Delhi NCR's tech funding rose to USD 2.4 billion in 2025 as strong late stage deals, rapid auto tech growth, major funding rounds, IPO activity, and acquisitions strengthened the region's lead.
The India-based venture capital firm Peak XV has in recent months sharpened its focus on YC-backed startups, underscoring its ambition to scale investments beyond India.
This week's deals highlight investor appetite for health savings platforms, instant groceries, luxury retail, AI storytelling, and rapid home service delivery.
The Series C round's first close was led by Accel, followed by a second close led by Peak XV Partners, with significant participation from WestBridge Capital and Info Edge Ventures.
Sahai joined the firm in April 2023 when it was still operating as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia, transitioning into the same role after the company separated from its United States partner.
The AI platform aims to deploy the funds into tripling its engineering and AI research team in Bengaluru, expanding into automated report generation and voice-based research, and integrating with research tools such as Decipher, SPSS and Confirmit.
The startup plans to allocate the new funds towards enhancing its artificial intelligence-powered app VibeCheck, expanding its fulfillment and brand verification network, and strengthening its reach in metropolitan and tier-II cities.
The startup, still in stealth mode, is expected to go live later this year. While the name remains undisclosed, insiders suggest that the model bears resemblance to Seekho, a career-focused edtech platform.
The newly raised capital will be deployed to strengthen and scale temple partnerships in over 20 temple towns across India, including Varanasi, Ayodhya, Ujjain, and Haridwar.
The funding round was led by Peak XV Partners, with continued backing from existing investors including Fireside Ventures, Sparrow Capital, Prath Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
Ecommerce major Flipkart, through its subsidiary Quick Routes International, exited its entire 9.01% stake in BlackBuck, fetching INR 672 crore via two bulk deals. Flipkart had already sold 3.9 million shares during BlackBuck's public listing late last year.
NSCOF-II is designed to offer bespoke credit solutions to EBITDA-positive companies, with a focus on fully secured investments backed by 2-3x hard asset collateral and bearing regular interest coupons.
The California and Gurugram-based startup will use the capital to strengthen its AI models, grow its team, and scale its flagship tutoring platforms—PadhAI for UPSC aspirants and EverTutor for GRE preparation—across global and Indian markets.
During his tenure, Thakur played a crucial role in investments and served as a board member and observer for prominent startups, including Atlys, Meesho, Cars24, Unacademy, and Zetwerk.