Vineet Rao

Agilitas x Virat Kohli partnership is one of the masterstroke deals I have seen in recent times. Virat invests 40 CR in Agilitas for a 1.94% stake, putting Agilitas’s valuation around 2000 CR. 📈 In turn, Agilitas acquires one8world, making Virat a co-founder and shareholder. They now get two very important growth levers: ⬇️ 1. A powerful manufacturing (via Mochiko Shoes - a 600 CR+ footwear brand that Agilitas acquired in 2008 ), 2. India’s biggest athlete — exclusively aligned. Easily becomes a 4000 CR revenue brand in the next 5 years. Footwear + retail scale requires capital — but this partnership compresses customer acquisition, product cycles, and brand-building like few others. Even Virat said in his podcast with Abhishek Ganguly, the co-founder of Agilitas that, “I didn’t want a brand deal… I wanted to build something that outlives me.” And Abhishek said something even beautiful - “An ambition to build from India but be globally relevant.” This isn’t marketing. This is legacy building with shared skin in the game. And that is how startups work - shared ambition with one goal (to make the company big) and food (read stake) in the table for everyone! A company that can be built in the long term with culture, capital, and conviction aligned. This might be the first time in India, where an athlete joins hands with a sport company to re-imagine and build the sport ecosystem of India - truly revolutionalising the game with a clear vision. 🙌

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Bhavin Turakhia didn’t chase hype. He built profits. 🚀 Started at 17, built Directi created global SaaS products like Radix , Flock & Zeta and crossed $1B+ in exits — mostly bootstrapped. Key Learnings: • Profitability beats valuation • Build global, think long-term • Discipline > funding • You don’t need noise to win 📌 Quiet execution builds loud results. #BhavinTurakhia #StartupLessons #Bootstrapped #SaaS #Entrepreneurship

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There's a lot to learn for founders in this note and IDfy journey. But I think there's a learning here for folks in VC firms as well - please don't tell founders that they are wasting their life with the company they are building(even if you mean well).

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www.evoa.co.in Every era creates infrastructure that reshapes how innovation happens. Marketplaces transformed commerce, social networks connected people, and cloud computing gave businesses scale. But one gap remained — where do companies go to be truly built, not just launched? EVOA is building the infrastructure for company creation — a connected ecosystem where founders, capital, AI, and talent align in real time to turn ideas into scalable businesses, faster and without friction. The next generation of iconic companies won’t emerge from isolation. They will rise from ecosystems designed for momentum. EVOA is that ecosystem. #EVOA #Ecosystem #startupindia #startupjourney

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🚀 Infra.Market raises $90M in Series G funding Investors: Nikhil Kamath's family office (NKSquared), Silverline Homes, Tiger Global, Accel, Evolvence India, Nexus Ventures 📍 Thane, Maharashtra, India Focus: Construction Technology, E-commerce, Retail Technology #startup #funding #constructiontechnology #ecommerce

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Peeko, a babycare quick-commerce startup, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners. Several angel investors also joined the round, including Maninder Gulati (former OYO chief strategy officer), Kunal Bahl and Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn cofounders), Nitin Gupta (founder & CEO of Uni), and Arjun Vaidya(cofounder of V3 Ventures). The Bengaluru-based company plans to use the funds to improve its products, expand supply, and grow its team. Chetan Sharma | Abhijit Gairola | Vivek Khetan 🔗 Read full article link in comment #peeko #quickcommerce #funding #seedround #startupnews #businessupdate

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"Big Move" in India's fintech landscape. IPO-bound BharatPe is strengthening its tech leadership, appointing Ajit Kumar, former SVP of Engineering at Paytm, as its new CTO. A significant leadership "poach" as the company gears up for its next phase of growth and a public offering. Read:https://lnkd.in/dTfWtnZ6 #FoundersPlaybook #BharatPe #Fintech StartupTN #startupindia

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Excited to share that Thread Factory has raised ₹1.5 Cr in pre-seed funding from ajvc to solve a massive problem in India’s fashion supply chain. We are building for a part of India’s $100B+ fashion market that is massive, but still works in a very old-school way. A lot of sourcing still happens through calls, WhatsApp messages, and scattered coordination between retailers and manufacturers. Which also means many buying decisions are still made without a clear sense of what is actually selling. And that gap becomes even sharper in the unorganised side of the market. While brands and online marketplaces have brought structure to one part of fashion retail, the remaining 65% still operates with very little technology. That is the part of the market we are building for. At Threadfactory, we are building a tech-first ecosystem for this supply chain – helping retailers source quality, trend-right designs more easily, while helping manufacturers plan production with better demand visibility. Our B2B platform allows retailers to discover products and place orders directly, while also capturing the commerce data needed to bring more intelligence into the system. Over the past year, we have seen early signs that this is solving something real: ~₹4 Cr ARR 60% average monthly repeat retailers 40+ manufacturers For me and Vivek, this round was a very meaningful milestone. We received a term sheet from Aviral within 10 days of our application, and that felt incredibly validating at this stage of the journey. This was when we did not even have a product, and were at zero revenue. What stood out even more was the clarity he brought to the conversation. He quickly understood the space and pushed us to think harder about what we are building and where it can go. The journey till here has not been easy. There has been a lot of learning, a lot of back-and-forth, and many moments of rethinking. But that process is also what made our conviction stronger. This round has helped us build a stronger team, improve the platform, and continue building for an industry that really needs better systems. Still early, but very excited for what lies ahead. 🚀 #threadfactory #ajvc #funding #b2b

