Software company CraftifAI, restaurant chain Babai Tiffins, biomanufacturing startup Intrinsic Foundries, Exponent Energy’s fintech and asset management arm Exponent One, edtech startup Beep, AI-led transformation provider Navikenz and e-commerce platform HomeRun have raised early-stage funding.
AI-embedded software startup CraftifAI has raised $3 million (around Rs 27.2 crore) in seed funding led by Ankur Capital, with participation from IvyCap Ventures, Capital-A, Antler and other investors.
The company said the fresh capital will be used to expand its engineering and go-to market teams as it targets global embedded, edge and IoT markets.
Founded in 2025 by Pratik Sharda and Yashwant Dagar, CraftifAI is building CraftifAI Orbit, an agentic AI platform aimed at automating embedded software development for edge, IoT and AI-enabled devices.
The platform supports automated, hardware optimised code generation and AI or ML deployment, with the goal of reducing development time and costs. The startup is targeting industries such as robotics, drones, industrial IoT, automotive and consumer electronics, and has secured pilot projects with several Indian OEMs as well as a US listed semiconductor company.
Babai Tiffins, a quick service restaurant chain focused on pure vegetarian Andhra cuisine, has raised Rs 15.5 crore (around $1.7 million) in a funding round led by Warmup Ventures and CDM Capital.
Warmup Ventures invested Rs 6 crore and CDM Capital Rs 4.25 crore, with participation from nX Capital Partners, 888VC, IPV, Thyrocare founder Dr A. Velumani, Open Secret founder Ahana Gautam and String Ventures co-founder Shivam Mishra.
The company plans to use the capital to expand from three to 10 outlets over the next two years, strengthen its supply chain, hire senior leadership and invest in technology.
Founded by Allu Siva Rama Krishna Reddy and Ravi Morampudi, Babai Tiffins operates three outlets in Bengaluru and serves nearly two lakh orders a month, with an annual revenue run rate of about Rs 50 crore.
Intrinsic Foundries, a carbon-to-value biomanufacturing startup, has raised Rs 12 crore (around $1.3 million) in seed funding led by Transition VC. The Hazaribagh-based company converts industrial carbon emissions into high-value biochemicals using proprietary microbial biorefinery systems, including microalgae-based photobioreactors.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to run industrial pilots, expand research and intellectual property filings, scale up engineering and commercial teams, strengthen manufacturing capabilities, and set up a US entity to support global expansion.
Founded in 2023 by Shreyansh Jain, Sanjay Jain and Umang Jain, Intrinsic aims to make carbon capture commercially viable by turning emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement and refineries into inputs for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries.
Bengaluru-based energy-tech firm Exponent Energy has launched a fintech and asset management venture, Exponent One, to address financing gaps in the commercial electric vehicle segment.
The new entity will be led by financing and mobility veteran Sandeep Divakaran as co founder and chief executive officer. Exponent One has also raised $2 million (around Rs 18 crore) in pre-seed funding from AdvantEdge Founders to support its early rollout across key commercial EV hubs.
Exponent One will focus exclusively on commercial electric vehicles, including three wheelers, light commercial vehicles, buses and trucks. The platform aims to offer adaptive, earnings-linked financing and lifecycle management solutions tailored to driver-owners and small fleet operators.
Beep, a Pune-based edtech startup focused on career access for students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, has raised $850,000 (around Rs 7.7 crore) in a pre-Series A round.
The round saw participation from Knowhere Ventures LLC, Pacific Global Solutions Limited and LeadAngels FLV, along with angel investors including Vipul Prakash, founder of wowJobs, and Sandeep Johri, CEO of Checkmarx.
With this raise, the company’s total funding to date stands at $1.5 million.
Founded in 2021 by Saurabh Mangrulkar, Rakhi Pal and Yogesh Nogia, Beep plans to use the fresh capital to scale its user base to 5 million and onboard 150 additional colleges over the next nine months.
The platform currently runs more than 28 live programs across design, work-ready certification and internship tracks, and has partnered with over 1,500 colleges and 7,800 hiring companies.
Navikenz
Enterprise AI and data transformation company Navikenz has raised $7.5 million (around Rs 68 crore) in a seed equity round, taking its total funding to $11.6 million. The round was led by Sekar PRC, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Hexaware, and Sudip Nandy, former CEO of Aricent, along with participation from the founders and existing and new high-net-worth investors.
The company said the fresh capital will be used to deepen investments in AI frameworks and accelerators, expand business outreach and hire talent across key markets, including the US, UK, Europe and India.
Founded by Anjan Lahiri and Samit Deb, Navikenz works with large enterprises and global capability centres to deploy agentic AI and GenAI-driven solutions to improve productivity in workflows.
The company said its deployments have delivered over 90% efficiency gains in complex reconciliation processes and cut regulatory reporting timelines from months to days. Currently focused on life sciences and pharmaceutical clients, Navikenz plans to expand selectively into other industries.
Peak XV invests in 5 startups
Peak XV has invested over Rs 120 crore (around $13.2 million) in five early-stage AI startups in India. The investments span both consumer and enterprise applications, by backing Companion Labs, which is building vernacular AI-led entertainment experiences; Kello, a career and hiring intelligence platform; Memfold AI, which is developing AI-native workspaces; Round1, an AI-driven recruitment platform conducting over 500 interviews a day; and Zoop, an AI-powered live commerce marketplace for offline sellers.
Peak XV said it will work closely with the startups on product development, talent and go-to-market efforts as AI adoption in India moves from experimentation to infrastructure across careers, commerce and enterprise workflows.
Quick commerce platform for construction and home improvement materials HomeRun has raised Rs 60 crore (around $6.6 million) in a Series A round led by Sorin Investments, which invested Rs 40 crore.
The remaining capital came largely from Titan Capital Winners Fund, along with Sparrow Capital, Consumer Collective by Atrium and Helios Holdings.
Launched in 2024, HomeRun delivers branded construction and renovation materials such as cement, plywood, electricals and plumbing supplies within 60 to 90 minutes through a network of hyperlocal dark stores. It sells to homeowners and contractors facing supply delays and pricing opacity.
The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand into new cities, strengthen direct sourcing and supply-chain capabilities, scale up its dark store infrastructure and invest in fulfilment technology.
British International Investment (BII) has invested an additional Rs 43 crore (around $4.7 million) in EV-battery infrastructure provider Turno to support the launch of ElectricGo, its new e-bus business unit.
The investor said that the funding will enable the financing of 34 intercity electric buses across India, strengthening the country’s clean mobility ecosystem.
The move builds on BII’s initial investment in Turno in 2024 and aims to make large-scale EV financing more viable through lifecycle intelligence and second-life battery deployment.
Separately, BII said it has surpassed its $1 billion climate finance commitment in India for the 2022 to 2026 strategy period, with total investments reaching $1.1 billion.
The UK’s development finance institution said its climate portfolio in India spans clean energy, electric mobility, sustainable agriculture and climate-resilient infrastructure, aligning with the country’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.
