BUSINESS
Sarvam AI $250 million funding round: Bessemer Venture Partners joins while Accel opts out
The Sarvam deal is being done by Bessemer’s US team. Their San Francisco-based Partner, Sameer Dholakia, is engaging with the company, which is being valued at $1.5 billion post-money, as first reported by Moneycontrol on March 24.
BUSINESS
Swiggy investor relations head Abhishek Agarwal quits
Agarwal's replacement has yet to be identified, sources told Moneycontrol. Swiggy's share price is down over 37% since listing in November 2024 and now has a market capitalisation of Rs 74,128 crore ($7.9 billion).
BUSINESS
Eloelo’s pitch deck reveals micro-drama boom: $230 million ARR, 27 million monthly users log 2 billion minutes amid funding talks
Riding on the micro-drama wave, the Eloelo group has also tapped investment bank Avendus to raise over $50 million in a fresh funding round, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Zetwerk files confidentially for IPO
Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, Avendus Capital, Pantomath Capital and the Indian units of HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs are bankers to the issue.
TECHNOLOGY
Dream11 targets 50 million monthly active users with creator-led push during IPL 2026
Dream11 parent Dream Sports now operates like a 'private equity-meets-incubator' after splitting into 11 businesses, CEO Harsh Jain told Moneycontrol
STARTUP
Wonder why Indian founders haven't been quicker on AI; not seeing enough energy: Lightspeed’s Bejul Somaia
We're beginning to see the excitement on the consumer economy front but I'm not seeing that level of entrepreneurial energy around AI. It's up compared to a year ago, it's up meaningfully, but it should be 10X, he said in an interview to Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
MC Interview: IPOs are just a financing event, companies must accept where markets are: Lightspeed's Bejul Somaia
In a conversation with Moneycontrol, Somaia also said secondary share sales remain a preferred liquidity route, adding that Indian founders should move faster on AI.
ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE
Dream11 parent to enter stockbroking with Dream Street
Dream Street plans to offer AI-led investing tools to attract new users and provide deep research insights, Dream Sports CEO Harsh Jain told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Nvidia, Accel and HCLTech in talks to invest in AI startup Sarvam’s $250 million round at $1.5 billion valuation
Negotiations are still underway and more investors have shown willingness to back Sarvam, sources told Moneycontrol. This will be the largest capital infusion into a pure-play Indian AI startup and likely make the company the first unicorn of 2026.
BUSINESS
Greenoaks in talks to invest in Indian AI data centre startup Kluisz's $25 million round
This will be Greenoaks' second deep-tech bet in India in a span of about three months or so. Moneycontrol reported in December 2025 the US-based investor was discussing an investment in Airbound's $30 million round.
BUSINESS
Valuation, not just war, may have delayed Walmart-backed PhonePe’s IPO plans
Multiple investors noted that the company's high valuation ask, coupled with concerns over its lack of profits and high ESOP costs, played a role in pausing the IPO process
COMPANIES
Temasek, ChrysCapital in shortlist for EQT’s stake in CitiusTech
EQT is looking at a valuation north of $2.2 billion for CitiusTech, with the last round with co-investor Bain Capital struck at $2.45 billion
BUSINESS
Fintech Jupiter's plan to pick stake in State Bank of Mauritius India arm falls through
SBM's new management and the Mauritius government were not keen on the partnership. Jupiter to focus on achieving breakeven over the next 14 months
INDIA
No dosas, no omelettes: Infosys trims food court menus across Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai amid LPG crunch linked to Iran–Israel war
In an email to staff on March 11, the company said it is dealing with an "impending situation" related to the availability of LPG, prompting operational adjustments beginning March 12.
BUSINESS
Drone startup Kalam Labs in funding talks with Deepinder Goyal, Globaz Technologies
For the company, also backed by Lightspeed, Y Combinator and others, Goyal's investment is part of a larger $5-7 million round, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
FirstClub in talks to raise $50 million from Peak XV, Sofina and others doubling valuation in under six months
The company is being valued at around $250 million more than double from $120 million just six months ago, showing businesses with a layer of quick commerce continue to be a favourite among investors, sources told Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
AI hype is overdone, job fears overblown: NR Narayana Murthy and Aditya Puri offer a reality check
In a recent and rare joint interview, the Infosys founder and former HDFC Bank CEO weighed in on the the advancements around artificial intelligence and why there is too much negativism on job losses.
BUSINESS
AI Summit: “Don’t slot India as a Small Language Model country”, says Sarvam cofounder Pratyush Kumar
Addressing earlier criticism, Kumar said skepticism was fair but stemmed from misunderstanding the company’s strategy. “You don’t suddenly start running. You crawl, you walk, and then you run,” he said.
BUSINESS
AI summit: "Govt's grant an important catalyst for Sarvam, don’t want to mindlessly train large models", says Cofounder Pratyush Kumar
At the Summit, Sarvam unveils Kaze smart glasses, plans to open-source LLM weights and scale foundational AI innovation
BUSINESS
Over-pivoting on building everything locally puts India at a disadvantaged position: Zscaler’s Jay Chaudhry
He argued for a combination of locally built technology combined with external software stack especially in critical and sophisticated areas like cybersecurity
BUSINESS
Provocative but not accurate: Cisco's Jeetu Patel reacts to Vinod Khosla jibe about company
Patel defended Cisco after Vinod Khosla's jibe about company, saying the venture capitalist's remarks are 'provocative, but not accurate'
INDIA
‘Was sort of confused': OpenAI’s Sam Altman on awkward exchange with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei at AI summit
I was sort of confused, like when he (PM Modi) grabbed my hand and put it up. I just wasn't sure what we were supposed to be doing, Sam Altman told Moneycontrol
TECHNOLOGY
Incredible small language AI models emerging at low costs in India: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
"I didn't think then, and I don't think now, that you can make a frontier model for $10 million. In fact, if anything, I would just say that it's gotten harder. The total complexity and costs have gone up," Sam Altman told Moneycontrol.
TECHNOLOGY
AI Summit: India tops Gen AI enrolments globally on Coursera, logs 3 sign-ups per min, says CTO Mustafa Furniturewala
With over 4 million GenAI enrolments from India and three sign-ups per minute, Coursera’s CTO says the country’s young workforce is driving rapid upskilling as AI reshapes coding and the software development lifecycle.