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Empowering Kirana Stores with AI: A Safer, Scalable Boost to Indian Ecommerce India’s ecommerce market is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, fueled by rising internet penetration and digital payments. Yet, over 88% of India’s retail still flows through 19 million+ Kirana stores—deeply embedded in neighborhoods, trusted by locals, and resilient in supply chain disruptions. Now imagine if these Kirana stores were equipped with low-cost AI bots—a move that could leapfrog the next phase of ecommerce growth while solving two major issues: last-mile delivery inefficiency and the rising safety concerns in quick commerce. The Case Against Quick Commerce Quick commerce (10–30 minute delivery) is growing at <100% YoY with players like Blinkit and Zepto, but it's coming at a cost: Rising road accidents involving delivery agents: As per NCRB data, over 10,000 two-wheeler rider deaths in 2022 were linked to overspeeding and overwork—many from gig delivery jobs. Poor unit economics: Quick commerce players burn ₹50–80 per delivery due to hyper-local delivery pressures, unsustainable incentives, and warehousing costs. High attrition: Gig worker churn is upwards of 60%, hurting consistency. Why AI-Powered Kirana Stores Are the Smarter Alternative Kirana stores, unlike warehouses, are already hyper-local, with dense coverage—roughly 1 store for every 100–150 households. Equipping them with AI bots could: Digitize inventory using computer vision and NLP to manage stock and pricing dynamically. Automate ordering and re-stocking, synced with real-time demand via predictive AI. Enable voice/chat-based order taking in local languages, making ecommerce accessible for non-tech-savvy users. Dispatch orders locally—within walking or cycling distance, minimizing traffic, emissions, and accident risk. Data-Driven Impact A study by RedSeer shows that digitally enabled Kiranas saw up to 30% higher revenue growth vs. traditional ones. If just 30% of urban Kiranas adopt AI-assisted ecommerce, that’s over 1.5 million smart fulfillment points—more than 10x the total dark stores operated by all quick commerce brands combined. Reduced logistics costs by 30–40% due to hyperlocal delivery and zero warehouse dependency. Economic and Social Multiplier Micro-entrepreneur empowerment: AI bots act as force multipliers, enabling even small Kiranas to scale digitally. Job creation at the grassroots: Trained local youth can manage AI-assisted operations, creating stable employment. Safety net for delivery workers: Reducing reliance on overburdened gig workers lowers the risk of road fatalities. Conclusion India doesn’t need to copy the West’s ecommerce model. By combining the trust and reach of Kirana stores with affordable AI technology, we can build a safer, more inclusive, and economically sustainable ecommerce ecosystem—one that works with communities, not around them.

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Startup program for e2b!! Also, why is the python tool on chat interfaces absolutely the most underrated tool. Most people don’t even know they can use python on zerotwo.ai to edit their videos and images, convert file types, do advanced math for analyzing large files of data, and more!

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Israeli observability startup Coralogix has raised $115 million in a Series E round, becoming a unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion. Coralogix offers a full-stack observability and security platform that helps companies understand and resolve complex issues in their data streams. The company has developed an AI agent, Olly, which uses a semantic layer over internal and external data to automate data observability and provide sophisticated insights through simple text prompts. The all-equity round was led by NewView Capital, with participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments | Investissements RPC) and NextEquity Partners, alongside existing investors. The funding will be used to expand its engineering base in India, with a planned $100M investment over five years, and to further develop its AI agent. Congratulations to co-founder and CEO Ariel Assaraf and the Coralogix team. TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/dS3NZrrG #Observability #Data #AI #DevOps #Unicorn #SeriesE #Funding #VentureCapital #IsraelTech

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Decoding Emergent: How it became one of the fastest-growing AI startups? In this episode of Not Just Business, co-founder Mukund Jha talks about what drives the company, his journey, how AI may reshape jobs, and where India stands in the global AI race. https://lnkd.in/gs_9UxyY

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There are so many posts and videos stating and showing how and why NIRMA "lost" the washing powder battle. Nirma's numbers tell a different story. FY 2023/24 they did above 10,000 cr in revenue and 1400cr in EBITDA. The founder Karsanbhai Patel is currently estimated to have a new worth of about 45000cr. Not the numbers of someone who lost. So what did happen. The FMCG detergent category became a capital-intensive advertising arms race- TV stars, huge budgets, razor-thin margins. Instead of burning cash to “stay visible,” Nirma shifted into industrials and chemicals- soda ash, LAB, cement assets, life sciences- where scale and engineering, not celebrity ads, determine profits. Most people judge businesses by billboard presence. But visibility ≠ value. Nirma didn’t disappear. It simply stopped competing in the noisiest arena and won quietly in some other profitable ones. You don't lose a battle you decide not to be a part of. I am not sure Nirma "Lost" anything.

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The recent IPOs of startups like Urban Company, Meesho, and Groww show how years of disciplined scaling - supported by talent, capital, and a strong ecosystem- can unlock tremendous economic value. But if we are to become Viksit Bharat in the real sense, we also need to solve our major social development challenges, and we need to solve them at scale. This is where Nonprofit Unicorns come in. We studied 30+ such organisations including Educate Girls, Lend A Hand India, ARAVIND EYE CARE SYSTEM to understand their scale playbooks. And in a recent BW Disrupt piece, Varun and I share steps we believe can create a supporting environment for the next generation of nonprofit unicorns. 1) Celebrate nonprofit unicorns the way we celebrate startup entrepreneurs, and give them their deserved place of pride. This is what attracts talent and capital into the sector. 2) Build supportive government policies and financial instruments, similar to Startup India and the SIDBI FOF, to enable nonprofits to scale effectively. 3) Encourage donors to fund organisation-building, innovation, and technology not just program delivery. And to ask nonprofits about their scale impact strategy and not just short-term metrics. Here is the full article: https://lnkd.in/gPTv_CiD Varun Aggarwal, Shailendra Nath Jha, Raman Uberoi, Arvind Saraf, Gayatri Nair Lobo, Raj Gilda, Luis Miranda, Tanvi Bikhchandani, Geeta Goel Change Engine #NonprofitUnicorns

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Forget QR codes and PINs for a second—your voice is about to become your new payment method. The big news is that India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is integrating Voice AI, enabling payments through simple speech commands. This isn't just a cool tech upgrade; it's a strategic move for radical financial inclusion. In a nation with such linguistic diversity, this feature, supporting multiple Indian languages, will onboard millions of new users who might have found traditional app interfaces challenging. For anyone in tech or finance, this is a clear signal: the future of user experience is multimodal and hyper-accessible. It pushes us to think beyond visual interfaces and consider how voice technology can break down barriers in our own products. What's the next big accessibility challenge that voice AI can solve in your industry? https://lnkd.in/gwE4XBkA #Fintech #UPI #Innovation #AI #FinancialInclusion #VoiceTech

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Kluisz.ai, led by former OYO senior executive Abhinav Sinha, has raised $9.6 million (INR 82.9 crore) in seed funding. The round was led by RTP Global and saw participation from Unicorn India Ventures, Blume Ventures Founders Fund, Climber Capital, and prominent angels. Founded in early 2025, Kluisz.ai is building an open-source, AI-native cloud platform to help enterprises deploy and manage AI and edge computing workloads. Check out the full funding details : https://lnkd.in/gjs3UKNB Team Kluisz Abhinav Sinha | Venkata Surya Tej | Vamshidhar Reddy | Abhijeet Singh | #oyoCOO #OYOemployee #AiStartups #SeedFunding #CloudStartups #FundingUpdates #startupro #startupUPdates

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Thinking of launching a cloud kitchen reliant solely on Swiggy or Zomato? Think again. The harsh reality is, you may be setting yourself up to lose more than you imagine. A recent candid chat with a friend planning to enter cloud kitchens forced a hard look at the numbers – and the reality is stark. Here's a rough math for reference: Running the unit economics for a 100% aggregator-dependent model in the Indian QSR space paints a challenging picture. On a gross revenue of ₹100, factor in an average 15% discount, ₹25 for food costs, ₹3 in wastage (a conservative estimate!), ₹12 for staff, ₹15 for rent & utilities in metro cities, and ₹15 for marketing just to stay visible on the platforms. Then comes the big one: roughly ₹25 in aggregator commissions. Do the math – you're likely losing money on every order. Even in the absolute best of cost scenarios, the profit margins are razor-thin, leaving virtually no room for corporate overheads and other essential costs. Speaking with founders and investors, a recurring theme emerges: over-reliance on aggregator platforms erodes profitability. This trend is evident in the annual revenue reports of many food tech startups, often showing deep red numbers. (For a deeper dive, check out my earlier post on this topic – link in comments). So, what's the takeaway? The Unit Economics Trap: Aggregator-exclusive cloud kitchens often operate at razor-thin or negative margins once all costs are truly accounted for. To counter this, target a 35% Direct Order Mix: Aim for a minimum of 35% direct orders (your own app, website, potential subscription models) to regain pricing flexibility and protect your bottom line. This means you need to Reclaim Control: Owning your customer data is invaluable. Reduce dependence on high aggregator commissions and optimize your marketing spend beyond platform visibility. While cloud kitchens can benefit from potentially lower rent and streamlined staffing, you must Leverage Your Strengths Wisely; these advantages are quickly negated by significant discount pressures and commission fees. Leaders in the Indian QSR and cloud kitchen space, what's your current direct vs. aggregator sales split? What strategies are you implementing to build direct channels and ensure sustainable profitability? Keen to hear your experiences and insights! #CloudKitchen #UnitEconomics #FoodTech #AggregatorEconomics #DirectToConsumer #FoodStartupIndia #InvestorInsights #Profitability #Startups #Swiggy #Zomato

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