Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (April 29, 2025)

Featured stories

Shefali Shah on shifting narratives and staying true to her craft

Over a career spanning more than two decades, Shefali Shah has built a formidable reputation as one of Indian cinema’s most restrained but powerful performers. Known for her unflinching portrayals of complex women, Shah’s work is defined by a raw authenticity that sets her apart from the commercial trappings of Bollywood. Whether as the stoic police officer in Delhi Crime, the weary yet resolute mother in Darlings, or the conflicted doctor in Human, Shah brings an intense honesty to the characters she embodies.

Speaking at the Shiv Nadar Foundation’s event, Ignition in Chennai on April 26, she reflected on the trajectory of her career, the challenges she has navigated, and the evolving opportunities for women in Indian storytelling.

“I don’t approach a role thinking about its impact or awards,” Shah told the audience. “It’s about being true to the character and the story.” This fidelity to the internal life of her characters—rather than the glamour of their circumstances—has been the foundation of her acclaim. Read more

How N Space Tech is quietly powering India’s space ambitions

Divya Kothamasu’s journey into satellite communication began not with a business plan, but with a question that surfaced during her childhood while watching ISRO rocket launches on TV: How do invisible radio waves carry data across the vacuum of space?

This spark led Divya to pursue her engineering in electronics and communications, a master’s in communication and radar systems, and a PhD in satellite communications from KL University. This eventually led to the creation of N Space Tech, a Hyderabad-based startup she co-founded with her husband Raghuram Kothamasu in 2020. 

The company specialises in radio frequency subsystems, antennae, radar systems, and small satellites (CubeSats) that enable secure, seamless communication between space assets and Earth. What started as a two-member initiative has now grown into a 40-member team working on projects with ISRO, DRDO, BDL, BEL, NARL, and CDAC. Read more

Latest news

OpenAI introduces shopping recommendations to ChatGPT search

OpenAI has introduced a shopping-focused upgrade to its ChatGPT’s web search capabilities. The AI chatbot will now offer product recommendations with visual details, including images, pricing, reviews, and purchase links. The capability, delivered through the default GPT-4o model, is available globally across all tiers—including Pro, Plus, and Free, and users who access the platform without signing in.

“We're excited to announce we’ve launched several improvements to ChatGPT search, and today we’re starting to roll out a better shopping experience.We’re experimenting with making shopping simpler and faster to find, compare, and buy products in ChatGPT. Improved product results, Visual product details, pricing, and reviews, Direct links to buy. Product results are chosen independently and are not ads,” read the company’s post on X. Read more.

Funding news

Metafin bags $10M in Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures SEAI

Solar financing platform Metafin has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. The round, a mix of equity and debt, also saw participation from existing investors Prime Venture Partners and Varanium Capital, as well as financial institutions, including Northern Arc and AU Small Finance Bank.

Metafin Co-founder Aditya Shah told YourStory that the bulk of the funding raised was equity with a smaller debt component. The startup will use a major portion of the funds as growth capital to grow its book from about 3,500 installations to about 10,000 projects in the next 12 to 18 months. It will also divert a smaller portion of the fund to bolster its senior management team, and the remaining portion to grow the company’s tech stack. Read more

Edtech startup CollegeDekho gets Rs 40 Cr funding from Recur Club

Edtech startup CollegeDekho has raised a structured debt funding of Rs 40 crore from Recur Club. This investment will help the company accelerate its growth, promote technological innovation, and streamline operations for the upcoming admission season.

For the financial year 2023-24, CollegeDekho registered a of 32.3% rise in revenue from Rs 163 crore to Rs 215.6 crore.

With the funding from Recur Club, CollegeDekho plans to focus on product innovation and service quality. This will not only help its expansion in the edtech space but also strengthen its role as a guide for students and educational institutions. Read more here.

ekincare raises investment from MSD IDEA Studio Asia Pacific

ekincare, an AI-powered integrated digital health gateway, has raised an undisclosed investment led by global healthcare leader MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA) through MSD IDEA Studio Asia Pacific, an initiative by the MSD Global Health Innovation Fund.

The round also saw participation from Ekincare’s existing investor, HealthQuad, a venture capital fund focused on healthcare innovation.

This investment round will empower ekincare to advance its mission of revolutionizing corporate primary and preventive healthcare through AI-driven, personalised Outpatient Department (OPD) solutions.

With this investment, ekincare aims to expand its cashless OPD network and enhance AI-powered analytics to drive better preventive care, chronic disease management, and employee wellness outcomes.

