Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (January 29, 2025)

From Zomato launching a 10-minute food delivery pilot in Delhi-NCR under its new Quick programme, to Leap, a study abroad platform raising $65 million in Series E funding, YourStory brings today’s headlines that highlight the latest developments across sectors.

Featured stories

Is DeepSeek finally bursting the AI bubble?

Anything is possible on the stock market. Even the opposite.” Hungarian investor André Kostolany’s timeless observation feels especially true and relevant this week.

About three years ago, OpenAIlaunched ChatGPT, a game-changing product that shook the tech world and paved the way for the emergence of a trillion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) economy. This sparked a rush among tech giants and ambitious startups, all eager to capitalise on the AI boom, launching bold new solutions.

But this week, a Chinese AI startup disrupted the game in a major way.

Using robotics to end manual scavenging

In 2016, a tragic incident in Kozhikode, Kerala, claimed the lives of three men while they were cleaning a sewer. This catalysed a group of young engineers, inspiring them to reimagine the role of technology in addressing one of India’s most inhumane practices—manual scavenging.

Rashid K, Arun George, Vimal Govind MK, and Nikhil NP were already on the startup path—working on exoskeleton technology to develop robotics for wearable devices. This widely reported incident shook them and veered them towards innovation to eliminate manual scavenging with Genrobotic Innovations, registered in 2017.

Bandicoot is a fully functional robot capable of mimicking human actions to clean manholes.

Latest new

Zomato to launch 10-minute food delivery pilots in NCR under Quick next week

Zomato is set to launch pilots for its 10-minute food delivery programme under the name 'Quick' in the NCR region next week, according to sources.

"Zomato has reached out to restaurant partners to initiate its 10-minute food delivery program, Quick starting with restaurant with consistent ratings across hygiene, kitchen prep time and quality," Kawaljeet Singh, CEO and Co-founder of Harsukh Foods which operates over 50 restaurant outlets in NCR-region told Yourstory.

Another founder in the F&B space said that the Deepinder Goyal-led company sent emails to restaurant partners to deliver select dishes from their menu under the new programme. YourStory has reviewed the mail.

Zomato appoints former exec Shalin Bhatt as dining out head

Zomato has appointed its former head of growth, Shalin Bhatt, as head of its dining-out business, as the foodtech giant looks to strengthen the segment amid moderation in food delivery. Bhatt's appointment, as confirmed by the company, was first reported by Economic Times.

Bhatt spent three years at Zomato, from 2028 to 2021, departing as the company's head of growth and leading the platform's overall growth marketing stack, as per Bhatt's LinkedIn profile. After his stint with Zomato, he spent two years working on his own startup in the SaaS ecommerce space, followed by a short stint at Moloco, which offers programmatic advertising solutions.

CarTrade Tech swings to profit in Q3

Multi-channel auto platform, CarTrade Tech, reported a profit in Q3 FY25, swinging from a loss in the year-ago period, helped by growth in its consumer group segment amidst strong festive demand. It reported a profit of Rs 46 crore during the period, compared with a loss of Rs 23.55 crore in the year-ago quarter.

It reported a 38% year-on-year (YoY) rise in revenue in its consumer group segment. In November last year, the company had laid down its expectations that this segment would report a 30% YoY rise revenue due to strong festive demand in October.

Also Read

Q3 results: Infosys beats market expectation as net profit rises 11.4%

Funding news

Leap bags $65M in Series E funding led by Apis Partners’ funds

Study abroad platform Leap has bagged $65 million in a Series E funding round, consisting of both primary and secondary equity. The round was led by funds from UK-based Apis Partners. Apis Partners Group (UK) Limited manages the portfolios of the two funds: Apis Growth Markets Fund III and Apis Global Growth Fund III. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors Owl Ventures, Jungle Ventures, and Peak XV Partners.

Leap, the company behind LeapScholar, LeapFinance, GeeBee, and Yocket, is a comprehensive international student mobility platform. Since its founding in 2019, it has raised over $200 million in equity. According to Leap Co-founder Vaibhav Singh, the startup has witnessed 5X growth since its Series D two years ago.

