Shourya Agarwal

FUNDED: PowerUp Money raises $12M Series A led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from existing investors Accel, Blume Ventures, Kae Capital, 8i Ventures, and DeVC.

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AI-driven compliance startup zango has raised $4.8 Mn (INR 41 Cr) in a seed round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from South Park Commons, Notion Capital, No Label Ventures, and Start Ventures. Founded in 2024 by Ritesh Singhania (ex-ClearGlass) and Shashank Agarwal (ex-Third Watch, acquired by Razorpay), Zango leverages regulatory-focused LLMs to automate compliance workflows for banks and financial institutions — reducing processes from 48 hours to just 4 hours. The Bengaluru- and SF-based startup will use the capital to: 1. Expand teams in Bengaluru & London 2. Build new AI-native GRC modules 3. Extend offerings to insurance & asset management With the Indian SaaS market expected to hit $70 Bn by 2030, AI-first startups like Zango are at the forefront of reimagining governance in BFSI. #FundingAlert #AI #SaaS #Fintech #BFSI #StartupNews #ZangoAI #ComplianceTech #GRC #Razorpay #AICompliance #NexusVP #IndiaSaaS

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The Circle GTM Studio specializes in helping global startups soft-land in India. A structured accelerator designed to help growth-stage founders localize for India, run pilots, acquire early customers, and prepare for fundraising — backed by deep ecosystem access and real-world insights from founders who’ve successfully navigated the Indian market. If India is on your roadmap, this is where you begin. #thecircle #acceleratorprogram #startups #growth

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🚀 Built to Ship – Hosted by Tyler Postle, Co-Founder Voker (YC S24) 🎙️ Featuring Mani Kumar Gouni, Co-Founder & CEO @ Ad Mesh Ad Mesh is building “AdSense for AI,” letting brands appear in AI conversations only when it matters. In this episode, Manny breaks down how they classify user intent and serve ads at the right moment, the concept of “agentic advertising” where brand agents autonomously decide when to bid, and the future of AI-native ad measurement and attribution. 💡 If you’re curious about the next wave of AI marketing — where relevance, timing, and intent matter more than impressions — this is a must-listen.

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Pleased to announce that Karekeba Ventures, among others, has invested in Stylework SaaS-based co-working/managed workspace aggregator Stylework on Wednesday announced the closure of Rs 30-crore Pre-Series B funding, which is planned to be deployed towards technology enhancement, domestic and international market expansion, and hiring key leadership personnel. Of the total funding, the company had achieved the first close of Rs 10-crore led by Equentis Angel Fund last month, with participation from Karekeba ventures /Cogniphy AIF Fund alongside continued subscriptions from Lets Venture Fund, MoneyVyapaar, HNIs and other strategic investors, Stylework said. Karekeba Ventures Kshitiz Anand Vishal Nikumbh

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The recent discussion featuring Sangeeta Gupta (SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Nasscom), Aridni Shah (Co-founder & CEO, Immunitto AI), and Aqeel Ahmed (Co-founder & CEO, EcoRatings) offered sharp insights into the state of India’s GenAI startup ecosystem — insights that directly resonate with our mission at ClrSlate. 📈 Sangeeta Gupta highlighted that 83% of India’s GenAI startups are building on the application layer due to capital and compute constraints — but are still innovating globally. 💰 Aridni Shah pointed out that deep-tech & regulated industries like healthcare face long validation cycles and funding challenges, requiring efficient, compliant processes. 🌱 Aqeel Ahmed noted that patient capital is rare, and startups must manage compute costs and specialised talent gaps through creative operational models. This is exactly where ClrSlate steps in. Our AI-native platform engineering enables companies to go to market 70% faster and reduce infra costs by up to 80%, freeing resources for innovation even in capital-constrained environments. We automate orchestration across any cloud, helping teams focus on building value rather than fighting infra complexity. Our platform blueprints embed industry best practices, ensuring repeatable, reliable deployments — crucial for compliance-heavy and global-first startups. Proud to be part of the #NasscomGenAIFoundry journey alongside such inspiring founders and leaders, working together to turn constraints into opportunities. 🚀 Thanks for being a part of our disrupting team Piyush Rathi Shashvat Dev Gupta Ankit Dhaka #ClrSlate #GenAI #DevOps #PlatformEngineering #Automation #IndiaAI #Nasscom

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This one is a MUST watch for all businesses looking to raise funding, build their brand, and scale. 🚀 Moxie Beauty founder Nikita Khanna sits down for a candid chat with Adarsh Menon, Partner at Fireside Ventures as they talk about all that D2C brands can do to stand out, get funded, scale, and thrive. 🔥 Watch it to get the scoop. #PerformanceTalks #PartnershipAds #MoxieBeauty #Fireside #VC #Funding #D2C

