Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (June 20, 2025)

From Myntra expanding its quick commerce service to Delhi and Mumbai, to YourStory and DPIIT signing an MoU to strengthen entrepreneurship in Tier II and III cities, here are all the latest developments of the day.

Featured stories

Indian companies rush to cash in on rare earth magnet supply gap

Rare earth elements, which are used to make rare earth magnets—silver and grey metallic magnets used in everything from cars to smartphones to radar systems, were rapidly and widely adopted commercially during the 1990s to the 2000s. During this time, pre-empting the demand for rare earth magnets, China began consolidating its dominance over rare earth mining and magnet manufacturing. As of 2024, China controls over 85% of the global rare earth magnet production.

Over the years, innovations, especially those such as electrification in automotives, were structured around rare earth magnets—a dependence that has led to many original equipment manufacturers scratching their heads over possible alternatives today. Read more here.

Why this startup’s GaN bet may be key to India’s semiconductor boom

The rapid growth of critical technologies, including telecommunications, electric mobility, and energy-efficient lighting, requires high-power, high-frequency electronic systems.

A promising solution is gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors, which can tolerate higher power density and can operate at higher voltages. Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, Digbijoy Nath, and Srinivasan Raghavan set up the deeptech startup AGNIT Semiconductors in 2019. Read more here.

Making fertility treatments smarter, accessible, and effective

Ramnath Babu TJ and Santosh Bhargav DB founded SpOvum Technologies, a deeptech startup building a combination of hardware-software technologies in the field of Assistive Reproductive Technologies (ART).

With the market flooded with imported tools that didn’t address local challenges, the duo knew that they had to build something innovative and aligned with the needs of Indian clinics and patients. Read more here. 

A culinary fusion of India and Singapore

Singapore’s culinary landscape is a mosaic of vibrant cultural convergence—and nowhere is that more evident than in its uniquely hybrid food scene. From the richly spiced roti prata to the velvety teh tarik, each dish tells a story of migration, adaptation and enduring legacy. Influences from Tamil Nadu and Kerala mingle seamlessly with Malay and Chinese techniques, creating flavours that pay homage to Indian ancestors while boldly forging their own identity in Singapore’s multicultural fabric.

With India and Singapore celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations, YS Life dives into the cultural parallels between the neighbouring countries, with the spotlight on food. Read more here.

This startup promises at-home doctor consultations within 20 minutes

Founded in 2023 by Aditya Gupta, who previously worked at Pristyn Care, Kyno Health is a hyperlocal healthtech startup that offers quick general physician home visits for acute, non-emergency cases. The startup enables patients to book a home visit from a certified physician who can arrive in around 20 minutes.

Over the past two years, the company says it has completed over 23,000 consultations, maintained an average travel time of 25 minutes, and achieved a 91% patient satisfaction rate. Read more here.

Why cafés and brands are investing in the green tea wave

At Espressos AnyDay in Gurugram, matcha isn’t just a passing trend; it’s a statement. Since opening in November last year, the all-day diner has built a reputation for crafting comfort-driven yet creative matcha-based beverages. From the floral, nutrient-rich Rose and Collagen Matcha Latte to the zesty Matcha Yuzu Tonic, each drink is thoughtfully designed to let matcha shine.

This summer, the Mango Matcha Latte, with its bold, tropical notes, is a clear crowd favourite. “We noticed the matcha wave beginning around late 2022,” says Grace Muivah, Brand Lead at Espressos AnyDay. “It started online but quickly moved into real conversations at the counter.” India’s matcha market was estimated at $104 million in 2024 and is expected to hit $167 million by 2030. Read more here.

Latest news

Myntra expands rapid delivery service M-Now to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai

Myntra is taking its rapid delivery service, M-Now, to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai as it doubles down on quick commerce to meet growing consumer demand for faster fashion deliveries. The expansion is being supported by its network of more than 40 dark stores across the country.

The hyperlocal nature of the offering is supported by both Myntra's in-house logistics as well as third-party logistics players. Read more here.

DPIIT, YourStory sign MoU to empower 1 million entrepreneurs

In a landmark move to foster inclusive entrepreneurship and strengthen India’s grassroots startup ecosystem, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with YourStory Media Pvt Ltd, India’s pioneering digital platform for startups and innovation.

A strategic partner for inclusive growth, YourStory has been a driving force in India’s entrepreneurial landscape, having published over 60,000 founder stories in 12 Indian languages and enabled more than 50,000 entrepreneurs to connect with funding and networking opportunities.

This collaboration is aligned with DPIIT’s broader vision of inclusive and grassroots entrepreneurship, focusing on the empowerment of Tier II, Tier III, and rural entrepreneurs through digital and policy support. Read more here.

NxtGen rolls out AI stack for Indian enterprises

Cloud and data centre provider NxtGen Cloud Technologies rolled out a series of AI solutions for Indian enterprises, which will help them with real-world use cases on top of its sovereign cloud infrastructure. 

At a media walkthrough at its flagship Bidadi Data Centre Campus near Bengaluru, the firm showcased several AI applications, along with its GPU-powered data centre, which assists several enterprises in developing real-world and compliant AI solutions. Read more here.

