Sunil Sonkar

The Indian startup ecosystem is showing signs of revival and artificial intelligence (AI) is at the core of it. Nishit Garg from Asia Partner of RTP Global

Goa-based electric mobility startup Kabira Mobility has struck headlines with a surprising benefit for the Indian Armed Forces. It has lately introduced a special discount offer for veterans and active personnel across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Paramilitary Forces. The beneficiaries include units like the BSF, CRPF and CISF. It is a limited-period offer and to end on November 30, 2024.

October 2024 painted a mixed picture for private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in India. The overall funding grew by 4% compared to that of 2023 and reached to $4.7 billion. Startup investments witnessed a sharp 50% drop and raised $880 million across 56 deals. It is a significant decline from $1.8 billion across 42 deals in October 2023 as per the IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC report.

The Circle: Founders Club (The Circle FC) has once again emerged as a game-changer in the global startup ecosystem. It lately hosted the K-Startup Centre India 2024 Demo Day in Gurugram and the theme was “Bridging Cultures, Powering Innovation – Korea & India.” It brought to light the growing synergies between India and South Korea.

UK-based startup Surf Security has lately launched a beta version of world's first browser equipped with a built-in deepfake detection feature. The tool is also made available as a browser extension and claimed to identify AI-generated deepfakes by up to 98% accuracy.

Kolkata-based startup NowPurchase is making waves in the metal manufacturing industry with a vision to go public within the period of next three to five years. The B2B procurement and production solutions company is a steel manufacturing niche platform and is steadily building momentum.

Karnataka is taking a big step to spread the benefits of its tech-driven growth beyond Bengaluru. IT-BT and RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge lately outlined the “Beyond Bengaluru” initiative of the state that mainly focus on drawing investments to underdeveloped regions like Kalyana Karnataka and boosting Tier-2 as well as Tier-3 cities. The step is highly appreciated and reflects a new approach called “nano planning” to have plans which are tailored to specific clusters and not just one-size-fits-all strategies.

IIT Bombay is making an exciting move to boost India’s startup ecosystem and it has come up with the launch of a ₹100-crore Venture Capital (VC) fund. The

Brigade REAP startup accelerator arm from the house of Brigade Group has come up with some big plans for the future. It aims to invest in six to eight PropTech startups every year to transform the real estate sector in India. The accelerator intends to invest between $100,000 and $200,000 per startup and this is a strong gesture of commitment to growing innovative businesses in the real estate tech space.

India’s startup boom has changed the concept of workspaces. The rise of co-working spaces is a direct response to the needs of today’s startups. The