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🚨US VC firm Expert Dojo’s cohort to invest $100,000 each in 10 Indian startups US-based VC firm Expert Dojo has launched an India-focused accelerator, pledging $100K each to 10+ early-stage startups in tech, AI, EVs, and B2B. Backed by a $15M India-dedicated fund, the program offers capital, global mentorship, and investor access to help founders scale faster and go global. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/gbr3WD9C By Thimmaya Poojary #StartupIndia #ExpertDojo #VentureCapital #TechStartups #IndiaInnovation

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Codeyoung, an edtech startup has raised $5 million (Rs 44.4 Cr) in its Series A funding round, led by Blue Tokai-backer 12 Flags Group and Enzia Ventures. The round was an equal mix of primary and secondary funding, with the secondary portion allowing early investor Guild Capital to exit. The startup will use the new funds to grow in its current international markets, especially in the US and Canada. Some of the money will also go toward building AI-based personalization tools and adding new learning categories. 🔗 Read full article link in comment Shailendra Dhakad | Rupika Taneja #codeyoung #edtech #funding #startupnews #growth

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𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐬. 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 - 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧-𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 Indus Khaitan, Founder of Redblock, shares his experience of working with design partners across 3 venture-backed startups, on An Operator's Blog. (Full episode link in comments)

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The Indian startup and developer ecosystem continues to be a vibrant hub of innovation, and Google is committed to fueling its growth. The Google for Startups #Accelerator: Apps program backed by #GooglePlay and supported by MeitY Startup Hub is designed to empower 20 #Seed to #Series-A funded app-based startups, that are looking to supercharge their growth with AI,  with essential tools, knowledge, and mentorship. ✨ What can startups expect? ➡️ 3 Months of Intensive Mentorship: Participants will receive personalized 1:1 mentorship and participate in collaborative group learning sessions with industry veterans and Google experts from Google Play, Android, and Gemini teams. ➡️ AI Integration Expertise: Gain access to Google's cutting-edge AI tools, resources, and expert guidance on seamlessly integrating them into your apps for next-level innovation and user value. ➡️ Bespoke Reports: Leverage custom reports providing key insights to optimize your app's performance and success on Google Play. ➡️ Networking Opportunities: Connect with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and industry leaders. #Applications are open until May 15, 2025: g.co/accelerator/apps  Got questions about the Apps Accelerator program? Join the weekly virtual open forum every Thursday (4-5 PM IST) during the application phase to get your answers! RSVP here👉https://lnkd.in/g8w9q7Ai Sami Kizilbash, Karthik Padmanabhan, Paul Ravindranath G, Farish CV, Ravish Kumar , Nupur Verma , Reshma Shah, Ity Jain , Sneha Basu Roy Seema Rao, Payal Goel, Aman Grover , Ruchita Taneja Aggarwal, Sandeep Cashyap, Kunal Soni

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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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🚀Some startups build applications. Some build infrastructure. And then there are the rare ones building the infrastructure behind the infrastructure. Congratulations to our EWOR Fellows Bragadeesh Suresh Babu and Lannan J. for rasing a $1.7M pre-seed round for Tattvam AI led by Seedcamp. Tattvam AI is coming out of stealth today. Tattvam is teaching AI the art of chip design. Designing a new chip today takes 2 to 3 years and tens of millions of dollars. A single late-stage mistake can cost $50M and months of delay. Despite all the progress in AI, the hardest parts of chip design still rely on manual iteration across enormous search spaces. Tattvam AI is building a reasoning engine that understands circuits from first principles - constraints, tradeoffs, interdependencies - and compresses years of engineering work into weeks. Why this matters: We are in a global compute arms race. Hyperscalers are building their own silicon. AI-native chip startups are emerging across Europe and the US. But design velocity is the bottleneck. Whoever shortens that cycle meaningfully reshapes the industry. Proud to support Bragadeesh Suresh Babu and Lannan J. at the very beginning of this journey. #Europe needs more companies like this!

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Bolna (YC F25) startup founded by Maitreya Wagh and Prateek Sachan, has raised $6.3 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst. The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, Blume Ventures, Orange Collective, Pioneer Fund, Transpose Capital, Eight Capital, and well-known angel investors. The YC F25 company builds a self-serve platform that helps enterprises design and run multilingual voice AI agents across more than 10 Indian languages. Its customers include Varun Beverages, Spinny, GoKwik, Awign, and Snabbit, spanning sectors like e-commerce, BFSI, logistics, and recruitment. Since its first deployment in May 2025, Bolna has grown from 1,500 daily calls to over 200,000 daily calls and now serves more than 1,050 paying customers. The platform processes around one million calls each month and supports natural conversations with low latency by routing calls across models like proprietary systems, OpenAI, and Sarvam AI.

