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Rediff gets NPCI approval for TPAP license, to launch RediffPay UPI app focused on financial wellness
Rediff.com India has received final approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for its Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) license, zthe way for the rollout of its digital payments platform, RediffPay. With this approval, the company has begun Closed User Group (CUG) testing, an essential step before entering the UPI ecosystem and is preparing to launch an UPI app built around financial-wellness-customer-centric UPI payment app designed to encourage saving, investing and access to credit. “This approval is a significant milestone for Rediff,” said Vishal Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Rediff.com India Ltd. “It enables us to extend secure, interoperable UPI services through RediffPay and advances our mission to broaden financial inclusion while delivering simple, intuitive digital payment experiences for users across India.” RediffPay aims to blend traditional UPI capabilities with a broader financial wellness and customer centric proposition. Beyond ...
SBI Mutual Fund sells Rs 216 crore stake in gaming company Nazara Technologies
SBI Mutual Fund has trimmed its holding in Nazara Technologies through large open-market bulk deals, even as the listed gaming major reported strong operating growth alongside a sharp profit swing amid regulatory-linked impairments. According to exchange data, SBI Mutual Fund sold a total of 90.09 lakh equity shares of Nazara on December 29, across both the NSE and BSE, at an average price of around Rs 240 per share. The combined transaction was valued at approximately Rs 216 crore. Prior to the sale, SBI Mutual Fund held about 5.78% of Nazara’s paid-up equity. Following the transaction, its stake declined by roughly 2.43 percentage points to about 3.35%. Earlier in 2025, Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, acquired 7.19 lakh shares of Nazara through bulk deals at an average price of around Rs 970 per share, valuing the purchase at close to Rs 70 crore. Separately, the estate of late investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala exited the company earlier in the year. The exit...
OneCard’s revenue jumps 32% to Rs 1,878 crore in FY25 as losses narrow
Mobile-first credit card startup OneCard is closing in on the Rs 2,000 crore revenue mark, even as it continues to rein in losses amid tighter regulatory scrutiny around co-branded cards. OneCard’s parent, FPL Technologies, reported operating revenue of Rs 1,878 crore in FY25, up 32% from Rs 1,425.5 crore in FY24, according to its financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Total revenue crossed Rs 1,900 crore during the year ended March 31, 2025. Founded in 2019, the company issues co-branded credit cards, largely targeted at first-time users, through partnerships with IDFC First Bank, Federal Bank and SBM Bank. It also operates OneScore, an app focused on credit score tracking and credit management. Revenue from these services remained the company’s sole source of income. Despite the growth, OneCard stayed loss-making, though cash burn eased. The company’s loss narrowed 26% to Rs 297.5 crore in FY25 from Rs 401 crore in FY24. Expenses rose 18% to Rs 2,206 cr...
Mamaearth-parent Honasa co-founder Varun Alagh raises stake via Rs 50 crore block deal
Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer Ltd said its co-founder and promoter Varun Alagh has increased his equity stake in the company through a block deal transaction. In a regulatory filing dated December 29, 2025, the company said Alagh acquired 18,51,851 equity shares, representing 0.57% of Honasa Consumer’s total share capital, at a price of Rs 270 per share. The transaction value aggregated to about Rs 50 crore. Following the acquisition, Alagh’s shareholding has risen to 10,55,82,701 equity shares, accounting for 32.45% of the company’s total share capital. The aggregate holding of the promoter and promoter group has increased to 11,56,48,401 equity shares, or 35.54% of the total share capital, the filing said. Honasa Consumer owns FMCG brands including Mamaearth and The Derma Co. The stake increase comes shortly after the company’s strategic entry into the men’s grooming segment through the acquisition of South India-focused brand Reginald Men . Honasa picked up a 95% stake in BTM ...
Link-in-Bio and creator monetization platform DotMe appoints Sagar Nair as a strategic advisor
DotMe, a Link-in-Bio and creator monetisation platform, today announced the appointment of Sagar Nair as Strategic Advisor to support its next phase of growth. The appointment follows DotMe’s recent association with renowned media personality, music curator, and culture architect, Nikhil Chinapa. DotMe enables creators, businesses, and professionals to turn a single link into a powerful digital hub, enabling them to showcase content, connect platforms, engage audiences, track performance, and monetize, all from one highly customizable link. Sagar Nair is a seasoned media professional and entrepreneur with experience across gaming, consumer technology, and interactive media. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Qlan, a gamer-first community platform focused on user acquisition, retention, and monetis for games. Under his leadership, Qlan raised pre-seed funding, expanded internationally, and demonstrated early traction across monetisation use cases. Nair is currently Head of Incuba...
