Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (November 25, 2025)

From India’s new labour codes formalising gig and contract work to government measures reducing payment risks in clean mobility transition, YourStory brings you today’s top headlines across sectors.

Featured stories

Direct Debit Mandate: How the Indian government is reducing payment risks in its clean mobility transition

India’s push to deploy 50,000 electric buses has long been slowed by OEMs’ concerns over delayed payments from public transport authorities—a problem that previously prompted major manufacturers like Tata Motors and JBM Auto to step back from government contracts. To address this, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has introduced a new Payment Security Mechanism under the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme, aimed at ensuring timely, automatic payments to bus manufacturers and operators.

At the core of the mechanism is the Direct Debit Mandate, which allows the Reserve Bank of India to directly debit funds from a state or union territory’s account if a transport agency defaults on payments. The money is then routed through a dedicated fund managed by Convergence Energy Services Ltd., ensuring OEMs are paid on time and reducing financial risk for lenders supporting e-bus projects. Read more

Also Read

India’s traffic congestion might have a complex solution: private-public partnerships

Wages, gratuity, and more: What the new Labour Codes mean for India’s workforce

India’s new Labour Codes formalise gig and contract work, redefine wages and benefits, tighten labour rules, and shift compliance systems, though many operational details await further notifications.

The four new laws: Code on Wages (2019), the Industrial Relations Code (2020), the Code on Social Security (2020) and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code (2020), replace numerous older statutes. They also establish a new structure of rights and obligations that affects workers, employers and intermediaries across the country.

According to the government, the new codes allow for modernisation with simpler compliance, fewer overlapping filings, more transparency in employment relationships and wider social protection. Read more

Founded by India’s ‘Crocin Man’ in the 70s, ENTOD is driving innovation in eye care

Founded in the late 1970s by GV Masurkar, Nikkhil Masurkar's grandfather, ENTOD Pharmaceuticals began as one of India’s earliest contract manufacturers for ophthalmic products. Nearly five decades later, it has grown into a multi-generational, 1,000-member organisation with a 250-plus product portfolio spanning ophthalmology, ENT, and dermatology, backed by strengthened R&D capabilities.

Nikkhil joined ENTOD in 2011 after completing his education in the UK. Under his leadership, Mumbai-based ENTOD is developing world-first formulations for corneal wound healing, severe keratopathies, and insulin-based ocular therapies, while also using generative AI to accelerate drug discovery.

Latest news

Google, Accel initiative targets India’s next wave of AI startups

Google’s AI Futures Fund and Accel Atoms are launching a programme to accelerate AI innovation in India, opening applications for a new cohort that will begin in February 2026 and target pre-seed startups working at the earliest stage of product development.

Jonathan Silber, Co-founder and Director of the AI Futures Fund, explained that the fund expects India’s founders to help shape the next era of global technology and said the new cohort is designed to give them responsible access to Google’s most advanced models. Read more

Funding news

Deeptech startup Morphle Labs raises $5M in Series A round from Inflexor Ventures

Morphle Labs, a healthcare automation company focused on robotic and imaging systems for cancer diagnostics, has raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Inflexor Ventures.

The funding will help Morphle Labs accelerate global market expansion and scale manufacturing for its flagship products, RoboTome and MorphoLens. Read more

LabelBlind secures $500,000 in seed funding 

LabelBlind® Solutions Pvt Ltd, an AI-led digital food labelling SaaS solution, has raised $500,000 in seed funding.

Founded in 2023, LabelBlind has positioned itself as a provider of digital food labelling solutions for domestic and international markets. Its flagship product, FoLSol®, is a regulatory intelligence platform designed to streamline labelling workflows—from label creation to validation—for packaged food, fresh food, ecommerce, and export-focused companies.

CrisprBits raises $3M at $12M valuation

Bengaluru-based biotechnology startup CrisprBits Private Limited has raised $3 million through founders, angels and family offices, bringing the company's valuation to $12 million. 

The current pre-Series A funding round was led by Spectrum Impact, the family office of Rajendra Gogri, Chairman and Managing Director of Aarti Industries Ltd. The round also saw participation from the founders and existing investors, including Vijay Alreja Family Office (VJ Technologies Group), an early supporter of CrisprBits, whose group company, VJ Bio, focuses on cell and gene therapy, aligning closely with CrisprBits’ CRISPR-driven innovation goals.

The round also brought in new investors, including the promoter family of HBL Engineering Ltd., building upon the earlier funds raised from the founders, VJ Technologies Group, and C-CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms).

The capital will be deployed to scale commercialisation of the PathCrisp molecular diagnostics platform, augmenting manufacturing capacity for high-impact tests (e.g., sickle cell, typhoid and antimicrobial resistance), food safety, and animal health. The funding will also accelerate the development of a cutting-edge strain engineering platform. 

KKR further invests in Lighthouse Learning to support next phase of growth

Global investment firm KKR and Lighthouse Learning Group today announced a fresh investment by KKR-managed funds, joined by PSP Investments. KKR will remain the majority shareholder.

Lighthouse Learning, which operates preschool and K-12 education brands such as EuroKids, Kangaroo Kids, and EuroSchool, currently serves about 190,000 students through over 1,850 preschools and 60 schools.

The new investment will support the group’s plans to expand its school network and strengthen its academic and operational capabilities.

Fintech startup Riverline AI raises $825,000 led by South Park Commons

Riverline, a fintech startup that helps distressed borrowers work with banks to resolve debt, has raised $825,000 in a pre-seed round led by South Park Commons, with participation from DeVC, gradCapital, and several angel investors.

