Shubhendu Sharma

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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🚀 Thrilled to announce that we’ve raised ₹37 Crore ($4.3M) to accelerate our mission SaveIN: making quality healthcare and wellness accessible and affordable for every Indian This round was led by our existing backers — 10x Founders, Oliver Jung, and Leblon Capital, and we’re excited to welcome STEM AI SAS to the journey With this, we’ve now raised a total of over ₹100 Crore ($12M+), backed by some of the most forward-thinking global investors, including Y Combinator Just 3 years ago, we were a small team with a bold idea — what if everyday healthcare could be accessible, affordable and instant, without claims, approvals, or red tape? Fast forward to today: - India’s largest no-cost EMI network for outpatient care - 7000+ healthcare centers in 130+ cities of India offer instant no-cost EMIs with SaveIN - 5 lakh+ customer applications processed - 250% YoY revenue growth in FY25 with solid economics - Partnered with top financial institutions including leading banks And now: welUp, our newest platform built for B2B wellness — giving employees access to 200+ preventive and holistic health services that are unaddressed by traditonal health insurance! This new capital will help us scale our EMI offerings, deepen our provider network, and supercharge welUp to reach companies across India — from growing startups to large enterprises I’ve always believed: healthcare shouldn't start at the hospital gate. It should start earlier — with access, awareness, and affordability That’s the future we’re building A big thank you to team SaveIN and our partners! 👉 Full story here: https://lnkd.in/gkZQuhvQ Gaurav Luthra Rahul Gupta Navdeep Soni Shantanu Vishnoi Pritam Singh Niharika Sharma Aayush P. Rishabh Agarwal Alankrita Bhattacharyya CA Anju Gahlawat Nikhil Singh #SaveIN #welUp #Healthtech #Fintech #Funding #Fintech #YC

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Bachatt has bagged $4 million (INR 34 Cr+) in a seed funding round jointly led by Lightspeed India and InfoEdge Ventures. Of the total investment, Lightspeed contributed $2.8 million, while Info Edge Ventures, spearheaded by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, injected $1 million into the startup. The funding round also attracted participation from notable industry figures, including Urban Company cofounder Abhiraj Bhal, Sunil Prabhune of L&T Finance, and OYO’s senior leadership — COO Abhinav Sinha and CSO Maninder Gulati — all of whom have joined Bachatt’s cap table. The capital will be directed towards the official launch of Bachatt’s daily savings app, which is currently in its beta phase. Follow Equity 360 for more such updates. Reach us on contact@equity360.in for any query on investment banking. #startupfunding #investmentbanking #privateequity

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🚀 Funding Update in the Indian Startup Ecosystem Mumbai-based Luma fertility, a tech-enabled fertility care startup, has successfully raised $4 million in seed funding, led by Peak XV Partners (via its Surge program), along with participation from notable investors like Ameera Shah (Metropolis Healthcare) and Vijay Taparia (B2V Ventures). Founded by Neha K Motwani, Luma Fertility is building a patient-first platform to offer end-to-end reproductive care—covering IVF, fertility assessments, egg freezing, at-home diagnostics, and more. The startup is leveraging technology and empathy to modernize fertility services in India. 📍 With a flagship clinic in Bandra West, Mumbai, Luma now aims to expand across multiple cities over the next two years. This is yet another sign of rising investor confidence in healthtech and femtech sectors in India. As a funding consultant, I closely track such movements and assist businesses in navigating their own equity and debt funding journeys. 📩 If you're a startup or growing company looking to raise capital or explore funding options, feel free to connect. #FundingNews #StartupFunding #SeedFunding #LumaFertility #PeakXV #HealthTech #FemTech #IndianStartups #Linkedin #techindia #healthcare

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Excited to share this News, 888vc, Our Early-stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore, India has launched platfrom Gro8 backed by ₹175 crore (US$ 20M) fund to back startups focused on AI, deep tech, Enterprise SAAS and sustainability over the next three years. 💡 Key Focus Areas: 🔹 Average ticket size of ₹2–4 crores 🔹 Sector Agnostic Angel fund 🔹 Focus on globally scalable solutions 🔹 Launch of GRO8 angel platform for cross-border funding, mentorship & market access 📌 If you’re building in AI, deep-tech, or sustainability with ambitions to grow globally, let’s talk. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gtUcYkrx #888vc #gro8 #venturecapital #angelinvestments #startups