Indian tech startups raised over Rs 94,000 crore in 2025, Tracxn data reveals
India’s tech startups raised $10.5 billion (around Rs 94,000 crore) in 2025, down 17% from last year, retaining the position as the world’s third-largest funded ecosystem, according to Tracxn’s India Tech Annual Funding Report 2025 . Despite a more cautious funding environment, India continued to rank behind only the United States and the United Kingdom, and ahead of China and Germany. The report shows that total funding in 2025 fell from $12.7 billion in 2024 and was 4% lower than the $11.0 billion raised in 2023. Funding trends diverged sharply by stage. Seed-stage startups raised $1.1 billion during the year, a 30% decline from 2024 and 25% lower than in 2023. Early-stage funding proved more resilient, rising to $3.9 billion, up 7% year-on-year and 11% higher than 2023 levels. Late-stage funding dropped to $5.5 billion, down 26% from 2024 and 8% from 2023. Neha Singh, Co-Founder of Tracxn, said, “India’s tech ecosystem continues to demonstrate strong fundamentals and global relev...
Indian startups raised over $155 million from Dec 22 to Dec 27, 2025; Sensa Core Medical tops the list
Between December 22 and December 27, 2025, as many as 07 Indian startups from diverse sectors raised over $155 million in funding from investors. These sectors include Wealthtech, Healthcare, EV, Aerospace, Pharma, Defencetech, and Lending. Last week, Indian startups raised over $358 million , with SaaS firm MoEngage raising $180 million alone. High-value deals A diverse range of sectors attracted investments during the week, with the Healthcare sector leading the pack. Leading this sector was Sansa Core Medical Instrumentation , which raised $72 million. Defence electronics firm CoreEL Technologies raised $30 million. The list was followed by Lending firm Dugar Finance, Biopharma firm PlasmaGen Biosciences, and Mutual fund advisory platform PowerUp Money, which collectively raised $46.7 million. Dugar Finance raised $18 million, PlasmaGen Biosciences raised $16.7 million, and PowerUp Money raised $12 million. Emerging startups AI-led tax management infrastructure startup Prosperr.i...
Zepto Files Confidential IPO Papers With SEBI, Eyes Rs 11,000 Crore Via Issue
Zepto has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 11,000 crore through its initial public offering using a confidential route, people familiar with the development said.
Zepto to soon hit Dalal Street, files confidential draft papers for over $1.3 billion IPO: Report
Aadit Palicha-led quick commerce major Zepto has reportedly pre-filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an IPO of about $1.3 billion, or roughly Rs 11,600 crore, according to the Economic Times report. The company is looking to raise around Rs 11,000 crore through a fresh issue of shares, with the remaining portion expected to come from an offer for sale by early investors. The four-year-old startup received shareholder approval for the proposed IPO at an extraordinary general meeting held on December 23. Morgan Stanley, Axis Capital, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JM Financial, IIFL Securities and Motilal Oswal are the bankers to the issue, the report noted. Zepto is expected to go public in the July-September quarter of 2026, which would make it the youngest VC-funded new-age startup in India to tap public markets. The company has opted for SEBI's confidential filing route, a mechanism earlier used by companies such as Swiggy, Meesho and Groww. This all...
Coforge to acquire US-based AI firm Encora in $2.35-billion, share-swap deal
The Coforge-Encora deal is a “defining moment” that establishes a “scaled AI-led engineering capability moat” for the Noida-based firm, CEO Sudhir Singh says.
Zepto total sales jump 129% to Rs 9,669 crore in FY25, losses widen ahead of IPO launch
Aadit Palicha-led Zepto has reported a sharp expansion in scale in FY25, alongside a steep rise in losses, as the company continued to invest heavily in capacity, store expansion and customer acquisition amid intensifying competition in India’s quick commerce market. According to the company’s audited financial statements, Zepto’s total sales, including other income, rose to Rs 9,668.8 crore in FY25, up 129% from Rs 4,223.9 crore in FY24. Net loss widened to Rs 3,367.3 crore during the year, compared with Rs 1,214.7 crore in the previous fiscal. The financial performance comes against the backdrop of sustained competitive intensity in quick commerce, which has extended beyond FY25 into the early part of FY26. As Zepto prepares for the public markets, the company is set to confidentially file DRHP this week. Ahead of the filing, shareholders approved the appointment of founders Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, along with CFO Ramesh Bafna, as whole-time directors at an extraordinary ...
IIFL Fintech Fund buys secondary shares worth Rs 21 crore in regtech startup Leegality
IIFL Fintech Fund, backed by financial services conglomerate IIFL Group, has acquired secondary shares worth Rs 21 crore in document infrastructure startup Leegality. The transaction marks a follow-on move by IIFL Fintech Fund, which first invested in Leegality in 2022. “IIFL Fintech Fund has reinforced its conviction in Leegality by doubling down on its investment through its Series II fund, acquiring an additional stake via a secondary transaction,” a spokesperson for the fund said. Founded in 2016 by Prakhar Agrawal, Sapan Parekh and Shivam Singla, Leegality focuses on digitising paper-heavy enterprise workflows. The startup provides end-to-end digital document logistics and offers application programming interfaces that support e-signatures across multiple technology stacks, including BharatSign, National E-Governance Services Limited and BharatStamp. Its platform also includes signer verification, automated verification workflows, document tracking and security features, alongs...
Startup investor Anicut Capital closes Rs 1,275 crore GAF-IV, its third private credit fund
Anicut Capital has announced the final close of its third private credit vehicle, Grand Anicut Fund IV (GAF-IV), at Rs 1,275 crore, exceeding its initial target of Rs 1,000 crore. The Chennai-headquartered investment firm said the fund will back companies across consumer, engineering services, SaaS, manufacturing, hospitality, and shipbuilding sectors. According to the firm, GAF-IV includes a GIFT City-based dollar feeder structure that allows global investors to participate in India’s private credit opportunity. Through this feeder, Anicut raised around $11 million, or nearly Rs 92 crore, in dollar-denominated commitments last year. The firm plans to deploy capital with an average cheque size of about Rs 80 crore per transaction. With the close of GAF-IV, Anicut Capital’s total assets under management stand at around Rs 4,500 crore across six funds, split evenly between debt and equity strategies. Founded in 2016 by Ashvin Chadha and IAS Balamurugan, the firm provides both debt and...
PlasmaGen Biosciences raises Rs 150 crore in funding from ViNS Bioproducts, others
PlasmaGen Biosciences has raised Rs 150 crore in a funding round led by ViNS Bioproducts, with participation from high-net-worth individuals, family offices, pharma entrepreneurs, and existing investors. The Bengaluru-based biopharma startup secured the capital at a valuation of over Rs 1,500 crore. The company, which is backed by Eight Roads Ventures, has now raised more than Rs 600 crore to date. Its investor base includes Eight Road Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Fidelity’s FIL Capital Investments, UK-based Artian Investments, and several prominent HNIs. In 2023, PlasmaGen raised Rs 225 crore, while an earlier round in 2017 had brought in about Rs 160 crore from Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital. Founded in 2010, PlasmaGen develops, manufactures, and markets blood plasma-derived therapies, including albumin, immunoglobulins, anti-D products, and clotting factors. These therapies are used across neurology, hematology, and critical care, and are supplied to private hospitals as well as s...
Mutual fund advisory platform PowerUp Money raises over Rs 100 crore to scale its business
PowerUp Money, a mutual fund advisory wealthtech platform, has raised $12 million (about Rs 107.4 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Peak XV, with participation from existing investors Accel, Blume Ventures and Kae Capital. The round also saw continued backing from 8i Ventures and DevC, and comes just six months after the startup raised $7.1 million in seed funding. Founded in 2024 by Prateek Jindal, the Bengaluru-based startup is building a research-led, zero-commission mutual fund advisory platform focused on providing unbiased investment advice at significantly lower costs than traditional models. PowerUp Money operates as a SEBI-registered Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), a structure it says ensures advisory recommendations remain aligned with long-term investor outcomes rather than product commissions. The startup wil use the raised capital to strengthen its research and advisory capabilities, scale its flagship subscription product PowerUp Elite, launch a new fully ...
