Author: Shashank Prakash

For decades, building a billion-dollar business was synonymous with large teams, massive offices, and years of fundraising. But 2025 is rewriting the playbook. A new wave of founders — the solopreneurs — are proving that you don’t need an army to create impact. All it takes is the right mix of technology, personal brand, and relentless focus. The Power Shift in Entrepreneurship The tools available today have made it possible for one person to manage what once required entire departments. With AI handling customer service, design, and even marketing campaigns, solopreneurs are scaling faster than ever. Cloud platforms, low-code tools,…

Between August 18 and August 23, 2025, the Indian startup ecosystem witnessed yet another remarkable week of funding activity. A total of 15 startups across diverse sectors successfully raised over $277 million from domestic and global investors, reinforcing India’s position as one of the fastest-growing startup hubs worldwide. Among these, Weaver Services emerged as the biggest fundraiser of the week, securing the top spot in overall deal value. The funding activity covered sectors ranging from fintech, SaaS, e-commerce, deeptech, logistics, and consumer brands, signaling investor confidence across both B2B and B2C models. This momentum reflects the sustained global appetite for…

Investment to drive CLI’s growth across business parks, data centres, logistics and industrial sectors. MoU exchange between CapitaLand Investment and Government of Maharashtra (Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO, CapitaLand Investment India and Dr P Anbalgan, Secretary (Industries), Government of Maharashtra. Singapore / Mumbai, August 2025 — CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI), a global real asset manager, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Government, indicating its plans to invest over INR19,200 crores (S$2.83 billion1) by 2030 to drive its growth in Pune and Mumbai.   Inauguration of CapitaLand Data Centre Mumbai 01, by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore,…

Long before becoming the CEO of OpenAI and leading the rise of ChatGPT, Sam Altman began his entrepreneurial career with a location-based social networking app called Loopt. Founded in the early 2000s, Loopt was among the first startups to explore real-time location sharing—an idea that predated features later popularized by Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. Loopt – A Bold Idea Ahead of Its Time Loopt allowed users to see where their friends were, share updates, and discover nearby places in real time. It also offered features like creating photo journals and inviting friends to meet up—concepts that were considered groundbreaking at…

Bihar-based FMCG startup Mithila Foods has raised ₹1.5 crore in seed funding from AJVC, the investment firm founded by venture capitalist Aviral Bhatnagar. The fresh capital will help the brand expand its distribution, strengthen supply chains, and introduce new categories rooted in regional food traditions. A Startup Born from Bihar’s Kitchens Founded in January 2025 by Shubham Sunderka, Ankit Kumar, and Anshu Kumar, Mithila Foods is on a mission to make Bihar’s authentic food products accessible nationwide. Its portfolio already includes sattu, roasted chana, makhana, and katarni chuda—staples of the Mithila and Bihar region. Within just five months of operations,…

Apple is reportedly working on expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy for enterprise users, going beyond its recently announced integration with ChatGPT. According to reports, the company is in the early stages of developing AI solutions tailored for businesses, signaling its ambition to compete in the rapidly growing enterprise AI market. Earlier this year, Apple partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS as part of its Apple Intelligence framework. While this move gave users access to generative AI features like text generation and summarization, enterprise adoption requires a different approach—one that emphasizes data privacy, security, and…

Nazara-backed PokerBaazi has officially suspended its real-money gaming operations in India following the recent passage of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. In a stock exchange filing, Nazara Technologies confirmed that its associate company Moonshine Technologies, which operates PokerBaazi, has “ceased offering real money online gaming” in compliance with the new law. The company stated it will review the situation once the Bill is formally enacted. Impact on Nazara Technologies Nazara Technologies, which owns a 46.07% stake in Moonshine, clarified that it does not consolidate Moonshine’s revenues and has no direct exposure to real-money gaming. However, the…

After more than half a decade, TikTok’s official website has quietly become accessible again in India. While users can now visit the site without restrictions, the app itself is still missing from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese applications, was banned in June 2020 following rising border tensions between India and China. The decision was significant since India was TikTok’s biggest overseas market, with over 200 million active users. The ban left a massive gap in the short-video space, quickly occupied by homegrown platforms like Moj, Josh, Chingari, and MX TakaTak. At…

Ex‑Amazon, Cisco, Intel, and Jupiter leader to scale engineering that powers 10× faster claims, 70% AI‑led query resolution, and India’s fastest 1‑day OPD payouts Bengaluru, India  – Plum, India’s fastest-growing healthcare platform serving 6,000+ companies and 6 lakh+ users, today announced the appointment of Sankar as Head of Engineering. With over 25 years of engineering leadership experience across diverse domains and company scales—from early-stage startups to global enterprises like Amazon, Cisco, and Intel—Sankar will lead Plum’s engineering organization as the company scales its comprehensive healthcare intelligence platform. Sankar joins Plum at a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution from insurance…

Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup Ultraviolette has raised $21 million in fresh funding, led by Japan’s TDK Ventures, the venture capital arm of TDK Corporation. The round also saw participation from Zoho Corporation, Lingotto (formerly Exor Capital), and other institutional backers. Ultraviolette, which is already supported by TVS Motor Company, Qualcomm Ventures, Speciale Invest, and well-known angel investors like Sriharsha Majety (Swiggy), Ankit Nagori (Cure Foods), Aprameya Radhakrishna (TaxiForSure), and actor Dulquer Salmaan, is now preparing for its next phase of growth. Pushing the Boundaries of EV Innovation Founded by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, Ultraviolette focuses on advanced battery…