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Shivakumar Ganesan, Co-founder & CEO of Exotel, joins The Neon Show. A 14-year journey from bootstrap to scale, Exotel’s story is one of India’s most remarkable SaaS journeys. We discuss: 1. How Exotel grew for 8 years post-seed round without external funding 2. What happened when COVID slashed revenues from $10M to $5M. 3. The bold strategic moves: 3 funding rounds & 2 acquisitions that followed. 4. The tough transition of customer base from SMBs to enterprises. 5. Building a ₹2500 crore+ business without leaving India. 6. Why Shivku chose to stay focused on India despite advice to go global first. 7. How automation could cut contact center jobs by 80%. 8. The challenge of building voice AI across 30+ Indian languages. And much more on timing, reading the market, and creating moats in overlooked opportunities. The episode drops today on The Neon Show.

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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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Lessons: performance of listed startups At the xto10x IPO academy, we track listed startups - financials, market updates, stock price, peer comparison, analyst coverage and earnings calls. The intent? Understand the patterns behind sustained performance vs. underperformance - defined as movement in the stock price vs. the Nifty 500 over the same timeframe. Of the 30+ companies we track, here are headlines from 8 (data as on 8/4/25) #1 (2021 IPO): significant challenges for the first eight quarters - profitability doubts, acquisition anxiety. But the script flipped in 2023: delivered on guidance, turned the core business profitable and demonstrated sustained improvement in operating metrics. Outperforming by 134% #2 (2024 IPO): listed at a discount to its peer. Latest results show a widening gap with the peer on core metrics - revenue, market share and MTUs, with the CM gap narrowing slightly. Underperforming by 8% #3 (2021 IPO): A SaaS company, did an outstanding acquisition, improving EBITDA margin from 15% to 20% from FY23 to 24, leading to outperformance. Now facing challenges with revenue churn and no subsequent acquisitions (discussed in earnings calls) - underperforming by 35% #4 (2024 IPO): Not just another coworking play — 43% return on capital employed, driven by high utilisation and the managed aggregator model. Analysts now compare it with hotel peers given the ROCE profile. Outperforming by 68% #5 (2021 IPO): Beat 8Q guidance with growth in core business at 23%, new business at 115% and EBITDA margin of 47%. The stock outperformed by 46%. Then came bolder guidance relying heavily on the new business. Growth in the last 2Q is significantly below expectations, the stock is now down 30% from its peak #6 (2021 IPO): Ecomm player, gained 96% on listing day. In 2 years, revenue grew by 30%, while EBITDA margins remained flat (5% to 5.7%). Underperforming by 37% #7 (2022 IPO): Logistics player that delivered meaningful earnings growth from -₹319 Cr to ₹561 Cr, but missed market expectations of Rs. 1325 cr. Underperforming by 98% #8 (2023 IPO): D2C brand that went public with a bold offline expansion plan. But near-expiry stock issues, distributor churn, & retailer resistance to its SKU mix showed challenges in offline. Trading 31% below its IPO price So what are the patterns? At the risk of oversimplication, here’s what we have observed: Outperformers compound earnings & ROCE over a longer timeframe - quality execution translates into strong input metrics which translate into superior financial performance. This is so hard to do. Underperformers don’t have compounding yet - many challenges get in the way, e.g. high expectations (and a high issue price), widening gap with peers, relying on uncertain M&A/ new businesses/ channels to deliver earnings guidance, limited operating leverage. One overall takeaway for founders trying to decide on an IPO? Please test your recipe for compounding before you go public.

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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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Babycare quick commerce platform Peeko has raised $3.2 million in a seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners. Other angle investors including Lightspeed partner Maninder Gulati, Abhishek Goyal of Tracxn, Uni cofounder Nitin Gupta, Arjun Vaidya of V3 Ventures, and Titan Capital cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to improve its products, expand its supply, and hire new staff. Chetan Sharma | Abhijit Gairola | Vivek Khetan Read full article link in the commment 👇 #peeko #quickcommerce #funding #seedround #startupnews

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