Hugging Face reportedly in talks to be acquired for $13B

Source: Tech Crunch

Hugging Face reportedly in talks to be acquired for $13B

Startups

Hugging Face, a central AI infrastructure platform, has reportedly received acquisition offers valued at $13 billion or more. While the startup is consulting banks to evaluate these bids, CEO Clem Delangue emphasizes long-term sustainability and community responsibility over short-term profits. This interest follows a trend of AI infrastructure acquisitions, though Hugging Face previously rejected a $7 billion valuation offer from Nvidia to maintain independent decision-making.

Read Full Story

Valor, Point72 back General Intuition at $6B valuation as AI startup pushes into robotics

Startups

General Intuition, a New York startup developing foundation models for physical AI agents, is seeking funding at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. New investors include Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures, and Seven Seven Six, alongside existing backers. Spun out from the platform Medal, the company utilizes gameplay data to enhance AI intuition. The funds will support compute infrastructure and talent to improve robotic embodiments.

Read Full Story

SoftBank Sells ₹2,900 Cr Stake In Lenskart Via Block Deals

Business

SoftBank, through its entity SVF II Lightbulb (Cayman) Ltd, sold 4.5 crore Lenskart shares at ₹641.75 each, raising ₹2,887.9 crore. This marks the second partial exit following a June sale of 5.65 crore shares. Major buyers included Societe Generale and Goldman Sachs. The divestment follows Lenskart's strong stock performance and financial growth, with the company achieving maiden profitability in FY25 and expanding its international operations.

Read Full Story

TCS acquires Porsche’s IT arm for €320M; bags €1.25B deal

Startups

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is acquiring Porsche's IT services subsidiary, MHP, for 320 million euros. The deal includes a 1.25 billion euro agreement with MHP and a broader 1 billion euro AI transformation partnership with Porsche. TCS will establish an AI Mobility Centre of Excellence to scale AI across Porsche's engineering and manufacturing. This collaboration aims to enhance automotive technology and software-defined mobility platforms for increased competitiveness.

Read Full Story

Y Combinator Offloads Meesho Shares Worth ₹970 Cr

Business

Y Combinator offloaded approximately 4.85 crore shares of ecommerce platform Meesho, representing a 1% stake, through block deals at an average price of ₹200.01 per share. The sale, totaling roughly ₹969.6 crore, was absorbed by major institutional investors including Nippon India Mutual Fund and HDFC Standard Life. This follows Meesho's Q1 FY27 results, which showed a 54.1% reduction in net loss and 48% revenue growth.

Read Full Story

OpenAI is building AI agents for everything. Will everyone use them?

Startups

Inside the frontier lab’s push to bring AI agents from software engineers to the masses.

Read Full Story

Qualcomm Offloads Shadowfax Shares Worth ₹184 Cr In Bulk Deal

Business

Qualcomm Ventures sold 75 lakh shares of Shadowfax in a block deal worth ₹183.85 crore on August 23, priced at ₹245.13 per share. This divestment follows similar large-scale share sales by TPG, Flipkart, and Eight Roads. Shadowfax, a logistics firm serving e-commerce and quick commerce sectors, is currently expanding its fulfillment infrastructure and plans to increase its dark store network to 100 by FY27.

Read Full Story

Brake problems in GM EVs draw greater federal scrutiny

Startups

The NHTSA has upgraded its investigation into General Motors' eBoost brake-by-wire system to an engineering analysis, the agency's highest probe level. Affecting over one million electric and non-electric vehicles, including the Cadillac Lyriq and Blazer EV, the issue involves potential losses of braking assistance. With reports of over 20 crashes and six injuries, this step often precedes a formal recall to address the safety risks.

Read Full Story

QpiAI to install 8-qubit quantum computer at PDEU in Gujarat

Startups

Bengaluru-based QpiAI will install an 8-qubit quantum computer and establish a Quantum Centre of Excellence at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gujarat. This initiative aims to enhance education, research, and workforce development, leveraging Gujarat's industrial strengths in energy and chemicals. The project aligns with India's National Quantum Mission to build domestic capabilities, complementing other industry efforts to advance quantum computing, communications, and sensing across the country.

Read Full Story

Khosla Ventures-Backed Healthify Merges With US-Based Berry Street

Business

Healthify has merged with US-based Berry Street to establish an AI-powered, insurance-covered metabolic health platform in the US. This strategic merger grants Healthify access to Berry Street’s clinical network and insurance infrastructure, bolstering its expansion into the US market and GLP-1-led metabolic care. Healthify founder Tushar V.

Read Full Story

US nutrition startup Berry Street merges with India’s Healthify as GLP-1 trends upwards

Startups

"U.S. nutrition startup Berry Street has merged with India's Healthify to capitalize on the growing demand for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Led by co-CEOs Noah Kotlove and Tushar Vashisht, the new entity will operate as Berry Street in the U.S. and Healthify in other markets. The merger combines Healthify’s AI-powered coaching with Berry Street’s clinical network of 2,000 clinics to provide scalable, expert metabolic care and nutrition guidance.".

Read Full Story

slice Adds Former SBI, ICICI Bank Executives To Its Board

Business

slice Small Finance Bank has appointed former SBI chief general manager Samir Sawhney as executive director and former ICICI Bank executive Ramesh Kumar as an independent director. Both appointments received board approval, with the RBI also approving Sawhney. These strategic additions follow the bank's merger with North East Small Finance Bank. Financially, the bank reported a Q1 FY27 profit of ₹50.9 crore, marking a significant turnaround from a previous loss.

Read Full Story

NVIDIA’s AI Server Price Hike Threatens To Inflate India’s Compute Costs

Business

NVIDIA reportedly plans to increase prices for servers featuring Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell AI chips by over 15% starting in early 2027, driven by rising memory costs. This price hike could significantly raise capital requirements for AI infrastructure providers, especially in India, where dependence on imported hardware is high. While NVIDIA is introducing financing models to assist smaller operators, higher costs may still impact deployment schedules.

Read Full Story

Titan puts lasting recognition at the heart of its Diwali gifting campaign

Startups

Titan Corporate Gifting has launched ‘The Joy That Lasts,’ a B2B Diwali campaign focusing on meaningful recognition over transactional gifting. Aimed at employees and business partners, the initiative encourages organizations to foster lasting emotional connections through curated gifts, including watches, jewelry, and accessories. By prioritizing value remembered over cost, Titan seeks to help enterprises strengthen trust and appreciation through thoughtfully crafted rewards from its diverse ecosystem.

Read Full Story

Mobavenue Launches Neural Engine As An AI Intelligence Layer For Marketers

Business

Mobavenue has launched the Mobavenue Neural Engine, an AI intelligence layer that integrates media planning, execution, creative generation, and reporting into a single workflow. By combining conversational AI with proprietary advertising intelligence, the platform enables marketers to move from a campaign brief to launch in under 59 seconds. This system aims to reduce fragmented workflows, allowing teams to focus on strategy while maintaining control over key decisions.

Read Full Story

UPI completes 10 years, clocks nearly 13,000-fold rise in transaction volume

Startups

India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has completed a decade of transforming the nation's digital payments landscape. Since its 2016 launch, annual transaction volumes surged from 1.78 crore to over 24,162 crore by 2025-26, while values rose to Rs 314 lakh crore. Developed by the NPCI, the platform expanded from 44 to 703 banks, strengthening financial inclusion and establishing a global benchmark for real-time, interoperable digital payments.

Read Full Story

AI’s new cost equation: Why token economics matters

Startups

NVIDIA's Jigar Halani highlights the emerging "token economy," emphasizing the need for developers to optimize AI costs as token consumption surges. He suggests matching model complexity to specific tasks, utilizing caching, and improving full-stack efficiency across hardware and software. While reducing costs is vital, Halani argues that the ultimate value lies in leveraging high-quality data to produce more intelligent tokens, driving monetization and customer stickiness.

Read Full Story

WATER Robotics Raises $2.5 Mn To Build India’s First Robotic Bed

Business

"Hyderabad-based AI startup WATER Robotics has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by Endiya Partners. The company plans to use the capital for R&D and data collection to advance its 'Physical OS' for intelligent surfaces. Its flagship product, CAMA, is a robotic bed powered by the VORTEX model. This investment reflects a broader trend of growing interest in physical AI within India's expanding robotics market.".

Read Full Story

When payments grow beyond the gateway

Startups

As businesses scale, simple payment processes evolve into complex operational functions involving recurring billing, multi-channel transactions, and manual reconciliation. Fragmented systems often hinder cash flow visibility and operational efficiency. Consequently, companies are shifting toward unified financial ecosystems, such as Zoho Payments, to integrate banking and accounting. Additionally, AI is now streamlining these workflows by automating reconciliation and reducing administrative burdens for finance teams.

Read Full Story

LightFury Games Adds Rohit Sharma As Investor Ahead Of eCricket’s September Trial

Business

Former India captain Rohit Sharma has joined Bengaluru-based LightFury Games as an investor and licensed player for its upcoming AAA mobile game, eCricket. Sharma is the eighth marquee cricketer to back the studio, joining others like MS Dhoni. The game, featuring over 700 licensed players and commentary by Navjot Singh Sidhu, will begin a phased closed beta in September 2026, targeting a global audience of cricket enthusiasts.

Read Full Story

Categories