Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 4, 2026)

YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors.

Featured stories

Former Swiggy, Zomato executives launch AI startup Profound; raise $1.5M

Former Swiggy and Zomato executives Anuj Rathi and Prashant Parashar have launched Profound, a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup, and raised $1.5 million in seed funding.

The round saw participation from Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy co-founder Nandan Reddy, former Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah, Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur, WhatsApp Global Head Kunal Shah, and OfBusiness co-founder Bhuvan Gupta.

Early-stage venture capital firms Stellaris Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital also participated in the round.

Profound plans to use the fresh capital to expand its engineering and product teams, strengthen its AI capabilities, and accelerate the development of its matching and introductions engine.

Read more

Nazara Technologies posts Rs 82.47 Cr net loss in Q1 FY27

Gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 82.47 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared with a net profit of Rs 51.34 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The loss was primarily driven by a Rs 62.41 crore share of loss from associates and an impairment loss of Rs 21.81 crore related to its remaining investments in associates operating in the real-money gaming business.

Revenue from operations declined 14% year-on-year to Rs 428.77 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 498.77 crore in the year-ago period.

The company attributed the reported decline in revenue largely to the deconsolidation of NODWIN Gaming from August 2025. Excluding the impact of the deconsolidation, Nazara said its comparable consolidated revenue grew approximately 9% year-on-year.

Read more

Funding news

Sorin leads Rs 30 Cr investment in agentic AI startup Kily

Sorin Investments has led a Rs 30 crore investment in agentic enterprise AI startup Kily, with participation from Razorpay and Wyser Capital.

Founded by Sankalp Mehrotra, Anurag Singh, and Sharad Chitlangia, Kily develops AI agents designed to help consumer brands manage operations across ecommerce and quick commerce platforms.

The startup’s platform uses AI agents to autonomously manage operations, decision-making, and workflows for brands and sellers across digital commerce channels. It continuously analyses marketplace signals alongside a brand’s business context, objectives, and operational constraints to make decisions and execute workflows.

According to the company, the technology is aimed at helping brands improve growth, profitability, and operational efficiency across leading ecommerce and quick commerce platforms.

Other news

Anicut Capital, The Chennai Angels partner to boost early-stage startup investments

Alternative asset management firm Anicut Capital and angel investment network The Chennai Angels have entered into a strategic partnership to strengthen early-stage startup investing in India through a Category I Alternative Investment Fund (AIF).

The partnership will focus on increasing equity investments in early-stage startups by providing structured capital support.

Under the arrangement, startups that meet the investment criteria will have an opportunity to raise capital through the AIF structure. Investments made through the fund will appear as a single investor on a startup’s cap table, rather than as multiple individual angel investors.

Dabur partners with Accenture to expand AI adoption across operations

FMCG major Dabur India has partnered with Accenture on a multi-year initiative to expand the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics across its business operations.

As part of the collaboration, Accenture will help Dabur build a unified data infrastructure by bringing together internal and external, as well as structured and unstructured, datasets into a centralised data lake.

The initiative builds on Dabur’s existing investments in cloud infrastructure and digital core modernisation.

Dabur plans to use the data infrastructure to deploy control towers and digital dashboards that provide real-time visibility into key business metrics and performance.

The company will also use advanced analytics and AI to identify revenue growth and cost optimisation opportunities, improve supply chain responsiveness, and increase visibility across functions including finance, procurement, marketing, and sales.

BikeWo Green Tech to acquire majority stake in ENlite EV Care

BikeWo Green Tech Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire a majority stake in electric vehicle service and maintenance company ENlite EV Care.

The proposed acquisition will enable BikeWo to expand its electric mobility portfolio into vehicle servicing, maintenance and lifecycle support.

As part of the deal, BikeWo plans to establish a network of EV Care Centres focused primarily on B2B customers and commercial EV fleets operating across segments such as last-mile delivery, logistics and fleet mobility.

The centres will offer services including preventive maintenance, diagnostics, repairs, battery and electrical system support, periodic servicing and fleet uptime management.

According to the company, the service network is aimed at helping fleet operators reduce vehicle downtime, improve performance and manage operating costs as the adoption of EVs across commercial mobility segments increases.

Mohalla Tech to invest up to Rs 100 Cr in AI-generated micro-dramas

Mohalla Tech, the parent company of ShareChat, Moj and Quick TV, plans to invest up to Rs 100 crore through 2026 to scale the production of AI-generated micro-dramas.

AI-generated micro-dramas currently account for nearly 10% of the company's overall content mix, with Mohalla Tech expecting the share to increase to 30-40% by the end of 2026.

The company plans to use the investment to expand its in-house AI capabilities, hire talent and scale AI-assisted content production workflows. It expects AI-led production to reduce production costs by as much as 70%.

The announcement comes as Mohalla Tech sees increased consumption of episodic short-form content across its platforms. The company said its platforms are recording around 850 million episodic video plays a day, translating to more than 680 million minutes of daily viewing.

QWEEN partners with Perfect Corp to launch 3D virtual jewellery try-on

Luxury jewellery brand QWEEN has partnered with AI and augmented reality technology company Perfect Corp to introduce a 3D Virtual Try-On experience for its customers.

The technology will allow consumers to virtually try on QWEEN's jewellery in real time and assess how pieces look and fit before making a purchase or visiting a physical store.

The virtual try-on solution will use Perfect Corp's physically based rendering (PBR) technology to digitally reproduce elements such as gold, diamonds and gemstones, including their texture, reflection, proportion and movement.

The technology is designed to support up to 2,300 SKUs and will enable customers to assess the scale, fit and finish of jewellery beyond static product images.

Mintoak acquires Dubai-based fintech ICC Loyalty

Payments and engagement platform Mintoak has acquired Dubai-headquartered fintech ICC Loyalty, expanding its presence across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ICC Loyalty provides loyalty and rewards technology to more than 30 banks. Its platform enables financial institutions to offer personalised rewards, targeted campaigns and customer engagement programmes.

The company currently serves more than 11 million customers across over 10 countries.

Through the acquisition, Mintoak will expand its offerings beyond merchant payments and value-added services to include customer engagement, loyalty and rewards.

The deal will also enable Mintoak to offer banks a unified platform catering to both acquiring and issuing businesses, as the company looks to help financial institutions generate revenue beyond payments.

Livlong 365 launches SurgiCare for planned surgery coordination

Healthtech and wellness platform Livlong 365 has launched Livlong SurgiCare, a surgery care coordination service aimed at supporting patients through elective and planned procedures, from diagnosis to post-surgery recovery.

Under the service, patients will be assigned a dedicated SurgiCare Manager who will coordinate different aspects of the surgery journey, including booking consultations, collecting medical reports, shortlisting hospitals and surgeons, and managing hospital admission and discharge.

The service will also assist patients with cashless insurance approvals and coordinate post-operative care, including nursing and physiotherapy. SurgiCare will offer support across four areas — pre-

surgery planning, in-hospital navigation, insurance claim assistance, and at-home recovery and follow-ups.

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