B2B ecommerce platform ArisInfra Solutions has undertaken a pre-IPO placement to raise INR 80 Cr (INR 800.04 Mn) by issuing 36.03 Lakh equity shares for INR 222 per share. 

The shares are issued at a premium of INR 220 against the face value of INR 2. 

The decision was made following the resolutions of the board and shareholders on January 17, 2025. 

In its notice to investors as accessed by Inc42, the company informed, “A pre-IPO placement was undertaken by ArisInfra, in consultation with the BRLMs, for an amount aggregating to INR 800.04 Mn. Pursuant to the resolutions of the Board and the Shareholders, each dated January 17, 2025, the company approved the pre-IPO placement of 36,03,792 equity shares for cash at a price of INR 222 per equity share aggregating to INR 800.04 Mn.”

The top individuals or entities receiving the highest number of equity shares in the pre-IPO placement are Columbus Fin Vest’s director Vanaja Sundar Iyer, Param Capital Group’s founder Mukul Mahavir Agrawal,  Bagdia Petrochem’s Rishabh Bharatbhai Bagdia with cash considerations worth 16 Cr, 9.9 Cr and 7.2 Cr, respectively. 

Besides this, the company also announced that it entered into a share purchase agreement with certain investors regarding the pre-IPO placement on January 16. 

A pre-IPO placement is a private sale of shares conducted before a company goes public. 

The development comes two months after SEBI green lit its initial public offering (IPO) of INR 579.60 Cr. With this pre-IPO placement, the size of the fresh issue in the IPO will reduce to around INR 500 Cr. 

In November, the company already cut the size of the fresh issue in the IPO to INR 579.60 Cr from INR 600 Cr earlier.

ArisInfra’s IPO will consist solely of a fresh issue of shares, with no offer-for-sale component. The book running lead managers for the IPO are JM Financial, IIFL Capital and Nuvama. 

The proceeds from the IPO will be allocated to repay outstanding borrowings, fund working capital requirements, invest in subsidiary Buildmex-Infra Pvt Ltd, among others. 

Founded in 2021 by Ronak Morbia and Bhavik Khara, ArisInfra uses AI and machine learning to simplify construction material procurement. The startup delivers the products from the manufacturers of raw materials to businesses through its online platform.

The post ArisInfra Raises INR 80 Cr Via Pre-IPO Placement appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Agritech startup Arya.ag has secured a $30 Mn (around INR 259.4 Cr) debt facility in partnership with financial services major HSBC and GuarantCo, a financial institution under the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG).

GuarantCo provided two partial guarantees to HSBC India for the loan given to Arya.ag.

The company will use the capital for providing post-harvest liquidity to farmers, farmer producing organisations (FPOs) and small agri-enterprises.

Founded in 2013 by Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya.ag is a grain commerce platform that offers storage as a service to farmers and their organisations to choose when and to whom to sell their produce after harvest. 

Arya.ag has three verticals – Arya Collateral, Aryadhan, and Aryatech. The Mumbai-based startup claims to work with about a Mn of farmers who are members of 800 FPOs, and also work with more than 5,000 aggregators on the supply side, while on the demand side, it is connected with about 2,000 millers and major corporates on its platform.

Rao told Inc42 that it is operational in 60% of 21 Indian districts that it is present today. He further added that of all states, Bihar has one of its largest client base, which constitutes 26-30% of its revenue.

Prior to the current debt round, Arya.ag secured a commitment of $19.8 Mn (INR 166.4 Cr) from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to extend a debt facility for its agri commerce subsidiary Aryatech, in October last year.

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The National Human Right Commission (NHRC) has reportedly slammed labour officials for failing to adequately investigate reports of alleged employment discrimination at Foxconn plant.

The human rights body has asked the authorities to re-examine the matter , Reuters reported.

The story goes back to last year, when Foxconn was alleged of following discriminatory hiring practices and excluding married women from jobs at its iPhone assembly facility in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur. 

After that, a five-member team from the regional labour department visited Foxconn’s factory and spoke to company directors and executives from the human resources department.

Back then, the regional labour commissioner cited Foxconn and said that the Chennai factory employs a total of 41,281 workers, including 33,360 women. Among these women, approximately 2,750, or about 8%, are married, according to the information provided by Foxconn.

In August, Foxconn chairman Young Liu said that the company hires employees regardless of gender. 

Later in November 2024, the company instructed its recruitment agents in the country to remove age, gender, marital status criteria and the company’s name from job advertisements for iPhone assembly positions.

While the controversy ignited the debate of gender discrimination at the workplace, Foxconn continued to move ahead with its developments in the country.

Last year, Foxconn’s Singapore arm bought 1.203 Bn ordinary shares from its Indian unit for around $144 Mn.

Additionally, the manufacturing giant is also in discussions with the Tamil Nadu government to expand its battery manufacturing business in India. Additionally, the company is gearing up to  start making iPhone 16 Pro Series at its Tamil Nadu.

During his visit to India last year, Liu said that the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer has invested $10 Bn in India so far and has plans to infuse more capital in the country in the coming year. 

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Kotal Alternate Asset Managers (Kotak Alt), has made the first close of its life sciences fund at INR 250 Cr (around $29 Mn).

The fund, with a target corpus of INR 1,600 Cr (around $185 Mn), has seen participation from family offices, UHNIs (ultra high net worth individuals), industry veterans and other institutions.

The fund will invest in early to growth stage startups operating in the life sciences space which includes medical devices, digital health, consumer wellness, diagnostics and delivery, Kotak Alt said in a statement.

In the past two years, the Kotak Mahindra Group’s alternative assets management entity has invested a total of INR 4,000 Cr in the healthcare sector. Along with financial backing, it also aims to lend support to selected startups in differentiating themselves from other players in the market.

“Life sciences is a core sector where the firm deploys capital across the lifecycle of the company i.e. early, growth and late stage,” said Ashish Ranjan, director private equity at Kotak Alt.

Founded in 2005, Kotak Alt claims to have raised and managed a total of over $22 Bn across various asset classes such as private equity, real estate, infrastructure, special situations, private credit and investment advisory.

In September last year, the investment firm backed D2C nutrition startup Nutrabay which raised $5 Mn and also participated in the $5 Mn Series A funding round of Biotech startup Ahammune Biosciences.

Kotak Alt’s healthcare and life sciences fund was incorporated in 2018 and till date it has made a total of 19 investments through that fund, according to its website.

The development comes close on the heels of many venture capital firms marking close of their  funds in the recent past.

Two days back, Bharat Value Fund announced the first close of its third investment fund at INR 1,250 Cr with a target corpus of INR 2,500 Cr to back resilient and asset backed businesses in multiple sectors.

Early this week it was reported that Sify Technologies is aiming to invest $5 Bn in India over a period of five years to build smaller AI inferencing facilities in 20 tier-II cities.

Moreover, last week Cornerstone Ventures also announced the first close of its second fund, which has a target corpus of $200 Mn, at about $40 Mn to back innovative B2B technology startups.

The post Kotak Alt Marks First Close Of Its Life Sciences Fund At INR 250 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a notice to Apple Inc after receiving complaints regarding performance issues following its iOS 18+ software update.

Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a post on X that CCPA is seeking a response from Apple after reviewing the grievances made to the National Consumer Helpline. 

“After receiving complaints on the National Consumer Helpline regarding performance issues in #iPhones following the iOS 18+ software update, the department, after examining these grievances, has issued a notice to #Apple through the CCPA, seeking a response on the matter,” Joshi shared on X. 

Apple has declined to comment on Inc42’s queries pertaining to the development.

The development comes at a time when the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reportedly agreed last month to bring Apple inside a “confidentiality ring” ahead of the final hearing related to the antitrust case. The move enables the big tech company to access confidential information pertaining to the antitrust case. 

Earlier last year, CCI found the iPhone maker guilty of abusing its dominant position in the app store market. Notably, Apple has been under CCI’s lens since 2021.

Last week, with rising sales of its flagship iPhone devices, the company rolled out the Apple Store app in India as it looks to ramp up its retail presence in the country. 

It was also reported a few days ago that Apple surpassed INR 1 lakh Cr mark in iPhone exports from India in 2024, with total shipments reaching a record $12.8 Bn. This represents a 42% increase compared to the previous year. 

Domestic production has also seen a dramatic increase, rising nearly 46% year-on-year to reach $17.5 Bn.

In another recent development, the tech giant informed its investors that Kevan Parekh assumed office as the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) on January 1, 2025.

The post CCPA Notice To Apple Over iPhone Performance Issues Post Update appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reportedly granted interim relief to Meta platforms by staying the five-year ban imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on WhatsApp’s data sharing policy.

As per Reuters, the ban “may lead to a collapse” of WhatsApp’s business model, the appeals tribunal noted.

In its challenge to the ban, Meta told the appeals tribunal that WhatsApp would need to ‘roll back or pause’ some features in India and curb its ability to offer users personalised ads on Facebook and Instagram, the report said.

