Category: Startup

  • Swiggy Pivots Kitchen Fleet to Support Instamart Amid Snacc Dark Kitchen Closure

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Swiggy, a prominent player in the food delivery space, has decided to wind down its dark kitchens associated with Snacc, citing challenges in the economics of quick food delivery. The company plans to repurpose its kitchen fleet to support the growth of Instamart, its grocery delivery service, underscoring the dynamic nature of the food delivery industry.

    This strategic shift allows Swiggy to optimize its operations and adapt to changing market demands. By reallocating resources to Instamart, the company is leveraging its existing infrastructure to enhance its grocery delivery capabilities, reflecting a forward-thinking approach to business development.

    Furthermore, Swiggy has decided to absorb the corporate team from Snacc into other business verticals within the company, demonstrating its commitment to maximizing talent and expertise across its operations.

    Source: YourStory RSS Feed

  • Portkey Secures $15 Million to Enhance AI Control Solutions

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Portkey, an LLMOps startup, has successfully raised $15 million in a funding round led by Elevation Capital, with participation from venture firm Lightspeed. The company specializes in providing an in-path AI gateway that enables enterprises to effectively manage reliability, governance, observability, and cost control within their AI applications.

    The newly acquired funds will be used to expand Portkey’s AI control plane infrastructure and scale up its go-to-market strategies. This investment reflects the growing recognition of the importance of AI management tools in optimizing the performance and efficiency of enterprise-scale AI deployments.

    Portkey’s approach to AI governance and control aims to address the increasing complexity of AI applications while streamlining operational processes for businesses. By focusing on enhancing the AI control plane, Portkey seeks to empower organizations to harness the full potential of their AI initiatives while ensuring operational robustness and cost-effectiveness.

    Source: Tech-Economic Times

  • Portkey Secures $15M Funding to Streamline AI Spending Management for Enterprises

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    AI startup Portkey has announced a $15 million Series A funding round, with Elevation Capital leading the investment. Founded in 2023, Portkey specializes in LLMOps technology, offering enterprises a platform to efficiently manage model usage, enforce policies, and monitor spending in real time.

    The funding will be used to expand Portkey’s product suite and enhance its go-to-market strategies. The startup’s LLMOps platform acts as a unified API gateway for over 1,600 AI models, enabling seamless request routing, automatic fallbacks, load balancing, and downtime prevention.

    Portkey’s services include observability, guardrails, and cost management features, catering to the needs of enterprise clients. The company claims to process over 500 billion LLM tokens daily, handle $500,000 in AI spending per day across 24,000 enterprises, and manage $180 million in annualized LLM spending, positioning it as a key player in the AI management space.

    This funding round follows Portkey’s previous seed funding of $3 million in 2023, showcasing steady investor confidence in the startup’s capabilities and potential for growth. The current investment surge in Indian AI startups, with over $1.8 billion raised between 2020 and 2025, signals a positive trend for the tech industry.

    Source: Inc42 Media

  • Toronto Startup Taalas Secures $169 Million to Develop AI Chips Challenging Nvidia

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Toronto-based chip startup Taalas has successfully raised $169 million in funding. The company has unveiled a new chip designed to enhance the performance of artificial intelligence applications, offering faster and more cost-effective solutions compared to traditional methods.

    This significant investment underscores the growing interest in AI hardware development and competition within the tech industry. Taalas aims to challenge established players like Nvidia by introducing innovative chip designs tailored for AI workloads.

    With the potential to improve AI processing capabilities, Taalas is positioned to disrupt the market and drive advancements in AI technology. The successful funding round positions the company as a key player in the evolving landscape of AI chip development.

    Source: Tech-Economic Times

  • Portkey Raises $15M to Expand AI Control Platform, Enhance Governance and Observability

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Portkey, a platform for building AI-powered applications, has secured $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Lightspeed. This investment will enable Portkey to expand its AI control plane and enhance its go-to-market operations, focusing on agent-based systems, permissions, identity management, and performance optimization for low-latency use cases.

    Founded by Rohit Agarwal, Portkey specializes in building a unified control plane for production AI systems. Their platform integrates an AI gateway with governance, observability, reliability, and cost management functionalities, allowing enterprises to efficiently manage model usage, enforce policies, and monitor spending in real-time.

    Portkey boasts impressive processing capabilities, handling over 500 billion LLM tokens daily, 125 million requests, and managing $500,000 in AI spend for 24,000 organizations globally. Customers such as Postman and Snorkel AI have benefited from Portkey’s services.

    In a strategic move, Portkey has made its core enterprise gateway accessible for free, simplifying the implementation of governance and observability controls for AI deployments. This initiative aims to encourage early adoption of essential AI management practices.

    Elevation Capital’s $400 million fund, launched last year, emphasizes long-term support for companies, including those eyeing IPOs. This investment complements their early-stage capital deployments from Fund VIII, a $670 million vehicle catering to startups with investments ranging from $2–5 million.

