SoftBank is gearing up for a major return to India’s startup ecosystem, with fresh investments planned for 2026, according to Sumer Juneja, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. After a nearly three-year slowdown in new India deployments, Juneja confirmed that the Japanese investment giant is preparing to re-enter the market with renewed conviction. In an interview with Moneycontrol, Juneja said SoftBank is “confident it will deploy capital” in India again and made it clear the firm has no intention of missing the next wave of startup growth. “We don’t want to be out of the game,” he said, emphasising that…
Author: Adarsh Kumar
A New Vision for the Future of Search Perplexity AI has rapidly become one of the most disruptive forces in the global artificial intelligence landscape. At a time when traditional search engines overwhelm users with thousands of links and ads, Perplexity introduced a refreshingly bold idea — deliver direct, accurate, and well-cited answers instantly. Instead of making people “search,” it helps them “know.” This powerful shift in experience positioned Perplexity as the next major evolution in information access. Within months of its launch, the platform attracted millions of users who were tired of outdated search experiences and wanted clarity, speed,…
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has informed the Lok Sabha that around 12.68 lakh official email accounts across various ministries and departments have been migrated to a Zoho-based cloud email platform. Of these, 7.45 lakh accounts belong to Central government employees. This represents only a small portion of the 50.14 lakh-strong Central government workforce. According to MeitY, the migration was executed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which continues to be the authorised provider of official email services. Zoho was selected as the Master System Integrator after MeitY floated a 2023 tender to transition government email services…
Blue and grey collar recruitment platform WorkIndia is set to raise ₹114.35 crore (approximately $13 million) in a new funding round, marking its first major capital infusion in nearly three years. The investment will come from Aavishkaar Capital, existing investor BEENEXT, and the company’s co-founders Nilesh Dungarwal and Moiz Arsiwala, according to regulatory filings. WorkIndia’s board has approved the issuance of 3,067 CCPS and 100 equity shares at ₹2,27,369 per share, enabling the company to raise ₹72 crore. New investor Aavishkaar Capital will contribute ₹50 crore, while BEENEXT will invest ₹22 crore, strengthening its position as one of the largest…
British insurer Prudential plc has sold a 4.5% stake in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company (ICICI Pru AMC) for ₹4,900 crore (approximately $545 million), just a day before the fund manager’s highly anticipated $1.2 billion IPO, which opens on Friday. ICICI Pru AMC operates as a joint venture between ICICI Bank, which holds a 51% stake, and Prudential, which owns the remaining share. The latest transaction drew interest from several marquee global and Indian investors. Buyers included the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), family offices of Azim Premji and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, along with major Indian insurers such as SBI Life,…
BYT Capital has announced the launch of its ₹180 crore deep-tech venture fund, designed to support high potential scientific and engineering led startups in India. The fund aims to accelerate frontier innovation across sectors such as space technology, life sciences, clean energy and robotics areas increasingly critical to India’s long-term technological competitiveness. The fund is helmed by Amit Chand and Hunny Kumar. Chand brings over 20 years of experience across corporate strategy, entrepreneurship and early-stage investments, while Kumar draws on a decade of venture investing expertise from his role as co-founder of FAAD Capital. With strong early commitments and over…
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Coastal Cloud for $700 million (around ₹6,286 crore) in one of the largest deals in its history. The acquisition strengthens TCS’ position as a global leader in AI-led digital transformation and significantly deepens its presence in the fast-growing Salesforce services ecosystem. Founded in 2012, Coastal Cloud is a multi-cloud Salesforce Summit Partner known for enterprise-scale transformation projects. The firm specialises in AI-driven advisory services and business consulting across Sales, Service, Marketing, Revenue, CPQ, Commerce, and Salesforce Data Cloud. Its nominations to the Salesforce Partner Advisory Board give…
From a hostel room to global conversations, Prabhu Agarwal is designing a completely newsystem for the next generation of pilots. The Aviation Industry Has Grown. The Pathway Into It Hasn’t. Aviation inspires millions of young people, yet the path to entering the industry remainsconfusing for most students. High costs, scattered information, outdated regulations and theabsence of transparent guidance make the dream of becoming a pilot feel out of reach formany. This is the gap Prabhu Agarwal noticed long before he turned nineteen. While most teenagers think about exams and college admissions, Prabhu kept returning toone question. Why does the journey…
Uber India has taken a major strategic leap beyond ride-hailing by launching Uber Direct, its first B2B logistics service in the country, enabled through a partnership with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). The new service allows ONDC-listed merchants to tap directly into Uber’s large nationwide delivery network. At launch, Uber Direct is fulfilling grocery deliveries for partners such as Zepto and KPN Farm Fresh, with plans to expand into restaurant deliveries, e-commerce shipments, and additional categories across more cities in the coming months. Prabhjeet Singh, President of Uber India & South Asia, said the initiative is designed as…
India is confronting an unprecedented surge in GST fraud, with new government data revealing over 55,000 cases of fake invoicing and input tax credit (ITC) theft detected since FY23 — involving ₹1.61 lakh crore in suspicious transactions. Officials warn that fraud networks have evolved into a parallel industry, built on revived shell entities known as “sleeping modules.” These dormant companies are being reactivated to issue bogus invoices without any actual supply of goods, enabling downstream buyers to illegally claim ITC. The scale of the problem has escalated sharply: A worrying trend is the misuse of dormant pharmaceutical firms, which come…