New entrepreneurs overtake old money; Pocket-sized metabolic monitoring

Hello,

Air India has topped the charts—for all the wrong reasons.

Government data showed it logged the highest technical defects during the year, to the tune of 139 defects. Air India Express, Air India Group’s low-cost carrier, reported a whopping 95 technical defects, while Air India reported 44 technical defects during the year till November.

However, there has been a dip from the 253 technical defects that Air India alone reported in 2024.

Meanwhile, InterGlobe Aviation, which operates domestic carrier IndiGo, reported 101 technical defects till November 2025, a sharp rise from 46 defects reported in 2024. 

The budget carrier has more woes to tackle. India’s competition regulator has said it is reviewing allegations of antitrust violations by IndiGo, following recent flight disruptions that hit air travel nationwide.

These disruptions have highlighted the risks a near-duopoly brings to India’s aviation market, where IndiGo and Air India together hold a more than 90% share.

Moving on, why are all the major AI companies scrambling to offer freebies to the Indian public?

Simple answer: training data. OpenAI, Google and Perplexity’s fight for AI users in India is part of a strategy seen as a way to harvest troves of multilingual training data in the world's most populous nation.

If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• New entrepreneurs overtake old money
• Pocket-sized metabolic monitoring
• Transforming science and math learning

Here’s your trivia for today: In which city was the crime fighting organisation Interpol founded?

Insight

New entrepreneurs overtake old money

India’s wealth story is undergoing a quiet but decisive reset. For decades, wealth was inherited, protected, and quietly compounded within a cluster of influential business families. But not anymore. 

The IDFC FIRST Private Banking & Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2025 list makes one thing amply clear: India’s economic centre of gravity is no longer anchored only in inherited capital, legacy conglomerates, or slow-compounding businesses. It is increasingly being shaped by founders who have built fast, digital, consumer-facing, and scalable businesses in this millennium.

Structural shift:

• Eternal’s Deepinder Goyal topped the list of India’s self-made entrepreneurs, beating Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts. Goyal’s ascent reflects India’s transition from asset-heavy, physical retail models to platform-driven consumer ecosystems that monetise logistics, user data, and subscriptions, and thrive on network effects.
• The resurgence of consumer tech companies in India’s wealth map underscores the fact that investors are now backing brands with sticky users, omnichannel presence, and cross-sell potential. Lenskart’s rise, in particular, shows how digital-native brands are evolving into global retail platforms
• The Top 200 companies in this year’s list employ nearly 8 lakh people, which is roughly the population of a small country. These enterprises collectively paid Rs 8,030 crore in direct taxes, nearly double last year’s figure (Rs 4,570 crore), to the exchequer.

Funding Alert

Startup: Qucev

Amount: 131.3 Cr

Round: Equity

Startup: Oben Electric

Amount: Rs 85 Cr

Round: Pre-Series B

Startup: Nothing

Amount: $8M

Round: Community investment

Startup

Pocket-sized metabolic monitoring

Across India, millions want to take charge of their health, yet most still depend on bulky diagnostic machines, confusing reports, and delayed consultations. Even with everyday issues such as fluctuating energy levels, rising blood pressure, or unexplained headaches, people rarely know what is actually happening in their bodies. 

This gap between everyday wellness needs and accessible health monitoring inspired Hyderabad-based Maddikatla to develop EYVA, a pocket-sized, non-invasive metabolic health device, under its parent company, BlueSemi.

Non-invasive monitoring:

• The company’s health tracker measures glucose stability, blood pressure, oxygen levels, heart rhythm, and metabolic history, while the paid app, EYVA, available on Android and iOS, uses AI to hyper-personalise insights.
• Designed in-house, the device is manufactured through 15+ contract partners across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and other locations. Following its 2012 unveiling, the startup’s first paying users came from a large waiting list of 7,000 people.
• The startup has raised about $3 million so far, reaching up to a pre-Series A round. The startup’s FY24 revenue was around $25 million, and it claims to have grown 2.5x in FY25 revenue.

Education

Transforming science and math learning

Connecting the Dots, a Bengaluru-based non-profit began 12 years ago with a simple but powerful idea—to teach science and mathematics in ways that inspire children rather than intimidate them. 

Moving away from the traditional “rote-learning” practice and exam-oriented approach, the organisation focuses on promoting higher-order thinking and stronger conceptual understanding among teachers and students.

News & updates

• Beating forecasts: Accenture beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Thursday, buoyed by robust demand for its artificial intelligence-driven IT services as the company advances its AI strategy to capture greater market share.
• Expansion: Coinbase Global Inc has entered prediction markets and equities trading. Both services will be made available to all eligible users in the United States in the coming weeks.
• Unchanged: The European Central Bank has left interest rates unchanged for a fourth straight meeting as inflation hovers around target and the euro zone weathers global shocks.

In which city was the crime fighting organisation Interpol founded?

Answer: Vienna

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