Meet the faujis who swapped uniforms for startups
From a company that provides financial investment planning services to building a security firm, veterans are bringing military discipline to startup building.
Happy Independence Day!
India’s freedom struggle is often remembered through a relatively small cast of familiar names. But many women who fought the Raj remain far less celebrated. On India’s 80th Independence Day, HerStory writes about 10 such women and why we need to remember their names today.
Meanwhile, as a generation growing up with more choices, greater access to information, and a stronger vocabulary around identity, freedom for Gen Z looks different from what it did for their parents. YourStory reached out to some of them to understand their perspectives and dreams. Here’s what we found.
Speaking of dreams, the country’s ambitious solar observation programme is paying off nearly three years after it was launched. Data from Aditya-L1 is providing scientists vital clues about the inner workings of the Sun, BBC reports. Published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, new research offers fresh clues to a longstanding mystery: why the corona–the Sun’s outer atmosphere–is considerably hotter than its surface. The answer lies in a combination of ‘bubbly motions’ and ‘tangled magnetic field lines’.
Back on Earth and in the country’s startup ecosystem, manufacturing platform Zetwerk has filed updated papers with market regulator SEBI for an initial public offering (IPO), comprising a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 2,600 crore. Promoters Amrit Pratik Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan and promoter group entity Creovate Innovation will offload shares through the OFS.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Former military personnel building their second innings as entrepreneurs
- Why India is rethinking its startup investment playbook
Here’s your trivia for today: Where is one of the only surviving Indian flags hoisted on August 15, 1947, preserved today? (Scroll down for the answer)
Inspiration
Meet former military personnel-turned-entrepreneurs
On this Independence Day, YourStory spoke to former armed forces personnel who are now entrepreneurs. From a company that provides financial investment planning services to building a security firm, veterans are bringing military discipline to startup building.
Next chapter:
- Former Wing Commander, IAF, Anthony Anish is currently co-founder and managing partner at Factoryal, a startup and SME consulting and growth advisory firm.
- Col Sanjeev Govila (retired) joined the Army when he was 16. After 27 years of serving the country, he wanted to pursue something else and so began his venture ‘Hum Fauji Initiatives’. The company helps people in the armed forces manage their money and investments.
- Chandan Singh Rathore, a retired Indian Air Force pilot, started Coreshield, an IIT Delhi-based deeptech defence and security startup in 2023.
< Funding Deals of the Week>
Startup: Yulu
Amount: $93M
Round: Series C
Startup: Centricity
Amount: $29.3M
Round: Series A
Startup: FA Gifts
Amount: ₹100 Cr
Round: Undisclosed
Venture capital
India is rethinking its startup investment playbook
For a decade, the central government has backed venture funds without picking companies. The numbers are telling. SIDBI’s annual report records gross commitments of Rs 11,808 crore across 153 alternative investment funds under a single scheme. Those funds, in turn, put roughly Rs 25,548 crore into 1,371 startups by the end of 2025.
The ‘arm’s-length model’ is by design rather than an accident, and it has a specific Indian history behind it. It also stands in sharp contrast to what the two largest economies have done with public risk capital over the years.
Follow the money:
- India adopted the fund-of-funds model after earlier experiments with direct state-backed venture investing produced mixed results. Being a limited partner allows the state to supply the capital while leaving experts to curate the portfolio.
- The country is quietly shifting its strategy via multiple initiatives. For instance, the Research, Development and Innovation Scheme now allows up to 25% equity stakes, while the recent semiconductor programme directly matches private venture rounds on identical terms.
- RDI and Semicon 2.0 mark a major shift towards allowing public capital to take direct equity stakes on company cap tables.
News & updates
- Pokémon fever: A new blockbuster in the market. Nintendo shares closed 7% higher in Japan on Friday after it said that sales of “Pokémon Pokopia” topped 5 million units on its flagship Switch 2 console. The game hit the milestone just over four months after it launched on March 5.
- To the moon: An early backer in SpaceX, Google-parent Alphabet has seen its investment in the company multiply 100-fold. Alphabet has a stake worth about $94 billion at the end of June compared with the $900 million investment it said it made in the Elon Musk firm.
- Edtech: PhysicsWallah started the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year with a 24% increase in revenue from operations to ₹1,054 crore. Its consolidated net loss narrowed 30.5% to ₹88 crore for the period, even as margins improved.
Where is one of the only surviving Indian flags, hoisted on August 15, 1947, preserved today?
Answer: Fort St. George Museum, Chennai
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