Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (December 16, 2025)

From Flipkart getting NCLT nod to shift domicile to India to D2C haircare brand Moxie raising $15 million, YourStory brings you the latest shifts shaping India’s startup and consumer economy.

Year in Review: Tier II cities become new hotspots for GCCs

The global capability centre (GCC) story of India is now spreading its roots beyond the top metros of the country into Tier II locations, as corporations seek to reap the benefits of their presence in such cities.

India has turned into a pre-eminent destination for GCCs around the globe, and global corporations are in no mood to slow down their plans of setting up centres in the country. Now, they want to look beyond metropolitan locations.

One of the key highlights for India GCCs in 2025 has been a push towards establishing such centres in locations outside of the metros.

Today, India is home to around 1,800 GCCs generating a revenue of around $65 billion, according to various estimates. This number is projected to rise to about 2,400 GCCs by 2030, with revenue set to cross $100 billion. The segment employs around 1.9 million professionals. Read more.

Beyond the skip button: Flam is rewriting the rules of digital attention

Most digital advertisements today follow a predictable pattern: a video pops up on your screen, you skip it in five seconds, and move on. In a world where people scroll faster than brands can talk to them, attention has quietly become the most expensive commodity online. 

Bengaluru- and San Francisco–based Flam wants to change this. Instead of flat, one-way ads, the startup is building interactive, mixed-reality content that users can touch, move, or even talk to—all without downloading an app.

Flam was founded in 2021 by three college friends from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani: Shourya Agarwal (Co-founder and CEO), Malhar Patil (Co-founder and COO), and Amit Gaiki (Co-founder and CTO). 

What began as an exploration in consumer internet products gradually evolved into a full-stack mixed-reality publishing infrastructure used by more than 100 global brands. But the idea did not appear overnight. Read more.

Age, grit, and determination: These 5 women are redefining what’s possible

For women, age is frequently treated as a boundary rather than a milestone. It’s often assumed that ambition, determination, and reinvention belong to the youth. 

But women are dismantling these assumptions to prove that age is just a number, and you are as old as you feel. They are choosing purpose and adventure and focusing on giving back. 

Meet the women rethinking and reinventing ageing while being the change they wish to see in this world. Read more.

Latest news

Flipkart gets NCLT nod to shift domicile to India, moves closer to IPO

Flipkart has secured clearance from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to flip its domicile from Singapore to India. With this, the Walmart-owned ecommerce player moves closer to its public market debut dream.

According to the NCLT order, the approval allows the amalgamation of eight Singapore-incorporated entities with India-based Flipkart Internet. The combined entity will be called Flipkart Internet and will house the company's core businesses in India, including fashion marketplace Myntra and logistics arm Ekart.

This development comes after the Kalyan Krishnamurthy-led group relocated its legal entity from Singapore to India earlier this year, calling it a "natural evolution" that aligns its holding structure with its core operations. The company's board of directors had approved the re-domiciling process in April this year. Read more.

Funding news

Moxie raises $15M led by Bessemer to double down on R&D and distribution

Direct-to-consumer haircare brand Moxie has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, marking a fresh capital infusion after a $2.1 million round last year.

The round also saw participation from existing investors, including Fireside Ventures and a set of angel investors, along with new angels such as Navin Parwal, Sangeet Agarwal, and Arjun Purkayastha.

While the company does not plan to move away from the haircare category in the near term, it plans to deploy a majority of the fresh capital towards research and development. A portion of the funding will also be used to scale up the team and expand distribution, particularly across modern trade and quick commerce platforms.

The remaining capital is expected to be allocated towards working capital requirements, as rapid scaling necessitates holding higher inventory levels. Read more

Quintrans raises $750,000 pre-seed led by Capital-A

Capital-A led a $750,000 pre-seed round in Quintrans, an engineering startup building direct-drive linear motion systems for industrial automation, robotics, and equipment manufacturing.

The round also saw participation from Sumeet Kabra of RR Global, SanchiConnect, AIC-Pinnacle, and IIMA Ventures. It will use the funds to set up an in-house manufacturing and testing facility in Pune, advance R&D, and expand the engineering and operations team ahead of commercial rollout.

Founded in 2021 by MIT Pune graduates Pranay Luniya, Kartik Kulkarni, Aniruddha Atigre, and Prasanna Kadambi, Quintrans designs and manufactures electromagnetic and electromechanical linear motion components in India, focused on precision, speed and reduced mechanical wear.

Quintrans aims to scale production to around 500,000 actuators annually by 2030. It is part of the MaXcel hardware and industrial technology accelerator run by Capital-A and SanchiConnect.

Consumer appliances startup EDT raises $1.4M in pre-seed funding

EDT, a consumer appliances startup founded by Naiyya Saggi and Vyasateja Rao, has come out of stealth and announced its official launch alongside a $1.4 million pre-seed funding round led by Sauce VC, with participation from Consumer Collective, several startup founders, strategic operators and industry executives.

The startup has also received a Spark Grant from Peak XV. The capital will be used to develop new products, strengthen its R&D and design processes, and build teams in India and overseas.

EDT plans to introduce select home, kitchen and personal care appliances through pre-order and waitlist drops between January and February, starting in India, with expansion planned into markets such as the GCC and the US.

Elmentoz secures seed capital from Indian and Norwegian Angels

Elmentoz Research Pvt. Ltd., a biotechnology company focused on animal nutrition and feed solutions for poultry, aquaculture, and pet food, closed its seed funding round with angel investors from India and Norway.

The funding will support the establishment of a BSF-based protein facility in India with a planned processing capacity of 2,000 metric tonnes per month of industrial byproducts. Scheduled to become operational in January 2026, the facility will use automated and cGMP-compliant processes.

The investment will also be used to expand Elmentoz’s ELGROW and ELTIDE product lines, advance antimicrobial peptide-based feed solutions, strengthen international partnerships, and scale research, manufacturing and commercial teams.

Pet nutrition brand Right4Paws secures Rs 14 Cr in Series A round

Right4Paws, a premium pet nutrition brand owned by Coimbatore-based Pet Prakalp, raised Rs 14 crore in a Series A funding round from a group of high-net-worth individuals, with Three Pins Capital Ltd, UAE, acting as advisor.

The funds will be used to expand manufacturing infrastructure, increase production capacity, strengthen internal teams, introduce new functional and life-stage nutrition products, and widen distribution across India, with plans to build an export base.

Saregama invests in Bhansali Productions, shifts to a partnership model

Saregama India has partnered with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Productions through an equity investment, marking a shift in Saregama’s approach from in-house film production to partnership-led content sourcing.

Under the arrangement, Bhansali Productions will exclusively license the music rights of all its future films to Saregama at a pre-agreed pricing structure, providing Saregama with a steady pipeline of film music while limiting acquisition costs.

Bhansali Productions will retain intellectual property ownership and creative control, while Saregama will offer governance oversight and financial discipline.

Saregama plans to gradually scale down its own film production over the next one to two years, with the investment expected to be earnings-per-share accretive by FY27. Bhansali Productions, founded in 1996, plans to produce over 10 films in the next three years.

Swizzle secures ₹2 Cr seed funding after strong investor backing on Ideabaaz

Bengaluru-based clean-label beverage startup Swizzle has raised Rs 2 crore in a Seed funding round. The round was led by angel investors Sooraj Singh, CEO and Founder of Unibots, and Shaili Chopra, Founder of SheThePeople and Gytree.

The company said the funds will be used to accelerate Swizzle’s expansion across high-velocity sales channels, strengthen its presence in retail and HoReCa, expand production capacity, and build out its team to support the next phase of growth.

Other news

Gates Foundation appoints Archna Vyas as India Country Director

The Gates Foundation has appointed Archna Vyas as its Country Director for India, where she will lead the foundation’s work with central and state governments and other partners in alignment with India’s development priorities.

The foundation has been active in India since 2003 across areas such as health, sanitation, agriculture, education, digital public infrastructure, and financial inclusion.

Vyas previously served as Global Director for Policy and Advocacy, overseeing initiatives across growth, opportunity and empowerment, and joined the foundation in 2014 after holding senior communications and marketing roles at Reckitt.

She holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Delhi and a postgraduate diploma in business administration from IMT. Vyas succeeds Hari Menon, who has led the India office since 2019 and will move to a global role from January 2026.

Stanley Lifestyles appoints new joint managing director

Stanley Lifestyles appointed Venkataramana Seshagirirao Gorti as its Joint Managing Director. An industry veteran of over 34 years, Gorti has held senior leadership roles at ABB, GE, Oracle, Flextronics, Honeywell, Homag and Wipro Hydraulics, with extensive international exposure across the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Gorti brings deep expertise in business transformation, manufacturing excellence, supply chain optimisation and people leadership. Stanley Lifestyles operates 68 retail outlets across India and manufactures from two facilities in Bengaluru.

Stylox Fashion plans to open 100 stores annually

Stylox Fashion, a denim and casualwear brand, plans to open 100 new retail stores every year, aiming to reach 500 outlets by FY30. The brand currently operates 50 stores, with a strong focus on Tier II and III markets.

Recent store launches include locations in Dundahera, Lakhimpur and Gorakhpur, with additional openings planned in Kichha, Modinagar and Sangli. Stylox is targeting value-conscious young consumers seeking stylish, affordable menswear in emerging cities.

Persistent and DigitalOcean partner for enterprise AI adoption

Persistent Systems and DigitalOcean have partnered to make AI adoption more accessible, scalable and cost-effective for enterprises.

As part of the collaboration, Persistent has selected DigitalOcean as the cloud and AI infrastructure provider for SASVA, its AI-powered engineering platform. SASVA will leverage DigitalOcean’s Gradient AI Agentic Cloud, including high-powered GPUs, for AI workloads and deployments.

The partnership aims to reduce AI infrastructure and operational costs by over 50% while addressing challenges related to scaling, security and compliance. Both companies will jointly advance enterprise-ready AI solutions across industries.

Bluspring Enterprises unveils new brand identity post Quess demerger

Bluspring Enterprises unveiled a refreshed brand identity following its demerger from Quess Corp, marking its evolution as an independent, listed infrastructure services company.

The new identity introduces the tagline ‘Infrastructure. People. Progress.’ and unifies Bluspring’s service lines and legacy brands, including Terrier, Hofincons and Vedang, under a service-line-first architecture. The refreshed visual language reflects integration, scale and forward momentum, a statement said.

Bluspring operates across integrated facility management, security, engineering asset management, telecom networks, and food services, supported by a workforce of over 90,000 across 28 states. The rebrand will be rolled out across all digital, physical and employee touchpoints in the coming months.

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