Tag: Inc42 Media

Insurtech startup Plum has secured ₹193 Cr ($20.6 Mn) in its Series B funding round to strengthen its employee health benefits platform. The funding, led by Peak XV Ventures with participation from Tanglin Venture Partners and GMO Venture Partners, will enable Plum to expand into preventive care, primary care, mental wellness, and telehealth.

Plum’s focus on technology includes plans to invest in talent acquisition, enhance enterprise-grade security, and develop AI-driven claims operations. The startup aims to deepen integrations with HR and payroll systems to enhance the employee healthcare experience.

Founded in 2019, Plum serves over 6,000 organizations, including Zomato, Swiggy, Atlassian, and CRED, offering insurance, healthcare, and well-being benefits to employees. With a track record of profitability, Plum’s latest funding round underscores its commitment to innovation in the insurtech space.

Source: Inc42 Media

Sarvam AI, a rising company in India’s AI sector, is on the verge of achieving unicorn status with talks of raising $250 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The company, founded just 18 months ago, has gained attention for its advancements in AI technology.

The potential investment, likely led by industry leaders like NVIDIA, Accel, and HCLTech, showcases a remarkable 7X increase in valuation within a short span of two years. NVIDIA’s involvement highlights the growing global interest in India’s AI ecosystem.

Established in 2023, Sarvam has been at the forefront of India’s efforts to develop sovereign AI capabilities. At the recent India AI Impact Summit, Sarvam introduced its Sarvam-30B and Sarvam-105B Language Model Machines (LLMs), tailored for 22 Indian languages. These models, developed using a mixture-of-experts architecture, represent India’s advancements in the LLM space.

Beyond software, Sarvam is venturing into hardware innovation with Kaze, its AI-powered smart glasses. This strategic move to integrate software and hardware signifies Sarvam’s holistic approach to enhancing user experience across different devices.

Despite its technological progress, Sarvam faces challenges in deployment due to feedback on format compatibility, integration issues, and tooling support. As the company aims to compete with established global AI players, addressing these deployment concerns will be crucial for its future success.

With the spotlight on Sarvam’s potential funding round, the industry awaits to see how this investment will propel the company forward in the competitive AI landscape, both locally and globally.

Source: Inc42 Media

Rocketlane, a professional service automation (PSA) and customer onboarding platform, has raised $60 million in its Series C funding round to bolster its agentic AI platform Nitro. The funding, led by Insight Partners, will support the development of Nitro’s execution AI agents and the company’s global expansion efforts.

Founded in 2020 by former Freshworks executives, Rocketlane introduced Nitro to utilize AI agents for risk detection and automation of tasks like migrations, configurations, and testing. Early results indicate a potential 50% reduction in delivery effort and improved risk management.

Rocketlane’s CEO Srikrishnan Ganesan stated, ‘Our goal is to empower teams with the efficiency needed to thrive in the Outcome Era, where AI’s success is measured by completed work, risk mitigation, and revenue protection.’

With the recent funding, Rocketlane aims to further enhance Nitro’s capabilities and cater to a broader market, focusing on enabling enterprises to streamline collaboration among employees, projects, and finances.

Source: Inc42 Media

Rapido, known for its ride-hailing services, has officially launched Ownly, a standalone food delivery app, to address the affordability gap in the Bengaluru food delivery market. The platform aims to provide ‘honest pricing’ and eliminate commission-driven markups that have led to higher meal prices on major delivery apps.

This move comes as competitors like Swiggy and Zomato face stagnant growth and escalating fees. Ownly is strategically targeting the 70,000 Bengaluru restaurants not featured on major delivery platforms, focusing on offering low-cost, everyday meals to consumers.

Rapido CEO Aravind Sanka explained that the platform is inspired by the company’s success in digitizing auto rickshaws without charging commissions. Sanka sees an untapped opportunity in the vast number of restaurants not yet accessible online. By catering to these establishments, Ownly aims to capture a market segment where traditional dining costs significantly less than ordering through existing platforms.

With the average Indian dining-out expenditure at around ₹100 compared to the ₹400 average order value on established delivery services, Ownly’s approach seeks to make food delivery more accessible to a wider audience.