Aerospace and defence electronics company CoreEL Technologies raises $30 million in funding
CoreEL Technologies, a Bengaluru-headquartered aerospace and defence electronics company, has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by ValueQuest Scale Fund with participation from existing investor 360 ONE Asset. The round saw a majority inflow from ValueQuest Scale Fund, while 360 ONE Asset, which led CoreEL’s Series A round, increased its stake in the company. Founded in 1999, CoreEL Technologies designs, manufactures and supplies advanced electronic systems and sub-systems for the Indian aerospace and defence sector. Its products are deployed across next-generation avionics, radars, missiles, electronic warfare systems, military communications (MILCOM) and sonars. The company’s customers include the Ministry of Defence, defence public sector undertakings and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The fresh capital will be used to scale manufacturing capacity, strengthen research and development and product engineering, and support participation in...
Zerodha's Rainmatter, founders, angel investors invests $3 million in EV startup Naxatra Labs
Electric vehicle and industrial motor startup Naxatra Labs has raised $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Rainmatter , the venture investment arm of Zerodha, as the startuo looks to scale manufacturing and deepen its product portfolio in a fast-growing electric motor market. The round also saw participation from a group of founders, operators and angel investors, including Mohit Tandon of Delhivery, Himanshu Aggarwal of Aspiring Minds, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Aloke Bajpai of Ixigo, Anupam Jalote of iCEM, Narayan of Ather Energy, Soumitra Sharma of Operators Studio, and Hemant Daga of Neo Assets, among others. Founded by Piyush Verma, Abhilash Maurya and Arnav Biswas, Naxatra Labs designs and manufactures high-efficiency electric motors for electric vehicle and industrial applications. The startup develops motors end to end, spanning electromagnetic design, validation and manufacturing. Over the past four years, it has built a proprietary R&D stack and moved mult...
OYO’s parent PRISM gets shareholder approval to raise Rs 6,650 crore via IPO
PRISM, the parent company of OYO, has received shareholder approval to raise up to Rs 6,650 crore through a fresh issue of equity shares as part of its proposed initial public offering (IPO). The approval was granted at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on December 20, 2025, where shareholders cleared the special resolution to undertake the IPO, subject to regulatory approvals and market conditions. Shareholders also approved a bonus issue of equity shares in the ratio of 1:19, with December 5, 2025 fixed as the record date to determine eligible shareholders. The EGM approvals come as PRISM advances preparations for a public listing after multiple deferrals in the past, including an aborted IPO attempt during a period of heightened scrutiny around governance, valuation, and business sustainability. Since then, the company has simplified its capital structure, raised capital through private placements. PRISM, formerly known as Oravel Stays, formally adopted its new name earlier t...
SBI Mutual Fund sells 18.18 lakh Delhivery shares for about Rs 74.45 crore
SBI Mutual Fund has reduced its stake in Delhivery, selling 18.18 lakh shares of the logistics company on December 22 to bring its shareholding down to 5.69%, according to an exchange filing and disclosures under SEBI’s Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) regulations. The sale represents a 0.24 percentage point reduction from the fund house’s earlier holding of 5.93%. Based on Delhivery’s closing price of Rs 409.20 on the BSE on December 22, the transaction is estimated to be worth about Rs 74 crore. Following the sale, SBI Mutual Fund now holds around 4.25 crore shares, equivalent to 5.69% of Delhivery’s paid-up equity capital. SBI Mutual Fund holds Delhivery shares through multiple schemes and has been steadily trimming its exposure over the past two years. The fund had disclosed a 7.91% stake in April 2023. As per Delhivery’s shareholding pattern for the quarter ended September 2025, SBI Mutual Fund held a 6.41% stake through the SBI Equity Hybrid Fund. Delhive...
Chalet Hotels to launch new premium brand Athiva as demand strengthens
Incoming CEO Shwetank Singh said strong wedding season demand, MICE travel, and leisure movement drove solid performance in the second half, with double-digit growth in occupancy and room rates expected to continue.
NCLT Clears Merger of Amazon India’s Logistics and Marketplace Arms
The Bengaluru bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the merger of Amazon India’s logistics and transport arm…
Oyo parent Prism gets shareholders’ nod for Rs 6,650 crore IPO
Oyo's parent company, Prism, has secured shareholder backing for its initial public offering. The company plans to raise up to Rs 6,650 crore through fresh equity shares. Shareholders also approved a bonus share issuance. These approvals are significant steps towards Prism's public listing. Recent financial performance shows strong profit and revenue growth for Oyo.