Agentic AI marketing startup helping SMBs get discovered via AI-led search workflows, capturing customers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity. As chatbots chip away from search traffic, businesses need help in surfacing. Gushwork uses AI agents to 1) automatically generate and update search-optimized content from both AI chatbots and traditional search engines, 2) build 10-20 backlinks per customer through 200-300 partner websites, 3) track inbound leads. The company has 300 paying customers, with subscriptions from $800 a month (i.e. $9-10K ACVs), with annualised revenue at $1.5M, and $3.0-3.5M annualised targetted in the next three months. 20% of Gushwork's customers get their site traffic from chat-led search. $9M seed at $33M post-money, led by SIG and Lightspeed, along with B Capital, Beenext, Seaborne Capital, Sparrow Capital, 2.2 Capital. Lightspeed led the $2.1M pre-seed at $7.5M post-money, in July 2023. Founded in Jun 2023, Delaware HQ, Bangalore based. Founders: Nayrhit (IIT Kharagpur '16; Chicago Booth MBA '23) was Product Lead at Prodigal and an Associate at Chiratae; Adithya (also IIT Kharagpur) was a Product Manager at Prodigal.

Robotics startup building a snake-like flexible robotic arm for inspection and maintenance. This is for hazardous environments where human entry can be dangerous, in shipbuilding, nuclear, oil and gas, and aviation. $2.1M pre-seed round led by pi Ventures, with Inuka Capital, Boundless Ventures, Boost VC, Turbostart, gradCapital. Founded in Jan 2024, Bengaluru based. Founders: CEO Vishrant; CTO Ayush and co-founder Prateesh started soon after IIT Kanpur '23.

AI-native GTM execution platform automating workflows for revenue teams, with a system of work and a system of insights. This is a single platform for GTM teams, unifying lead identification to deal close to account expansion, using contextual AI. $3M seed round. Founded in Jan 2025, Bangalore and SF based. Founders: CEO Arun (Bangalore Univ.; NUS MBA) was at Dell for 18 years, with leadership roles at Dell Global Displays, followed by Sprinklr; CTO Ramakrishna (Manipal Academy '03) was at Sprinklr for 10 years (SVP Engineering).

Full-stack dermatology platform, which will offer AI diagnostics, dermatologist-formulated products, clinical validation and real-time progress tracking. Ahead of launching, the company acquired HealthQ Life Science, the parent company of D2C skincare brand SKINQ. ₹34CR (~$3.7M) pre-seed led by Spring Marketing Capital, with Stride Ventures. Founded in Apr 2025, Delhi based. Founders: Hitesh (Delhi Univ. '02) and Bhisham (Visvesvaraya Technological University '03; IBS Hyderabad '08) co-founded The Man Company together, Ashish was Co-Founder & CBO of Clensta (personal care) after serving as SVP at Mamaearth.

EV battery technology startup focused on fast-charging and long-life battery systems for medium and heavy duty vehicles. The complete battery technology stack has been built in-house, from its BMS, liquid cooling systems, charging systems and IoT enabled analytics. ₹20CR seed round to scale manufacturing and product development in Navi Mumbai. Founded in Aug 2020, Mumbai based. Founders: CEO Ameya and COO Darshil at IIT Kanpur '16 and '15 respectively. Ameya is ex-Oxane Partners (IB analyst role at this tech provider for debt markets); Darshil is ex-Schlumberger (engineering).

AI-powered bulk-hiring platform focused on automating high-volume recruitment workflows, including sourcing, candidate engagement, screening and evaluation. Integrates into HMRS platforms and applicant tracking systems. $2M seed round. Other investors in the round: CareerNet. Founded in May 2024, Gurgaon based. Founders: Sharad Deharadun Institute of Technology) was at LinkedIn for eight years (Key Account Director); Kumar (Visvesvaraya Technological Univ. 12) founded Zipnip, after dev roles at Zuma (AI for real estate) and WittyParrot (AI content for enterprise).

Building a network of clinics for outpatient gastroenterology and liver-care. Currently operates one clinic in Delhi NCR with plans to expand into Chandigarh, Punjab and other parts of northern India. $1M seed round, from 15 angels including Amitoj Singh, Aman Rajpal, Ankur Kathuria (Alpha Wave Global), Juhi Bhatnagar (Forj Capital), Deepak Garg. Founded in Sep 2024, Delhi based. Founder & CEO Akshat Kumar (Kasturba Medical College '10; Wharton MBA '19) was at McKinsey in NY (close to seven years).

Develops hydrogen-compatible micro gas turbines (MGT) for distributed power, mobility and aerospace use cases. The MGT is an advanced propulsion system, similar to a jet engine, capable of running on 100% hydrogen, natural gas, or blended fuels. India has 227 GW of installed diesel generator capacity which is primarily used as backup or captive power and can be replaced by cleaner alternatives. $1M (~₹9CR) seed round. Founded in May 2024, Bangalore based. Founders: CEO Tapisj (IIT Kanpur '09) spent seven years at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (post-doc, then scientist); CTO Ugandhar (BITS Pilani '03: Univ. of Southampton '22) was an engineer GE Aviation for close to 12 years.

AI-driven wealth management platform, with an intelligence layer that analyses portfolios and acts as a financial planner and wealth advisor. $1.3M pre-seed round. Other investors in the round: Amit Gupta, Amit Agarwal, Mohit Aron. Founded in Nov 2024, Bangalore based. Founders Apurv and Ankur are both IIT Kanpur '00. Apurv was CTO at Cohesity (nine years) and was at Google for eight years; Ankur was at Google for 17 years, most recently as Director of Engineering and Bangalore Site Lead for Ads.

Lending infrastucture SaaS platform to power origination, underwriting, analytics and collections for NBFCs and FinTech lenders, reducing opex by 30% and processing times by 50%. The company operates a fully automated Loan Origination System, works with 20. lenders and processes more than 30K loans per month. It has processed loans of over ₹100CR, currently at ₹200CR annualised. ₹4CR seed round. Founded in Apr 2022, Gurgaon and Calcutta based. Founders: Raman (Panjab University GGDSD College '01; MDI Gurgaon '15) is from corporate banking roles at Deutsche Bank, Tata Capital and HDFC, before heading the commercial credit bureau in India for CRIF (credit bureau); Sudipta (The University of Burdwan '04; IBS Hyderabad '06) is from Tata Adminstrative Services, with six years at Tata Capital (Deputy VP of Corporate Finance) and close to eight years at Tata Steel (Head of Retail Business).