Also in the letter:
■ Wispr CEO on India market, AI
■ Swiggy’s platform fee hike
■ Supermicro plans India unit
Indian AI startups navigate tricky waters of war impact and rupee devaluation
Indian AI startups are facing higher costs, operational issues, and uncertainty in expanding to West Asia due to the ongoing conflict, founders told us.
Issues faced:
- AI cancer diagnostics 4baseCare is facing logistical challenges: test volumes from the Gulf, Central Asia, and Latin America have dropped, affecting operations.
- “Samples from Latin America were previously tested in Dubai, but now with disruptions in flights… we are flying them to India, which is an operational challenge we are facing”, Hitesh Goswami, founder & CEO, told us.
- Kalyan Sivasailam, cofounder of the AI-based radiology platform 5C Network, said expansion plans in Oman and Dubai have been paused due to uncertainty.
- “We had potential customers and expansion opportunities in Dubai. Now, many of these are not going to work,” said cofounder Kalyan Sivasailam.
- Kousik Rajendran, cofounder and CEO of AI services startup Aivar Innovations, had a similar story.
What else? Companies such as 4baseCare are also facing pressure from the depreciation of the rupee. Some consumables are bought in US dollars, so a weaker rupee raises costs in local currency and impacts margins, said Goswami. The firm has also seen delays in machinery shipments.
Also Read: Iran war: Billions of dollars at risk for US tech companies
Sarvam AI in talks to raise $250-300 million from Nvidia, Accel, HCLTech
Indian AI startup Sarvam AI is in early talks to raise $250–300 million from investors, including Nvidia, HCLTech, and Accel, as it seeks to scale its ambitions for its foundational model.
Round details:
- Expected valuation: around $1.2 billion
- This round could make Sarvam one of India’s first foundational model startups to enter the unicorn club.
- Previous valuation: about $110 million in 2023
- Total funding so far: $41.3 million across three rounds
- Backed by investors such as Lightspeed, Peak XV, and Khosla Ventures
Sarvam is part of the IndiaAI Mission and receives compute access, grants, and funding support from the central government in exchange for equity.
Yes, and: At the India AI Impact Summit in February, Sarvam introduced its first homegrown AI models — Sarvam-30B and Sarvam-105 B. These models support 22 Indian languages.
The company also rolled out several products, including Sarvam Vision for OCR and multimodal use, Sarvam Dub for translation and dubbing, and the Indus beta app for mobile and web. It also showcased Sarvam Kaze, its AI-powered smart glasses.
EV maker Euler Motors raises Rs 437.5 crore from Lightrock, Hero MotoCorp, others
Commercial EV maker Euler Motors has raised Rs 437.5 crore ($47 million) in a new funding round led by Lightrock, with participation from existing investors Hero MotoCorp and Blume Ventures.
Round details:
- The company has also secured an additional Rs 250 crore in debt financing from BlackSoil, Trifecta, InnoVen, and Alteria Capital.
- This takes the total funding raised so far to about Rs 1,900 crore ($229 million).
- Euler plans to invest Rs 400 crore over the next 18 months in R&D, tooling, new products, and factory expansion.
- With a third manufacturing unit set to go live within six months, the company plans to double production capacity from 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles a month.
Accel, Prosus team up to fund six early-stage Indian deeptech startups
Six startups across sectors such as air purification, spacetech, cancer diagnosis, elder fitness, and brain-computer interfaces have secured early-stage funding from Atoms X, a joint initiative by Prosus and Accel.
Driving the news: Launched in November 2025, Atoms X focuses on advanced manufacturing, energy transition, and AI-led automation, extending Atoms, Accel’s early-stage founder programme.
Funding details: Startups in the cohort include Praan, QOSMIC, Dognosis, Ethereal Exploration Guild, and Ferra, along with a brain-computer interface startup (in stealth mode).
Under this programme, Prosus matches Accel’s investment, with cheque sizes ranging from $200,000 to $1 million each, allowing startups to access up to $2 million in funding. Both firms plan to support these companies as they grow.
India the second biggest market for Wispr Flow by usage, paying subscribers: founder Tanay Kothari
India has become voice-focused AI startup Wispr Flow’s second-largest market globally by both usage and paying subscribers, shattering the myth that Indian consumers won’t pay for software, the company’s cofounder and CEO, Tanay Kothari, told us.
India play: On Indian consumers, Kothari said that users pay when the value proposition is clear. Wispr Flow is seeing conversion rates in India that are now close to the US, driven by demand for utility over experimentation. “But the mix is different. In the US, annual and monthly subscriptions are roughly 50-50, whereas in India about 80% of users opt for annual plans,” he said.
The company’s strategy: Start with Bengaluru’s tech early adopters, win over influential users, and then let adoption spread organically outward.
Zooming out on AI funding: Kothari has also flagged a brutal reset in AI capital. Startups with weak retention and broken unit economics are getting frozen out. Wispr, he said, is betting that voice productivity and sharp execution will keep it ahead of the pack.
About the company: Founded in 2021, Wispr Flow has raised around $81 million so far through several funding rounds from investors, including Menlo Ventures, Notable Capital, 8VC, and a clutch of angel investors. As of November 2025, the company was valued at around $700 million.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Swiggy increases platform fee: Food delivery platform Swiggy has increased the platform fee it charges users by Rs 2.40 per order on a pre-GST basis, days after rival Zomato announced a similar hike.
Super Micro eyes an India manufacturing unit: American server firm Super Micro Computer is mulling setting up a server manufacturing unit in India and has been in discussions with multiple states on the matter, sources aware of the developments told us.
Indian GCCs ditch DIY build-out model to team up with external cos: Nine out of ten global capability centres (GCCs) being set up in India today use external partners, a sharp reversal from just a few years ago when large multinationals built these centres on their own, industry experts said.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ The trip to the far side of the moon (Wired)
■ Meta’s AI makeover starts at the top (WSJ)
■ Ground truth: When the Earth moves, AI can spot it (BBC)
Source link
