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For Meera Maurya, the decision to start a beauty business was not a single moment of ambition but a gradual response to her circumstances. Based in Aamghat, near the Women’s Degree College in Ghazipur district, she began working from home in 2015, balancing household responsibilities in a joint family with a growing urge to do something of her own.Before marriage, Maurya had completed her schooling up to intermediate level. Her interest in beauty work existed since earlier, shaped by observation and a habit of learning small skills on her own. After marriage and the birth of her child, the idea became more practical: she began offering basic services from a small setup inside her house.The early phase was cautious and slow. She invested little, relied on word of mouth, and focused on improving her technique. Alongside serving clients, she started training local girls, sharing what she had learned. The combination of practice and teaching pushed her to upgrade her skills further through formal courses, taken over time as finances allowed.A business built on services and trainingToday, Maurya runs a neighbourhood salon that offers personal grooming and beauty services, while also functioning as a small training centre. The business provides threading,…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Aerem Solutions, India’s leading full stack platform for distributed solar, has raised $15 million (INR 136 crore) in Pre-series B led by SMBC Asia...

In a narrow lane of Barabanki, a woman packs homemade pickles before sunrise. In a second-floor apartment in Indore, a graphic designer starts work while her children get ready for school. In a small town in Assam, a young man runs an online mobile repair service from his bedroom, coordinating doorstep visits through WhatsApp. None of them has a signboard. None of them runs ads. Yet, together, they represent one of the fastest-growing business movements in India today.Home-based businesses are no longer side hustles or temporary arrangements. They are becoming permanent, intentional choices. Across metros, tier-2 cities, and rural pockets, Indians are quietly building sustainable livelihoods from their homes, using skills they already have, minimal capital, and networks rooted in trust rather than visibility.This shift isn’t driven by trends alone. It is shaped by rising urban costs, changing work aspirations, improved digital access, and a deeper desire for autonomy. In a country where entrepreneurship was once tied to shops, offices, and factories, the definition of a “business” is being rewritten, room by room, kitchen by kitchen, and screen by screen.The silent rise of home-based businesses in India1. Rising costs are pushing entrepreneurs indoorsRunning a physical storefront has become expensive, and…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Success is often explained as talent, intelligence, or luck. But if you look closely at people who consistently perform well across fields, a quieter truth emerges: most of their advantage comes from the ability to stay focused. In a world designed to fragment attention, not getting distracted is no longer a soft skill. It is the core skill.Distraction does not usually arrive as chaos. It arrives politely. A notification. A quick scroll. One harmless check. None of these feels like failure in isolation, yet together they dissolve momentum. Focus is not broken in dramatic moments. It erodes in small ones.The real cost of distractionEvery time attention shifts, the brain pays a switching cost. It takes time and energy to return to the original task. Studies on cognitive performance show that frequent interruptions reduce not just speed but quality of thinking. Complex work needs continuity. Insight needs stillness.Most people underestimate this cost because distraction feels productive. Messages are answered, tabs are opened, information is consumed. Activity increases, but progress does not. You remain busy, yet nothing meaningful moves forward.The people who succeed early understand something simple: protecting attention is protecting results.Focus beats motivationMotivation is unreliable. It fluctuates with mood, energy, and…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Zomato has leased more than 270,000 square feet of office space at Sector 59, Gurugram's Intellion Park, which is owned by Tata Realty and...

Arthum, India’s first integrated operating system for contract workforce management, has raised INR 10 crore in seed investment led by Caret^Capital, a $50 million...

From deeptech-focused VC firm Speciale Invest promoting Vishnu Rajeev as its investment partner to Mumbai-based ClimaCrew driving seaweed cultivation along the western coast of India, YourStory brings today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors.Features stories How this deeptech startup is driving seaweed cultivation along the western coast of India Mumbai-headquartered ClimaCrew is ramping up cultivation of seaweed, considered a powerhouse of nutrients, by engaging with the coastal communities of Gujarat and Maharashtra and end-user industries. Its AI-driven platform analyses satellite data to identify suitable spots for seaweed cultivation.Founded by Devleena Bhattacharjee, Susanta Kundu, and Rahul Mehta, the startup has a seaweed processing plant in Chiplun, Maharashtra. “Our primary goal is to be the one-stop shop for global organisations that are using seaweed in any of their products,” says Bhattacharjee. Read here. Founded in 2015 in Bengaluru by IIT graduates Prashant Gupta and Aditya Agarwal, who previously worked at global financial institutions and consulting firms.Wealthy is fuelling the next phase of growth for India’s mutual fund distributors through AITech platform for independent financial advisors in India, Wealthy, was founded in 2015 by Prashant Gupta and Aditya Agarwal to empower advisors with AI-driven tools for compliance, portfolio analysis, and client management. Based out of Bengaluru, Wealthy…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Exfinity Venture Partners, a deeptech-focused venture capital firm, on Wednesday said it has achieved key liquidity milestones, enabling a full capital return for its Fund II, launched in 2016. The fund completed three strategic exits in the past 12 months, including an exit from Kinara.ai, when it was acquired by NXP Semiconductors, marking one of India’s significant deeptech M&A transactions. Following this, the company also exited Locus when Ingka Group, the holding company of IKEA, acquired it. The acquisition is expected to enhance Ingka Group‘s last-mile logistics and delivery optimisation. Exfinity also exited AI Palette, a portfolio company from the firm’s 2020 vintage fund, after GlobalData acquired it. According to Exfinity, a defining contributor to Fund II’s performance has been its stake in adtech startup Pixis. The fund had previously executed a partial exit, delivering 60X MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital), and it continues to hold a significant ownership stake in the firm. MOIC is a key financial metric that shows how much total value an investment generates relative to the initial money put in it. A 60X MOIC means the firm earned $60 for every $1 invested in the company. Also Read3one4 completes partial exit from Dhan’s parent company“What…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Kitchenware startup Cumin Co. on Wednesday said it raised $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Fireside Ventures. Existing investors Huddle Ventures and Alteria Capital also participated, along with a group of angel investors, including Atrium Angels, Mokobara Founder Navin Parwal, Tracxn Founder Abhishek Goyal, Zomato Co-founder Pankaj Chaddah, and Unacademy Founder Roman Saini.The funding comes less than a year after the startup's launch. During this period, it recorded a tenfold increase in revenue, suggesting an early product-market fit in a segment historically dominated by mass-market brands and price-led competition, Cumin Co. said in a statement.It plans to use the capital to expand its research-led product portfolio across cookware and kitchen essentials and strengthen its supply chain and product development capabilities as it scales.Also ReadKitchenware startup Cumin Co raises $1.5M in funding round led by Fireside VenturesFounded by ISB alumni Niharika Joshi and Udit Lekhi, Cumin Co.'s cookware is built around Enviromax, a proprietary material developed for Indian cooking conditions. It has received three patents and has five more pending, covering areas such as material composition, surface coatings, and product design.“Consumers today are asking sharper questions about materials, coatings, and what comes into contact with their food…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Solar financing startup Aerem Solutions has raised $15 Mn (around INR 137 Cr) in its pre-Series B funding round led…