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Ecommerce major Meesho will acquire B2B commerce startup Kirana Club in an all-cash deal worth ₹202.08 Cr (about $21.2 Mn). The company said the transaction is expected to be completed in three tranches on or before March 31, 2027. The deal would see Meesho buy 100% of the share capital of Kirana Club’s Singapore entity, Kirana Club Pte Ltd, and 0.41% of the share capital of its Indian entity, Retail Pulse Labs Pvt Ltd, via the acquisition of 41 CCPS from its identified selling shareholder

NSE-listed E2E Networks’ stock made its debut on BSE’s Mainboard exchange today post securing the necessary approvals from the exchanges. The Delhi NCR-based company informed stock exchanges yesterday (June 11) that BSE had issued approving the direct listing of 20.56 Cr equity shares of face value ₹1 each under the exchange.  The company’s shares debuted on BSE at ₹369 and ended the day’s trade locked in the upper circuit. It closed today’s trading session 5% higher at ₹387.45.  E2E Networks, w

In a major relief for BYJU’s founder Byju Raveendran, the Singapore High Court (HC) has stayed the jail sentence. The court had sentenced the cofounder to a six month jail term on the basis of its findings that he had disobeyed multiple orders related to disclosure of his assets since April 2024. In a statement issued by law firm Lazareff Le Bars, which is representing Raveendran in the case, the HC had granted a stay on the committal and surrender provisions of its May 25 civil contempt order. 

Early-stage focused venture capital (VC) firm AUM Ventures has launched its second fund, the India Innovation Fund II, with a target corpus of ₹750 Cr ($80 Mn).  With the Cat II AIF investment vehicle, AUM would be looking to place bets on 25-30 startups operating in deeptech sectors like spacetech, semiconductors, AI, and defence tech.  Initial investments will range from $750K to $2 Mn, with provisions for follow-on funding through Series A and B rounds.  Notably, AUM Ventures has tasked gener

Pune-based fitness startup Fittr has onboarded Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma as an investor and equity partner, deepening a relationship that began with his role as the brand’s ambassador. The startup did not disclose the investment put in by the cricketer. In a statement, Fittr said Sharma spent several months evaluating Fittr’s mission, business fundamentals and long-term growth strategy before deciding to transition from ambassador to investor.  Notably, Sharma began endorsing the

Hotel aggregator OYO, now rebranded as PRISM, has received a tax relief of ₹3,885.51 Cr, which was in relation to its share premium received by it from parent entity Oravel Stays Ltd (OSL). “The action of the assessing officer in bringing to tax an amount of ₹3885,51,75,255 as income under section 56(2)(viib) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, is contrary to the facts of the case and the legal position. The same, therefore, calls for being reversed and the aforesaid addition deleted,” the court order

It was 2014, and HR managers were actively discussing how they could move beyond traditional administrative responsibilities to become strategic business partners. At the time, HR departments across India were largely confined to back-office functions such as payroll and attendance management, with limited technology available to support broader people management functions and strategic decision-making. Vijay Yalamanchili, now the founder and CEO of Keka (an HR tech platform), was watching this

Call management and identity verification startup Equal AI has raised $30 Mn (around ₹286 Cr) in its Series B funding round co- led by existing backers including Prosus Ventures and Tomales Bay Capital. The funding round, which was completed in tranches, also saw participation from Think Investments, Valiant Fund, PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam, Zubin Bharti Mittal  from Airtel Family Office, Skyflow AI cofounder Anshu Sharma, Meta India  and Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan, and CtrlS Datacen

Marine robotics startup Rekise Marine has raised $9.7 Mn (₹92.5 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Accel and NKSquared, Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath’s investment firm. The round also saw participation from angel investor Sameer Brij Verma, Sandeep Singhal, Industrial47, Singularity AMC, among others. Founded in 2017 by naval architect Maitrai Maka and Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital (Retd), Rekise Marine develops autonomous surface and underwater vessels for defence and commercial maritime a

Bengaluru-based construction and interior materials marketplace Mad Over Buildings (MOB) has signed a term sheet to raise ₹30 Cr (about $3.5 Mn) in a round led by an institutional investor, founder Kumar Vivek said without disclosing the name of the investor. The round, which will give the startup a post-money valuation of ₹180 Cr (about $18.7 Mn), will also see participation from existing investors.  MOB, which counts building materials major Hindware among its strategic backers, plans to deplo

