YourStory presents a summary of the latest events across various sectors, highlighting key achievements and updates in the startup world.
The social enterprise Foodwize, based in Bangalore and founded by Sridjatha Sengupta and Priya Joshi, is working to help people build healthier relationships with food while contributing to more sustainable food systems.
Naturis Cosmetics, which specializes in contract manufacturing for beauty and personal hygiene, has raised ₹100 crore in its first funding round. Sharrp Ventures led this round. Mirabilis Investment Trust, Anicut Capital, and Niveshaay also participated in the round, alongside several angel investors.
ideaForge Technology has surpassed one million successful drone flights conducted by its clients. These flights covered defense, public safety, mapping, geodesy, and industrial applications. This milestone underscores the growing adoption of the company's drone platforms by the Indian Armed Forces, government agencies, enterprises, and international organizations. Over the years, drones have assisted in disaster response, crowd management, infrastructure monitoring, and critical surveillance. The company noted that this achievement reflects the reliability and autonomy of its UAVs. As demand for advanced drone technology grows, ideaForge is expanding beyond reconnaissance, surveillance, and scouting to include logistics support, long-duration monitoring, combat capabilities, and next-generation systems, strengthening its position in India's rapidly evolving drone ecosystem.
Fashion e-commerce platform Myntra has unveiled the next phase of its artificial intelligence strategy, integrating AI into customer discovery, seller onboarding, catalog management, and product development processes. The company stated that thanks to AI, the seller registration time has been reduced from fifteen days to less than two, and the personalized shopping experience has improved through search, styling, and size recommendations. Myntra's AI-powered Contextual Styling Suite helps shoppers find complete outfits, while automated content processing speeds up catalog verification. Myntra reported that 90% of its active users already utilize personalized search monthly. The retailer is also integrating AI into internal operations and engineering workflows, enabling faster product development and increased efficiency during technological scaling.
B2B company TripleDart achieved an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $7 million while maintaining an EBIT margin of 50%. This success is attributed to its proprietary AI platform, Slate. The company, which is growing without external funding, states that Slate automates SEO, content creation, and AI visibility, allowing client teams to interact directly with AI agents. Founded four and a half years ago, TripleDart has grown to 120 employees and manages over $200 million in advertising spend for more than 300 clients, including General Electric, SentinelOne, ByteDance, Cognizant, and MakeMyTrip. The company emphasized that its profitability and growth were driven by a software-oriented approach to automation, rather than headcount increase, positioning it as an AI-focused marketing services company.
Electric motorcycle manufacturer Raptee.HV has opened its first demonstration center outside Chennai, marking its entry into the Bangalore market as part of its national retail network expansion. The new showroom will allow customers to view products, take test rides, arrange delivery, and access after-sales service. Bangalore is the second operational market for the company after beginning deliveries to customers in Chennai earlier this year. Raptee.HV chose this city due to its strong electric vehicle ecosystem, expanding charging infrastructure, and active motorcycling culture. The company integrates high-voltage EV technology into two-wheelers and aims to strengthen its presence in India's premium electric motorcycle segment through a phased rollout of service centers.
BikeWo Green Tech has partnered with Yubhas Renewables to test solar electric bicycles designed for rural and semi-urban transport. As part of the collaboration, BikeWo will deploy these vehicles within its driver network to assess performance, battery efficiency, payload capacity, ride quality, and economic viability before commercial launch. Feedback from the pilot project will help refine the vehicle's design and reliability. In addition to technology testing, both companies are exploring a rural entrepreneurship program that will train youth in vehicle operation, maintenance, and business management, enabling them to become owner-operators. This initiative aims to combine clean mobility with livelihood generation and support sustainable transport in underserved regions.
Medi Assist Healthcare Services has integrated the UIDAI's Aadhaar Offline Verification Framework into its medical benefits platform, becoming a registered Subject requesting offline verification. The company stated that this feature ensures consent-based secure identification, minimizing paperwork, fraud, and misuse of personal data. Members can verify their identity without disclosing unnecessary personal information, enhancing privacy and simplifying access to medical benefits. This capability also helps insurers and employers strengthen identity guarantees, reduce manual documentation, and speed up claim processing. Medi Assist plans to extend the Aadhaar offline verification functionality to third-party administrators, insurers, and pension funds using its technology platform, supporting a more secure medical benefits ecosystem.
Technology company LTM has teamed up with the corporate AI platform Glean to help organizations boost productivity and accelerate AI adoption. The collaboration connects LTM's BlueVerse AI agent ecosystem with Glean's enterprise knowledge platform, providing employees secure access to information distributed across numerous corporate applications. Both companies noted that fragmented corporate knowledge remains a significant barrier to AI deployment. Through the integration of AI-powered search, assistants, and autonomous agents, the partnership aims to optimize decision-making and enhance operational efficiency. LTM stated that this cooperation will provide businesses with a managed path from enterprise search to AI-driven automation, helping organizations maximize their return on AI investment.
The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and real estate platform Square Yards have initiated a multi-year partnership to develop a residential property price index for India. This benchmark is intended to provide transparent assessment of housing price dynamics for buyers, investors, lenders, policymakers, and researchers. Square Yards will provide anonymized transaction, registration, RERA, and property listing data, while IIMB will lead the research methodology and statistical modeling. The Institute will maintain academic independence and publication rights. The partners stated that this initiative will solve the problem of lacking consistent price benchmarks in India's real estate sector by combining large-scale market data with academically rigorous research.
