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  • Bluestone Secures SEBI Nod for ₹1,000 Cr IPO

    Bluestone Secures SEBI Nod for ₹1,000 Cr IPO

    Omnichannel jewellery brand Bluestone has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to move forward with its initial public offering (IPO).

     The company plans to raise ₹1,000 crore (around $119 million) via a fresh issue of equity shares, alongside an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.39 crore shares, as per its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP).

    Bluestone filed its IPO papers with SEBI in December last year. The IPO includes a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹1,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.39 crore shares by existing shareholders.

    The company has 104 public shareholders who together own 26.82% of its shares.

    As part of the OFS, Accel will sell 14.6% of its stake, while Iron Pillar and Sunil Kant Munjal will sell 31.9% and 51.6%, respectively. Saama Capital, IvyCap Ventures, and Kalaari Capital will completely exit the company by selling all their shares.

    Also Read: Amicco Raises $1M Seed Funding led by Eximius Ventures

    Bluestone, founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha in Bangalore, is one of India’s largest e-commerce portals for fine jewellery.

    By seamlessly integrating online and physical retail channels, Bluestone has transformed the way consumers experience jewellery shopping.

    As of June 30, 2024, Bluestone operates 203 retail outlets across 86 cities in 26 states and union territories, serving over 12,600 PIN codes across India.

    The company runs three manufacturing units in Mumbai, Jaipur, and Surat, and has an additional design facility in Mumbai for prototyping.

    Bluestone reported a 64.2% rise in operating revenue for FY24, reaching ₹1,265.8 crore, up from ₹770.7 crore in FY23. For the six months ended June 2024, it recorded revenue of ₹348.2 crore.

  • Amicco Raises $1M Seed Funding led by Eximius Ventures

    Amicco Raises $1M Seed Funding led by Eximius Ventures

    Gurugram-based B2B auto spare parts marketplace Amicco has raised $1 million in seed funding, led by Eximius Ventures, with participation from FJ Labs and other strategic investors.

    The funds will be used to expand Amicco’s garage network, enhance its technology, and strengthen go-to-market efforts. Currently operational in Gurugram, the company plans to scale to other Indian cities in the coming months.

    Founded in 2024 by Vivek Aalok, Amicco is on a mission to simplify spare parts procurement for independent garages by offering better pricing, faster delivery, and improved service through its tech-driven platform.

    Also Read : AI Dashcam Startup Cautio Raises INR 11 Cr in Seed Funding

    A former Wall Street professional and ex-Spinny team member, Vivek launched Amicco after witnessing the inefficiencies and fragmentation in India’s aftermarket auto space.

    The platform is designed to reduce vehicle downtime, improve customer service, and bring much-needed transparency to the ecosystem.

    “We understand that the problem statement is quite complex and believe that technology can offer a transformative solution for the on-demand nature of the business,” said Vivek Aalok.

    Amicco marks one of the first investments from Eximius Fund 2. The pre-seed focused venture fund, Eximius Ventures, primarily invests in sectors like FinTech, SaaS, HealthTech, and Online Media, with a portfolio that includes startups such as Jar, STAN, and Eka.care.

  • AI Dashcam Startup Cautio Raises INR 11 Cr in Seed Funding

    AI Dashcam Startup Cautio Raises INR 11 Cr in Seed Funding

    Cautio, a video telematics startup focused on road safety, has raised ₹11 crore in its ongoing seed funding round.

    The round saw backing from 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Antler India, Infinyte Club, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) via PIEDS-BITS Pilani, and CARS24 founders Gajendra Jangid and Vikram Chopra.

    Founded in 2023 by Ankit Acharya and Pranjal Nadhani, Cautio uses AI-powered dashcams to bring real-time visibility and risk prevention to commercial fleets.

    The company plans to use the funds to scale its technology across India, improve AI capabilities, and promote a culture of proactive safety in fleet operations.