Under the order on Thursday, WhatsApp will have to provide an opt-out option to users from a 2021 privacy policy update in line with the November antitrust order.

In November, the CCI imposed a INR 213.14 Cr penalty on Meta for abuse of dominant position. The watchdog said the data sharing between WhatsApp and Meta would create entry barriers for competitors.

The case originated from a 2021 Delhi High Court petition where two individuals challenged WhatsApp’s policy update, citing privacy concerns.

This development comes amid Meta’s ongoing challenges in India. On January 15, the company apologised for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comments about Indian elections made during a Joe Rogan podcast.

The apology followed BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s announcement that the parliamentary panel on IT would summon Meta officials over the remarks. Dubey, who heads the panel, said the company would need to apologise to the Indian Parliament and people for spreading misinformation.

Meta also  faces other regulatory challenges in India, including issues with service reliability and addressing fake news on its platforms. Last month, the Delhi High Court directed the company to remove deepfake content featuring journalist Rajat Sharma from its platform.

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IPO-bound Infra.Market has raised INR 1,050 Cr ($121 Mn) in its pre-IPO round at a valuation of about $2.8 Bn (INR 24,150 Cr), a jump of over 10% from its valuation of $2.5 Bn during the previous funding round, sources told Inc42.

The fundraise, termed as its Series F round, saw participation from existing investors Tiger Global, Foundamental GmbH, Evolvence, among others. Nikhil Kamath, Ashish Kacholia, Abhijit Pai, Sumeet Kanwar, Nuvama, and Capri Global were also part of the round. 

Notably, Kamath, Capri Global, Kanwar and Kacholia acquired stakes in RDC Concrete, a subsidiary of Infra.Market which was looking to go public, last year. However, the startup changed its plans and decided to go for an initial public offering (IPO) of Infra.Market. 

Infra.Market declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the latest funding round and its IPO plans.

In August last year, it was reported that Infra.Market was eyeing an IPO of $500 Mn to $700 Mn and had roped in Kotak Mahindra Capital, IIFL Capital, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, ICICI Securities, HSBC Securities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and Nuvama Wealth Management as the bankers for the public issue.

With the fresh funding, the startup is all set to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), the sources added. 

Founded in 2016 by Aaditya Sharda and Souvik Sengupta, Infra.Market manufactures construction materials under its private-label brands. It has a B2B, retail, and B2C network and leverages technology to digitise the procurement process.

On the financial front, its net profit surged 144% to INR 378 Cr in FY24 from INR 155  Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue zoomed 23% to INR 14,530 Cr from INR 11,846.5 Cr in FY23.

The increase in revenue came on the back of the increasing number of private label brands in its portfolio. 

Infra.Market primarily earns revenue by selling construction materials, including cement, paints, chemicals, and tools. Its total revenue stood at INR 14,743.4 Cr in FY24, up 25% from INR 11,890.8 Cr in the previous year. 

The startup operates more than 260 manufacturing units. Of these, more than 200 units are for concrete production, and it has a total capacity of over 20 Mn cubic metres annually. Besides, the startup has more than 16 factories in Morbi in Gujarat for manufacturing tiles, with a total annual capacity of 60 Mn square metres, and 7 facilities for walling blocks with a capacity of 2.4 Mn cubic metres.

Overall, Infra.Market has raised a total funding of over $800 Mn to date.

The post Exclusive: Infra.Market Bags INR 1,050 Cr In Pre-IPO Round At $2.8 Bn Valuation appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Manufacturing giant Blue Energy Motors has inked a pact with the Maharashtra government to set up an electric truck manufacturing plant with an initial investment INR 3,500 Cr (around $400 Mn)

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday (22 January) at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Under this agreement, Blue Energy is aiming to build around 30,000 EV trucks, the Pune-based manufacturing company said in a statement.

“Blue Energy Motors will invest approximately INR 3,500 Cr to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility dedicated to the production of its advanced electric (EV) trucks that will house advanced R&D capabilities, battery-pack line, motor manufacturing unit and set up charging stations as well,” the statement added.

Additionally, the project is expected to generate more than 4,000 job opportunities. 

This development comes at a time when the Indian government is pushing EV manufacturing in the country.

Last year, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) rolled out the INR 10,900 Cr PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, which aims to foster adoption of EVs by offering subsidies to manufacturers, shoring up charging infrastructure and spurring local EV manufacturing capabilities. 

The Centre is also bullish on expanding incentives to automakers building models at existing factories. Additionally, to maintain a fair chance for all the manufacturers, the government is also planning to set a minimum EV revenue target for any product line or plant to qualify for the scheme.

However, earlier this month, union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that India’s electric vehicle industry doesn’t need more subsidies as it has matured enough. At that time, he added  that the existing subsidies will continue for some more time to help players in the EV segment strengthen their presence. 

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Shares of Go Digit surged as much as 12.28% to INR 321.35 during the intraday trading today (January 23) after the company announced its third quarter (Q3) results for the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25). 

However, the shares pared some gains to trade 11.5% lower at INR 319.15 as of 12:30 PM.

With today’s stock rally, the company’s market capitalisation stood at INR 29,433.44 Cr at the above-mentioned time, with 2.2 Cr shares traded by then.

The stock opened today’s trading session 4.85% higher at INR 300.10. Not to mention, the stock has an upper price circuit of INR 343.40. The stock’s 52-week high and low range is between INR 276.80 and INR 407.55. Earlier this month on January 13, the shares slumped to its 52-week low mark. 

The insurtech company’s net profit zoomed 176.46% to INR 118.52 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 42.87 Cr in the year-ago period on the back of strong growth in its revenue and a controlled rise in expenses. 

On a sequential basis, the listed insurance giant’s profit surged 32.46% from INR 89.47 Cr.

Founded in 2017 by Kamesh Goyal, Go Digit General Insurance is a full-stack digital insurance company. It offers a wide range of non-life insurance policies across sectors such as motor vehicle, health, travel, and property among others.

The company reported a 10.24% increase in gross written premium (GWP) to INR 2,676.78 Cr in the quarter ended December 2024 from INR 2,427.97 Cr in Q3 FY24. Net premium written also grew 5.13% to INR 2,084.14 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 1,982.39 Cr in the year-ago quarter. 

The stock has given a negative return of 1.52% in the last month while it yielded a positive return of 5.44% over the last year. 

Go Digit General was listed on the bourses in May last year, with a modest premium of 3.3% at INR 281 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Its shares have given a mere return of 1.8% since listing.

The post Go Digit Shares Surge 12.28% After Q3 Results appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Be it rain or shine, summer or winter, fresh marginal fruit retailers from the National Capital Region routinely scour wholesale mandis at the crack of dawn to procure their daily stock. But by the time it reaches retail markets, much of the stockpile is sold at a fraction of its original value due to massive waste. In fact, nearly 18% of India’s fruits and vegetables are wasted annually, costing the economy an estimated INR 13,300 Cr, per a 2023 research by IJCRT. The global scenario also remains a cause of concern, with 40-50% of root crops, fruits and vegetables wasted each year.

Plugging these gaps is far more complicated than it may seem at first. Consider this: India is the world’s second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. And it harvested 112.62 Mn metric tonnes of fruits alone in FY24. Yet, nearly 69% of smallholder farmers lack access to cold storage facilities within a 10 km radius of their land, according to a survey by Sambodhi Research and the Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF). Additionally, there is a complex maze of challenges, including poor handling, lack of temperature-controlled transportation and delay in distribution, which systematically degrades product quality.

However, Fresh From Farm (F3), a B2B2C platform set up by Rohit Nagdewani in 2021, is now changing the rules of the game. By streamlining procurement, sorting, grading and deliveries, the full-stack platform caters to 400-500 marginal fruit retailers every day across Delhi NCR, including large- and small-format stores and stationery hawkers (fixed-location vendors, unlike door-to-door fruit peddlers). At any given time, its stock-keeping unit basket offers more than 15 premium products, depending on the season.

The startup sources fruits directly from farmers and orchards across India, cutting out intermediaries to reduce transit time and product costs.

“Fruits arrive at our central processing unit in Chattarpur at around 4-5 in the afternoon and are on their way to vendors the next morning. Vendors can place orders through F3’s easy-to-use app at night and receive their deliveries between 7:30 and 8 am, pre-sorted, pre-graded and ready for sale. This just-in-time inventory system prevents stock from piling up and minimises the time fruits stay in storage,” said Nagdewani. 

The platform also uses temperature-controlled storage and transportation so that the produce remains as fresh as possible upon delivery. 

Fresh From Farm has opted for machine learning algorithms to analyse sales and other relevant data and forecast the quantities and fruit grades a vendor can sell within a fixed timeframe. This predictive demand analysis ensures retailers stock only what they need, avoiding over-purchasing and excess inventory. Unlike traditional wholesale markets, F3 does not enforce minimum order quantities (MOQs), allowing retailers to buy what they need and thus reducing unsold stock.  

“We don’t just provide a service. We are solving a critical issue in India’s fruit supply chain,” said Nagdewani. “By managing everything in-house, we have better control over quality, can bring down post-harvest losses and maintain a just-in-time inventory system. These solutions reduce food waste and enhance food quality and safety.”

As the startup simplifies the chaotic pre-sales processes, retailers can skip their tedious early-morning trips to the mandis, negotiations with multiple suppliers and the hassles of sorting. Instead, they can focus more on their customers, sales and business development.

“Our business model has been a game-changer for marginal fruit retailers, giving them 18-20% more earnings than the traditional method,” claims Nagdewani.

F3 aims to achieve INR 300 Cr over the next 15-18 months and has introduced its private-label offering to reach the target. It sells branded fruits across five categories – apples, blueberries, kiwis, watermelons and bananas – and claims that 15-20% of its revenue now comes from private labels. The startup has raised $2.5 Mn and is reportedly in talks to raise another round to fund its growth.   

From Automotive To Hydronics To Fresh Fruit Supply: An Evolving Journey

Nagdewani is a serial entrepreneur whose journey is full of twists and turns. He started as an automotive journalist but soon launched an ecommerce platform selling automotive accessories. The business became a top seller in major marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart and ShopClues.

However, farming ultimately caught his interest. By 2017, he delved into hydroponics (growing plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil), intrigued by its vast potential in urban farming. The experience initially exposed him to the challenges faced by farmers, from inconsistent demand to supply chain inefficiencies. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea for Fresh From Farm began to take root.

“We produced exotic herbs and vegetables at Farming V2, my hydroponics startup. Then, the pandemic struck and disrupted the traditional supply chain. So, I took it upon myself to deliver fresh greens to society stores, ensuring uninterrupted supply during a critical time. That was when customers frequently asked for fresh fruits, and I saw the gaps in the supply chain. This got me thinking, and I pivoted from Farming V2 to Fresh From Farm for efficient, high-quality fruit procurement and delivery,” the founder said.

How Fresh From Farm Builds A Better Supply Chain With A Five-Point Strategy

Fresh From Farm’s operations are built on a technology-driven foundation, focusing on innovation, efficiency and sustainability. The B2B2C platform has developed a five-point business strategy and a proprietary tech stack, taking charge of the end-to-end solutions required by fresh marginal fruit retailers. Here is a quick look at F3’s key operational features:

Pan-India procurement for variety and easy access: The startup is operational in Delhi NCR, but the team has adopted a forward-thinking strategy and a big agenda. “We have a pan-India procurement team [about 8 members] that can get all seasonal fruits and transport them to our central facility in Delhi. By eliminating middlemen, our venture reduces inefficiencies and guarantees the freshest fruits straight from the source,” said Nagdewani.

Multigrade retailing for best business outcomes: Fresh From Farm segments its vendors based on their markets, consumer preferences (think of fruit varieties and quality grades in demand), purchasing behaviours and more for product and price matches. As retailers today also navigate a more complex landscape, where tailored product offerings and refined market strategies are crucial for a competitive edge, they can take a cue from F3 and adjust their approach to align better with their customers.

Tech for right stocking: As discussed, both low and overloaded inventories can be business deterrents, and retailers need to balance it right. Fresh From Farm provides ML-based, data-driven solutions to analyse past sales data, geographical factors and socio-economic conditions to forecast demand at a granular level. This means retailers get the right amount of produce, not more or less, thereby reducing overstocking and minimising waste. Its MOQ approach also prevents stock overloads. F3 redirects all unsold stock to alternative channels (like juice vendors), reducing wastage/spoilage to less than 2% at the organisational level. 

Packaging and delayed ripening for extended shelf life: The startup has invested in safe and approved methods to slow the ripening process. Plus, it works with agritech startups and incorporates innovative packaging solutions to extend shelf life, giving retailers more time to sell their stock.

An intuitive app to help retailers: Fresh From Farm’s full-stack app is a central hub for all logistics operations. It allows retailers to place orders seamlessly, manage their purchases and maintain a demand-supply balance to minimise waste.

Can F3 Carve A New Path For Fresh Fruit Distribution In India?

Easy access to fresh fruits is an attractive idea that millions of health enthusiasts embrace, especially in post-Covid times. The market projections sound encouraging as well. According to Grand View Research, the market revenue from fresh fruits is estimated to reach $78.6 Bn by 2028 from $57 Bn in 2020, at a CAGR of 4.1% during 2021-2028. Moreover, the Asia-Pacific held a dominant market share of 42% in 2021 and is estimated to be the fastest growing during 2022-2027. Globally, the market may reach $940.8 Bn by that time. 

Given these positive indicators, it is not surprising that Fresh From Farm has ambitious growth plans to pursue over the next few years. In the short term, it will onboard more retailers in Delhi NCR to deepen market penetration and increase its market share through more SKUs and private labels. Apart from diversifying its product line, F3 will invest in technology and infrastructure to optimise its supply chain and enhance distribution capabilities.

Long-term goals include entering other major cities and growing its private labels, with 80% of its income from those offerings.

“Eventually, we aim to be a household name across India. With our operations combining quality, sustainability and innovation in fruit distribution, we can scale rapidly and address key issues in India’s broader food supply chain,” said Nagdewani.

What Fresh From Farm is trying to address is by no means trivial. Its innovative approach deals with food waste, inconsistent food quality and supply chain inefficiency, which plague the broader agricultural sector. Therefore, it can shine a light on how fresh produce, irrespective of categories (fruits, vegetables, crops or something else), can reach pan-India consumers in a timely, cost-effective and sustainable manner.

As the startup and its peers scale up, it will be interesting to observe how they continue to innovate and drive change across the Indian food distribution landscape.

The post How Fresh From Farm Is Helping 500 Fruit Retailers Earn More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The global reach of India’s startup ecosystem has pulled in investors from all geographies. While US funds dominate the landscape, even VCs from Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are looking for upsides in the dynamic market, having seen the trajectory of Silicon Valley startups up close.

Among these is Canada-based Ocgrow Ventures, which has been an active investor in the tech industry since 1995, when the product economy was still building steam in the West. The privately held VC fund that manages the assets and investments of Harish Consul and his family, primarily focusses on early stage investments. The firm, led by Consul, has invested over $100 Mn across more than 50 companies worldwide, including early investments in tech giants Amazon and Shopify.

In India, Ocgrow Ventures’ portfolio includes 18 startups, including the likes of Garuda Aerospace, Rebel Foods, Gupshup, and Saveo.

“We invested in all the above companies at the seed or Pre-Series A stages. Our focus is on young India centric companies, which target Gen Z market, the huge growth in the middle class of young consumer market looking for new consumer services ranging from higher end products & services, including wealth management fintech to new social commerce buying habits for this next generation,” Ocgrow Ventures’ Consul told Inc42 as he outlined the fund’s thesis for the Indian market.

Consul, with over 35 years of entrepreneurial experience, highlighted India’s rapid rise as a global innovation hub in areas such as digital transformation, generative AI, fintech, and health technology.

Despite some inherent growth challenges in India, Consul views India as a promising market for startups and innovation.

In this conversation with Inc42, Consul sheds light on Ocgrow Ventures’ investment strategy, key sectors of interest for the Canadian VC firm, and the challenges Indian startups face as they scale.

Edited excerpts

Inc42: How has India’s private equity and venture capital investment ecosystem changed over the past two decades?

Harish Consul: Ocgrow Ventures has been investing globally since 1995 and in India specifically since 2011 through our global fund. Over the last three to five years, the change has been dramatic. India’s startup ecosystem has matured rapidly, with founders driving innovation and growth. We’re deeply connected to India’s market, speaking regularly at global tech and investment conferences with an India focus.

What sets us apart is our global network, which helps Indian startups scale internationally. A great example is Garuda, which started in India and is now growing globally with offices around the world. The mindset of founders has also shifted—from a “growth at any cost” approach to balancing growth with profitability.

We believe companies can achieve both, and technologies like AI automation are already helping founders improve margins and reduce operational overhead.

Inc42: When we look up Ocgrow, it’s often linked to real estate. Can you clarify the connection between your real estate background and your venture fund?

Harish Consul: Ocgrow Group has two divisions. We originally started as a real estate investment company, and our family has been in that space for over 40 years. That remains a long-term portfolio of real estate assets.

Ocgrow Ventures, on the other hand, is our global venture fund, which I founded. It focusses on investing in startups, particularly in India and globally, across sectors like AI, health tech, and consumer brands.

Inc42: What is Ocgrow Ventures’ core investment thesis as a private equity fund?

Harish Consul: We typically invest anywhere from $500K to $10 Mn in early-stage companies. Our philosophy is simple: back world-class founders who’ve already achieved product-market fit. These are companies with real paying customers and growing revenues. We’re looking for verticals that tap into massive total addressable markets (TAM), and right now, AI is a must for any company working in data analytics or similar spaces.

