Author: Aman Atulya

Bengaluru | August 2025 — Founded by Ananth Vanchi in 2024, CodeKarma has secured $2.5 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Prosus, Accel, Xeed Ventures, SenseAI Ventures, and Stargazer Ventures. The round values the company at around $10 million. Building Software with Continuous Feedback in Mind CodeKarma is redefining software productivity. Instead of reacting to post deployment alerts, teams get real-time production data integrated directly into their coding environment. This closed-loop system helps developers identify risks, eliminate dead code, and maintain cleaner codebases as AI-generated code becomes mainstream. Ananth explains the core problem: enterprise codebases, especially AI enabled ones,…

Mumbai & San Francisco | August 2025 — Rifa AI, co-founded by Sameer Fulzele and Shubham Khoker in 2023, has raised $1.1 million in a pre-seed round led by Seaborne Capital, with participation from NASSCOM and FalconX. The startup is building voice AI agents tailored for highly regulated sectors like healthcare, insurance, and financial services. Building Voice AI with Compliance and Scale at the Core Rifa AI is designing human-like voice automation that integrates with enterprise systems via structured decision trees, policy-based workflows, and real time compliance logic. The platform is already deployed in three US-based enterprises reducing human-handled calls…

Mumbai | August 5, 2025 — IndusInd Bank has named Rajiv Anand, former Deputy Managing Director of Axis Bank, as its next CEO and MD. Anand’s three-year term begins August 25, following Reserve Bank of India approval. The bank has been without a full-time chief executive since April, after its previous MD stepped down in the wake of a $230 million derivatives accounting controversy. The announcement sparked immediate market optimism IndusInd shares surged 4–5% to ₹837–₹848 on the BSE. Analysts from Citi and Emkay cite investor confidence in Anand’s 35+ years of banking experience and ability to lead a turnaround.…

San Francisco | August 2025 — OpenAI, the generative AI juggernaut behind GPT, has raised a staggering $8.3 billion from investors—including Microsoft at an unsurprisingly massive $300 billion valuation, well ahead of timeline expectations. This raises a clear message: The future isn’t just arriving it’s being accelerated. Breaking the Growth Record The round was led by existing backers, demonstrating strong belief in OpenAI’s vision. For context:• A $300B valuation ranks among the most valuable private enterprises globally.• The company has surpassed larger startups in both scale and investor confidence—months ahead of any projected timeline. Why It Matters Even for Founders…

A viral LinkedIn post from Roy Korner, a Bay Area angel investor, cut through the hype: “Nobody cares that you’re using AI… AI is not a moat. It’s not a business model.”Korner’s message landed like a drop in a noisy startup ecosystem. Cloth-capped creators on Reddit called it “old truth wrapped in clarity.” What He Actually Said Why It Resonates in India Angel investment sentiment in India has turned cautious. Angels are no longer swept by buzz—they evaluate based on sound business models and traction. Reddit founders corroborate: VCs care about last‑quarter revenue and next‑quarter targets, not vision that unfolds…

Bengaluru‑Palo Alto | August 4, 2025 — SAFE Security, co‑founded by Saket Modi, Vidit Baxi, and Rahul Tyagi, has secured $70 million in Series C funding, led by Avataar Ventures, with participation from Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, NextEquity Partners, Prosperity7 Ventures, and earlier investors including Eight Roads, John Chambers, and Sorenson Capital. This latest round brings the startup’s total raised capital to over $170 million. The Rise of CyberAGI and Platform Expansion SAFE began by shaping the nascent field of Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ), using AI to translate technical vulnerabilities into dollar-valued business risk. In 2023, it extended into Third-Party…

Noida, August – Snooplay, the curated toy and game marketplace, has raised ₹8 crore in a pre-Series A1 round led by Pravek Family Office, with participation from notable angels and consumer-focused investors. Founded in 2019 by Aanchal Mahajan and Brij Raj Singh, Snooplay was born out of a simple frustration toys and games in India often don’t reflect what kids (or even adults) actually need for learning, play, or therapy. From building blocks for kids with autism to adult board games designed for mental wellness, the platform is rewriting what it means to “play with purpose.” Over the last few…

Bengaluru | August 2, 2025 – Swiggy, one of India’s leading food delivery platforms, reported a net loss of ₹1,197 crore for Q1 FY26, up from ₹886 crore in the same quarter last year. Despite a strong 54% YoY growth in revenue to ₹3,444 crore, the company continues to face pressure on profitability. Performance SnapshotAccording to the Prosus report, Swiggy’s core food delivery business contributed ₹2,202 crore in revenue growing 17% YoY. Meanwhile, Instamart, Swiggy’s quick commerce arm, saw robust growth with revenue touching ₹1,242 crore, nearly 2x from ₹623 crore last year. What’s Driving the Losses?While revenue growth was…

Mumbai | August 1, 2025 — Bhindi.ai has raised $4 million in a pre‑seed round led by Cyber Fund, joining the ranks of agentic AI startups working to reduce cognitive overload. The funding will help expand product development, operations, and global go-to-market efforts. Building the AI That Feels Human Launched by entrepreneur Sowmay Jain (previously behind Fluid.io), Bhindi.ai is an agentic AI platform that mimics human behavior with 300+ specialized agents now executing over 52,000 tasks across 21,900+ conversations. The platform is used by 5,000+ users across India and the US and handles workflows across domains including crypto, dev operations, fintech,…

Seattle | August 1, 2025 – Microsoft has surpassed the $4 trillion market cap milestone, becoming the world’s second public company to do so after Nvidia. The surge followed a stellar quarter powered by strong cloud performance and AI-driven growth. Cloud Revenue Skyrockets Microsoft reported $76.4 billion in quarterly revenue up 18% YoY along with a 24% jump in net income. Its Azure cloud business alone generated over $75 billion annually, growing 34% year-over-year. Copilot AI now serves over 100 million monthly users, further anchoring Microsoft’s AI-first identity. The Bigger Picture Microsoft’s rise reflects the growing dominance of Big Tech’s…