    Also Read: Gen Z Fashion Brand Outzidr Raises ₹30 Cr in Seed Round

    Operating in more than 35 cities, Cautio’s dashcam solutions are already being used by logistics and mobility firms such as Shoffr, Euro Cars, Namma Yatri, IITs, and Cityflo.

    Its platform has processed over 50 crore location data points through its APIs.

    With this fresh capital, Cautio aims to continue building intelligent, affordable safety solutions that help fleet operators reduce risks and drive smarter.

  • Gen Z Fashion Brand Outzidr Raises ₹30 Cr in Seed Round Led by Stellaris

    Gen Z Fashion Brand Outzidr Raises ₹30 Cr in Seed Round Led by Stellaris

    Women-focused fashion startup Outzidr has raised ₹30 crore ($3.49 million) in a seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners.

    The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors, including Livspace cofounder Ramakant Sharma and Mamaearth’s Ghazal Alagh.

    Founded in 2024 by Nirmal Jain, Mani Kant Mani, and Justin Mario, Outzidr targets Gen Z women with stylish, affordable outfits suited for travel, college, parties, and going out.

    Since launching its products in February 2025, the brand has introduced over 3,000 styles on its website and continues to add around 2,000 new ones every month.

    The fresh capital will be used to strengthen Outzidr’s supply chain and scale brand presence, with the goal of reaching an annualised revenue run rate of ₹100 crore within the next 6–8 months.

    Also Read: AI-Powered DevOps Startup Scoutflo Raises ₹1.4 Cr in Pre-Seed Round

    Operating on a hybrid manufacturing model, the company sources apparel from over 30 factories in India and overseas.

    Outzidr sells directly through its own D2C platform as well as on popular fashion marketplaces like Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, and AJIO.

    Co-founder Nirmal Jain, who previously led Landmark Group’s Styli and later founded Increff, teamed up with Mani and Justin to launch Outzidr, aiming to make it a go-to fashion destination for modern Indian women.

  • AI-Powered DevOps Startup Scoutflo Raises ₹1.4 Cr in Pre-Seed Round

    AI-Powered DevOps Startup Scoutflo Raises ₹1.4 Cr in Pre-Seed Round

    Scoutflo, a DevOps startup using artificial intelligence to simplify software deployment, has raised ₹1.4 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by 100X.VC, with participation from angel investors Arjun Pillai and Prasanna Venkatesan, former CTO of ZoomInfo India.

    With the new funds, the startup plans to boost its AI capabilities, streamline deployment automation, strengthen its security layers, and scale operations into new markets. The company also aims to form strategic partnerships and expand its offering with more integrations that cater to modern development teams.

    Founded in 2024 by Kalpesh Bhalekar, Scoutflo helps developers deploy code and manage cloud infrastructure with minimal reliance on DevOps teams.

    Its AI-driven platform automates deployments, resolves issues, and ensures compliance across major cloud providers like AWS, GCP, Azure, and Civo.

    Also Read: Edtech Startup SiglQ.ai Raises $9.5 Million in Seed Funding

    Commenting on the raise, Kalpesh Bhalekar said,

    “The traditional DevOps model struggles to keep up with modern AI-driven software development. Scoutflo acts as an AI-powered DevOps expert in every team, simplifying deployments while ensuring compliance and security.”

    Scoutflo addresses a common bottleneck in the development pipeline, where one DevOps engineer often supports around 20 developers—slowing down release cycles. By offering an intuitive, developer-friendly interface and support for major cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, Azure, and Civo, Scoutflo empowers teams with more speed and control.

    Already trusted by fintech and edtech firms, Scoutflo is on a mission to make software deployment faster, more reliable, and scalable for engineering teams of all sizes.

  • AI-Powered Edtech Startup SiglQ.ai Raises $9.5 Million in Seed Funding

    AI-Powered Edtech Startup SiglQ.ai Raises $9.5 Million in Seed Funding

    Edtech startup SiglQ.ai has raised $9.5 million in a seed funding round co-led by The House Fund and GSV Ventures.

    The round also saw participation from Duolingo, General Catalyst India (Venture Highway), Peak XV Partners, Calibrate Ventures, and several prominent angel investors including Perplexity co-founder Andy Konwinski.

    Founded in 2023 by Karttikeya Mangalam and Kurt Keutzer, SiglQ.ai builds AI-powered tools aimed at delivering personalized learning experiences at scale.

    The funding will help the company ramp up hiring, improve its AI capabilities, and scale its platforms globally.

    After operating in stealth mode for 18 months, SiglQ.ai has launched two products—PadhAI and EverTutor.ai—focused on the higher education markets in India and the U.S. PadhAI is already gaining traction among UPSC aspirants, with over 200,000 users.

    Also Read:

    Delhivery To Acquire Ecom Express Delhivery To Acquire Ecom Express for ₹1,407 Cr

    The company claims its AI tutor topped the UPSC 2024 Civil Services Exam rankings, outperforming more than 1.3 million human candidates and other AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.

    EverTutor.ai, designed for GRE test prep, has attracted over 10,000 users in just three months. SiglQ.ai now plans to expand EverTutor’s reach during the upcoming GRE exam cycles and further scale its impact on learners.

    “We are at a pivotal moment in education where modern GenAI can provide a personal 1:1 tutor to every student and reduce the cost of one-on-one learning from hundreds of dollars an hour to the cost of computation,” said co-founder Karttikeya Mangalam.

    The company will also be showcasing its latest innovations at the ASU+GSV Summit, underscoring its vision to make AI-driven education more accessible across the globe.

  • Calligo Technologies Raises $1.1 Million in Pre-Series A Round

    Calligo Technologies Raises $1.1 Million in Pre-Series A Round

    Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup Calligo Technologies has raised $1.1 million in a pre-Series A funding round, co-led by Seafund and Artha Venture Fund. The latest round adds to the $1.57 million previously secured from KITVEN and other investors.

    The fresh capital will be directed towards research and development for its upcoming version 2.0 silicon chip and platform, alongside expanding its engineering and tech talent.

    Founded in 2012 by Anantha Kinnal, Rajaraman Subramanian, and Vinay N. Hebbali, Calligo Technologies specializes in high-performance computing (HPC), Big Data, and AI workloads.

    Calligo addresses performance bottlenecks in large-scale simulations and AI systems through its Posit arithmetic-based tools, including modified RISC-V compilers and libraries that run applications without source-code changes.

    Also Read: Delhivery To Acquire Ecom Express for ₹1,407 Cr

    In the past year, it has partnered with U.S. universities and supercomputing centers, soft-launched in the U.S., built an accelerator board, completed First Pass Silicon Ver 1.0, and begun customer shipments.

    The funding comes at a time when India’s semiconductor market is on a growth trajectory. Valued at $6.67 billion in 2024, the market is projected to reach $14.09 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 10.1%, according to recent market research.

  • Delhivery To Acquire Ecom Express for ₹1,407 Cr  

    Delhivery To Acquire Ecom Express for ₹1,407 Cr  

    Listed logistics giant Delhivery Ltd has announced the acquisition of a controlling 99.4% stake in Ecom Express for ₹1,407 crore in an all-cash deal. 

    The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals including from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), is expected to be completed within six months.

    The deal comes as a surprise, as Ecom Express was preparing to go public. It had filed papers for a ₹2,600 crore IPO in August 2024 and got SEBI’s approval in December. However, it never moved forward with the listing.

    The company was valued at around ₹7,000 crore during its last funding round in June 2024. Now, it’s being acquired for ₹1,407 crore—much lower—suggesting this might be a fire-sale. 

    Commenting on the acquisition, Managing Director and CEO of Delhivery Sahil Barua said,

    “The Indian economy requires continuous improvements in cost efficiency, speed and reach of logistics. We believe this acquisition will enable us to service customers of both companies better, through continued bold investments in infrastructure, technology, network and people.” 

    “This acquisition marks a new growth phase for Ecom Express, and the combined strengths of both companies will drive substantial benefits for businesses across India and the logistics industry as a whole,” Ecom Express founder K Satyanarayana added. 

