Aukera, a brand specializing in lab-grown diamond jewelry, has successfully raised ₹90 crore in a new funding round. The round was led by existing investor Alteria Capital, alongside InnoVen Capital, Lighthouse Canton, and a major bank.
Aukera, a brand specializing in lab-grown diamond jewelry, has successfully raised ₹90 crore in a new funding round. The round was led by existing investor Alteria Capital, alongside InnoVen Capital, Lighthouse Canton, and a major bank.
The company stated that the secured capital will be allocated to opening new retail outlets, investing in design development, product innovation, and talent acquisition. Furthermore, the funds will be used to strengthen the brand's omnichannel infrastructure.
Aukera was founded in 2023 by Liza Mukhedkar and Kumar Saurabh. Previously, the company had attracted $15 million from partners such as Peak XV Partners, Fireside Ventures, Sparrow Capital, Prath Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
Liza Mukhedkar, founder and CEO of Aukera, emphasized that success in this category depends not on discounts, but on trust, quality, and brand recognition. She added that this capital will enable them to deliver their promise to a larger number of cities more quickly.
According to the startup, following the latest funding round, the company's network of owned stores grew from 13 to 35. Its geographical presence expanded beyond Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Delhi NCR, including cities such as Pune, Lucknow, Dehradun, and Vizag.
Kumar Saurabh, co-founder of Aukera, believes that to become a leading player in this sector, an investment of at least ₹1000 crore is necessary, as the mining industry is reassessing its approaches while acknowledging the consistency of artificially grown diamonds.
Aukera occupies the premium segment of the lab-grown diamond market in India. The company asserts that all its diamonds meet the highest global standards and possess top-tier quality grades. Actress Taapsee Pannu serves as the brand ambassador.
According to a report by Vantage Market Research, the Indian lab-grown diamond market was valued at $2.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $11.6 billion by 2035, exhibiting a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.4% from 2026 to 2035. This growth reflects a structural rebalancing in the global diamond value chain, where supply decisions are influenced by economic efficiency, traceability, and scalable production.
Mowito, a company specializing in physical artificial intelligence (AI) and creating foundational models for industrial robots, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $3 million in a seed funding round.
The round was led by Version One Ventures. Other participants included All In Capital, Unisol, iSeed, as well as angel investors such as Soumith Chintala (from Thinking Machines Lab), Adarsh Kulkarni (from Foundry Robotics), Ashish Kulkarni (from Coformer.ai), and Vaibhav Domkundwar (from Better Capital).
The company stated that the funds will be used to accelerate expansion in the United States, strengthen engineering and market teams, and scale deployments with manufacturers in the automotive and electronics industries.
Founded in 2024, Mowito develops physical AI models that allow industrial robots to learn directly from task demonstrations. This eliminates the need for traditional programming while maintaining the necessary precision for manufacturing processes.
The company serves global manufacturers in the automotive and electronics sectors, with headquarters in Bengaluru and Detroit. It was noted that Mowito robots are already being used on production lines of a major Fortune 500 automotive company and one of the world's largest electronics contract manufacturers, supporting high-precision assembly operations.
Co-founder and CEO of Mowito, Puru Rastog, emphasized that manufacturing has reached a point where the bottleneck is no longer hardware but software. He noted that robots should not require reprogramming when production changes, but should learn like humans—through observation and repetition. He added that this funding will help accelerate this concept, expand globally, and implement Physical AI in more manufacturing environments.
All In Capital Partner Kushal Bhagia expressed the view that manufacturing is entering a new phase where AI will radically change industrial automation. He highly praised Mowito, stating that the company is creating fundamental technology that removes one of the main barriers to industrial automation—the complexity of robot programming—and that the technical depth of the team, early customer validation, and vision for Physical AI place it in an exceptional position to define this category.
Keyfactor has secured over a billion dollars in strategic investments to strengthen its platform designed for the age of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
The funding round was led by Summit Partners. Significant participation was also provided by previously invested companies Insight Partners and Sixth Street Growth, which will retain a substantial minority stake. The funds raised will be directed towards product innovation, international expansion, staff growth, and strategic acquisitions.
This influx of capital comes as large enterprises increase investments in machine identity management and preparation for quantum security—two rapidly growing areas of corporate interest. Keyfactor develops a unified platform that manages all digital certificates and other business cryptographic credentials.
According to Jordan Raki, Keyfactor's approach is based on validation. He noted that with this capital, the company will be able to significantly accelerate growth and expand its global presence to meet the urgent need for identification in the coming era of AI and quantum technologies.
As businesses implement more interconnected ecosystems, including cloud services, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and AI, the number of machine identities has sharply increased. In many organizations, machine identities exceed human identities, creating additional cybersecurity challenges.
Keyfactor emphasized that fragmented security systems cannot scale alongside the rise in machine identities. Its Trust Control Plane centralizes visibility across all certificates, cryptographic assets, and digital trust systems, automating lifecycle management and compliance.
Furthermore, demand is expected to grow as governments prepare for post-quantum cryptography. Recent policy initiatives are prompting organizations to begin replacing current encryption methods before quantum computing renders existing standards vulnerable.
Andy Collins, Managing Director at Summit Partners, pointed to several trends that heighten the urgency of corporate security issues. These include certificate expiration shortening, stricter regulatory requirements, AI governance demands, and the shift to quantum-resistant cryptography.
Keyfactor enters a new phase of growth with financial stability. The company reported accelerated annual revenue growth and maintained profitability, serving billions of machine identities annually for over 2,500 clients in 150 countries.
Among these clients are half of the largest banks in the US and Europe, 80% of the largest retailers in the US, and 40% of Fortune 100 companies. By industry, Keyfactor's solution is widely used in financial services, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, and the public sector.
Earlier this year, the company received FedRAMP certification. This milestone allows federal agencies and government sector organizations to use its cloud platform for automating certificate lifecycle management, meeting government security requirements.
Colin Mistele, Managing Director at Summit Partners, believes that the increasing preparation for post-quantum standards opens significant long-term opportunities for businesses. He suggests that Keyfactor's ties with financial institutions and governments provide it with potential for international growth.
The latest investment demonstrates growing interest in cybersecurity companies supporting artificial intelligence infrastructure. As enterprises adopt AI systems, connected devices, and automated workloads, the need to protect digital identities continues to grow.
Keyfactor offers an integrated platform covering certificate discovery, issuance, and continuous lifecycle management. The company asserts that this approach simplifies security operations and enhances resilience in complex corporate environments.
The investment also strengthens Summit Partners' position in the enterprise infrastructure software segment. Following the deal, Andy Collins and Colin Mistele will join Keyfactor's board of directors to support its next phase of expansion.
