Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 24, 2026)

YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Monday, August 24, 2026.

Monday August 24, 2026 , 11 min Read

Sports continue to emanate inspiring stories as Indian consumer brands attract investors attention, YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors.

Paris heartbreak to Glasgow gold: How Jaismine Lamboria trained her mind to become world champion

Boxer Jaismine Lamboria didn’t let a setback at the 2024 Paris Olympics deter her. She worked on both body and mind, and the results followed. Gold at World Boxing Cup, World Boxing Championships title, and Commonwealth Gold at Glasgow recently. Next up: LA28.

UPI completes 10 years, clocks nearly 13,000-fold rise in transaction volume

Transactions on the UPI platforms which now hosts 703 banks crossed Rs 24,162 crore in FY26 rising from the level of Rs 1.78 crore in FY17.

Third Wave Coffee raises Rs 408 Cr in funding round led by WestBridge Capital

Third Wave Coffee, a homegrown coffee and QSR food brand, has raised Rs 408 crore in a funding round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital, comprising a mix of primary and secondary capital. The round also saw participation from Creagis and other angel investors.

Skincare startup Asaya bags Rs 88 Cr in Series A round

Skincare brand Asaya has raised Rs 88 crore in a Series A round led by RPSG Capital, with participation from OTP Ventures, Huddle Ventures, Hyperscale Ventures and 72 Ventures.

WATER raises $2.5M to develop physical AI platform

WATER, a physical AI company developing intelligent adaptive surfaces, has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by Endiya Partners. The round also saw participation from Pullela Gopichand, Chief National Badminton Coach of India; Rohit Chennamaneni, co-founder of Darwinbox; Nandan Reddy, co-founder of Swiggy; and other angel investors.

The funding will support technical validation of WATER’s AI model and its ability to transfer intelligence across products and users. The company is developing FLOW, an adaptive chair, and CAMA, an adaptive bed, powered by its VORTEX foundational model. The technology senses and responds to the human body in real time, covering posture, movement, sleep, recovery and respiration. WATER plans to extend the technology to automotive, aviation and other sectors.

Be Clinical raises Rs 21 crore in seed funding

Clinical skincare brand Be Clinical has raised Rs 21 crore in a seed funding round led by Sauce. V3 Ventures, backed by Verlinvest, and several angel investors also participated. The investors include Mokobara founders Sangeet Agrawal and Navin Parwal, Reckitt executive Arjun Purkayastha and Shaunak Chirayu Amin.

The company plans to use the funds for product innovation, portfolio expansion, research and development, manufacturing capacity and entry into new markets. Founded by Hemangi Dhir and launched in May 2025, Be Clinical focuses on clinically tested formulations and dermatologically active ingredients designed for Indian skin and conditions. The company says its products undergo clinical testing for safety and efficacy. It has delivered 1.2 lakh orders since launch and reported strong repeat purchases.

Yantra Packs raises Rs 12 crore to expand reusable packaging

Yantraksh Logistics, which operates under the brand Yantra Packs, has raised Rs 12 crore in a funding round led by Caret Capital. The round follows earlier institutional backing from Impact Infracap and will support the company’s next phase of expansion. Yantra Packs plans to expand its reusable packaging pool across India’s manufacturing corridors, strengthen its operations and engineering teams, and develop Trakkia, its proprietary network intelligence platform for managing packaging assets.

The company provides manufacturers with access to reusable packaging capacity without the capital investment, operational responsibilities or disposal burden associated with ownership. Initially focused on automotive manufacturing, its infrastructure-as-a-service model can also serve industrial manufacturing, engineering, consumer products and retail sectors, where reusable packaging can replace disposable alternatives.

Other news

IIT Madras develops AI platform for sustainable materials discovery

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed an AI platform designed to accelerate the discovery of sustainable, high-performance materials for sectors including electric vehicles, aerospace, renewable energy and marine infrastructure. The researchers used large language models to extract and organise decades of scientific knowledge from more than 10,000 research papers, creating one of the world’s largest publicly available databases of advanced metallic alloys.

The platform enables scientists and manufacturers to identify materials offering improved performance and environmental sustainability more quickly. The databases and supporting software have been made freely available through the Alloy Tattvasar platform and GitHub. The initiative could reduce the time and cost involved in materials discovery, while helping avoid repeated experiments and supporting greener manufacturing and clean-energy technologies.

IDFC FIRST Bank, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park launch sustainability programme

IDFC FIRST Bank has partnered with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park under IGNITE, a startup incubation programme of FIRST IMPACT, to launch a pan-India incubation programme for sustainable business solutions. The initiative will provide Rs 2 crore in total support, including a Rs 1.36 crore startup grant corpus, to help emerging companies strengthen business models, expand market reach and create measurable environmental and social impact. The programme will support startups working in green manufacturing, recycling and waste upcycling, cleantech, renewable energy, water and wastewater management, environmental technologies and sustainable use of local resources. Sixteen startups will be selected through a competitive process and receive business diagnostics, mentoring, bootcamps, expert guidance and networking opportunities. Top-performing startups will also receive performance-linked grants to accelerate growth and scale.

Zoomcar, Uber partner to offer self-drive and chauffeur-driven options

Peer-to-peer car-sharing platform Zoomcar has partnered with Uber to make road-trip planning more convenient for travellers. Under the partnership, users searching for self-drive vehicles on the Zoomcar app will also be able to discover and book Uber Intercity rides when they prefer chauffeur-driven travel. The integration allows customers to compare self-drive and chauffeur-driven options in one place and select the service that best matches their requirements.

The collaboration covers select routes for both one-way and round trips and is aimed at travellers seeking greater flexibility and access to mobility services. The integration has gone live in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai, with plans to expand to additional cities. The companies said the partnership combines two complementary travel options and caters to changing preferences among Indian travellers.