    Founded in 2012, Ecom Express has built a strong B2C logistics network in tier-II cities and was one of the first to test drone deliveries, starting in Delhi-NCR in 2024.

    Despite past disagreements over data in Ecom Express’ IPO documents, Delhivery has now acquired the company, boosting its position in warehousing, quick commerce, and drone delivery.

    Also Read: Zomato food delivery COO Rinshul Chandra Resigns

    Delhivery also plans to grow its rapid delivery service, aiming for ₹80–100 crore in revenue from it in FY25.

    Ecom Express earned ₹2,609 crore in FY24, with a reduced net loss of ₹255.8 crore. Over half of its revenue came from its top customer—likely Meesho, which launched its own logistics unit, Valmo.

  • Zomato food delivery COO Rinshul Chandra Resigns

    Zomato food delivery COO Rinshul Chandra Resigns

    Rinshul Chandra, Chief Operating Officer of Zomato’s Food Delivery business, has announced his resignation, the company confirmed in a regulatory filing. He submitted his resignation on April 5 and will officially step down on April 7, 2025. 

    Chandra joined Zomato in 2018 as Assistant Vice President of Product and steadily rose through the ranks to become Vice President, Head of Business, and eventually COO. 

    In his resignation letter addressed to Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, Chandra stated that he was stepping down to pursue new opportunities and passions aligned with his evolving personal and professional goals. 

    Zomato has not yet announced a successor for the position. 

    His departure comes as the company navigates internal restructuring, including the recent layoff of nearly 600 customer support executives. These employees were hired under the Zomato Associate Accelerator Program (ZAAP), launched last year with the promise of career growth. 

    Also Read: Vimano Secures ₹25 Crore in Seed Round Led by Ankur Capital

    However, many of their contracts were not renewed following the launch of Nugget, the company’s AI-powered customer support platform. 

    The layoffs—attributed to increased adoption of AI—impacted teams based in Zomato’s Gurugram and Hyderabad offices. Around 1,500 associates were originally hired under the ZAAP program. 

    Chandra’s exit adds to a string of high-profile departures in recent months, including Hemal Jain (Global Head of Finance and CFO of Hyperpure), Akriti Chopra (Co-founder and Chief People Officer), and Gunjan Soni (Independent Director). 

    Zomato recently rebranded its parent company to Eternal Limited, which now oversees four key businesses—Zomato (food delivery), Blinkit (quick commerce), Hyperpure (B2B supply chain), and District (a newly launched initiative). Despite the corporate rebranding, the Zomato brand and app remain unchanged. 

  • Vimano Secures ₹25 Crore in Seed Round Led by Ankur Capital 

    Vimano Secures ₹25 Crore in Seed Round Led by Ankur Capital 

    Nanotechnology startup Vimano has raised ₹25 crore (approximately $3 million) in its seed funding round led by Ankur Capital. This marks the first investment from Ankur Capital’s recently launched third fund.

    The fresh capital will be used to expand Vimano’s team, kickstart pilot projects, and set up manufacturing operations, enabling the company to move from lab-scale innovation to real-world impact.

    Founded in 2019 by Murari Ramkumar and Dr. Nagesh Kini, Vimano develops advanced membranes for clean energy systems such as redox flow batteries, fuel cells, and green hydrogen production. 

    These adaptable membranes are designed to improve electricity flow, enhance durability, and reduce energy loss—making energy storage more efficient and cost-effective.

    Currently, Vimano is working closely with partners in the energy sector to test and deploy its technology in real-world scenarios.

    Also Read: EaseMyTrip Backs Electric Mobility with ₹200 Cr Investment

    The startup aims to accelerate the global shift to sustainable energy by supporting industries in need of cost-effective and high-performance clean power solutions.

    This investment reflects Ankur Capital’s strong focus on deep-tech solutions tackling global challenges. Its third fund, backed by existing Limited Partners, has also supported startups like Captain Fresh, String Bio, Vegrow, Offgrid Energy Lab, BigHaat, Cropin, and Niramai.