Ola Krutrim acquires AI platform BharatSah’AI’yak

Ola’s AI venture, Krutrim, has acquired BharatSah’AI’yak, an AI-driven platform developed by Samagra, known for its work on government-facing solutions in education, agriculture, and governance. With this acquisition, the AI unicorn plans to integrate BharatSah’AI’yak into its large language models (LLMs), cloud infrastructure, and agentic platform Kruti, its newly launched AI assistant app.

As part of the deal, Krutrim has onboarded Samagra’s core AI team. The platform will primarily be integrated into Krutrim Cloud and its agentic AI ecosystem to deliver solutions for various government and civic applications. Read more here.

Funding news

ENRISSION INDIA CAPITAL invests in Pico Xpress

ENRISSION INDIA CAPITAL has announced its investment in the pre-Series A funding round of Pico Xpress, a quick commerce logistics company. Pico Xpress is building the essential infrastructure for quick commerce deliveries, offering speed and efficiency for deliveries ranging from 5 minutes to 120 minutes.

Founded by Aniruddha Gangopadhyay and Kamal Syal, Pico Xpress' model prioritises speed, trust, repeatability, and scale, the company said. This investment aims to accelerate Pico Xpress's mission to deliver essential goods to customers with speed.

Other news

Avaada, SCGJ launch Centre of Excellence at Avaada’ Giga Factory, Dadri

Indian renewable energy conglomerate Avaada Group, in collaboration with the Skill Council for Green Jobs, has inaugurated a Centre of Excellence at Avaada’s Giga Factory in Dadri. For the company, this initiative marks the start of a larger national roadmap to work towards a green hydrogen economy, with a specialised training program to be rolled out at the same site in the coming weeks.

The Centre of Excellence will serve as a premier hub for high-quality, industry-aligned training, capacity building, and hands-on skilling in clean energy technologies, including solar, battery storage, and green hydrogen. As part of this initiative, Avaada will launch a specialised Green Hydrogen Training Programme for supervisors and technicians. The programme will be co-certified under the TISA: Training in Innovative Solar Applications.

Broadcom unveils new private cloud tech platform

Semiconductor technology company Broadcom has announced the availability of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a platform for private cloud. According to a statement, the VCF 9.0 allows users to gain a consistent operating model for the private cloud, spanning data centres, edge, and managed cloud infrastructure from service providers and hyperscalers. It can support all applications—traditional, modern and AI. 

The statement further noted that this platform has out-of-box self-service offerings and a consistent experience that frees development teams to focus on applications instead of infrastructure. It controls costs through deep visibility and insights into resource usage that allow better planning, predicting, and optimising of cloud spend. The platform allows for higher sovereignty and security.

Capital for Impact programme sees rise in capital flow for rural entrepreneurs

Social enterprise incubator Villgro, in partnership with 360 ONE Foundation – the CSR arm of 360 ONE Group, has achieved a 7X increase in debt funding for rural social entrepreneurs through the Capital for Impact programme.

The Capital for Impact programme aims to unlock the debt for rural social enterprises working in areas of climate-resilient agriculture, rural livelihoods, and environmental innovations. To date, it has utilised Rs 2.35 crore in philanthropic capital to unlock Rs 17.9 crore in debt funding for 11 enterprises. Over the next two years, Villgro and the 360 ONE Foundation’s Capital For Impact aims to benefit over 23,000 marginalised farmers across India by expanding access to income- and livelihood-enhancing, climate-resilient solutions.

Winners of Amazon Propel Global Business Accelerator programme

Amazon India has announced Auric, ISAK Fragrances and Fix My Curls as the winners of Amazon’s Propel Global Business Accelerator Season 4. This programme has been designed to provide support to emerging Indian brands in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space to reach customers around the world using ecommerce exports. The four D2C brands were collectively awarded a $100,000 equity-free grant from Amazon to support their international growth ambitions.

Amazon India also launched Propel S5, which aims to support up to 100 high-potential D2C brands.

MathCo appoints new CFO

Global enterprise AI and analytics company TheMathCompany has appointed Venkataram GS as the new chief financial officer. Most recently, he served as CFO at Maveric Systems and has experience working in technology firms such as Mindtree, Subex, Accenture and Wipro.

Founded in 2016, MathCo builds custom AI and advanced analytics solutions for enterprises. The firm specialises in creating data-based AI modules which are designed to enhance decision-making capabilities and efficiency for sectors like consumer, healthcare, among others.

Delhivery rolls out intracity parcel delivery service with Delhivery Direct in Bengaluru

Third-party logistics player Delhivery has launched an on-demand intracity shipping service on the Delhivery Direct app in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. The service allows customers to book two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler services within 15 minutes to deliver parcels across pin codes inside the city. It was initially under pilot in Ahmedabad.

The intra-city parcel service segment is currently dominated by Kedaara Capital-backed unicorn Porter. Apart from Porter, there are smaller players, including Borzo (formerly WeFast) and Rapido.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)