But for us, it’s not just about the business metrics—though those matter, of course. What’s really important is the founders themselves. We spend a lot of time with them, getting to understand their passion and mindset. We’re looking for that hunger and laser focus—the kind that’s rare to find. It’s not just about saying you’re passionate; it’s about living and breathing what you’re building every day. That kind of grit makes all the difference.

We’re also very hands-on. We often take board or strategic advisory roles and help companies scale fast by leveraging our extensive global network. It’s all about helping them grow exponentially and build those valuable global alliances that can take them to the next level.

Inc42: What are the key sectors Ocgrow Ventures is focussing on?

Harish Consul: AI-native companies are definitely a big focus for us—what we see as the next wave of SaaS. These are businesses using AI to automate traditional industries by leveraging data, which we categorise as vertical AI sectors. We’re also highly active in the consumer space. While many are moving away from it, we remain bullish on select areas within consumer tech, fintech, drones, and agritech are also key areas of interest.

Additionally, we’re very focussed on “Young India” and Gen Z-centric verticals. Enterprise AI platforms that use technologies like LLMs (large language models) to automate industries are another exciting space for us.

Inc42: You seem bullish on AI. How do you view its current status in India, especially considering that native AI applications are still limited while top-layer applications face challenges?

Harish Consul: That’s a fair point, but it’s changing rapidly. In just the last few months, we’ve seen a surge in AI-native founders building on top of existing layers. One example is an automation AI company we’re getting involved with—I’ll share more details later. We’re seeing incredible talent emerging from cities like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi. I don’t think India is lagging; in fact, I believe it’s on track to lead the charge in AI innovation very soon.

Inc42: Can you elaborate on the “Young India” centric verticals?

Harish Consul: Absolutely. India has a massive population under 30, and we’re seeing a rapid rise in Gen Z-focussed consumer brands. We’ve made several investments in this space, spanning sectors like retail, cosmetics, fashion, and skincare. Health and wellness are also key areas where we’re very active, particularly in health consumer products rather than delivery or restaurant services.

The rising middle class in India is driving demand for these consumer plays. Founders in this space are doing some really interesting things, and we believe this trend will only accelerate as demand continues to grow.

Inc42: Can you share specific examples of your Young India Centric investments?

Harish Consul: Many of our investments in this space have been made in just the last six months, and some haven’t been announced yet. Broadly, these investments are sector-agnostic but all consumer-focussed, targeting the 18 to 30 age group that’s shaping India’s market landscape.

Inc42: Your fund also focusses on global health tech and longevity ventures. Have you invested in any Indian health tech startups?

Harish Consul: We’re very active in health tech and longevity and are currently evaluating several opportunities in India. This sector is experiencing massive growth globally. We are seeing advancements in preventative, personalised, and precision-based medicine—areas like microbiomes, stem cells, peptides, and IoT devices.

In India, we’ve explored longevity clinics like Seva and invested in Savio, a pharmacy aggregator. However, we’re keen to connect with more Indian health and longevity startups. It’s a call to founders in this space to reach out to us—we see tremendous potential and want to deepen our focus here.

Inc42: You also cofounded another fund – Hanu Ventures? How does it fit into this structure?

Harish Consul: Hanu Ventures is another fund I co-founded with Nuno Martins, a  multimillionaire serial entrepreneur, venture investor, international keynote speaker, and scientist in Europe. It’s a part of Ocgrow Ventures but has a specific focus on health and longevity startups.

We’re absolutely open to investing in India through both Ocgrow Ventures and Hanu Ventures, particularly in the longevity space. If there are Indian startups innovating in this area, we’d love to hear from them.

We see immense potential in this space, and India is very much a part of our long-term investment strategy.

Inc42: What challenges do you see for the Indian startup ecosystem?

Harish Consul: India has made tremendous progress, but bureaucracy remains a major challenge. Regulatory hurdles, like delayed approvals for international investors and the complexity of compliance processes, are frustrating. The banking system needs modernisation—while UPI is world-class, global money transfers and forex operations remain outdated. Streamlining these processes would greatly improve the ease of doing business for both founders and investors.

Inc42: Can Indian fintech startups resolve these challenges long-term?

Harish Consul: Absolutely. We’re very interested in the FinTech space because young, tech-savvy founders understand these challenges firsthand. They live and breathe digital solutions. However, breaking into the traditional banking ecosystem can be daunting due to RBI regulations. While some founders have grown tired of navigating the red tape, those with the determination to challenge the status quo have a huge opportunity to drive change and innovation.

Inc42: In the past, we’ve seen international funds like SoftBank and Tiger Global face setbacks in India, investing large sums but not achieving expected exits. Do these stories impact the momentum of international investors, particularly for larger rounds?

Harish Consul: It’s true that such stories make investors more cautious, but I don’t think they dampen the global interest in India. India is emerging as a superpower and is on track to rise from the third-largest economy to possibly the largest in the coming decades. The ecosystem here is vibrant and brimming with talent, which makes it very attractive.

What has changed is the approach—investors are now more focussed on prudent growth and profitability from day one. The era of “grow at any cost and worry about profits later” is over. Business models must demonstrate both scalability and financial sustainability.

Sovereign funds, family offices, VCs, and private equity firms are all actively looking to increase their exposure to India. The momentum remains strong, and it’s an exciting time to invest here.

Inc42: Where do you see Indian startups heading by 2025?

Harish Consul: The Indian startup ecosystem is among the best in the world. India is on track to become the third-largest economy globally, and it’s already the fastest-growing major economy. Digitally, India is ahead of many other countries. In areas like facial recognition for boarding and payment systems, it surpasses even places like Dubai and North America.

While the ecosystem is strong, challenges persist in the financial and regulatory environment. Still, Ocgrow Ventures remains very optimistic. More founders are choosing to stay and build in India, though some still migrate abroad.

It’s a dynamic time, and India’s global influence is growing. Everywhere I go, people are talking about the India story, and we’re proud to be part of that journey—helping founders scale globally while staying rooted in India’s innovative spirit.

The post Decoding Rebel Foods Backer Ocgrow Ventures’ Early Stage Playbook For India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has reportedly said that the first ‘Made in India’ chip will be rolled out this year.

“Now we are looking at the next phase, where we can get equipment manufacturers, material manufacturers and designers in India,” the minister was quoted as saying in a Mint report.

He was addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Vaishnaw said that stakeholders have shown solid confidence in the Centre’s semiconductor programme, adding that the industry is working to achieve the huge transformative changes in the process of the multiple levels of materials’ purity.

The central government has been directing its focus greatly into the semiconductor industry, where one of its initiatives the Semicon India programme, launched in 2021 has provided subsidies to companies engaged in semiconductor fabs, display fabs, chip packaging, sensors and semiconductor design, among others.

Notably, Vaishnaw, in the Semicon India 2024 event in September last year, said that India aims to launch 3-4 major products in the semiconductor space in coming years.

This development also comes at a time when numerous global and domestic companies have been working to build chips in India, with the resources and the innovative tech advancements.

For instance, in September last year, Tata Group-owned Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was known to be working with group peer Tata Electronics to roll out first made-in-India chips by 2026, where the first chip from Assam will roll out by late 2025 or early 2026, as per reports.

The post First ‘Made In India’ Chip To Be Rolled Out This Year: Ashwini Vaishnaw appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Venture capital firm Eximius Ventures has launched its second fund with a target corpus of $30 Mn. 

With Fund II, the pre-seed focussed VC firm is looking to invest in 25-30 companies across fintech, artificial intelligence (AI)/software-as-a-service (SaaS), frontier tech and consumer tech. 

Eximius Ventures has kept the initial ticker size per investment worth $500K while reserving “half of the corpus for follow-on investments, to further support its high-potential portfolio companies,” the VC firm said in its statement. 

Its Fund II has invested in four companies so far across consumer tech and AI/Saas, the statement added. Eximius Ventures has either led or co-led these investments along with other investors. 

“…Eximius is doubling down on pre-seed startups, with an aim to drive momentum in India’s innovation ecosystem,” said Eximius Ventures founder Pearl Agarwal. 

The Fund II will raise capital from high net worth individuals (HNIs), founder-investors, family offices and global Japanese venture companies, as per the statement. 

With the second fund, Agarwal said, “We will be looking at companies led by seasoned operators and entrepreneurs, solving with a first principle mindset and exceptional execution capacity in a large market.” 

Eximius rolled out its $10 Mn first fund in 2021 and made investments in 23 companies. 

It claims that around 60% of these portfolio companies have secured multiple up-rounds from prominent global investors, delivering an IRR of greater than 40%. Jar, Vegapay and Stan are some of the companies Eximius backed with its Fund I.  

Founded in 2020, Eximius counts startups like skydo, Eka.Care, DevAssure, fleek and Fego.ai among others in its portfolio. 

Recently, venture capital fund SamVed also floated a $50 Mn fund to back tech-focused early-stage startups in India.

Last year, early-stage VC firm Capital A launched its Fund II with a target corpus of INR 400 Cr. 

The post Eximius Ventures Launches $30 Mn Fund For Pre-Seed Investments appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed fintech Zomato has expanded its employee stock option plan (ESOP) by granting 4.17 Cr stock options under its ESOP plans.

In an exchange filing, the company said, “The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Company (“NRC”) on January 22, 2025, has approved a total grant of 41,756,590 stock options under the Foodie Bay Employee Stock Option Plan 2014 (“ESOP 2014”), Zomato Employee Stock Option Plan 2021 (“ESOP 2021”), and Zomato Employee Stock Option Plan 2024 (“ESOP 2024”) to eligible employees.”

Of the total grant, the largest portion of stock options has been allocated under ESOP 2024, accounting for 3.7 Cr options. This is followed by 41.21 Lakh options under ESOP 2021 and 1,952 options under ESOP 2014.

As per the company, stock options granted under ESOP 2014 and ESOP 2021 can be exercised within ten years from the date of vesting or 12 years from the date of listing, whichever is later.

Meanwhile, stock options under ESOP 2024 can be exercised within ten years from the date of vesting.

A total of 5.48 Cr equity shares, with a face value of INR 1 each, are covered under the granted stock options. Each stock option can be converted into one fully paid-up equity share with a face value of INR 1.

Not to mention, ESOPs are allotted to retain top executives and attract talent globally.  

Based on Zomato’s stock closing price of INR 216.45 per share on Wednesday, the total value of these stock options is estimated at INR 903.82 Cr.

Zomato has witnessed several developments related to its ESOP schemes in recent months. 

Last month, Zomato allotted 47.75 Cr equity shares under various ESOPs to Foodie Bay Employees ESOP Trust. Before that in October, it expanded the pool size of its ESOP with the allotment of nearly 1.2 Cr stock options to eligible employees.

The developments comes at a time when Zomato has seen its consolidated net profit decline 57.2% to INR 59 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 138 Cr in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, profit tanked 66% from INR 176 Cr in Q2 FY25.

The post Zomato Expands ESOP Pool With 4.17 Cr Stock Options appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Modern technology is revolutionising industries, driving innovations in smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and advanced AI systems. As India strives for self-reliance in technological advancements, the country has seen a rapid rise in advanced technology startups.

At the core of this transformation lies the semiconductor industry and the government’s intention to give this space a much-needed push.

In 2021, the government launched the Semicon India programme, committing INR 76,000 Cr to incentivise silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors, and more. 

A year later, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was introduced to establish India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, part of the ‘Semicon India Future Design’ programme, is one of the many initiatives that offers financial and infrastructure support to boost semiconductor development. It focusses on areas like integrated circuits (ICs), chipsets, Systems on Chips (SoCs), and related designs.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative further reinforces efforts to reduce dependency on imports and strengthen the domestic tech ecosystem. Not to mention, partnerships with global semiconductor giants, including AMD, Micron, and Qualcomm, have complemented these initiatives.

In February 2022, the Tata Group, in collaboration with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC), secured approval to establish India’s first semiconductor fab. 

However, this is not India’s first stab at doing something notable in this sector. The country’s journey in the semiconductor space dates back to 1976, with the establishment of the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. 

Years later, new-age startups have formed a beeline to chase the country’s semiconductor dream that could potentially transform the world for good. 

Amid this and the rising demand for faster and more efficient chips, Indian startups are exploring diverse opportunities in this space. According to an Inc42 report, the Indian semiconductor market is projected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Investor interest in the sector surged in 2024, with funding for semiconductor startups exceeding to$28 Mn from $5 Mn in 2023. Chennai-based Mindgrove Technologies led the way with $8 Mn in funding, followed by FermionIC with $6 Mn.

While much is yet to be achieved, here is the list of startups which are poised to shape India’s semiconductor future.

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian semiconductor startups in alphabetical order. We will be updating this list periodically. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com)

AGNIT Semiconductors

Established in 2019, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company focusses on designing and producing GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency applications.

AGNIT’s GaN components find extensive applications in the defence and telecommunication sectors.

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence inked a contract with AGNIT for the design and development of advanced GaN semiconductors, slated for integration into the next generation of wireless transmitters for defence applications, including radars and electronic warfare jammers.

The founding team comprises Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan.

According to the company’s website, AGNIT’s proprietary technology stems from over 15 years of research and development conducted at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

In October 2024, the startup secured $3.5 Mn (INR 29.4 Cr) in a seed funding round co-led by 3one4 Capital and Zephyr Peacock. The company counts the likes of Infineon Technologies and Innoscience as its competitors. 

Aura Semiconductor

Founded in 2011 by Srinath Sridharan, Aura Semiconductor or Aurasemi is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies the industry with mixed-signal IC solutions for various applications. 

The startup specialises in high-performance products for markets, including IoT radios, enterprise timing, and portable audio. 

It makes products in categories such as timing, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power, RF, IoT and sensors. Recently, Nasdaq-listed precision timing company SiTime Corporation acquired all time-related products from Aurasemi.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Aurasemi also has its offices in China, the UK, and the US. Celesta Capital is one of the VC investors in the startup.

Blueberry Semiconductors

Bengaluru-based Blueberry Semiconductors is one of the leading very large-scale integration (VLSI) startups in India. It provides solutions and services in niche areas of ASIC/SoC, embedded product engineering supported by ML, industrial IoT and AI.

The 2017-founded startup delivers to clients on their latest and technically advanced projects in industries like aerospace, automotive, defence, AI, 5G, and RAM, among others. Its partners range from Intel and Mahindra to Microsemi and SanDisk.

CalligoTech

Calligo Technologies is a Bengaluru-based fabless semiconductor and systems startup serving segments like high-performance computing, Big Data and AI/ML segments globally. 

CalligoTech has developed a co-processor capable of doing computations using a new number system called Posit, which was invented in 2017. In June 2024, the startup unveiled an 8-core Posit-enabled RISC-V CPU named TUNGA. It claims to be the world’s first in doing so.

The company claims that TUNGA’s energy-efficient design results in lower power consumption and is scalable across a range of applications for HPC and AI. 

The startup is also a beneficiary of the central government’s DLI scheme.

Chipspirit

Founded in 2018, Chipspirit is a Bengaluru-based services and solutions provider in the semiconductor space.

Its application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design services has a special focus on design and turnkey projects. On the other hand, it also claims to provide fully customisable hardware security solutions.

Chipspirit’s Abhed-1 is a dedicated secure hardware-based offline and online encryption device for transacting classified data over public or open Data networks.

The semiconductor company won the iDEX challenge in March 2019. It is now co-developing its hardware security solutions with Indian Defence under the Centre’s Make-In-India initiative.

As per MeitY’s website, Chipspirit is also one of the beneficiaries of its DLI scheme.

Cientra

Founded in 2015 by Uday Joshi and Sandip Kadtane, Cientra is a semiconductor solutions company, specialising in VLSI, ASIC, FPGA, SoCs, catering to telecom (4G, 5G, IoT), automotive (SDV, ADAS, connectivity, EV) and embedded software.

The semiconductor design solutions of the company include register-transfer level (RTL) design, design verification, physical design, and analogue design and layout offering.

Cientra is a multinational company with offices in India, the USA, and Germany. The company launched a vendor-agnostic 5G IoT aggregator solution in partnership with Amantya Technologies, which they claimed to be the ‘world’s first’.

In 2024, IT giant Accenture acquired Cientra to expand its silicon design and engineering capabilities.

FermionIC Design

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based FermionIC Design is a fabless semiconductor startup developing ICs for high-speed wireline and RF communication market. Its current product portfolio includes a highly integrated beamformer core chip in the silicon-germanium (SiGe) process that enables the X-band millimetre-wave communications for active electronically scanned array (AESA), sat-comm applications, and others. 

The startup’s mixed signal product family includes ultra-low-noise low dropout (LDO)-ICs, low-phase noise crystal oscillators and Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes) products. 

Founded by Gautam Kumar Singh, Prasun Bhattacharyya, Abhra Bagchi, and Shabaaz Syed,  FermionIC Design has remained bootstrapped so far. It claims to have multiple global and Indian OEM customers who are building their SoCs and systems using FermionIC products. 

In 2023, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced FermionIC Design as one of the first set of startups selected under the government’s Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme. 

In 2024, FermionIC raised $6 Mn in a funding round led by Lucky Investment Managers’ Ashish Kacholia and his associates.

Incore Semiconductors

Founded in 2018, InCore Semiconductor is building 5th generation RISC/RISC-V processor cores in India. RISC or reduced instruction set computer is a microprocessor architecture that utilises a reduced number of computer instruction types, hence enabling systems to operate at higher speeds. 

InCore, founded by Arjun Menon, Gautam Doshi, GS Madhusudan, and Neel Gala, is headquartered at the IIT Madras Research Park. In 2023, the startup raised $3 Mn from Peak XV Partners.

The startup aims to make India a powerhouse in the RISC-V solution space. Its processor cores power high-performance application-class processors, area/power-optimised embedded processors, and more.

The startup claims to bring a high degree of automation to the processor and SoC design process.