HCLTech launched a Global Technology Center in GIFT City, Gujarat, to provide AI-driven solutions to global financial services clients. The center will also focus on developing next-generation technologies and nurturing skilled talent. Concurrently with the launch, HCLTech signed Memorandums of Understanding with IIT Gandhinagar and Gujarat Technological University to strengthen industry-academia collaboration. These partnerships will support research in AI for financial services, software development, and upskilling initiatives. Students and faculty will gain practical experience in projects related to digital transformation and new technologies. HCLTech stated that this center affirms its commitment to empowering AI and technological innovation from India.
Zithara.AI, an AI-powered customer engagement platform for offline retailers, announced a partnership with Palmonas to enhance customer interaction using data-driven solutions from brand retail operations. Under the partnership, Palmonas will implement the Zithara.AI CRM platform to unify customer data across multiple touchpoints, ensuring a single, consolidated view of customer interactions. The platform will support intelligent customer segmentation, automated engagement workflows, and personalized communication designed to boost customer retention and increase repeat purchases. The implementation aims to create a more structured and consistent approach to customer engagement as the brand scales.
The investment platform Aurrevia has introduced its Category III Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). The fund's launch is supported by a $10 million anchor commitment from Kothari Family Office through Aarii Ventures, aligning with the company's goal to capitalize on growing investor interest in India's alternative investment market.
This public equity fund is actively managed and is based on Aurrevia's proprietary two-strategy system, TechnoValue. This system combines deep value investing with momentum-based strategies. The fund aims to achieve risk-adjusted long-term returns through a combination of fundamental research, disciplined portfolio construction, and active risk management.
The launch comes amid the rapid expansion of the alternative investment ecosystem in India. According to the company, total commitments for AIFs exceeded 16.9 lakh crore as of March 2026, with Category III AIFs accounting for over 3.14 lakh crore, reflecting increased demand for actively managed products.
Aurrevia stated that its investment approach integrates value-oriented investing with the identification of market trends to seek opportunities across various sectors and market capitalizations. Furthermore, the fund employs a negative screening system, excluding investments in businesses related to tobacco, alcohol, gambling, meat, and leather, thereby aligning its strategy with principles of stewardship investing.
The fund was co-founded by Sagar Nishar, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer, and Suyog Dhawan, Co-founder of Aurrevia and Founder and CIO of Strategic Alpha. Previously, Nishar served as CIO at Aarii Ventures, overseeing investments in public and private markets, while Dhawan developed the firm's TechnoValue framework, which combines fundamental metrics, technical indicators, valuation metrics, and event triggers.
Commenting on the launch, Nishar noted that the company's focus will remain on capital preservation and ensuring sustainable, long-term returns through disciplined investing. Dhawan added that Aurrevia aims to become a research-driven, managed, and consistently investing institution as the allocation to alternative assets continues to grow in India.
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.
NPCI is reportedly developing the Unified Agent Protocol (UAP). This proposed framework is designed to verify and authorize artificial intelligence agents within the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem.
Today, AI agents can perform tasks such as searching, comparing, and recommending options when booking flights or making online purchases. However, the process stops at the payment stage via UPI because only users and authorized payment applications can initiate transactions, not the AI agents themselves.
UPI supports features like AutoPay and Reserve Pay, which allow users to pre-authorize recurring or future payments by setting an spending limit and authenticating them once using a UPI PIN. Nevertheless, this differs from granting AI agents the right to make independent purchasing decisions and conduct payments on behalf of the user. To bridge this gap, NPCI is working on creating UAP.
According to Business Standard, UAP is designed to create a trusted, common, and interoperable infrastructure. Through this infrastructure, AI agents will be able to register, undergo verification, and receive permission to conduct operations in the UPI ecosystem without requiring changes to the core payment system mechanisms. It is important to note that UAP will not replace UPI; it will function as an additional layer of verification on top of the existing system, ensuring secure interaction between trusted AI agents and UPI while maintaining the current payment infrastructure.
If UAP is implemented, it will provide the payment system with a way to ensure that the AI agent is acting with the user's consent before processing a transaction. Although details about UAP's operation are currently limited, it is expected to operate on top of the existing UPI infrastructure. The payment flow might look like this: the user gives a command, the AI assistant compares options, selects the best one, and generates a payment request. Then, UAP verifies the registration, trust, and authority of the AI agent to act on the user's behalf. After this, the request is sent through UPI, and the payment is either approved by the user or completed automatically for pre-approved payments within set limits, depending on applicable rules.
It is not guaranteed that AI will gain full access to funds. Although the final structure has not been announced, the system is likely to operate similarly to existing UPI features such as AutoPay and Reserve Pay, where users pre-approve spending limits rather than granting unlimited access to their bank account. Business Standard previously reported that the proposed protocol must verify whether the AI agent is authorized to act on the user's behalf, define the scope of this authority, and establish accountability in case these limits are exceeded. However, the ultimate safeguards will depend on how NPCI and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) develop this framework. Furthermore, NPCI must obtain RBI approval before launching UAP.
As payment systems evolve to support AI agents, cybercriminals and fraudsters will also seek ways to exploit them. Granting AI assistants the right to make purchases on behalf of the user creates a new set of challenges in consumer protection and security. Although the technology is in its early stages, it carries new risks, including fake AI agents, unauthorized or erroneous payments, excessive user permissions, and unresolved issues of liability in case of problems. If UAP is implemented, it could place India among the first countries to create a national infrastructure for agent payments, transforming UPI from a manually user-managed system into one that can be utilized by trusted AI agents on their behalf.
