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Fundraising activity within the world’s third largest startup ecosystem picked up after the Union Budget announced the Budget 2026 on…

For years, customer relationship management (CRM) occupied the centre of the go-to-market (GTM) universe. It was positioned as the system where leads were captured, deals were tracked, and revenue forecasts were created. In 2026, however, many GTM leaders are acknowledging a gap between what CRMs were built to do and what modern GTM actually demands.When human judgment was the intelligence layerSoftware sales did not always operate in today’s layered and signal-driven environment. Earlier GTM motions relied heavily on human judgment. Sales and marketing teams manually reviewed engagement data, website visits, and account lists, then decided who to contact and how. Decisions were imperfect, but they were contextual. A human could interpret nuance across multiple systems and act accordingly.That human decision layer is now being replaced.Automation and AI have made it possible to run outbound motions at a massive scale. Emails, LinkedIn messages, and follow-ups can be triggered with little to no human involvement. While this has increased efficiency, it has also flooded buyers with undifferentiated outreach. Attention has become scarce, trust has eroded, and response rates have declined across industries.This creates a contradiction at the heart of modern GTM. Teams are more automated than ever, yet outcomes are harder to…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Hello,The Reserve Bank of India kept the status quo—and its key repo rate—unchanged, boosted by a positive economic outlook and easing external headwinds.The RBI's six-member monetary policy committee voted unanimously to keep the rate at 5.25%, with the monetary policy stance remaining ¨neutral¨. Some good news for small businesses: The RBI has also proposed doubling the limit on collateral-free loans for small enterprises as a means of strengthening last-mile lending.The real estate sector also gets some benefits, with banks now being allowed to lend to real estate investment trusts under prudential safeguards.Coming to Big Tech, Amazon shares dropped after the company unveiled plans to spend $200 billion this year on data centres, chips, and other equipment. Primarily, investors fear that its massive AI bet may not pan out in the long run. Are tech giants locked in a fast-escalating arms race in building AI infrastructure? The Big 4 companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft—have together forecast capital expenditures of a mind-boggling $650 billion in 2026 for data centres and other AI equipment.Component manufacturers have been the biggest winners from all this. The semiconductor industry will reach $1 trillion in revenue this year for the first time, boosted by the AI boom and…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

In 2019, Government College of Engineering Kannur students—Atthri Anand, Vishnu B Raj, and Sayanth NS—participated in an innovation challenge, where they conceptualised a robot to help farmers autonomously remove weeds from crops. “As we explored the problem deeper by interacting with farmers and understanding on-ground realities, we realised that the challenge wasn’t just labour or mechanisation, it was the lack of timely, reliable, and hyperlocal decision-making support,” Anand tells YourStory. Building on that insight, the trio co-founded agritech startup Deepflow Technologies later that year, which utilises AI and deeptech solutions to address critical issues faced by farmers in India. “What started as a robotics idea gradually evolved into a broader mission: using data, intelligence, and automation to empower farmers and supporting stakeholders to make better decisions amid climate uncertainty,” he adds. The Kannur-based startup employs nine people with Anand as CEO, Raj as CTO, and Sayanth as CPO—all residing in Kerala, close to farms, plantations, and field ecosystems. It is incubated at IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL, which Anand says gives the startup access to mentorship, strategic guidance, and the broader startup ecosystem.Developing an integrated agri-intelligence ecosystemDeepflow’s products are designed as an integrated agri-intelligence ecosystem that combines on-ground data collection with digital decision support for farmers,…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 945 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.The Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is host once again to the annual crafts exhibition by Project Tarasha, a social initiative by Titan Company in collaboration with Creative Dignity. See our coverage of earlier exhibitions from the past six years at BIC here. The Mumbai edition of the exhibition was held at The Vintage Garden in Bandra (West) last month. The exhibition series is aimed at empowering rural ‘craftpreneurs’ to create sustainable craft businesses in modern markets (see our photo essay on last year’s Bengaluru edition here).  Also Read2026 Outlook: AI, robotics, biotech, unicorns and the road aheadThe name Tarasha translates roughly to ‘chiselled’ or ‘carved’. It evokes precision, careful shaping, and transformation. The initiative helps digitally empower artisans by helping them establish and promote an online presence, improve financial planning, and access new markets without losing their cultural heritage.The exhibition in Bengaluru spans four days, becoming a full-scale celebration of craft and appreciation of the larger story of artisan empowerment. It promotes craft as…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Venture capital funding into Indian startups rose marginally in the first week of February, and it was largely due to two reasonably sized transactions, but fund inflow continues to remain restricted, revealing the challenges for the ecosystem.The total VC funding for the week stood at $191 million across 20 transactions. In contrast, the previous week saw capital inflow of $152 million from 22 deals. There is a direct correlation between the number of deals and the funding amount. The higher number of deals leads to a larger value of funding.Over the last two weeks, the number of deals has remained in the 20s range. In the week from January 17 to 23, the funding number touched $373 million, and this came from 40 deals.Now, the VC funding on a weekly basis has come back once again to the familiar trend of being around in the $100-200 million range. This is not a positive sign for the startup ecosystem.In the current week, the VC funding was spread across stages, and as expected, the highest deal activity was from the pre-Series A stage, but the quantum of money raised was lower. Also, the funding was across segments of startups cutting across EV,…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Ahead of the commencement of the bidding for its public issue on February 9, MSME-focussed NBFC Aye Finance has raised…