InCore counts the likes of ARM, Andes Technology, and SiFive among its competitors. 

Mindgrove Technologies

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-based semiconductor startup founded in 2021. It works in the space of design and production of SoCs. 

Incubated at IIT Madras, Mindgrove uses the indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips. 

The startup is currently working on its inaugural chip, Secure IoT, which is designed for a range of consumer electronics devices, including TVs, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Its multi-processor chip comes with security accelerators, a true random number generator, and one-time programmable memory.

Founded by Shashwath T R and Sharan Srinivas J, the startup secured $2.32 Mn in seed funding in 2023 led by Peak XV Partners. Its other investors include names like Speciale Invest and Whiteboard Capital. 

In December 2024, Mindgrove Technologies raised $8 Mn (INR 68.04 Cr) in its Series A funding round co-led by Rocketship.vc and Speciale Invest. 

Last month, the startup secured approval under the Government of India’s Semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, receiving INR 15 Cr to develop its new chip.

Morphing Machines

Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor startup building IP products and solutions. Its patented product ‘REDEFINE’ is a many-core SoC platform, in which domain-specific architectures (DSAs) for mixed critical application tasks are instantiated on demand of any event. DSAs are specialised and optimised hardware designs tailored to specific application domains or industries. 

Its technology serves various industries, including avionics, automobile, and telecom. Besides, ‘REDEFINE’ helps accelerate a host of applications for Big Data Analytics, Genome Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Large Scale Scientific Simulations, and immersive gaming and visualisations.

Morphing Machines has also received projects under the DLI and Chips2Startup (C2S) schemes from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Launched through the Technology Entrepreneurship initiative of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in 2005, Morphing Machines is a bootstrapped startup. Its founders are Dr S.K. Nandy, Dr Ranjani Narayan, and Deepak Shapeti. In June 2024, Morphing Machines secured $2.76 Mn in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest.

Morphing Machine counts Intel, NVIDIA and AMD as its competitors. 

Netrasemi

Founded in 2020, Netrasemi is a Kerala-based Edge AI semiconductor technology company building SOCs to enable the new-age need for optimal computing for smart IoT products. Netrasemi has a power-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and a rich portfolio of silicon IPs to enable this. 

Its key target segments are surveillance, smart sensors, smart infrastructure, machine vision and industry 4.0, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, among others.

The company’s domain-specific architecture (DSA), IP-rich SOCs, AI development tools,  flexible SDKs, and platform reference designs help IoT product and solution makers to go to market with cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets catering to their specific domains.

Its A2000 SOC has smart vision capability with advanced real-time video analytics and vision processing capabilities. On the other hand, NETRA-R1000 is a RISC-V-based SOC for smart sensor applications.

Netrasemi is also a beneficiary of the Central government’s DLI scheme.

In December 2024, Netrasemi raised INR 10 Cr (around $1.2 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round from Unicorn India Ventures.

Oakter

Oakter is an Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), which designs and manufactures electronic smart devices, including fintech giant Paytm’s revolutionary soundboxes.

Launched in 2015 by a founding team from IIT Delhi, the Noida-based Oakter soon became a leading name in the smart plugs market. In 2017, the startup became the launch partner for Amazon Alexa in India. 

In 2019, the startup pivoted to contract manufacturing. Over the years, Oakter fulfilled multiple B2B contract manufacturing orders from the likes of Sony (for its BRAVIA TV), Saregama (for Carvaan), and Syska, among others.

In 2020, Oakter collaborated with DRDO to manufacture Covid safety products.

With the emergence of new-age technologies, the startup has also collaborated with EV charging aggregation platform, ElectricPe, to develop its charge points.

Its early backers include IndiaQuotient and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised over $500K in total funding over the years.

RRP Electronics 

Founded in 2024 by Rajendra Chodankar, RRP Electronics assembles and tests semiconductor components to cater to the needs of automobile and telecom players. 

In September 2024, the company announced the launch of Maharashtra’s first semiconductor manufacturing OSAT/ATMP (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) facility. 

The first phase of the packaging facility setup started generating revenue in August 2024. The second phase, which is a pilot fab facility, began generating revenue in December 2024. Currently, it is developing existing facilities and expanding further. 

RRP Electronics a few days ago entered into a strategic alliance with US-based Deca Technologies to push its semiconductor capabilities, as per multiple reports. 

Saankhya Labs

The 2007-founded Saankhya Labs claims to be the country’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company. Based in Bengaluru, the startup manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other components for various satellite and broadcast applications, including 5G New Radio, direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast, rural broadband connectivity, and satellite communication modems for IoT applications.

The startup also claims to have developed the world’s first production Software Defined Radios (SDR) chipsets, which enable converting radio signals into electronic signals and vice versa for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Founded by Parag Naik, Vishwakumara Kayargadde, and Hemant Mallapur, Saankhya Labs is a subsidiary of listed broadband and wireless networking company Tejas Networks. Its former backers included the likes of Intel and General Motors, who exited the company a few years ago.

Recently, in February 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved Saankhya Labs’ application to the Centre’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for the development of a System-on-Chip (SoC) for 5G telecom infrastructure equipment. 

As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised around $18 Mn in total funding. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify the exact amount of funds raised so far.

Sensesemi

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Muktamath, Sensesemi builds the next-generation secured connected AI Edge chip for varied applications in the field of Industrial IoT such as smart appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Its flagship product is named SenseSoC.

By embedding AI capabilities directly onto the chip, it claims to enable edge inferencing, bringing real-time decision-making to the devices.

Sensesemi also won financial support under the Centre’s DLI Scheme earlier this year. 

On winning the government support, company founder Muktamath said, “As part of the DLI Scheme, Sensesemi will be developing the SoC for IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and IoT devices, that shall have MCU and wireless IP integrated with ultra-low power analogue front end with AI inferencing IP.”

SignOff Semiconductors

Founded in 2015, Signoff Semiconductors is one of the pioneering Indian startups in semiconductor design services. 

Involved in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) services, the company has developed in-house capabilities to help customers with the designs of ICs — both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) — that function in the areas of AI, ML, Edge IoT, as well as general-purpose processors.

Signoff claims to serve its clients with a range of services, including physical design, full custom analogue and digital custom layout and verification, register-transfer level (RTL) design, verification, embedded, and firmware.

The semiconductor company has served domains such as automotive, medical, connected edge, and consumer electronics.

Signoff currently has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Toronto, and the US.

Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing 

Founded in 2024, Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing is a Zoho semiconductor venture specialising in manufacturing silicon carbide and compound semiconductors. 

The company is looking to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit near Mysuru at a cost of INR 3,425.6 Cr. 

Silectric plans to establish a silicon carbide-based fabrication facility and an assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) unit. 

Silizium Circuits

Hyderabad-based Silizium Circuits is an analog radio frequency (RF) IP focussed company. It develops indigenous IPs for a range of wireless applications, including 5G, IoT, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), smart mobility, AI, and ML.

Founded in 2020, the startup aims to replace analogue RF IP imports in India with indigenous Silizium Circuits’ IPs by 2025 and become the largest analogue, RF, mixed signal IP exporter from India by 2030.

In 2021, Silizium Circuits became one of the eight NXP FabCI 2021 cohort qualifiers, which is a two-year incubation and acceleration programme.

Founded by Rijin John and Dr Arun Ashok, Silizium Circuits also provides a faculty upskilling programme to guide, train, and upskill the electronics/electrical faculty community in the country. 

Terminus Circuits 

Founded in 2010 by Dr Sankar Reddy, Terminus Circuits designs and develops high-speed serial links, which are a type of communication protocol that transmits data in a single differential signal, enabling data and clocking information to be sent simultaneously.

The startup claims to offer a one-stop solution for all Serialiser/De-Serialiser (SerDes) designing. Besides, ethernet SerDes, it is also a leading provider of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) to OEMs for big data, AI, ML, server chips, and 5G applications.

Terminus Circuits has a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip producers in the world. 

VASBEAM

VASBEAM is an advanced electronically steered antenna (ESA) design and semiconductor design company. It offers turnkey solutions to defence, aerospace, civil, and maritime industries.

As a beneficiary of the Centre’s DLI scheme, VASBEAM has successfully completed a tape-out of its core beamforming IC product line, which operates within the 800 MHz to 18 GHz frequency range. This product line supports various applications, including radars, satellite systems, 5G communication systems, and more.

The startup has developed an antenna testing device (VASATD1) to enable accurate measurements of the antenna array, among other products.

Vervesemi

Incorporated in 2017, Vervesemi is a fabless semiconductor company developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for sensors and wireless devices.

The company has two business verticals – Analog-RF ASIC-Data converters and Analog IPs. It develops products and analogue IP solutions for various semiconductor application markets, including energy, 4G/5G market, medical, consumer, and smart power.

Noida-based Vervesemi currently has two design centres in India. Earlier this year, it announced the launch of India-made semiconductor ASIC.

MeitY in 2023 announced Vervesemi among the first set of startups selected under the Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme.

The startup claims to have over 25 patents in its kitty.

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com.

Last updated on January 23, 2025

The post Meet 21 Semiconductor Startups Powering India’s Technological Prowess appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based industrial robotics startup Ati Motors has raised $20 Mn (INR 172.7 Cr) in a Series B funding round co-led by Walden Catalyst Ventures (WCV) and NGP Capital (NGP). 

The round also saw participation from existing investors, including True Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, Athera Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to boost product development and expand its market presence in North America and APAC.

Recently, the company set up operations in Mexico and has bolstered its presence across the US, India, and Southeast Asia. Additionally, it is currently expanding its North American headquarters in Detroit, MI.

Saurabh Chandra, cofounder and CEO of Ati Motors, said, “This funding will accelerate our ability to leverage our extensive real-world dataset to develop next-generation AI models and further advance our industrial autonomy platform.”

Founded in 2017 by Saurabh Chandra, Ati Motors is an autonomous mobile robot manufacturer that helps manufacturers in various sectors optimise productivity and streamline operations by deploying its robotics technology. The startup, which has focused on the automobile sector so far, counts the likes of TVS Motor, CEAT, and Hyundai among its clients. 

Ati Motors specialises in robotics, AI, and manufacturing. It has deployed a host of Sherpa robots across 40 leading manufacturers, including Forvia and Hyundai, with multiple scaled deployments in North America.

The fresh proceeds will also accelerate development and deployment of its robotic workforce, leveraging one of the largest factory datasets for autonomous movement. 

The startup raised $17 Mn in funding prior to this round. In 2023, the Bengaluru-based startup raised $10.85 Mn in its Series A funding round led by Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist (VC) True Ventures. 

In 2021, it secured $3.5 Mn in a Pre-Series A round. Before that, it raised seed funding from Village Global, a US-based early-stage VC backed by notable investors such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.

Ati Motors competes with the likes of GreyOrange and Ottonomy, among several others.

The post Ati Motors Nets $20 Mn To Power Industrial Automation With AI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Specialty coffee brand Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters’ operating revenue zoomed 69% to INR 215.8 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 127.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

The startup earned INR 201 Cr from the sale of coffee and food items in the fiscal, while its bakery business contributed INR 15 Cr. 

Total revenue, including other income, grew 72% to INR 221.1 Cr in FY24 from INR 128.7 Cr in FY23. Other income, including interest and mutual fund returns, amounted to INR 5.4 Cr.

However, the Delhi NCR-based coffee chain’s loss widened 46% to INR 62.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 43 Cr in FY23 due to rising operational costs and aggressive expansion.

Founded in 2012 by Matt Chitharanjan, Shivam Shahi and Namrata Asthana, Blue Tokai operates over 100 stores across India and recently expanded its presence in Japan through a joint venture. 

Where Did Blue Tokai Spend?

The startup’s expenses jumped 66% to INR 285 Cr in FY24 from INR 172 Cr in FY23. Here’s a breakdown of the expenses:

Procurement Costs: This was the largest expense for the startup. At INR 88 Cr, it accounted for 41% of the revenue. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The startup’s expenses under the head zoomed 94% to INR 84 Cr from INR 43 Cr in FY23. 

Rent Expenses: The spending under the head surged 90.4% to INR 33.02 Cr in FY24 from INR 17.34 Cr in FY23

Besides, advertisement costs increased 33% to INR 7.74 Cr in FY24 from INR 5.81 Cr in FY23

The coffee chain’s EBITDA margin improved to -19.7% in FY24 from -23.2% in the previous year.

In August last year, Blue Tokai raised $35 Mn in a Series C round led by Verlinvest at a valuation of approximately INR 1,500 Cr ($180 Mn). This followed its $30 Mn Series B round led by A91 Partners in January 2023. 

Overall, it has raised about $78 Mn to date.

The startup competes in India’s growing specialty coffee market, alongside venture-backed players like Third Wave Coffee Roasters, which raised $35 Mn in September 2023. Other key competitors include SLAY Coffee, Rage Coffee, and Sleepy Owl Coffee. 

The post Blue Tokai’s FY24 Revenue Surges 69% To Cross INR 200 Cr Mark appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Telecommunications service provider Tata Communications is reportedly looking to launch an AI Studio platform-as-a-service by March.

As per Mint, citing A S Lakshminarayanan, the managing director and chief executive of the company, this platform will be built on top of the AI Cloud it introduced in partnership with Nvidia late last year.

Inc42 has reached out to Tata Communications for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

The platform will offer services including data management, multimodal retrieval augmented generation (search using text, photo, video, etc) and machine learning operations capabilities.

The Tata Group-owned company aims to generate revenue by providing these services on a subscription basis to benefit hyperscalers (large cloud service providers), enterprises, startups as well as government bodies.

“We are in early-stage trials of AI Studio with some customers. The launch, we expect it to happen later during this quarter,” Lakshminarayanan was quoted as saying in the report.

He also said, “We believe that the first take up would be with a lot of people who are investing in model building, that are currently mostly startups.”

This development comes a day after the Centre selected ten tech giants for the final bidding process to procure 10,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) under the IndiaAI Mission, of which Tata Communications was one among the shortlisted names, as per reports.

Earlier this month, listed drone solutions provider DroneAcharya announced securing an order from Tata Communications to build a customised drone solution (static drone) for their experience centre.

Meanwhile, AI has been chased by numerous brands to strengthen their market position, as AI assisted offerings are highly desired among various industries and investors today. 

For instance, in an Inc42 survey of more than 50 VCs about GenAI adoption by non-GenAI startups in their portfolios, 43% said that AI or GenAI is now a key part of their product and service roadmap.

The post Tata Communications Eyeing Launch Of AI Studio Platform Soon: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

AI-based business journey observability provider VuNet Systems has raised INR 60 Cr (around $6.94 Mn)  in the first close of its Series B funding round led by Pravega Ventures.

The round also saw participation from Kotak securities, along with a host of existing investors, including Mela Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Dallas Venture Capital and TVS Capital Funds.

The company plans to use the fresh proceeds for global expansion and accelerate its growth in India. 

Alongside it will also improve the product stack and enhance sales and marketing.

Founded in 2014 by Ashwin Ramachandran, Bharat Joshi and Jithesh Kaveetil, VuNet helps financial institutions monitor and optimise their information technology operations and customer journeys. Its platform provides real-time insights by analysing data from various systems, enabling enterprises to streamline critical processes like digital transactions and deliver end-to-end visibility across complex IT ecosystems, enhancing both operational performance and customer experience.

“This funding milestone marks an exciting step forward as we expand globally and pioneer a new category of business journey observability. By further integrating advanced AI, including GenAI, across all workflows of our platform”, said Ramachandran.

The funding comes at a time when AI has taken the world, including India, by storm. AI adoption is on the rise and this has resulted in the emergence of a number of AI-focussed platforms in the country. Not just this, these startups are also witnessing a lot of investor interest.

For instance last week, Bengaluru-based Quash raised $635K in its pre-seed funding round led by Arali Ventures.

Similarly in October 2024, Febi.ai raised $2 Mn from Lumis Partners, former JP Morgan executive Virender Rana, and Lenskart cofounder Amit Chaudhary.

In September 2024, Jhana.ai also raised $1.6 Mn in its ongoing maiden funding round. 

According to an Inc42 report, more than 100 GenAI startups call India their home. These startups have cumulatively raised more than $600 Mn since 2019. Overall, the homegrown GenAI market is expected to see a major boom in the coming years and is projected to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030.

The post VuNet Pockets INR 60 Cr To Help Enterprises Streamline Digital Transactions appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has reportedly urged Alphabet-owned Google to consider Visakhapatnam for its manufacturing unit and designing chips.

Naidu proposed Visakhapatnam as an ideal location for the tech giant to set up its chip design centre, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, PTI reported.

Inc42 has reached out to Google for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

“Naidu requested Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian to explore opportunities in Visakhapatnam for a chip design centre, as Google is now manufacturing its chips for server operations,” the report quoted an official statement as saying.

The report further added that Kurian was also requested to establish a chip manufacturing unit in the state, integrating it into the Google Cloud server supply chain, and Naidu expressed his desire for Andhra to become a hub for Google’s server operations.

Naidu also took the update to X saying, “Had an engaging discussion with Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, and Andre Nakazaw, manager of International Organization at Google. We explored the latest advancements in technology and the incredible opportunities in Andhra Pradesh. With our exceptionally talented youth, we’re poised to redefine the future of tech!”

This development comes at a time when Google has been expanding its base in India by working to establish its base in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in May last year, the Sundar Pichai-led company was said to be working on manufacturing drones at a unit in Tamil Nadu, through its subsidiary Wing LLC, to capitalise on the liberalised drone policies.

Months after that, the Tamil Nadu government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with tech giant Google to set up ‘Tamil Nadu AI Labs’ in Chennai.

Furthermore, Gemini owner also inked a pact with the Tamil Nadu government to explore manufacturing of its ‘Made in India’ Pixel 8 smartphones, skill development and build an industrial ecosystem, enabling MSMEs to create scalable AI solutions, in September 2024.