Gallabox raises $3.5M in seed round led by FUSE

Gallabox has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by FUSE, with additional participation from existing investors Prime Venture Partners and Neon Fund. This funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $5 million.

The newly raised capital will be allocated to strengthen its product capabilities and expand its global footprint, said the company. Founded in 2021 by Karthik Jagannathan, Yogesh Narayanan, and Yathin Panchanathan, Gallabox enables SMBs to deploy enterprise-grade AI automation on WhatsApp, serving over 10,000 businesses across 45 countries.

shoppin' raises $1M from InfoEdge Ventures

shoppin’, an AI-powered fashion search engine, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from Info Edge Ventures.

The funding will be used to hire top talent, improve proprietary technology, and drive growth. Most of the funds will go toward building a team of AI engineers and developing, refining, and scaling advanced AI models, including custom-built SLMs and an embedding model designed for fashion.

The platform aims to simplify fashion discovery by making it seamless, personalised, and accessible. Users can find apparel through prompts, vibes, product descriptions, and images, with a focus on consumer needs.

“The founders are young and mission-driven—I’m yet to see any consumer product get the kind of social and word-of-mouth-driven organic waitlist shoppin’ has been able to garner in the run-up to the launch. We are very excited,” said Kitty Agarwal, Partner at Info Edge Ventures. 

Manastu Space secures undisclosed funding

Manastu Space, a space safety and logistics company, has secured undisclosed funding from angel investor Jeet Chandan, co-founder of BizDateUp.

Manastu’s green propulsion systems are designed to manoeuvre satellites—whether adjusting orbits, avoiding debris or safely deorbiting at the end of their life—preserving the orbital environment for future satellites. 

In December, Manastu Space tested its green propulsion systems and collision avoidance technology in space, demonstrating their reliability and efficiency. 

“Their advanced green propulsion systems and debris collision avoidance technologies are a perfect convergence of technical ingenuity and global necessity. The team’s clarity of mission and scalable, innovative solutions made this investment compelling,” Chandan noted.

The space tech firm had raised $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Capital 2B, BIG Capital, and E2MC in 2023.

Other news

Easebuzz teams up with Zepto

Full-stack payment solutions platform Easebuzz has partnered with quick-commerce platform Zepto to enhance the payment infrastructure integrated on its platform. 

The partnership aims to achieve a payment success rate of over 90%, ensuring smooth and efficient transactions for Zepto platform users.

Easebuzz’s checkout solutions are designed to reduce transaction failures and boost order completion rates on Zepto. With the ability to process over 3,000 transactions per second, the company’s infrastructure can help Zepto manage high transaction volumes.

CloudSEK’s co-founder Bofin Babu joins Cyber London’s advisory board

Cyber London has appointed Bofin Babu, CloudSEK’s co-founder and head of product and AI, to its advisory board.

Cyber London is the UK government’s official cyber cluster for London, endorsed by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3).

Babu has over nine years of experience in AI, machine learning, and cybersecurity, pioneering the use of artificial neural networks for threat detection and risk mitigation. He has been instrumental in advancing AI-driven cybersecurity solutions.

As CloudSEK’s head of product and AI, Bofin leads a team of AI engineers and researchers to develop advanced cybersecurity solutions. His work has been key in building CloudSEK’s flagship products, including XVigil, BeVigil, and SVigil.

Primus Partners appoints Vinay Singh as MD in US

Primus Partners has appointed Vinay Singh as a managing director to strengthen its presence in the US.

As managing director of Primus’ US practice, Singh will focus on building relationships in the US market.

Before this, Singh served as the Chief AI Officer and Chief Financial Officer at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and led initiatives for the Office of Disaster Assistance at the Small Business Administration. He also held the role of Partner and COO at KPMG India.

With over 25 years of leadership experience in accounting, finance, technology, and operations, Vinay Singh has gained expertise in managing complex projects with government stakeholders, particularly in infrastructure and smart cities.

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