Our belief at Yoodli is that AI roleplay is a category, not a feature,' Puri said. Yoodli co-founders Esha Joshi (left) and Varun Puri at the GeekWire Awards in Seattle last month. (GeekWire Photo / Dan DeLong) Yoodli uses a mix of foundation models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to power its product. Customers can tweak the software so it fits their own communication framework and goals. Puri sees Yoodli as complimentary to traditional communication coaching from a human. He said it can help people go from zero to 'an eight, even a nine.' 'But that last 10% — authenticity, vulnerability, humility, the essence of being human — I don't think AI can or should coach you on,' he said. Part of Puri's inspiration for starting Yoodli was to break down communication barriers as an immigrant in the U.S. His co-founder, Esha Joshi, wanted to level the playing field for women in the workplace. As the company has grown up, so has Puri. The first-time founder said he's learned how to delegate and developed a bit of grit — an essential ingredient for any entrepreneur leading a startup through the ups and downs. 'When I take the 50th face punch, I'm like — I've seen a version of that before,' he said. Puri also said he's better at distinguishing 'signal from noise.' 'The folks we really focus on are our users — who's using the product, paying for it, getting value or churning,' he said. 'Then getting their feedback is most important — instead of hearing what everyone else has to say.' Yoodli has grown to 25 employees and recently hired former Tableau and Salesforce leader Josh Vitello as its new head of GTM (go-to-market). Puri said the team is 'starting to click.' 'We're in a really good rhythm in how we work together,' he said, adding that one of the company's superpowers is speed. 'We iterate and ship really, really fast,' Puri said. Before starting Yoodli, Puri was a former product manager with X Development, the R&D organization of Google parent Alphabet. Joshi was a product manager at Apple. Neotribe led the company's latest round, with participation from Madrona, Cercano, Ascend, and other backers. Its total funding to date is more than $20 million.
Geek Wire
20-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
AI roleplay startup Yoodli raises $13.7M to help sales teams practice their pitches
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Yoodli co-founders Esha Joshi (left) and Varun Puri at the GeekWire Awards in Seattle earlier this month. (GeekWire Photo / Dan DeLong) Yoodli, a Seattle startup that uses generative AI to analyze speech and offer tips for improving communication skills, raised $13.7 million in a new investment round. The Information reported the funding Tuesday. Companies such as Databricks, RingCentral, Snowflake and others use Yoodli to help their employees prep for sales pitches. Its software lets users create personas to simulate conversations with another person or multiple people. The company's model is trained on effective communication techniques and can be customized depending on an organization's goals. Yoodli is gaining traction amid increased usage of AI tools to improve real-life conversations. Other companies are developing similar AI roleplay coaching tools. Varun Puri and Esha Joshi launched Yoodli in 2021 at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) incubator in Seattle. The startup got off the ground with a consumer-focused offering targeted at practicing public speaking. The company earlier this year showed how its tech worked by analyzing President Trump's inauguration speech. Speaking last year on the Shift AI podcast, Puri noted that Yoodli won't be able to give feedback on the nuances of communication. 'That's way too human,' he said. 'But when we have human coaches using Yoodli as part of their workflow, they can now coach hundreds more clients. 'My pitch to speech coaches is, if you're the doctor, we are the medical report. If you're the accountant, we are TurboTax. Let's help you supercharge the work you're doing. And I think companies leveraging AI with that humility, but also in partnership with human coaches, will likely find the most value.' Yoodli has partnered with public speaking organization Toastmasters and consulting firm Korn Ferry. Puri is a former product manager with X Development, the R&D organization of Google parent Alphabet, and Joshi was a product manager at Apple. The startup's investors include Madrona Venture Group, Cercano Capital, AI2, and others. Neotribe led the latest round, The Information reported.
