Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (November 28, 2025)

From awareness against intimate partner violence and chronic-disease burdens to deeptech innovation and the country’s first ecommerce IPO, here’s everything you need to know this week.

Featured Stories

Why intimate partner violence is a structural problem that needs to be tackled at different levels

According to a recent report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN partners, in India, nearly 30% of women in the age group 15-49 years have faced intimate partner violence (IPV) at some time in their lives.

One in five women faced IPV in India in 2023, the report added.

It also pointed out that nearly one in three women worldwide, about 840 million, have faced intimate partner or sexual violence at some point in their lives, a number that has barely shifted since 2000. In just the past year, 316 million women (11% of those aged 15 and above) experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner. Progress has been alarmingly slow, with global rates declining by only 0.2% per year over the last two decades.

Read more here.

This ex-IAF pilot and team want to modernise India’s defence and industrial security

As an Indian Air Force pilot, Chandan Singh Rathore often observed that emergencies would often overstress the systems meant to handle them. “Different systems don’t talk to each other,” he explains. “Sensors are not talking to the command centre, which is not talking to the person on the ground, who is not talking to the decision-maker.” 

Rathore realised this gap existed across military bases, refineries, airports and power plants—places where delay of even minutes can cost lives or huge losses. That insight sparked an idea and eventually led to the birth of CoreShield, an IIT Delhi-based deeptech defence and security startup founded in 2023. 

Rathore joined hands with Rana Amit K Navin and Bhavya Kumar to bring together expertise across the defence forces, cybersecurity, and defence-tech software engineering.

Read more here.

Meesho IPO set to deliver stellar gains for co-founders and early investors

Ecommerce company Meeshois set to launch its IPO next week, bringing massive gains for its co-founders and shareholders, as it makes India's first ecommerce public market debut.

The IPO price range is set between Rs 105 per share and Rs 111 per share, valuing the offering at Rs 5,421.05 crore, around $5.6 billion at the upper end of the range.

Meesho Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO Vidit Aatrey holds 11.1% stake in the company, which is currently valued at Rs 5,245 crore, marking a whopping 1,850x return since inception. Aatrey plans to offload a small portion of his holdings, acquired at an average price of Rs 0.06 a share, which is worth Rs 9.6 crore.

Read more here.

From AI to Abundance: The top 10 business books of 2025

Business books have a knack for meeting the entrepreneurial moment. In 2025, avid readers and stakeholders across industries reached for books that explained how markets work and how technology, geopolitics, and purpose are reshaping them. 

Interesting broad themes included artificial intelligence (AI) as both a subject and a tool, deep dives into geopolitics and corporate power, leadership and the purpose at work, and the stories of successful businesses and their leaders.

We at YourStory have curated a list of the top 10 business books that were published this year, which you should get your hands on.

Read more here.

India’s prevention network is growing, but so are its chronic diseases

India is building one of the world’s most ambitious preventive-care ecosystems, hoping that early detection and digital monitoring can slow down the country’s rising tide of chronic diseases.

But a new analysis by the Tony Blair Institute released earlier this week warns that India’s prevention efforts, though unprecedented in scale, may struggle to keep pace with the rapid growth of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

To meet this challenge, India is expanding the Ayushman Arogya Mandir (AAM) network. With over 170,000 health and wellness centres that now anchor India’s primary care system, these facilities house maternal and child health services, non-communicable disease (NCD) screening, family planning, and telemedicine access, becoming the first point of care for millions.

Read more here.

Other News

India sees $5.3B in PE/VC investments in October

Private equity and venture capital investments in India rose to $5.3 billion in October 2025, up 9% from both the previous month and the same month last year, according to the Ernst & Young–Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association report. However, the number of deals fell to 102, which is 9% lower than October 2024 and 30% lower than September 2025.

PIPE deals were the largest category at $2.1 billion, followed by start-up investments at $2 billion. Overall pure-play PE/VC funding hit $5 billion, the highest in more than a year, even as real estate and infrastructure investments declined sharply. Financial services attracted the most capital at $2.9 billion, ahead of ecommerce.

Investor exits also slowed, dropping to $640 million across 14 deals, with public-market sales making up most of the value. The biggest exit was Advent’s $186 million sale of a 2% stake in Aditya Birla Capital.

MiniMines signs MoU with Karnataka to set up critical minerals refining facility

MiniMines Cleantech Solutions has signed an MoU with the Government of Karnataka to set up a Rs 350 crore Giga Critical Minerals Refining Complex in Bengaluru. The company will establish the facility with the Department of Electronics, IT and Biotechnology. The first phase will have a refining capacity of 15,000 MTPA and create a domestic supply of high-purity lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and graphite. The project will support sectors including EVs, renewable energy, aerospace, defence and electronics, and generate an annual throughput of 13.4 thousand tonnes.

The complex will use MiniMines’ patented Hybrid-Hydrometallurgy process and house an R&D and training centre. It is expected to create over 1,500 jobs, achieve an annual turnover of Rs 1,300 crore and contribute Rs 200 crore in GST revenue once operational.

Zomato and Blinkit hold Delhi camp to help delivery partners access welfare schemes

Zomato and Blinkit held a Government Scheme Facilitation Camp in Delhi as part of their nationwide drive to help delivery partners access central and state welfare schemes. Organised with Haqdarshak, the Delhi event was the third camp after Bengaluru and Mumbai and was attended by Minhaz Ahmad, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Since April 2025, the initiative has enabled registrations for over 6,800 delivery partners, unlocking more than Rs 150 crore in entitlements. At the Delhi camp, over 340 partners enrolled for schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, ration cards, e-Shram, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and the Karnataka State Gig Workers Insurance Scheme.

The drive is part of Eternal’s wider efforts to support delivery partners, which include SOS ambulance services, accidental insurance and maternity benefits.

(The article will be updated throughout the day with latest developments and news)