Author: Aman Atulya

Gameskraft, one of India’s largest real-money gaming startups, has laid off 120 employees across departments as part of a restructuring drive following the government’s blanket ban on online money games. Layoffs and Support Package Impacted employees will receive severance pay, leave encashment, and extended health insurance until March 2026, with an option to convert policies into individual plans. Founder Prithvi Singh said the decision was driven by “external realities” rather than employee performance, promising support for affected staff during the transition. Scandal and Setback The restructuring comes as Gameskraft faces a fraud scandal involving former CFO Ramesh Prabhu, accused of…

Building materials platform Infra.Market is raising Rs 731.5 crore (approximately $83 million) in a fresh Series G funding round, led by Silverline Homes, with participation from Tiger Global, NK Squared, Accel India, Nexus Ventures, and Evolvence India. Funding Breakdown and Valuation Silverline Homes, controlled by Infra.Market founders Aaditya Sharda and Souvik Sengupta, is leading the round with Rs 250 crore. NK Squared and Tiger Global are contributing Rs 200 crore and Rs 176 crore, respectively, while Accel India and Evolvence India invest Rs 44 crore each and Nexus Ventures adds Rs 17.6 crore. The round values the company at $2.8…

EvoluteIQ, an enterprise automation company, has raised $53 million in a minority growth funding round led by Baird Capital, underscoring rising investor confidence in AI-powered business process automation. Funding Use and Expansion Plans The fresh capital will be deployed to accelerate international expansion, strengthen research and development (R&D), and scale operations in India, where the company houses its largest R&D hub. EvoluteIQ aims to cement its position in the emerging agentic AI market, which represents a shift from reactive automation to proactive, intelligent orchestration. Co-founder and CEO Sameet Gupte said, “India has been instrumental in our journey, providing the technological…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is set to invest up to $25 million in Trifecta Capital’s fourth venture debt fund. The fund aims to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore, including a greenshoe option of Rs 500 crore. Backing Innovation Across Sectors Trifecta’s latest fund will provide debt financing to startups from Series A stage onwards, focusing on high-growth sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), financial services, climate tech, AI infrastructure, manufacturing tech, and agritech. The fund also plans to expand into consumer, education, and healthcare segments. According to IFC, the…

Supply6, a direct-to-consumer nutrition brand focused on bridging daily nutrient gaps, has raised $1.1 million (Rs 9.1 crore) in a seed funding round led by Zeropearl VC. The round also saw participation from prominent entrepreneurs including Kunal Shah, Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah (Co-founders, Renee Cosmetics), and Yogesh Kabra (Founder, XYXX). Funding Utilisation The fresh capital will be deployed to expand the product pipeline, conduct clinical studies, launch new formats, and scale selectively in GCC and English-speaking markets. Supply6 also plans to strengthen its leadership team across growth, strategy, and product functions. Founders & Brand Edge Founded in 2020 by…

Digital investment platform Groww has filed a revised draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), ahead of a Rs 7,000 crore initial public offering (IPO). The offering will include a fresh issue of Rs 1,020 crore along with a large offer-for-sale (OFS) of approximately Rs 5,000 crore by existing investors and co-founders. IPO Details and Shareholders The OFS will see Peak XV selling 15.8 crore shares, while YC Holding and Ribbit Capital offload 10.5 crore and 11.8 crore shares, respectively. Co-founders Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, and Neeraj Singh, along with Tiger Global and…

PlaySuper, a gaming commerce platform embedding real-world rewards into mobile games, has raised $1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Singapore-based gaming VC Chimera, with participation from Audacity VC, IAN Capital Fund, and Dhruv Vohra, Managing Director at Meta APAC Emerging Markets. Funding Snapshot The proceeds will be used to strengthen product development, scale brand partnerships, and expand operations across India and Southeast Asia. Founded by Shouradeep Chakraborty (CEO), Upamanyu Chatterjee (COO), and Abhir Das (CBO), PlaySuper is building a rewards-as-a-service model tailored for gaming studios and consumer brands. Solving the Ad Fatigue Problem Traditional in-game advertising…

WestBridge Capital leads round; fintech to expand globally and deepen credit intelligence stack Credit infrastructure fintech FinBox has raised $40 million in a Series B round led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from A91 Partners and Aditya Birla Ventures. The round also included a $5 million secondary component, enabling partial exits for early investors. This marks the largest funding for FinBox to date, following its $15 million Series A in June 2022, and builds on early backing from Flipkart. Funding Snapshot What FinBox Does Founded in 2017 by Rajat Deshpande, Anant Deshpande, Nikhil Bhawsinka, and Srijan Nagar, FinBox builds B2B…

Design-led jewelry startup Lucira Jewelry has raised $5.5 million (approx. ₹46 crore) in a seed round, which the company said is the largest ever for a jewelry startup in India. The round was led by Blume Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital, with participation from SiriusOne Capital Fund and several prominent angel investors, including founders of Dot & Key, Livspace, Snitch, and Bewakoof. Growth Plans and Market Focus Lucira, founded by Rupesh and Vandana Jain, specializes in lab-grown diamond and recycled gold jewelry. The company plans to utilize the fresh capital to: Lucira currently offers over 1,000 customizable designs certified by…

SaaS infrastructure startup Scalekit has raised $5.5 million in a seed round led by Together Fund and Z47, with support from angel investors including Adam Frankl, Oliver Jay, and Jagadeesh Kunda. The funding will power its mission to simplify authentication and security for SaaS and AI-native teams. Building Modular Infrastructure for SaaS and AI Founded by Satya Devarakonda and a team of ex-Freshworks engineers, Scalekit offers modular, drop-in authentication and actions infrastructure. Unlike monolithic tools such as Auth0, Scalekit provides à-la-carte adoption, allowing developers to integrate only the features they require. Its product suite includes MCP Auth for agentic servers,…