News

In a move to bolster the startup ecosystem in Tamil Nadu, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister T.M. Anbarasan unveiled Smart Cards for startups on Wednesday. This initiative, spearheaded by the Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (StartupTN), aims to provide crucial support to budding entrepreneurs.

Attentive, an AI based SaaS startup, has bagged $7 million in its Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, with participation from existing investors Peak XV Partners and InfoEdge Ventures. Tenacity Ventures will also come onboard the cap table through a secondary investment, the firm said.

SaaS startup Attentive, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based commercial landscape and construction software provider, has raised $7 million in a funding round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.

At a time when the future of Paytm s payments business is being questioned due to a regulatory crisis, sources say that the fintech major is putting the finishing touches to a deal to acquire Bitsila, an interoperable ecommerce startup. Bengaluru based Bitsila is currently the third largest seller side platform by transactions on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), sources said.

As leaders worldwide discuss the importance of measuring ROI on data, compute, and talent, alongside balancing innovation with environmental and ethical considerations, NTLF 2024 will delve into how AI is revolutionizing industries, emphasizing the need for businesses to adapt to significant changes and adopt AI across various sectors swiftly.

Tamil Nadu s startup ecosystem has grown exponentially since the DMK came to power, MSME minister T M Anbarasan said on Wednesday in the last two years, the number of registered startups in TN has increased from around 2,300 to more than 7,600, and more than 50% of these are women led, he said at an event to launch a slew of initiatives by StartupTN

Varanium Capital is a global asset management firm which has USD 1.4 billion in AUM. It has a FinTech focused fund and has so far invested in 14 startups, including the likes of Easebuzz, Bharat Housing Network, GetVantage, Riskcovry, and Finvu.

In 2023, the capital scarcity posed significant challenges for the Indian startup scene as well, impeding the money raised by cutting edge tech companies and delaying the opening of new businesses. Startup funding reached a seven year low in 2023 and fell back to levels seen in 2017.

The Innovation Fund announced in the interim budget could be a potential gamechanger for the innovation ecosystem in India. Such enablers are critical, as only 4.3% of private sector firms in India spend on research and development (R&D), which is low compared to the world average of 14% (World Bank data).

The Make in India initiative in space technology is a strategic approach to boost domestic manufacturing, innovation, and self-reliance in the space sector. The self-reliance in space technology caters to both the upstream and downstream sector.