 Morning Dispatch |
Piyush Goyal to headline ET Startup Awards; The Souled Store eyes fundraise
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Happy Tuesday! Meet our distinguished guest of honour for The Economic Times Startup Awards 2026. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ Ola Electric board approves fundraise
■ Corning’s data centre plans
Union minister Piyush Goyal will headline the 11th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) in Bengaluru on October 9. The evening will celebrate India’s most dynamic founders and the startups shaping its digital economy.
Tell me more: ETSA is among India’s most influential platforms recognising entrepreneurship. This year’s edition brings together over 300 leaders from across the startup and technology ecosystem, spotlighting India’s role at the intersection of AI, innovation, and global trade.
The 2026 edition comes as the country's new economy grapples with a rapid wave of advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
Yes, and: Goyal has been leading trade negotiations with key partners, including the US, after sealing high-profile deals with the UK, which came into force in July, and the European Union (EU), which is expected to take effect early next year.
Winner circle:
The backdrop: Chaired by Rishad Premji, the high-powered jury of top founders and investors deliberated for hours on August 25 in Bengaluru to select this year’s winners. Impressed by the startups they were evaluating, the jury noted that at least two of them will make it to the Nifty 50 in the not-so-distant future.
(L-R) Vedang Patel, Aditya Sharma, Rohin Samtaney, and Harsh Lal, founders, The Souled Store
Mumbai-based D2C apparel brand The Souled Store is in discussions to raise Rs 400-500 crore in a transaction led by 360 One Asset Management, people familiar with the matter said.
Driving the news:
Financials: The Souled Store’s revenue jumped 30-35% in 2025-26 to more than Rs 700 crore. The company expects to maintain a similar growth rate in this fiscal, people in the know said.
(L-R) Anup Agrawal, Mohit Bedi, Siddharth Mehta, founders, Kiwi
Bengaluru-based fintech Kiwi, which offers bank-issued RuPay credit cards and credit lines for UPI payments, is looking to raise $30-40 million to accelerate customer acquisition, sources said.
The details: This would be its largest round after a $24 million raise in August 2025 led by Vertex Ventures, which valued the company at about $100 million.
Growth targets:
Krishna Rangasayee, founder and CEO, SiMa.ai
SiMa.ai, a San Jose-based semiconductor and software company focused on artificial intelligence (AI) for physical world applications, has raised $150 million or about Rs 1,437 crore in funding, founder and chief executive Krishna Rangasayee told us.
Deal details:
The company’s next-generation hardware is expected to deliver 1,000 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of compute and is slated for the first half of 2028.
Prashant Parameswaran, founder, Arovia Consumer
Health food brand Soulfull founder Prashant Parameswaran’s new venture Arovia Consumer has raised capital from Fireside Ventures to build a portfolio of regional and family-owned packaged food brands.
Details: Fireside Ventures will invest Rs 100 crore in Arovia across multiple tranches. The investment is part of the VC fund's deployment of its Rs 2,265 crore Fund IV, which closed last December.
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO, Ola Electric
Ola Electric board approves Rs 1,000 crore fundraise: The board of Ola Electric approved a rights issue of partly paid-up equity shares to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore, the electric two-wheeler maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday. It comes weeks after the Bengaluru-based company approved plans to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore.
Corning’s data centre plans: AI data centres require far denser fibre networks than traditional facilities, chief digital and information officer, Soumya Seetharam told ET in an interview. The US-based company plans to bring together its global expertise in fibre, cable and high-density connectivity with local manufacturing and supply chain capabilities to capture this growing market.
■ AI agents are about to flood the workforce; no one’s ready for it (Wired)
■ South Korea’s AI chip giants are fighting for a bigger role in America’s AI boom (Rest of World)
■ AI hyperscalers are transforming debt (FT)
Also in the letter:
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ Ola Electric board approves fundraise
■ Corning’s data centre plans
Union minister Piyush Goyal to headline ET Startup Awards on October 9 in Bengaluru
Union minister Piyush Goyal will headline the 11th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) in Bengaluru on October 9. The evening will celebrate India’s most dynamic founders and the startups shaping its digital economy.
Tell me more: ETSA is among India’s most influential platforms recognising entrepreneurship. This year’s edition brings together over 300 leaders from across the startup and technology ecosystem, spotlighting India’s role at the intersection of AI, innovation, and global trade.
