STARTUP
Snacks, sunscreen and speed: How Zepto plugged into India AI Impact Summit
Set up within weeks outside Hall 3, Zepto ran a compact dark store and café for AI Summit delegates, processing over a hundred orders an hour despite restricted hours.
STARTUP
AI Summit: Revenue not critical for early AI startups; investors seek 'proof of progress', says Activate’s Aakrit Vaish
Vaish told Moneycontrol that AI investing in India remains experimentation-led, with capital flowing to very early-stage startups still validating products and use cases.
BUSINESS
Gen AI, agentic AI boosting productivity 10X at Lenskart, says CEO Peyush Bansal
The eyewear retailer is deploying AI to analyse thousands of demand signals, from store data to what consumers wear on Instagram, watch in local content and follow online, to sharpen products, plan store expansion, Bansal told Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
SoftBank bags $7.4 billion from India exits; portfolio value stands at $13.7 billion
The Japanese investment major has made 24 investments in India through its Vision Funds, with eight portfolio companies listing on public markets and four full exits
BUSINESS
SoftBank posts $1.6-billion Q3 profit, Vision Fund gains $2.4 billion on OpenAI valuation boost
Over the nine months through December, SoftBank booked $19.8 billion in cumulative gains tied to OpenAI, reflecting the sharp rise in the company’s fair value
BUSINESS
Showroom B2B in talks to raise $17 million in funding from Cactus Partners, others
The funding round, raised through a mix of equity and debt, will help the B2B apparel sourcing platform scale manufacturing-led execution and deepen partnerships with organised retailers and brands, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Supertails raises $30 million led by Venturi to expand clinics, vet care, quick delivery
The Bengaluru-based company plans to expand its veterinary clinic network from four to 15 locations in the next six months and scale its dark store footprint to around 60 facilities across Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai by the March quarter-end, as it sharpens its focus on faster growth and deeper engagement in India’s pet care market, co-founder Vineet Khanna told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
VCs with AI focus triple in India as investors earmark more capital for the sector
A total of 16 funds, with an AI focus, secured fresh capital of about $1.8 billion, compared with five funds that raised $358 million in 2024, according to Venture Intelligence data sourced by Moneycontrol.
STARTUP
Quick commerce not taking spotlight away from food delivery; experimentation will continue: Swiggy’s Rohit Kapoor
Even as Instamart scales rapidly and quick commerce emerges as a larger addressable market, Swiggy’s food delivery chief tells Moneycontrol the company is backing multiple growth engines in parallel, with experimentation in food delivery continuing independently of performance in other verticals, while maintaining 18–20% growth guidance for the segment.
BUSINESS
‘Not going to throw good money at bad growth’: Swiggy Instamart’s Amitesh Jha says competitive intensity is hurting healthy growth
Even as competition in quick commerce intensifies, Swiggy’s Instamart is choosing to walk away from discount-led order chasing, arguing that customer retention, basket size and value proposition — not headline volumes — will determine long-term market leadership.
BUDGET
Budget 2026: Food delivery ecosystem pushes for tax relief as costs pressure mounts on restaurants
With delivery growth increasingly constrained by pricing sensitivity and thin margins, restaurant partners and platforms are pushing for GST clarity, lower compliance costs and policy stability to sustain online demand
BUSINESS
Flipkart veterans Peeyush Ranjan, Mukesh Bansal launch AI-first edtech startup Fermi.ai
The high-school STEM platform is live in India and the US and is currently free, as the founders test a mastery-first approach to AI-driven learning, Ranjan tells Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: AGR relief should be applied universally across telecom sector, says Rajan Bharti Mittal
The Bharti Enterprises vice chairman tells Moneycontrol that policy clarity on legacy dues, high taxation and regulatory approvals are critical to sustaining investment in networks, 5G expansion and satellite broadband services
BUSINESS
Escape Plan raises $25 million Series A led by Jungle Ventures; IndiGo Ventures comes in as strategic investor
The travel gear startup will use the fresh capital to aggressively expand its offline retail footprint, sharpen pricing to enter new geographies beyond top urban markets, and build a nationwide omni-channel platform, founder and CEO Abhinav Pathak told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Twice at the brink, now at the top: Albinder Dhindsa’s astronomical rise at Eternal
Bound by a two-decade friendship and deep personal ties to Zomato — including Dhindsa’s wife Akriti Chopra being among its early co-founders — Deepinder Goyal's trust in Albinder Dhindsa has endured doubt, tension and testing to culminate in the group’s biggest leadership bet yet.
STARTUP
Bistro lost nearly Rs 150 crore in three quarters, earned under Rs 20 crore as Eternal tests quick food delivery
CFO Akshant Goyal said the drag on earnings stemmed from investments in building and operating kitchen infrastructure in-house, rather than a marketplace-led approach
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: JSW-made cars to hit Indian roads by Diwali, says MD Parth Jindal
Jindal told Moneycontrol that the new venture will be JSW Group’s biggest-ever consumer foray and a multi-billion-dollar bet on electric and new energy vehicles, as the conglomerate looks to localise low-cost EV technology and scale up manufacturing in India.
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: Never seen the Europeans so angry, mood subdued as geopolitics dominates, says JSW’s Parth Jindal
Jindal told Moneycontrol that drying up of foreign inflows and a weakening rupee have become key risks for Indian companies as investors turn risk-averse amid global uncertainty.
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: Quick commerce not a fad, model is here to stay, says RPSG’s Shashwat Goenka
Goenka told Moneycontrol that rapid urban adoption and improving unit economics are making ultra-fast delivery a sustainable retail format, with the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group integrating quick commerce as a core part of its retail operations.
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: Gig economy now India’s ‘third pillar’, delivery partners paid over Rs 5,000 cr last year, says Swiggy’s Rohit Kapoor
Swiggy’s food marketplace chief Rohit Kapoor told Moneycontrol that gig work should not be equated with formal employment and must be regulated as flexible work. He added that future growth in food delivery will come from affordability and first-time users rather than city expansion, amid slowing growth in the sector.
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: World not prepared for another pandemic as outbreak risks rise, says WEF’s Shyam Bishen
Climate change, geopolitical conflicts and supply-chain disruptions are driving more disease outbreaks, but global health systems remain poorly prepared, Shyam Bishen told Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
Davos 2026: Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission positions India as healthcare pathfinder for Global South, says WEF’s Shyam Bishen
India’s population-scale digital health infrastructure allows countries to build interoperable systems and deploy AI to improve access and efficiency, Dr Shyam Bishen told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
National Startup Day: $151 billion raised, 118 unicorns minted in 10 years as ecosystem recalibrates
A decade after the government launched the Startup India programme, the ecosystem has come moved through a full funding cycle, from steady early growth to a peak in 2021 and a more selective investment phase since
STARTUP
Inside Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart’s speed engine: How your quick commerce orders really arrive in 10 minutes
As protests by delivery workers and a government advisory on ultra-fast delivery bring fresh scrutiny to quick commerce, Moneycontrol traces how groceries move from dark stores to doorsteps — and how incentives, infrastructure and timing shape the last mile.