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🔥 BIGGER 🔥 BOLDER 🔥 BETTER 🔥 AI is turning out to be more transformative than even I predicted 3 years ago !! And, of course, we are NOT in an AI Bubble. We are at the beginning of what promises to be an unprecedented $100T-$200T transformative cycle !!! My TOP 5 Predictions for 2026: 1️⃣ From the Year of AI Agents to the Year of AI Applications 2️⃣ From Cloud AI (Data Centers) to Edge AI (esp Physical AI: Humanoids, ADAS) 3️⃣ From a Couple of Agents to Full Agentic Enterprise examples 4️⃣ From Short-Form Video to Full-Feature Length Movie and Podcast examples 5️⃣ First Successful Examples of AI Wearable Designed for Agentic AI Experiences Best time to be alive. Best time to incubate and invest. Best time to speak out about the possibilities. Can you feel the energy? Are you living your dreams? Thanks for having me on your Silicon Valley Tech Talks, Faisal Wattoo. You always get me going 😂. #AIDecade #InvestorDecade #EntrepreneurDecade

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We had 20+ founders from EdTech, fashion, software, Fintech, Retail, D2C and more at our recent #Koodu happened at Puthran & Associates, where we provided opportunity for founders to directly interact with leading IP attorney B R B Puthran, Srilakshmi Gandhi, Bala and had unfiltered conversations, real case studies and much more. As per IP Attorneys "there are only two types of startups, one that do what others do but more efficiently, the other that is protected by IPs". - The government schemes available to make IP, and Putharan had a startup to get their Patent in just about 7 months, which is almost the theoretical maximum.  - Fashion brands don't bother getting patents for their designs because the process takes way too long compared to how fast fashion moves. It takes at least 6 months to 2 years to get a design patent approved, but most fashion items are only sold for about a year before they go out of style. Big thanks to our Trusted Partner for IP Puthran & Associates for providing the venue and B R B Puthran for staying till the end of the event and interacting with all the founders and sharing his knowledge and giving not just answers but real time examples and case studies. Building a moat around your startup starts with understanding IP. Glad we could make these conversations happen. Shyam Siddarth Sabarish Nagaraj Surriya Narayanan Tamilpreneur Elizabeth Puthran B R B Puthran #YeriVaa !!

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Enterprise AI startup Refold (formerly Cobalt) AI has raised $6.5 Mn in its seed funding, co-led by US based Eniac Ventures and Tidal Ventures. Better Capital, Ahead VC, Karman Ventures, Z21 and several angel investors also participated in the round.👇 Refold was founded by Jugal Anchalia and Abhishek Kumar in 2023 – five years after they sold JustDoc to online pharmacy Netmeds in 2018. Later, Netmeds was acquired by Reliance in 2020. Refold provides an AI-driven platform to enterprises to automate API integrations. The startup claims to deploy autonomous AI agents that can learn system behaviour, write and maintain integration code, and adapt to software changes. Read the full article here - https://4-2.co/4oAPAqa #news #Inc42 #AI #Enterprisetech #tech #startupnews #startup #businessnews #business #India #expansion #funding #investment

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ACE Cohort 4 is officially live at Invention Engine. 🚀 After years of building, testing, iterating, and finding our own product–market fit as an accelerator, we’ve consolidated what works and raised the bar for early-stage founders in India. Here’s what’s new: 💰 Investment increased to $100,000 (~₹1 crore) per startup One of the largest accelerator investments in India, focused purely on early-stage AI & deep tech companies. But ACE is not built on capital alone. It’s built by founders, for founders. Varun, Shubham and I have all built companies — real products, real GTM struggles, real fundraising journeys, real scaling challenges. No theory. No gyaan. Only lived experience. That’s what ACE is designed on. This cohort is for builders in: AI • Deep Tech • SaaS • Enterprise • Infra • Applied AI And this time, it’s not just an online application process. We’re meeting founders on the ground. 👇 City roadshows across India: 📍 Bangalore 📍 Pune 📍 Jaipur 📍 Delhi (+ more) Meet us. Talk to us. Understand what we’re building. Ask questions. Have real founder conversations — not just form submissions. For founders targeting US GTM and global markets, our global customer advisory board (leaders from Meta, Amazon, McKinsey & more) actively supports: Product strategy • Market validation • US GTM • Enterprise access • Global scale If you’re building something serious in AI/deep tech. If you’re early but ambitious. If you need clarity on product, GTM, or scale. ACE is built for you. Applications are now open. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gCNcx9RS Cities and sessions live. This is real. This is happening. Know a founder in this space? Tag them. Building yourself? Apply. Let’s build the next generation of AI companies from India. 🇮🇳🌍 #ACE #InventionEngine #AIStartups #DeepTech #FounderLed #Accelerator #StartupIndia #BuildInIndiaBuildForWorld #EarlyStage

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