Smartworks adds Rs 235 crore in contracted rental revenue

Managed office platform Smartworks Coworking Spaces has added Rs 235 crore of incremental contracted rental revenue through expansion mandates from existing clients, including Fortune 500 and Forbes 2000 companies. The leasing revenue comes from engagements with tenures of up to 60 months and adds to the company’s Rs 5,400 crore contracted rental revenue base as of June 30, 2026.

The new mandates include clients from engineering and technology services, IT services and global infrastructure consulting. Several are expanding advanced technology and AI capabilities through their India centres. Enterprise customers account for around 92% of Smartworks’ revenue, while approximately 35% comes from multi-city clients. The company has also secured expansion capacity in prime locations for FY27 and FY28, with some capacity locked for FY29.

Slice appoints Samir Sawhney, Ramesh Kumar to board

Fintech company slice has appointed Samir Sawhney as Executive Director and Ramesh Kumar as Independent Director. Both appointments have been approved by the slice board, while the Reserve Bank of India has also approved Sawhney’s appointment as Executive Director.

Sawhney brings more than three decades of banking experience across India and international markets, covering treasury, investment management, retail operations, marketing and human resources. He previously served as chief executive of RMBS Development Company and spent over 34 years at State Bank of India.

Kumar brings more than 30 years of experience across banking, financial services, technology and digital innovation. He spent two decades at ICICI Bank, where he led technology strategy and digital banking platforms. He has also worked with slice as an advisor during its merger with North East Small Finance Bank.

WazirX launches AI trading assistant

Crypto exchange WazirX has launched WazirX AI, an intelligent trading assistant designed to help users research crypto markets, understand portfolios and identify trading opportunities from a single interface. Integrated into the WazirX app and website, the AI agent can answer questions, provide researched insights supported by charts and enable users to approve trades.

Before a transaction, WazirX AI displays a live portfolio update and uses users’ risk preferences to recommend an appropriate position size. The platform follows an “Ask-Understand-Decide” model, coordinating market data, technical analysis, portfolio information and order management across multi-step requests. The company said the tool is designed to simplify the journey from identifying a market opportunity to making a trading decision, without requiring users to switch between charts, news feeds, signal groups and trading screens.

Cyient unveils new brand positioning, ‘Nothing Less’

Engineering services company Cyient has unveiled a new brand positioning and promise, “Nothing Less”, reflecting its evolution as a Global Lifecycle Engineering Services leader. The refreshed positioning focuses on combining engineering expertise, domain knowledge, human intelligence and AI across the product lifecycle. The company said the new positioning will anchor its go-to-market strategy and represent its ability to support customers throughout the lifecycle of products and assets.

Cyient describes “Intelligent Engineering” as its approach to bringing together engineering, digital and industry expertise to improve performance, reliability and growth. Its second pillar, “Embracing Intelligence”, focuses on combining people, data and AI to support better decisions and outcomes. The company said the new brand positioning reinforces its focus on delivering long-term value and exemplary outcomes rather than limiting its role to individual projects.

Cognizant named Leader in four GCC services assessments

Cognizant has been recognised as a Leader across four industry analyst assessments covering Global Capability Centre services. ISG, NelsonHall, HFS Research and Avasant highlighted the company’s AI Builder model as a key differentiator in helping enterprises convert AI investments into measurable business outcomes. The assessments recognised Cognizant’s ability to help companies design, build, operate and transform GCCs from traditional delivery centres into AI-led innovation hubs.

Analysts highlighted its end-to-end GCC expertise, AI-led execution, partner ecosystem and integrated approach covering work, workforce and workplace. Cognizant said GCC competitiveness will increasingly depend on embedding AI into operating models, workflows and business functions rather than simply increasing AI spending. Its AI Builder model incorporates AI-led productivity, industrialised AI deployment and agentic capabilities into GCC operating models.

Avaana, DPIIT announce Grand Jury for deeptech challenge

Avaana Capital, in partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Startup India, has announced the Grand Jury for the third edition of the Avaana–Startup India Grand Challenge for Deep Tech Innovation 2025–26.

The challenge received more than 800 applications, reflecting growing activity across India’s deep-tech startup ecosystem. Following a multi-stage evaluation, 12 finalists have been selected to present their innovations to the Grand Jury on August 27. The 15-member jury includes representatives from policy, industry, academia and capital. Winners will receive equity-free monetary awards, mentorship, industry pilot opportunities and access to follow-on funding pathways. The previous editions of the challenge have together provided approximately Rs 2.5 crore in grants, supporting startups in moving from technology validation towards commercial deployment.

Rohit Sharma joins LightFury Games as investor

Game-tech studio LightFury Games has announced Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma as an investor, making him the eighth cricketer to back the company. Rohit joins MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan as strategic investors in the studio. He will also feature as an officially licensed player in LightFury’s upcoming cricket game, eCricket.

The company said Rohit’s experience at the highest level of the sport and understanding of competitive cricket will contribute to the game’s development. eCricket is designed as a social and competitive cricket experience aimed at a global audience. The game has already attracted more than 300,000 fans and is scheduled to begin a phased closed beta rollout in September 2026, with community feedback shaping its development ahead of launch.

SNITCH opens five stores, takes India network to 131

Menswear brand SNITCH has strengthened its offline retail presence by opening five new stores in Kolkata, Pune, Nashik, Patiala and Noida. The latest expansion takes the company’s total store count in India to 131, as it accelerates its omnichannel strategy across metro and emerging markets. Each store features more than 1,000 styles across over 13 categories, covering everyday essentials, elevated basics, occasionwear and trend-led fashion. The company continues to invest in its growing retail network as part of its strategy to combine physical stores with its digital presence.

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