The post Andhra CM Bats For Google’s Chip Centre At Vizag appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Proptech startup Landeed has raised $5 Mn (INR 43.1 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by 10x Founders Fund, along with participation from Oliver Jung, Paradigm Shift, Pioneer Fund, Jeffrey Epstein, Onboard founder and Aaron King, Snapdocs founder, among others.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to fuel launch of Landeed Labs, a division focused on enhancing the company’s AI and machine learning capabilities.

Apart from this, the proceeds will also be deployed to develop cutting-edge AI-driven solutions, recruit top STEM talent and advance product innovation to revolutionise property title searches and real estate transactions.

Sanjay Mandava, cofounder and CEO of Landeed, said, “With additional resources, we will be hiring some of the best STEM and technical talent in the country to augment the exceptional growth in our core business. We still have the majority of our funds from our seed round in the bank account so you’ll see us relentlessly shipping new products and firing on all cylinders. We never do what we do to be second best.”

Founded in 2022 by Sanjay Mandava, ZJ Lin and Jonathan Richards, Landeed is transforming property due diligence for all parties involved, facilitating seamless communication and efficient deal closures providing innovative solutions for property title searches.

Landeed claims to address the challenges of India’s fragmented and outdated property records by consolidating data from 24 states into a unified, AI-powered platform. It simplifies title verification by providing instant access to ownership history, transaction records, and encumbrance details, ensuring transparency and efficiency in property transactions.

The company claims to have achieved 22X growth since its inception and empower more than 1 Lakh users, including property owners, bankers, and developers. Through Landeed Labs, it aims to further AI and machine learning innovations, transforming real estate transactions across India and globally.

The Hyderabad-based firm previously raised an undisclosed amount last year as part of its seed funding round from Paradigm Shift VC. Prior to that, it raised INR 69.3 Cr ($8.3 Mn) in a seed funding round from Y Combinator, Draper Associates and Bayhouse Capital.

The post Landeed Bags $5 Mn To Boost Its AI, ML Stacks appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre projects India’s digital economy to grow almost twice as fast as the overall economy by the financial year 2029-30 (FY30).

In a report titled “Estimation and Measurement of India’s Digital”, the electronics and information technology ministry (MeitY) said that the country’s digital economy is expected to contribute nearly a fifth of the total national income by FY30.

The report, released on Wednesday (January 22), estimates the value addition and employment generated from the local digital economy.

Interestingly, the report also projected that the share of the digital economy in the overall economy will individually surpass that of agriculture or manufacturing in less than six years. The government sees digital intermediaries and platforms as the biggest enablers of the Indian digital economy in the short run. 

“Based on the projections in the report, India’s digital economy is expected to grow almost twice as fast as the overall economy, contributing to nearly one-fifth of national income by 2030… In the short run, the highest growth is likely to come from the growth of digital intermediaries and platforms, followed by higher digital diffusion and digitalisation of the rest of the economy,” the MeitY report said. 

Shedding light on the current size of India’s digital economy, the report estimated that the homegrown online landscape accounted for 11.74% of the national income in FY23. As per the report, this number is likely to rise to 13.42% by FY25. 

“In absolute numbers, the digital economy in 2022-23 was equivalent to INR 28.94 Lakh Cr ($368 Bn) in GVA (gross value added) and INR 31.64 Lakh Cr ($402 billion) in GDP,” added the report. 

It also noted that sectors such as information and communication services, telecom, manufacturing of electronics, computers and communication equipment led the digital economy charts in FY23 and accounted for 7.83% of the national GVA. The report also underlined that big tech giants, digital platforms and intermediaries contributed nearly 2% to the total national GVA during the fiscal. 

Another key highlight from the report is that the country’s digital economy employed 14.67 Mn workers in FY23, or 2.55% of India’s estimated workforce that fiscal.

It is pertinent to note that the then IT minister of state Rajeev Chandrasekhar last year said that the digital economy will contribute over 20% to India’s total gross domestic product (GDP) by 2026.

The post Digital Economy’s Growth To Be 2X Of National Economy By FY30: MeitY appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Perplexity AI cofounder and CEO Aravind Srinivas has said that the AI search engine has provided its premium subscription plan for free to students and faculty members of his alma mater IIT Madras. 

“We’ve given free Perplexity Pro to all students and faculty and staff of IIT Madras, where I did my undergrad. Super excited to start there as we begin our expansion for Indian campuses,” said Srinivas in a post on X. 

This aligns with Srinivas’ comments in December 2024, when he said he was open to “figuring out” an economic structure with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer Perplexity Pro to Indian students, faculty and researchers. 

Last month, he also met PM Modi in New Delhi and discussed the potential for AI adoption in India and across the world.

In a separate post on X on Wednesday (January 22), Srinivas said that he is ready to invest $1 Mn personally and 5 hours every week towards a “group of people” that would make India “great in the context of AI”. 

“I am ready to invest a $1mm (sic) personally and 5 hours/week of my time into the most qualified group of people that can do this right now for making India great again in the context of AI. Consider this as a commitment that cannot be backtracked. The team has to be cracked and obsessed like (the) DeepSeek team and has to open source the models with MIT license,” said Srinivas. 

The Perplexity cofounder also said that he will invest $10 Mn more in the Indian company than can beat DeepSeek R1 on all benchmarks with “rigour”. 

DeepSeek is a China-based AI company that has developed large language models (LLMs), and is being touted as a major competitor to giant OpenAI. With less than $4 Mn in funding, DeepSeek launched its latest reasoning models, DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-R1-Zero, earlier this week to take on platforms like OpenAI-o1.

Reacting to the Perplexity cofounder’s post, Indic-focussed LLM maker SarvamAI cofounder Pratyush Kumar pitched his own startup. “Aravind, at @SarvamAI, we are building sovereign models that combine deep reasoning and Indic language skills. Would love to have you join this mission!” Kumar said. 

This comes a day after Srinivas stirred up a storm in the Indian AI ecosystem after he said that Indian companies should focus on training their models from scratch, rather than finetuning existing foundational models. 

While noting that “thinking models” are costly to train, Srinivas called on the Indian entrepreneurs to “show the world that it’s capable of ISRO-like feet (sic) for AI”. He was referring to the cost-effective and frugal approach of the Indian space agency. 

The post Perplexity Rolls Out Free Subscription To IIT Madras Students appeared first on Inc42 Media.

OpenAI has reportedly told the Delhi High Court (HC) that the Indian courts do not have the jurisdiction to hear a copyright infringement case against the artificial intelligence (AI) company. OpenAI cited its lack of presence in the country for the stance.

The submissions came in response to a copyright breach case filed by news agency ANI in the HC. As per filings seen by Reuters, the AI giant said that any order to remove training data powering its chatbot ChatGPT would be inconsistent with its legal obligations in the US.

The Sam Altman-led company reportedly told the HC that it is currently defending litigation in the US pertaining to the data on which its models have been trained. It added that the laws of the North American country require the companies to preserve the data while hearings are pending.

OpenAI “is therefore under a legal obligation, under the laws of the United States to preserve, and not delete, the said training data”, the AI major reportedly added. 

This comes nearly two months after ANI filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the AI company used the news agency’s published content to train ChatGPT without permission. ANI has sought the deletion of its data already stored by ChatGPT.

In response, OpenAI has now responded with an 86-page filing at the Delhi HC. In its submission, OpenAI also said that the relief sought by ANI is not subject to the processes of Indian courts and is beyond their jurisdiction.

Making its case, the AI major argued that it has “no office or permanent establishment in India … the servers on which (ChatGPT) stores its training data are similarly situated outside of India”.

The HC will next hear the matter on January 28.

Notably, OpenAI, during a hearing in November, reportedly told the Delhi HC that it would no longer use ANI’s content anymore. In response, ANI contended that its published works were still stored in ChatGPT’s memory and should be deleted.

In its petition, ANI has also raised concerns over unfair competition arising from OpenAI’s commercial partnerships with other news organisations. Making its case, the news agency also told the HC that ChatGPT “reproduced verbatim or substantially similar extracts” of ANI’s works in response to user prompts.

Rebutting the charge, OpenAI claimed that ANI “has sought to use verbatim extracts of its own article as a prompt, in an attempt to manipulate ChatGPT”.

The lawsuit reportedly alleges that OpenAI exploited ANI’s content for its commercial gain by using the new agency’s content to train its large language models (LLMs). This is the first time that an Indian publisher has dragged an AI platform to the court for violating its intellectual property rights. The lawsuit has been filed by Delhi-based Unum Law on behalf of ANI.

Notably, this is not the first time that a GenAI platform has landed in choppy regulatory waters in the country. In February 2024, Google ran into trouble with the IT ministry over some of the responses from its AI platform Gemini on questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The post OpenAI Vs ANI: AI Giant Says Indian Courts Can’t Hear Copyright Breach Cases appeared first on Inc42 Media.