Founded in 2024 by Ankit Sanghvi, Jayanth Krishnaprakash, and Abhishek Gupta, the company is developing AI-based debt-counselling agents that interact with borrowers in multiple languages. The funding will be used to expand its engineering team and build out the platform.

Seven months after launch, Riverline says its AI agents manage collections on about ₹100 crore of bad loans each month, working with lenders and loan service providers including CRED, Freo, Nira, and Propelld.

Brokerage firm Definedge secures maiden institutional funding round

Definedge Securities Broking Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based fintech and brokerage firm, has raised its first institutional/angel round from a group of industry veterans, including Hemant Luthra, Ajay Srivastava, D. Prasad, Nitin Agarwal and Madhusudan N. Sarda. The company did not disclose the investment amount.

Founded by Prashant Shah and Rajesh Badiye, Definedge began as a research-led investor education platform before moving into full-service broking. It offers a suite of in-house analytical and trading tools, including its well-known options analytics platform Opstra. Commenting on the investment, Hemant Luthra said the firm’s “strong domain expertise and product-first approach” made it a compelling bet for early backers.

Other news

Curefoods introduces menstrual leave policy to strengthen women’s well-being at work

Curefoods, a Bengaluru-based multi-brand food services company, has introduced a paid menstrual leave policy for its employees. Under the policy, women employees can take paid leave during their menstrual cycle, recognising the physical discomfort and related challenges they may face.

The announcement comes at a time when menstrual leave is gaining wider attention at the national level, with some states and policymakers exploring supportive workplace measures focused on women’s health. Curefoods joins a growing number of companies implementing such policies as part of broader discussions around employee well-being and workplace reforms.

AgriVijay announces successful investor exits with 400% returns following 105% YoY growth

AgriVijay, a marketplace focused on renewable and green energy products for farmers and rural households, said two of its early investors—AIC JKLU and angel investor Sanvali Kaushik—have exited with significant returns. Both had invested in the startup in 2022, ahead of its first major VC round.

The exits follow the addition of two new investors, ABIF IIT Kharagpur and banker Joginder Singh Shekhawat. With this, AgriVijay’s total capital raised since 2020 stands at ₹2.47 crore. The company has also been selected for the ANIC 2.0 Challenge by AIM & NITI Aayog 2023, through which it will receive a ₹1 crore grant to support its renewable energy solutions for smallholder farmers.

StarAgri announces the appointment of Kaizad Dastur as Group CFO

StarAgri Warehousing & Collateral Management Limited has appointed Kaizad Dastur as its Group Chief Financial Officer. He will oversee finance and reporting across the company’s businesses and subsidiaries, and help streamline coordination between finance, legal, compliance, and operational functions.

Dastur will also work on strengthening financial processes and governance as the company prepares for its next phase of expansion and a potential public-market listing.

Commenting on the appointment, Co-founder and CEO Amith Agarwal said that Dastur’s experience will support the company’s growth and financial discipline.

ChrysCapital-owned Xoriant acquires TestDevLab

Xoriant, a ChrysCapital-owned engineering and technology services company, has announced the acquisition of TestDevLab, a Latvia‑headquartered software quality engineering firm. TestDevLab’s Baltic and Macedonian delivery centres are expected to strengthen Xoriant’s European presence with access to engineering talent and EU innovation ecosystems.

This acquisition follows Xoriant’s earlier acquisitions of FEXLE Services (September 2024), MapleLabs (February 2024), and Thoucentric (August 2023). Through the acquisition of TestDevLab, Xoriant will have capabilities both in AI for quality engineering as well as quality engineering for AI.

“With TestDevLab joining Xoriant, we’re bringing intelligence and quality even closer together. It enhances our leadership in quality assurance for intelligent systems through model validation, fairness and bias testing, explainability, and safety evaluations across AI and language models,” said Rohit Kedia, CEO, Xoriant.

750AD Healthcare to expand manufacturing facilities

750AD Healthcare, the healthcare and life sciences arm of the 750AD Group, will be expanding its manufacturing facilities in Ghaziabad and Bareilly with an investment of Rs 2 crore. Founded in 2019, 750AD Healthcare is focused on ayurvedic formulations, childcare products, wellness solutions and healthcare essentials. 

The expansion of manufacturing facilities is expected to ensure consistent, large-scale production aligned with global standards. Besides, this will allow the company to serve both domestic and international markets.

Udemy forms partnership with Emtrain

Udemy has announced a partnership with Emtrain, a provider of skills-based compliance training. The partnership will provide Udemy Business enterprise customers access to Emtrain’s compliance and workplace culture training content as part of the Udemy Business learning ecosystem. In turn, Emtrain will work with Udemy leaders on existing opportunities where a consolidated skills-based approach to learning is required.

According to a statement, through this partnership, organisations will be able to develop compliance and workplace culture skills such as data privacy, anti-harassment, and AI governance through content by Emtrain on Udemy’s AI-powered platform. This can also help organisations improve employee performance by enabling skills mastery through labs and role play experiences, and validating those skills through assessments and certifications.

CloudSEK forays into UAE market 

Seed Group, a company of the private office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, has entered into a partnership with CloudSEK, a cybersecurity firm from India. This partnership will see both companies providing enterprises with cyber risk-management capabilities for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) region.

Through Seed Group’s regional insight and network, CloudSEK will address these needs with solutions that integrate threat intelligence, brand protection, attack-surface monitoring, and supply-chain security into a unified, intelligence-driven platform.