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras Research Park (IITMRP) and venture capital firm Unicorn India Ventures have launched a Rs 600 crore fund, aiming to back early-stage deep technology startups in sectors critical to India's strategic interests.The fund, titled 'IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund I', will focus on intellectual property-led startups in robotics, space technology, defence, and semiconductors.The announcement, made at the institute's Entrepreneurship Summit 2026, comes as India seeks to reduce its reliance on technology imports and build domestic capabilities in high-tech manufacturing. The initiative aligns with the Union Budget 2026, which introduced the 'India Semiconductor Mission 2.0' to expand capabilities beyond fabrication into equipment and design IP, mirroring the fund’s focus on strengthening indigenous technical sovereignty.The fund includes a greenshoe option of Rs 400 crore and plans to invest in approximately 25 startups initially. The partners said the fund is designed as "patient capital" with a lifecycle of up to 12 years.Earlier this week, the government officially expanded the definition of deep tech startups. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) now recognises deep tech entities for up to 20 years, double the previous limit, and raised the turnover cap to $33.1 million, acknowledging the…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

SaaS major Fractal Analytics raised ₹1,248.3 Cr from anchor investors today before its IPO opens for subscription on Monday (February…

India's fintech ecosystem is entering a transformative phase driven by artificial intelligence (AI), with the potential to redefine financial inclusion, trust, and efficiency, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance said.Addressing the AI-in-Fintech Bharat Conclave in Bengaluru on Friday, Nagaraju M, Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Union Ministry of Finance, said AI is no longer a marginal technological upgrade but a “horizontal, foundational capability” cutting across payments, lending, risk management, compliance and customer engagement.“When applied responsibly, AI can become a force multiplier for fintech, enhancing scale while deepening inclusion,” he said at the summit, organised by India Fintech Foundation (IFF) and the Unified Fintech Forum (UFF).The official highlighted that India’s strong digital public infrastructure, including Aadhaar, UPI, Account Aggregator, DigiLocker, and the Unified Lending Enterprise, provides a solid foundation for the responsible and scalable adoption of AI.According to Nagaraju, the government views AI as a key catalyst for inclusive growth, fully aligned with national priorities of financial inclusion and digital empowerment.Emphasising trust-centric innovation, he said AI deployment in financial services must be guided by ethics, fairness, transparency, and accountability. “Technological advancement must enhance financial services without compromising consumer safety or systemic stability.” He added that AI should actively…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed