Top Startup Headlines
Peppermint Robotics raises ₹100 cr in pre-Series B round
Pune-based robotics startup Peppermint Robotics has raised ₹100 crore in a pre-Series B round led by pi Ventures and Crane Venture Partners, with Asiana Fund participating. The round includes primary capital and secondary share sales. The company will use the primary funds for robotics development, manufacturing, a North American assembly line, business expansion and hiring.
UpGrad files insolvency petition against Bira 91 over ₹1 cr dues
UpGrad has filed an insolvency petition against B9 Beverages, the maker of Bira 91 beer, over alleged unpaid dues of ₹1.02 crore. It has sought the start of corporate insolvency resolution proceedings against the brewer but has not disclosed details of the services provided or when the payment default occurred. This adds to B9 Beverages' growing financial and legal troubles.
Sarvam launches Prism AI model with 44 milli second response time
Indian AI firm Sarvam AI has launched Sarvam Prism, a decision-making model built on its 105B base model, offering 44-millisecond responses on NVIDIA B200 GPUs. It scored 71.8 across three benchmarks and 82.5 on Indian-language tests. Released under Apache 2.0 licence, enterprises can customise and deploy it for customer support, document analysis, and security workflows.
Razorpay gets SEBI approval for ₹6,500 cr IPO, eyes $5 bn valuation: Report
Razorpay has received SEBI's approval for its IPO with the fintech firm planning to raise ₹5,500 crore-6,500 crore and is targeting a valuation of $5 billion (over ₹47,000 crore), CNBC-TV18 reported quoting sources. The Bengaluru-based company had filed its draft IPO papers confidentially with SEBI in June. Razorpay was previously valued at $7.5 billion in 2021, during a funding round.
Lovable-built apps expose payment details, passport data & 2 lakh chats online
Researchers at German security firm Crissy Field examined 1,59,041 projects built using Swedish AI startup Lovable and found several instances of sensitive data being accessible without login credentials. The exposed information included passport details, payment data, personal records and over 2 lakh chat messages. The probe found no evidence confirming whether the exposed data had been misused.
Robot shows off Michael Jackson-inspired moves, performs moonwalk
A video showed AGIBOT's A3 humanoid robot performing Michael Jackson-inspired dance moves in the singer's iconic outfit at the company's Innovation Day in Shanghai. The robot performed the moonwalk, signature poses, arm gestures, spins and gliding footwork. AGIBOT unveiled its AHA3 hardware platform, GO-3 AI model and Worken productivity metric at the event that held in late October.
Union Minister Goyal meets biotech startups on regulatory funding
Union Minister Piyush Goyal met India's biopharma and biotechnology startups to address operational bottlenecks. Discussions covered simplifying regulatory processes, improving funding access, expediting patent approvals, and strengthening procurement and research infrastructure. Goyal emphasised cross-sectoral collaboration between government, industry, and research institutions to help startups…
Anthropic revenue up 1,127% to $17 billion; IPO filing revealed
Anthropic's revenue surged 1,127% YoY to $17 billion in Q3 2026, per its SEC IPO filing. However, $5 billion in short-term computing costs pushed it to a $567 million operating loss. The AI firm has applied to list on Nasdaq under ticker 'ANT', with $895.4 billion in total computing commitments disclosed.
India may have 25-30 homegrown AI unicorns by 2030: PeakXV Partners MD
India is the "number one IPO market in the world, especially for start-ups", PeakXV Partners' Managing Director Rajan Anandan said. He added that if startups focus on affordable innovation, India could see 25-30 homegrown AI unicorns by 2030. "Of course, valuations have to be reasonable, you've to have profitability, and consistent execution is what will get rewarded," Anandan further said.
Anthropic's internal AI usage value exceeds employee salaries
Anthropic's internal use of AI is now valued at more than its monthly employee compensation costs, excluding stock awards, according to the company's IPO filing. The company calculates this value using the prices it charges customers for its AI services. Internal AI usage surged more than 250 times between January and September, the filing reported.