Compensation has long been viewed as the foundation of job satisfaction, where a higher paycheck often symbolises success. But today, the modern workforce is rewriting this equation. Employees want more than a paycheck; they want work that supports their lives outside the office, too.This change is not just cultural; it is strategic. In a recent India-focused survey report, 74% of employees said they would accept a slightly lower salary in exchange for stronger long-term benefits.For HR leaders, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that expectations are rising across life stages, roles, and personal priorities. The opportunity is that well-designed benefits can become a powerful lever to attract talent, build loyalty, and improve everyday experience. When benefits reflect how people live, they create workplaces where people want to stay and grow.Redefining value: From well-being to whole-life supportThe definition of employee well-being has broadened dramatically in recent years. What was once limited to physical fitness programs or medical coverage now spans mental balance, financial confidence, and social connection. Employees increasingly expect their employers to care about their whole person.This is not just the “right thing to do.” It is also a performance and retention strategy. In a…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Agentic AI startup BotGauge AI has raised $2 Mn (about ₹18.1 Cr) in a funding round led by Surface Ventures. IA Seed Ventures and Saka Ventures also took part in the round. The startup, which offers enterprises an AI-powered software quality-assurance (QA) platform for end-to-end software testing, plans to utilise the fresh capital to expand its R&D work in India, improve its QA agents and scale its presence in the US among other global markets. It also plans to expand its engineering team over the next 12-24 months. Founded in 2024 by Pramin Pradeep, Naresh Kumar Rajendran, Vivek Nair and Sreepad Krishnan Mavila, BotGauge AI offers a fully managed quality assurance service for software teams. Instead of selling testing tools, the AI agent takes responsibility for testing outcomes.  The startup claims that its AI agents identify what needs to be tested, create and maintain test cases, and run tests across the software lifecycle. While human QA experts oversee the process. The startup is headquartered in the US with engineering operations in India. The funding comes at a time when agentic AI space has seen a flurry of funding announcements recently. For instance, startups like Giga, UnifyApps, Lyzr, Mem0, Grass.ai have…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media

Pet care marketplace Supertails has raised $30 Mn (₹271.7 Cr) in its Series C round led by Venturi Partners, with participation from new investors such as Nippon India Alternative Investments and Titan Capital Winners Fund.  Existing investors Fireside Ventures, RPSG Capital Ventures, Sauce VC and Saama Capital also infused capital during the round. Speaking with Inc42, Supertails cofounder Vineet Khanna said that the startup plans to utilise the fresh capital to expand its pet clinics to 15 in Bengaluru in the near term. He added that the company has set its eyes on building a network of around 100 clinics nationwide over the next three to five years.  Beyond clinics, a chunk of the capital will also be utilised to build the startup’s quick commerce infrastructure, expand dark store count and strengthen product and data capabilities. Supertails is looking to achieve nearly 80% quick delivery coverage across Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi NCR by March 2026, Khanna added. Founded in 2021 by Khanna, Varun Sadana and Aman Tekriwal, Supertails is a D2C pet care startup which sells various utilities and accessories for pets such as toys, food and other accessories.  It also provides online veterinary consultations, pet supplies, training services pharmacy,…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media

Healthtech startup Elevate Now has raised ₹18 Cr (nearly $2 Mn) in its seed funding round led by Physis Capital. The round also saw participation from Inflection Point Ventures and Titan Capital. The startup plans to utilise the fresh funding to strengthen its tech stack and develop nutritional supplements. In a statement, Elevate Now also said that a chunk of the capital will be used to expand its proprietary clinical research and build personalisation systems to improve outcomes at scale. “What stood out to us was the company’s ability to combine clinical-grade outcomes with a consumer-first experience. Elevate Now is building a scalable business by applying operational rigour to a problem that has traditionally lacked structure,” said a Titan Capital spokesperson.  Founded in 2022 by ex-Swiggy executive Suryansh Kumar, ElevateNow offers online weight management programmes. The subscription-led platform claims to offer personalised support, therapies, and guidance on nutrition, fitness, and stress management. It also claims to offer glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs for medically-assisted weight loss.  The Bengaluru-based startup claims to have onboarded more than 30,000 paid users so far The company claims to have clocked an average month-on-month revenue growth rate of 17% between April 2025 and January 2026, without…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media

Dream11 parent Dream Sports slipped into the red in the fiscal year ended March 2025 (FY25), reporting a net loss of ₹478.9 Cr as against a net profit of ₹1,295.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. It is pertinent to note that the company’s bottom line was impacted by an exceptional expense of ₹503.7 Cr incurred during the fiscal. These expenses pertain to taxes Dream Sports had to pay while redomiciling to India last year. For context, the company had reverse flipped to India in March 2025, merging its US entity, Dream Sports Inc, with its India entity, Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd. However, the company reported a decline in its top line during the period under review. Its FY25 operating revenue declined 14.8% to ₹6,759.3 Cr from ₹7,933.8 Cr reported in the previous fiscal. Including other income of ₹615 Cr, Dream Sports’ total income stood at ₹7,374.4 Cr during the period under review. During the fiscal, revenue from the sale of goods and services fell 35.8% to ₹258.8 Cr from ₹403.3 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, gaming revenue declined 13.7% to ₹6,500.5 Cr from ₹7,530.5 Cr reported in the same period last year. Notably, in August last year, the…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media