Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (June 24, 2026)

From UN Women highlighting AI’s growing gender and racial bias, to JustAI’s $17 million Series A raise, YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors

Latest news

UN Women flags AI's growing role in gender and racial bias

As global leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance and the AI for Good Global Summit in July, UN Women has warned that AI systems continue to reinforce gender and racial bias against women.

UN Women is United Nations' entity dedicated to gender equality and empowerment of women globally.

Read more

Funding news

JustAI raises $17M in Series A funding led by Base10

JustAI, a San Francisco-based AI-native marketing platform, has raised more than $17 million in Series A funding led by Base10, an early-stage venture firm focused on automation. The round also saw participation from startup accelerator Y Combinator and global VC firm Peak XV Partners.

It also drew strategic backers from across growth, product, and enterprise software, including leaders from Anthropic and Chime, HubSpot’s CTO, and the founders of Eppo and Vapi.

Read more

SaffronStays secures $3.5M to expand premium holiday home portfolio

SaffronStays has raised $3.5 million in a funding round led by Infinity Ventures, with participation from family offices. The round comprised both fresh capital and a partial secondary sale by existing investor Sixth Sense Ventures. The funds will be used to expand the company's presence across leisure destinations, develop technology and product, enhance guest experiences, and grow its portfolio of managed holiday homes. 

The company reported strong growth in recent years, with inventory increasing by 70% in northern India, 90% in southern India and 200% in Goa. SaffronStays has remained profitable for four consecutive years while expanding its focus on premium and experiential hospitality offerings, says the company.

IKIN global raises $2M to expand smart supply chain security business

IKIN Global, a B2B IoT smart-security company focused on supply chain logistics, has raised $2 million in a pre-Series A2 funding round led by Unicorn India Ventures, Callapina Capital and AWE Funds. The capital will support expansion into the United States, Europe and West Asia, development of a security platform for India's oil and gas sector, and scaling of manufacturing and operations. 

Founded in 2012, the company provides smart locks and bolt seals that enable real-time tamper detection, geo-fencing, and audit trails to secure cargo movement. Over the past year, IKIN has expanded deployments from 2,500 to 10,000 trucks and recorded more than 5 million lock-unlock cycles.

LiLLBUD secures Rs 6 Cr seed funding to expand early learning product range

LiLLBUD, an early learning startup focused on children aged 0-3 years, has raised Rs 6 crore in a seed funding round led by Zeropearl VC, with participation from angel investors including Shadowfax CEO Abhishek Bansal and CRED founder Kunal Shah. The funding will support the launch of 100 new products for children aged 18-36 months, expand quick-commerce distribution, and strengthen supply-chain capabilities. 

Founded in 2025, LiLLBUD develops BIS-certified, Montessori-inspired toys and learning products designed to support cognitive, sensory and motor development. The company currently offers more than 200 products.

Other news

EMA Partners India acquires Taggd in Rs 113 Cr deal

EMA Partners India has acquired Taggd, a homegrown recruitment process outsourcing provider, in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at Rs 113 crore. The deal combines EMA’s executive and professional search capabilities with Taggd's AI-powered, enterprise-scale recruitment services, creating one of India’s largest integrated talent recruitment platforms. 

Taggd will continue to operate independently under EMA’s house of brands, retaining its leadership, operations and client relationships. The acquisition strengthens EMA’s presence across the talent acquisition value chain while supporting Taggd’s goal of enabling 1 million jobs by 2030 and expanding its access to global markets.

Flipkart Minutes expands to 1,000 fulfilment centres across 130 cities

Flipkart Minutes has expanded to 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres across more than 130 cities and 8,000 pincodes, less than two years after its launch. The quick-commerce platform reported a fivefold increase in orders following network expansion, with strong growth driven by Gen Z consumers and customers in Tier II and III markets. Smaller cities recorded 42-fold growth compared with last year as adoption broadened beyond major urban centres. 

Gen Z customers now account for over 40% of the user base. Meanwhile, demand has expanded beyond groceries into categories such as electronics, beauty and wellness. The platform works with nearly 500 D2C brands and more than 3,000 farmers through its sourcing network.

AWE Funds launches nationwide challenge for impact-focused tech startups

AWE Funds has launched the AWE Tech Innovation Challenge, a nationwide programme to identify and support technology startups developing scalable solutions for underserved and climate-vulnerable communities in India. Managed by AWE Funds and supported by the Evergreen Philanthropic Fund, Bayer Foundation, and AWE Foundation, the initiative targets early-stage and growth-stage ventures focused on healthcare, climate resilience, and sustainable agriculture. 

Selected startups will be considered for equity investments of $100,000 to $300,000, with up to five companies expected to receive funding. Participants will also gain access to investors, industry experts, and ecosystem partners through a structured evaluation and mentoring process.

Prosus launches ToqanClaw to enable no-code business app creation

Prosus has launched ToqanClaw, a no-code platform that enables businesses to create applications, dashboards, and automations through natural-language prompts. Integrated with Prosus' AI platform Toqan, the tool allows users to build and deploy business solutions without technical expertise while keeping data within a secure environment. 

Prosus plans to make the platform available to its network of more than 5 million restaurants, merchants, and entrepreneurs. The company says ToqanClaw can route tasks across more than 20 AI models and has already delivered operational improvements for several restaurant chains. Prosus also introduced Zapia, an AI assistant designed to complete multi-step consumer tasks such as bookings, scheduling and coordination.

ePlane completes full-scale eVTOL prototype ahead of testing phase

The ePlane Company has completed assembly of its full-scale electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the e200X, marking its transition from design and simulation to physical testing. The prototype, designated PT-01, integrates the aircraft's key systems into a single airframe and is designed for passenger, cargo and air ambulance operations.

The e200X will now undergo ground testing, followed by flight testing and certification activities. Developed largely with in-house systems, including the airframe, propellers, landing gear, and battery pack, the programme has reached this stage with approximately $21 million in funding. Incubated at IIT Madras, ePlane aims to commercialise the aircraft across the mobility, logistics and emergency medical services markets.

LEAD Group announces leadership changes to support growth and AI expansion

LEAD Group has announced a series of leadership appointments as it advances its growth and technology strategy. Ajay Kashyap will become the chief executive officer of Ms Curie.AI, the company's AI-focused solutions business, where he will lead the development of AI tools for personalised learning and teacher support. The company has also elevated three senior executives to its leadership team. 

Soham Mukherjee has been appointed the chief growth officer to drive expansion and school partnerships, while Indranil Banerjee becomes the chief product officer to lead product strategy and innovation. Guruprasad Holla takes over as the chief technology officer to oversee scalable and secure technology platforms. The changes support LEAD Group’s goal of expanding its reach by 2030.

SiMa.ai, Mistral Solutions partner on AI-powered autonomous drone platform

SiMa.ai and Mistral Solutions are partnering to accelerate the deployment of autonomous intelligence in the drone sector. The collaboration combines SiMa.ai's Physical AI platform and agentic software environment with Mistral's expertise in embedded systems and drone engineering to deliver a validated reference design for AI-enabled drones. 

Optimised for size, weight and power efficiency, the platform supports advanced capabilities including sensor fusion, GPS-denied navigation, obstacle detection, and autonomous mission planning, all processed on-device without cloud dependency. The reference design is intended to help drone manufacturers and system integrators reduce development timelines and is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2026.

Applied AI centre delivers early employment impact via Bengaluru job mela

Just four months after its launch, the Green Skills & Applied AI for Climate Action Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru has achieved its first major employment milestone through a job mela connecting more than 350 young job seekers with over 10 employers across technology, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, electronics, and related sectors. 

More than 100 candidates received on-the-spot job offers, while others progressed to further recruitment stages.

Established by 1M1B in partnership with Microsoft and MeitY Startup Hub, with support from the Government of Karnataka, the centre combines applied AI, green skills, and industry engagement to improve employability. The initiative forms part of a national programme aiming to equip 1 lakh young people with future-ready skills by 2030.

New Relic launches startup programme focused on AI builders

New Relic has launched New Relic for Startups, a programme offering free observability platform access and engineering support to early-stage companies building AI-driven products. Available to startups at Series A and earlier stages, the initiative includes access for five users, data-ingest capacity, and the company's AI monitoring and observability tools.

Participating startups will also receive launch support from New Relic engineers, quarterly architecture reviews, and ongoing technical guidance. The programme is designed to help small teams improve visibility across their technology stack, reduce operational risks associated with rapid AI-led development and build scalable systems as they grow.

Unicommerce partners with Swiggy Networks to streamline B2B order fulfilment

Unicommerce has partnered with Swiggy Networks to simplify B2B order processing for brands operating within the Swiggy Networks ecosystem. The integration enables brands to manage and fulfil bulk orders to Swiggy Networks warehouses through Unicommerce's centralised platform. By bringing purchase-order verification, warehouse processing, shipping, tracking and label management into a single workflow, the solution reduces manual effort and improves operational efficiency. 

The integration is designed to enhance inventory visibility, support faster warehouse replenishment, reduce stockouts and enable more reliable order fulfilment across multiple sales channels.

Navi UPI launches unified fraud prevention framework

Navi UPI has introduced Navi Secure, a unified framework that brings together its fraud prevention, risk monitoring and user protection capabilities. Designed to address evolving digital payment risks, the system focuses on early risk detection and preventive interventions rather than relying solely on post-incident reporting. 

Navi Secure combines onboarding verification, transaction monitoring, contextual alerts and risk-based safeguards to help identify suspicious payment activity, scam-related transactions, compromised devices and unsafe digital environments. The framework aims to strengthen payment security while maintaining a seamless user experience.

PeepalCo appoints Tushar Verma as VP for Banking and Institutional Business

PeepalCo, the parent company of CoinSwitch, has appointed Tushar Verma as Vice President - Banking & Institutional Business. In the role, he will lead high-net-worth and institutional business initiatives, develop strategic partnerships and build scalable banking frameworks to support the company's growth.

Verma brings more than two decades of experience across banking, fintech, digital banking and payments. Before joining PeepalCo, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Bankit Technologies and previously held leadership roles at Niyo Solutions, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HSBC. His experience includes business expansion, product development and partnership-led growth across financial services.

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