ADIA Sheds Lenskart Stake Investors are booking profits after the expiration of the IPO lock-in period for Lenskart shares. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has now sold the eyewear giant’s shares worth ₹1,960 Cr, marking the third major stake sale by an institutional backer this week. ADIA Gets The Golden Parachute: The sovereign wealth fund, via its Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust, sold 4 Cr shares at ₹490 apiece. Notably, ADIA had first invested in Lenskart in 2023, buying stakes worth $50

Lenskart’s backer Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) today offloaded 4 Cr shares in a block deal worth ₹1,960 Cr.  As per NSE data, the investor, via its holding entity Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust, sold the shares at ₹490 apiece to rake in the amount. This is 2.4% from the stock’s closing price today. The shares that flooded the market were picked up by a plethora of investors via multiple block deals. The largest buyers were Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund (1.21 Cr shares), Canara Robeco

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has picked the first set of three Indian spacetech startups for funding under its Technology Adoption Fund (TAF) Scheme.  Astrobase Space Technologies, SatSure Analytics and TakeMe2Space have been selected by the agency for financial support to foster their tech. IN-SPACe said in a statement that it will offer technical guidance, monitoring, and ensure milestone-linked disbursement of funds to ensure successful implementatio

D2C premium craft chocolate brand Manam Chocolate has raised $9 Mn (about ₹86 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Omnivore, with participation from the Turner Morrison consortium. The fresh capital will be used to fuel the brand’s expansion, including the launch of new retail spaces in the Delhi NCR region over the next 12 months. Founded in 2021 by Chaitanya Muppala, Manam Chocolate sells premium Indian craft chocolate with more than 300 offerings across 50 categories, including choc

Enterprises are rationing AI because they are paying for effort instead of outcomes. The startups that build the outcome-pricing layer, particularly in India’s inference stack, can own the next shift in AI adoption. AI today is sold and priced by the units of effort the model expends (tokens) rather than the outcome the user receives. This category error is now producing visible dislocations of expectations at enterprises across the world. If the largest AI companies, on the path to their

Deeptech manufacturing startup Ethereal Machines has raised $28.5 Mn (about ₹272 Cr) in its Series B funding round led by Avataar Ventures, with participation from existing investor Peak XV Partners and other backers. The startup said it will use the fresh capital to build a 3 Lakh sq ft mega-factory near Bengaluru, invest in its AI-powered factory operating software Vesper, and develop what it claims will be India’s first indigenous multi-axis CNC controller. A portion of the raised funds

US-based proptech company Opendoor has laid off its entire India team, affecting around 250 employees in total as it builds leaner AI-native teams on its home turf. “We are finalising bringing these (India-based) roles closer to our customers in America and beginning the process of winding down our India-based operations. This affects all of our colleagues in India who have done meaningful work for Opendoor,” CEO Kaz Nejatian said on X. The executive noted that the company has unified its manual

ZEE5’s FIFA Litmus Test After months of uncertainty, Zee recently locked both TV and digital rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, looking to revive its lost glory in the live sports and on-demand sports segment. Zee and its OTT platform ZEE5 are betting big and it all starts tonight as the first match kicks off in Mexico. But what is the real prize on offer for ZEE5?  Zee’s Big Bet: For the media giant, the rights deal offers something valuable: live content that can pull large audiences at once,

India’s smartphone market may no longer be growing rapidly in unit terms (as per IDC’s May 2026 report), but consumers are spending more on their devices than ever before. As premium smartphone costs rise, up by 14% in Q1 of 2026 alone, handset protection is becoming less of an add-on and more of a necessity.  Yet handset protection remains a largely underpenetrated market in India. While the global mobile handset protection industry is estimated to be worth $15.9 Bn, only about 10-12 Mn d

Months after raising ₹90 Cr, healthtech startup 4baseCare has now secured an additional ₹38 Cr (nearly $4 Mn) to finally close its Series B round at ₹128 Cr ($13 Mn). The latest infusion was led by growX Ventures, with participation from undisclosed existing investors.  In a statement, the startup said that it plans to continue deploying the freshly raised funds to fuel the expansion of its genomics laboratory network across India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Central Asia