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 9). The company allotted 1.39 Cr shares to anchor investors at ₹900 apiece, the upper end of its IPO price band of ₹857-₹900.  Of this, 11 domestic mutual funds, including SBI, Motilal Oswal, UTI, Trust Mutual Fund, among others, lapped up 52.78 Lakh equity shares, translating to 38% of the anchor round.  Five life insurance companies also participated in the anchor round, including LIC, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Life Insurance, Bharti Axa and Edelweiss Life Insurance. They bought 27.88 Lakh (20.1% of the round) shares.  Besides, investors like Morgan Stanley, Kuwait Investment Authority, Goldman Sachs, Amundi Funds, Societe Generale, among others, were also part of the round. The company’s IPO will now open for subscription on February 9 and close on February 11. Fractal’s shares will likely list on the exchanges on February 16. This follows the SaaS unicorn filing its red herring prospectus (RHP) with SEBI for an ₹2,833.9 Cr IPO earlier this month. The public issue will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹ 1,023.54 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to ₹1,810.4…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media

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

Days after disclosing its third VC fund, deeptech focussed VC firm Unicorn India Ventures has announced a partnership with IIT Madras’s university-based research park, IIT Madras Research Park, to launch a ₹600 Cr deeptech-focussed fund. Via the fund, the duo would look to back at least 25 deeptech startups operating in segments like robotics, spacetech, defensetech, semiconductors, medtech, among others. Unicorn India Ventures would act as a manager for the fund. The average cheque size per investment will range from ₹8-10 Cr. While 60% of the fund will be used for portfolio building, the remaining 40% will be reserved for follow-on rounds. The idea for the fund was first announced in June last year, when the target corpus was set at ₹200 Cr. It will follow a dual investment strategy, prioritising early-stage deeptech startups that have reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3-4 to identify high-potential innovations and aid them through initial commercialisation hurdles. For context, TRL is a way to measure the estimated maturity levels of a particular technology, with 9 being the most mature and already being used in real-life conditions. “To ensure that portfolio companies are not capital starved as deep tech is a long gestation investment business,…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media

Tech giant Google’s India subsidiary reported a 11% increase in its net profit to INR 1,436.9 Cr in the fiscal year FY25 from INR 1,294.4 Cr in the previous fiscal. However, its operating revenue dropped by 3.2% to INR 5,340.1 Cr from INR 5,518.1 Cr in the previous year.  To note, the company’s revenue largely comes from rendering IT and enabled services, sale of advertising space net, sale of enterprise products net as well as contract balances. While sales within India contributed INR 2,880.9 Cr to the operating income, the remaining INR 2,459.2 Cr came from sales outside India. Apart from this, other income constituted 12.7% of the total income in FY25, where interest on income tax refunds contributed INR 423.1 Cr, along with bank deposits and loans offered to other parties. Including other income of INR 775.8 Cr, overall income rose 3.3% YoY to INR 6,115.9 Cr during the year under review. The Sundar Pichai-led company has been betting big on its growth in India, with its numerous investments lined up to boost its AI capabilities and setting up data centres, as well as backing AI startups in India.  About two months ago, Google committed $8 Mn to support…  ​Read MoreInc42 Media