Bengaluru food delivery startup Swish raises $38M: its third round in 18 months
Swish has more than doubled its valuation in a year as its full-stack, hyperlocal model positions ultra-fast food delivery as a high-frequency habit.
Oura enters India’s smart ring market with the Ring 4
Finnish smart ring maker Oura is finally launching in India, taking on local rivals such as Ultrahuman in a relatively young smart ring market that is becoming price-sensitive thanks to an influx of low-cost options.
Walmart-backed PhonePe shelves IPO as global tensions rattle markets
PhonePe has paused its planned IPO, delaying a major liquidity event for investors including Tiger Global and Microsoft.
Google, Accel India accelerator choses 5 startups and none are ‘AI wrappers’
Google and Accel say about 70% of AI startup pitches tied to India were “wrappers” as they reviewed more than 4,000 applications for their Atoms cohort.
Unacademy to be acquired by upGrad in share-swap deal as India’s edtech sector consolidates
The deal comes after Unacademy’s valuation plunged from $3.5B to under $500M, as India’s once-booming edtech sector struggles.
Ride-hailing inDrive acquires Pakistan’s Krave Mart to bolster grocery delivery
inDrive has closed its acquisition of KraveMart, expanding grocery delivery in a market dominated by Foodpanda.
India neobank Fi winds down banking services on its platform
Fi, founded by former Google Pay executives, is discontinuing banking services over four years after launch.
Uzbekistan’s Uzum valuation leaps over 50% in seven months to $2.3B
Uzum now reaches 20 million users and processes $11B in payments as it expands its e-commerce and fintech ecosystem across Uzbekistan.
Flipkart moves its headquarters back to India ahead of IPO
Flipkart’s headquarters shift comes as the Walmart-backed e-commerce giant reaches about $30 billion in GMV.
Push for $40 smartphones builds momentum, but still faces cost hurdles
A coalition of telecom operators and device makers is pushing $40 smartphones to bring up to 20 million people online, but rising component costs threaten the plan.