    Source: Entrackr : Latest Posts

  • Zepto Discontinues Membership Program, Shifts User Acquisition Strategy Ahead of IPO

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Zepto, the Bengaluru-based quick commerce platform, has announced the discontinuation of its Zepto Daily membership program. This program, which offered benefits such as free delivery and exclusive discounts, was a key component of Zepto’s user acquisition strategy. Originally priced at Rs 299, the subscription cost was later reduced to as low as Re 1 per month in an effort to attract more users.

    Prior to Zepto Daily, the company had a loyalty program called Zepto Pass, which provided similar perks to its members. The decision to end Zepto Daily marks a shift in Zepto’s approach to customer engagement and retention as the company prepares for its upcoming IPO.

    By discontinuing Zepto Daily, Zepto may be exploring new avenues to enhance its value proposition and differentiate itself in the competitive quick commerce market.

    Source: Tech-Economic Times

  • The ePlane Company and NVIDIA Collaborate on Digital Twin for Electric Air Taxis

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    The ePlane Company, an Indian electric air taxi manufacturer, has partnered with NVIDIA to create a digital twin for its innovative air mobility solution. This collaboration aims to leverage NVIDIA’s advanced Omniverse libraries to simulate and optimize the performance of the company’s electric air taxis.

    The digital twin technology will play a crucial role in enhancing the design, testing, and operational efficiency of the ePlane Company’s electric air taxis. By utilizing NVIDIA’s cutting-edge tools, the company seeks to accelerate the development and deployment of its sustainable air transportation solution.

    This initiative underscores the growing integration of high-performance computing and simulation technologies in the aviation sector. The partnership between The ePlane Company and NVIDIA showcases the transformative potential of digital twin technology in revolutionizing the future of electric aircraft.

    Source: YourStory RSS Feed

  • Pluto Mobility Secures $2 Million to Develop Electric Delivery Vehicles

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Pluto Mobility, an electric mobility startup, has successfully raised $2 million in a seed funding round to support the launch of their innovative electric delivery vehicles. The funding was led by Version One Ventures and Grad Capital, with additional contributions from angel investors.

    Founded in 2024 by Akshat Bhatia and Himanshu Panda, Pluto Mobility specializes in engineering scooter-sized electric vehicles designed for last-mile delivery services. The company plans to use the new investment to enhance their engineering capabilities, drive product development, expand their team, and prepare for pilot deployments in major urban areas.

    Pluto Mobility’s upcoming scooter-sized model promises full coverage for the driver, offering protection from various weather conditions. This vehicle is optimized to accommodate double the number of orders compared to traditional electric two-wheelers while maintaining excellent maneuverability.

    With plans to initiate pilot deployments later this year, Pluto Mobility aims to cater to the rising demand for efficient delivery solutions in the expanding ecommerce and quick commerce sectors. The growth in India’s last-mile delivery market, projected to exceed $300 billion by 2030, underscores the significant opportunity for innovative electric mobility solutions like those offered by Pluto Mobility.

    Source: Inc42 Media

  • Swiggy Shuts Down 10-Minute Delivery App Snacc Amid Profit Pressures

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Swiggy, a prominent player in the food-tech industry, has made the strategic decision to shut down its 10-minute food delivery app, Snacc, after nearly a year of operation. The closure comes as a response to profit pressures and the challenging unit economics associated with running such a service.

    According to an internal email, the closure of Snacc was the result of careful consideration and a reevaluation of the company’s focus on building scalable platforms that offer long-term value. While the app was showing signs of product-market fit, the overall economic viability of scaling the service posed significant obstacles.

    This move by Swiggy serves as a reminder of the complexities involved in the highly competitive food delivery market. It underscores the importance for startups in the food-tech space to not only innovate rapidly but also ensure sustainable business models that can withstand financial pressures.

    As the industry continues to evolve, such strategic decisions by key players like Swiggy provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by tech-driven solutions in meeting the demands of both customers and investors.

    Source: Tech-Economic Times

  • CoinDCX Announces Landmark ₹111 Cr ESOP Buyback, Showcasing Crypto Startup’s Growth

    This article was generated by AI and cites original sources.

    Crypto startup CoinDCX has announced a significant ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) liquidity event, amounting to ₹111 Cr. This move reflects the company’s financial strength and maturity in the digital asset sector.

    The buyback, providing liquidity to over 500 current and former employees, underscores CoinDCX’s commitment to valuing employee contributions. By including former employees, the startup recognizes their lasting impact and acknowledges their role in its success.

    Having raised funds from investors like Pantera Capital, B Capital Ventures, and Bain Capital, CoinDCX’s recent undisclosed capital raise from Coinbase boosted its post-money valuation to $2.45 Bn, solidifying its position as a key player in the crypto space.

    For the fiscal year FY25, CoinDCX reported a net profit of ₹1.7 Cr, showcasing a notable increase from the previous year. With operating revenue rising to ₹559.6 Cr, the startup’s revenue model primarily relies on transaction fees from cryptocurrency trading on its platform.

    Founded in 2018, CoinDCX offers users a platform to seamlessly trade cryptocurrencies and digital assets, contributing to the growing ecosystem of digital finance.

    Source: Inc42 Media