Weekly VC funding falls below $100M again; How Ottonomy is building robots for real-world logistics
This is the seventh time in the year that VC funding on a weekly basis has fallen below $100 million, revealing the challenges the Indian startup ecosystem faces in raising large amounts of capital.
Dear Reader,
It’s a wrap for SEMICON India 2026, which drew investment commitments of around Rs 1 lakh crore under Semicon 2.0.
The event concluded with a spotlight on startups and student teams building on homegrown chip platforms. A report by EY and India Semiconductor and Electronics Association was also released. The report estimates India’s semiconductor market to grow from $64 billion in 2026 to $200 billion by 2035, and also lays out a roadmap for converting domestic demand and design talent into leadership across manufacturing, advanced packaging and innovation.
Highlighting the chip-making prowess the country aims to build going forward, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India should design and manufacture chips for everyday products such as cars, power systems, televisions, refrigerators, and other appliances within the next five years.
In global news, Australia’s curbs on social media seem to have won Tim Cook’s approval.
After meeting with Cook at the company’s US headquarters, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Apple’s Executive Chair had called the Australian government’s efforts “world-leading”. The government’s moves include a proposal to give users the option to select the content they see on their feeds. In December last year, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.
Meanwhile, calls for an AI kill switch are growing louder, but experts say implementing it could be a logistical nightmare.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Sharp fall in VC inflow
- How Ottonomy is building robots for real-world logistics
Here’s your trivia for today: What was Sony’s first product which was a massive failure? (Scroll down for the answer)
Funding
Sharp fall in VC inflow
Venture capital funding into Indian startups saw a steep decline in the third week of September as the majority of the fundraise came from the very early-stage category, which generally accounts for lower value.
This is the seventh time in the year that VC funding on a weekly basis has fallen below $100 million, revealing the challenges the Indian startup ecosystem faces in raising large amounts of capital.
Key takeaways:
- Total funding for the week (September 12-18) was $99 million across 22 deals, compared to the previous week’s $392 million.
- VC funding into Indian startups has been uneven this year. The weeks that saw good funding were propped by one or two large deals in the $100-million range. However, there was no such transaction this week.
- This week saw 22 deals, but 14 of them were under the pre-Series A category.
In-focus
How Ottonomy is building robots for real-world logistics
Sunnyvale-based deeptech startup Ottonomy is building robots for real-world logistics. Ottonomy, which has a production facility in Noida, has deployed its products across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and India.
Key takeaways:
- Ottonomy’s first product Ottobot was a fully autonomous delivery robot designed to move goods across indoor and outdoor environments without a human operator. Ottobots delivered food, beverages and travel essentials. It later moved away from food delivery to modular cargo compartments, improved accessibility features, and crab-mode manoeuvrability for navigating tight spaces.
- Today, Ottobots transport everything from medicines and lab samples to spare parts and critical supplies, helping organisations automate the movement of materials across complex indoor-outdoor environments.
- They navigate corridors, call elevators, and pass through access-controlled doors before continuing outdoors to the next building.
News & updates
- Caution for industry: Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has cautioned the industry about cyberattacks and disruption targeting India’s growing chip might.
- AI tsar: US President Donald Trump has announced that he will form an “AI Force” and appoint an AI tsar amid warnings about the emergent technology. In a social media post, he said his administration “will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth” of the industry.
- Corporate battle: The Tata Trusts has challenged the validity of Tata Sons’ decision to reappoint N Chandrasekaran as chairman, arguing that the company’s Articles of Association require affirmative support from a majority of its Trust-nominated directors and that a chairman’s casting vote cannot override that condition.
What you should watch out for
The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level week unfolds this week. The packed agenda includes conflicts and international security, climate change, pandemic preparedness, sea-level rise, and fight against racism and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
What was Sony’s first product which was a massive failure?
Answer: An electric rice cooker
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