The 2026 edition comes as the country's new economy grapples with a rapid wave of advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
Yes, and: Goyal has been leading trade negotiations with key partners, including the US, after sealing high-profile deals with the UK, which came into force in July, and the European Union (EU), which is expected to take effect early next year.
Winner circle:
- Startup of the Year: Groww
- Midas Touch: Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner at consumer investment firm Sauce VC
- Bootstrap Champ: Habuild
- Top Innovator: Theranautilus
- Woman Ahead: Pallavi Mohadikar, cofounder and chief executive, Palmonas; Pallavi Shrivastava, cofounder and CEO, Progcap
- Social Enterprise: Varaha
- Comeback Kid: Mukund Jha
- Best On Campus: Armatrix
The backdrop: Chaired by Rishad Premji, the high-powered jury of top founders and investors deliberated for hours on August 25 in Bengaluru to select this year’s winners. Impressed by the startups they were evaluating, the jury noted that at least two of them will make it to the Nifty 50 in the not-so-distant future.
The Souled Store valuation may jump over 3x to Rs 5,000 crore in new secondary deal: sources
Mumbai-based D2C apparel brand The Souled Store is in discussions to raise Rs 400-500 crore in a transaction led by 360 One Asset Management, people familiar with the matter said.
Driving the news:
- The deal is expected to be primarily a secondary share sale.
- It will value the company at about Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.
- This is more than three times its last valuation of Rs 1,500 crore.
- Existing investor Xponentia Capital is expected to partially sell its stake.
Financials: The Souled Store’s revenue jumped 30-35% in 2025-26 to more than Rs 700 crore. The company expects to maintain a similar growth rate in this fiscal, people in the know said.
Kiwi seeks up to $40 million as fintech steps up credit push
Bengaluru-based fintech Kiwi, which offers bank-issued RuPay credit cards and credit lines for UPI payments, is looking to raise $30-40 million to accelerate customer acquisition, sources said.
The details: This would be its largest round after a $24 million raise in August 2025 led by Vertex Ventures, which valued the company at about $100 million.
Growth targets:
- Kiwi aims to reach 600,000 cards and credit lines by March 2027, nearly double its August position of over 311,000 cards and more than 11,000 sanctioned credit lines.
- Its Postpaid product, launched in June, offers cardless credit; credit lines grew more than 14-fold in two months to August, from 802, and 40% of credit-line customers do not have a credit card.
SiMa AI raises $150 million in funding to advance physical AI, robotics
SiMa.ai, a San Jose-based semiconductor and software company focused on artificial intelligence (AI) for physical world applications, has raised $150 million or about Rs 1,437 crore in funding, founder and chief executive Krishna Rangasayee told us.
Deal details:
- This round takes the total funding to more than $500 million, valuing the company at $1.45 billion.
- The round was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Amplify, with participation from Alter Venture Partners, Dell Technologies Capital and StepStone Group.
The company’s next-generation hardware is expected to deliver 1,000 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of compute and is slated for the first half of 2028.
Fireside invests in Soulfull founder Parameswaran's new venture Arovia Consumer
Health food brand Soulfull founder Prashant Parameswaran’s new venture Arovia Consumer has raised capital from Fireside Ventures to build a portfolio of regional and family-owned packaged food brands.
Details: Fireside Ventures will invest Rs 100 crore in Arovia across multiple tranches. The investment is part of the VC fund's deployment of its Rs 2,265 crore Fund IV, which closed last December.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Ola Electric board approves Rs 1,000 crore fundraise: The board of Ola Electric approved a rights issue of partly paid-up equity shares to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore, the electric two-wheeler maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday. It comes weeks after the Bengaluru-based company approved plans to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore.
Corning’s data centre plans: AI data centres require far denser fibre networks than traditional facilities, chief digital and information officer, Soumya Seetharam told ET in an interview. The US-based company plans to bring together its global expertise in fibre, cable and high-density connectivity with local manufacturing and supply chain capabilities to capture this growing market.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ AI agents are about to flood the workforce; no one’s ready for it (Wired)
■ South Korea’s AI chip giants are fighting for a bigger role in America’s AI boom (Rest of World)
■ AI hyperscalers are transforming debt (FT)
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I agree to receive newsletters and marketing communications via e-mail