Source: Inc42 Media

Blume Ventures-backed startup Zivy has made a strategic shift to focus on fintech compliance, rebranding as Zoven. The company has developed an AI tool tailored for fraud detection, catering to fintech firms required to adhere to stringent background risk detection protocols during user and merchant onboarding.

Zivy, initially known for its messaging and notification filtering AI platform, faced challenges in user acquisition amid the increasing popularity of new AI solutions like Anthropic’s Claude. This shift in focus was underscored by the founders’ decision to discontinue Zivy, as confirmed in a recent communication to its users.

Founded in 2023, Zivy had secured $1.2 million in pre-seed funding, with Blume Ventures leading the investment round alongside contributions from various angel investors and institutional backers. The decision to transition towards fintech compliance SaaS reflects Zivy’s adaptation to the competitive AI landscape and the demand dynamics within the industry.

This strategic move highlights the necessity for tech startups to align their offerings with market trends and demands, showcasing the agility and responsiveness essential for sustained relevance and growth in the tech sector.

Source: Inc42 Media

Zerodha, a prominent stock broking platform, has recently decided to raise the brokerage fees for intraday F&O trades to ₹40 per order for certain accounts that do not meet the 50% cash margin requirement. This adjustment, set to take effect from April 1, represents a doubling of the current fee of ₹20.

The decision follows Zerodha’s co-founder Nithin Kamath’s acknowledgment of the potential end to the platform’s zero-brokerage model due to regulatory pressures related to F&O trading. The move aligns with SEBI regulations, which stipulate that 50% of the margin for F&O trades must be in cash or cash-equivalent assets, with the remainder in non-cash collateral.

Kamath explained the rationale behind the fee increase, emphasizing the financial strain placed on the platform when covering cash shortages for users who fail to maintain the required margin. He highlighted the significance of charging fees to mitigate losses incurred when providing funds for margin trading activities.

This adjustment underscores the evolving landscape of brokerage fees and regulatory compliance in the stock trading industry, signaling a strategic response to ensure financial sustainability amid changing market dynamics.

Source: Inc42 Media

HDFC Mutual Fund has increased its investment in Wakefit by acquiring 30 lakh shares through open market transactions, as reported by Inc42 Media. The mutual fund, which includes schemes such as HDFC Children’s Fund, HDFC Consumption Fund, and HDFC Small Cap Fund, made the purchase on Monday, raising its stake in Wakefit from 4.52% to 5.43%.

With Wakefit’s closing price on March 23 at ₹155, HDFC Mutual Fund invested ₹46.5 crore to increase its shareholding. The acquisition signifies HDFC Mutual Fund’s continued interest in Wakefit, a company that made its stock market debut in December 2025.

HDFC Mutual Fund had already demonstrated its confidence in Wakefit by being a significant anchor investor during its IPO, subscribing to shares worth ₹62 crore. This further underlines the market’s confidence in Wakefit’s business model.

Source: Inc42 Media

Indian cricketer and Rajasthan Royals’ captain Riyan Parag has recently invested ₹2 crore in Delhi NCR-based deeptech startup Proxgy, known for its innovative IoT solutions. Parag joins a list of notable investors in the startup, including cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, and actor Suniel Shetty.

Founded in 2020 by Pulkit Ahuja, Proxgy specializes in smart wearables and safety products designed to enhance workplace safety and operational efficiency for blue-collar workers. The startup’s technology stack includes industrial IoT hardware, software middleware, and a SaaS subscription layer, catering to clients in sectors like power, fintech, logistics, and banking.

Proxgy’s core product offerings include the SmartHat for hazard detection, ProHat & Hat+ Band for smart helmets, Lockator for logistics tracking, Sleefe for hands-free communication, AudioPod/AudioCube for 4G-enabled payments, and BirdBox for security surveillance.

This investment from Parag signifies growing interest from sports and business personalities in deeptech solutions that prioritize safety and productivity in various industries. Proxgy’s collaboration with Maruti Suzuki further showcases its potential for industry partnerships and technological advancements.

Source: Inc42 Media