Scandalous Foods raises Rs 2 Cr in ongoing seed+ funding

Scandalous Foods has secured Rs 2 crore in an ongoing seed+ funding round. The capital will be invested in expanding production capacity and strengthening its SME HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, and catering) distribution network, fuelling the company’s next phase of growth.

With 50% of the funds allocated to scaling production, Scandalous Foods is gearing up to meet its rising demand. The remaining 50% will be focussed on expansion efforts, with 30% dedicated to building a robust SME HoReCa distribution network—targeting smaller restaurant chains with fewer than five outlets—and 20% directed towards online and offline marketing.

"This funding is a massive leap forward in our journey to make our sweets a staple in restaurants and catering menus across India. With bigger production, a stronger distribution network, and new products in the pipeline, we’re gearing up to bring our bold, delicious creations to even more people," said Sanket S, Co-founder of Scandalous Foods.

Primebook secures $2M in pre-Series A funding

Primebook, an Android laptop brand, has secured $2 million in a pre-Series A fundraise involving a mix of equity and debt. The round saw participation from Inflection Point Ventures, Auxano Capital, and NexG Devices, along with high-net-worth individual investors such as Rikant Pittie, CEO and Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, and Bhavesh Gupta, former COO, Paytm. 

Founded by Chitranshu Mahant and Aman Verma, Primebook combines hardware innovation with software intelligence to deliver smart, affordable, and student-centric laptops powered by its proprietary Android-based operating system, PrimeOS.

The funds will be deployed across R&D and product innovation, brand development and awareness, revamping Primebook’s visual identity and messaging to align with Gen Z sensibilities. Primebook will launch a full-funnel digital campaign combining brand storytelling with performance marketing and platform-specific creative strategy across Instagram, YouTube, Google, Flipkart, and Amazon.

Other news

ZebPay appoints Ravi Karkara as head of business development & alliances

Crypto asset exchange ZebPay has appointed Ravi Karkara as the head of business development and strategic alliances. With over 18 years of experience spanning banking, fintech, e-commerce, and crypto, Karkara joins ZebPay as the company aims to strengthen industry partnerships and stakeholder engagement across regulatory and ecosystem channels.

Karkara will be instrumental in leading ZebPay’s strategic engagement with global token issuers, protocol partners, and key policymakers, while spearheading new collaborations that fuel business growth and strengthen the company’s presence across the crypto and Web3 ecosystem.

He will drive ZebPay’s external engagement strategy, representing the company at leading global and national forums, building strategic alliances with crypto-native enterprises, and engaging with institutional and policy stakeholders to create a collaborative growth environment for the industry.

C-CAMP AMR Challenge announces winners

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Challenge 2024-25, supported by the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), under the aegis of India AMR Innovation Hub, has announced nine winners of its National Call in India.

The C-CAMP National AMR Challenge that was launched in August 2024 received about 200 applications from innovators and startups across India for funding and ecosystem support to enable scale-up, production, adoption and societal integration of winning solutions to tackle AMR in the environment.

The winners are: Foundation for Neglected Diseases Research, Biomoneta Research Pvt. Ltd., D-NOME Pvt. Ltd., Vividew Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Diagopreutic Pvt. Ltd., Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt. Ltd.,

Huwel Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeeth, and Indian Intitute of Science.

Making the winner announcement at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting held in New Delhi from April 25 to 27, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, Director-CEO, C-CAMP, said, "We have nine solutions addressing critical gaps in point-of-care diagnostics and screening for clinically relevant pathogens in runoffs from farms, fisheries and hospitals, treatment of wastewater and industry effluents and air decontamination in hospitals."

The winners shall be supported by C-CAMP in India, in collaboration with the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Global AMR Innovation Fund. to foster the identification and development of world-class AMR-focused innovative solutions to tackle various aspects of AMR.

CoinSwitch launches INR-based crypto futures

Crypto trading platform CoinSwitch has launched INR-based crypto futures, a new feature that enables futures trading directly in INR, eliminating the need for USDT conversion, making the overall trading experience more seamless and efficient.

This development stems from a key user insight that trading in INR is more intuitive and relatable for the Indian users compared to USDT, which is commonly used as the quote currency in the global markets, a statement from the company said.

By eliminating the need to convert INR to USDT, CoinSwitch aims to streamline the trading experience and make futures trading more accessible and user-friendly for the Indian market.

 The key features include real-time price mapping, position visibility, unified price view, and seamless toggle experience.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)