The daily startup news roundup for July 8, 2026, covers the latest achievements across various sectors, including developments in food products and technology company financing.
New Brands and Products
Sisters Manvi Agnihotri and Shin Hitaiashi founded the brand The Sweet Change, which offers a natural monk fruit-based sweetener in powder and drop form. This product is intended to play a key role in maintaining health through nutrition.
Investment News
The educational platform Elevate Education, based in Gurugram and previously known as Sunstone, raised ₹170 crore in a Series D funding round from investment firm WestBridge Capital. The funds will be used to strengthen the technology platform, deepen the use of artificial intelligence across all services, and expand partnerships with colleges and universities across India.
Adage Automation, specializing in environmental monitoring systems and gas analysis, secured ₹230 crore in a growth round. The round was led by the fund InCred Growth Partners Fund, a private investment platform of InCred Alternative Investments.
The electric vehicle mobility platform Milo Drive received $2.4 million in a seed round, co-led by Caret Capital and Antler India. Founded by Monil Jayshkumar Khatri and Vishal Jevraike, the startup uses a low capital expenditure technological model to serve the taxi ecosystem in India. It integrates vehicle access management, smart charging, demand aggregation, and operator tools to improve fleet efficiency and driver income. Milo Drive has already facilitated over one million rides and plans to scale nationwide.
The dietary brand Doodhvale Farms attracted an additional $1 million from existing investor Atomic Capital Fund I. These funds will be used for market expansion, product innovation, and AI-driven initiatives such as demand forecasting and route optimization. Over the past year, Doodhvale Farms has shown revenue growth of approximately 65%, with its D2C business accounting for nearly 90% of total revenue. The company operates in Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Ambala, Karnal, and Meerut.
Health and Tech Investments
The science-oriented skincare startup Neothera raised ₹9 crore in a pre-seed round led by Blume Ventures. Founded by Radhika Agarwal, the company creates technology-based solutions for treating chronic skin diseases, combining diagnostics, behavioral interventions, physician-supervised protocols, and clinical formulations. The new funding will be used to enhance technological capabilities, expand R&D, grow the clinical team, and scale customer acquisition across India.
The tech startup eNLife Research from Bengaluru raised ₹6 crore in a seed round led by Piper Serica VC Fund. The company intends to use the capital to advance its blood-based biomarker platform, expand its research team, and conduct clinical validation of its first diagnostic assay. eNLife, incubated at the Indian Institute of Science's Science and Development Fund, develops AI-based diagnostic solutions for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
The women-led startup Avni Wellness secured ₹4 crore in a strategic funding round led by Proteus Partners. The company will use the funds to strengthen digital commerce operations, expand its cycle nutrition portfolio, and scale its network of women-led micro-entrepreneurs to 10,000 entrepreneurs across India. Digital channels, including direct-to-consumer sales and e-commerce, currently account for almost 75% of revenue.
Market Expansion and Retail
The direct eyewear brand Rawbare attracted new funding from Teamology Softech and Media Services, although the investment amount was not disclosed. The startup plans to use the funds to increase its retail network, accelerate product development, and strengthen its global presence. Rawbare emphasized that it focuses on building a differentiated eyewear brand rather than rapid expansion, prioritizing sustainable growth and customer loyalty.
Other Industry News
Swiggy expanded its Food on Train service to 180 cities across India, strengthening its railway food delivery network. The company reported that orders through this service grew threefold year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026. High usage of the 'Scan your Ticket' feature, which allows travelers to upload tickets for automatic PNR identification and seamless food ordering, was also noted. Multi-station orders increased by over 300% year-over-year, with such customers spending nearly 2.2 times more than passengers placing a single order.
Tech company UST entered into a strategic alliance with AI research firm Anthropic to assist Global 1000 enterprises in scaling AI adoption. Under the partnership, UST will integrate Anthropic's Claude AI models into engineering environments and enterprise workflows in sectors such as semiconductors, automotive, manufacturing, telecommunications, and IoT. The collaboration aims to help organizations move beyond isolated AI pilot projects and implement robust AI solutions into business operations.
TELUS Digital partnered with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to promote cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and strengthen India's digital talent ecosystem. The collaboration will focus on joint R&D projects, technological innovations, skill development programs, internships, and academic exchange. Ericsson launched the Ericsson Innovation Challenge, a national initiative to encourage startups, researchers, and technological innovators to create solutions using 5G, AI, cloud computing, and IoT technologies. The program is conducted jointly with IAN Mentoring and Incubation Services and TiE Delhi-NCR.
Flipkart extended its zero-commission policy to the entire fashion apparel category on its marketplace, which is expected to benefit nearly 90,000 fashion sellers, including SMEs and D2C brands.
HR platform Darwinbox is collaborating with global payroll provider Neeyamo to offer businesses a unified solution for human resources management and payroll processing. This partnership allows organizations to utilize payroll operations in international markets through Neeyamo while maintaining a single employee data system in Darwinbox.
Jio Haptik introduced SOLO, an AI-powered platform designed to automate marketing, sales, and customer support for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.