From Modulus Housing raising $7.8M in Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital, others to Ola Consumer launching Non-AC Ride category across India, here’s everything you need to know this week.
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A busy November ends with gains for Groww, Pine Labs, and Lenskart; losses for PhysicsWallah
November has quietly become one of the most crowded months for Indian startup listings. Bankers say several factors tend to converge around this period: companies prefer to go public before year-end holidays slow foreign institutional investor activity; some global funds seek to close positions within the calendar year; and a post-festive market often carries positive momentum.
Besides, historically, November has also been a high-liquidity month, largely because Diwali—one of India’s most widely celebrated festivals and one that has deep cultural significance for the trading community—typically falls around this time, lifting both sentiment and participation in the markets.
Another practical consideration, investment bankers point out, is financial disclosure. Companies, particularly high-growth startups moving from loss to profit, prefer to showcase one full financial year and one recent quarter of results before going public. A listing around November gives issuers the flexibility to present relatively fresh numbers while still meeting regulatory timelines and foreign investor expectations.
Year in review: What took down some of the biggest startups in 2025
2025 was a big year for Indian startups with blockbuster IPOs. On the flip side, the year also saw a host of them—dubbed unicorns earlier for their massive billion-dollar valuation—packing up.
According to data sourced from Tracxn, 729 startups have shut shop in 2025 so far. The number, however, was 5X higher in 2024, with 3,903 startups shutting down. In 2023, about 2,192 startups were deadpooled.
Across sectors, startups in enterprise applications saw the highest numbers of shutdowns, followed by retail and edtech. While Dunzo’s demise was in the making for some time, BluSmart and Hike shutting shop came as a shocker to the ecosystem.
Meanwhile, a broader funding reset has also influenced survival rates across early and growth-stage companies this year.
These brothers scaled their bootstrapped neutraceutical brand to Rs 20 Cr
In 2012, Prateek and Chetan Agarwal, two brothers from Hyderabad, noticed a growing contradiction in India’s wellness landscape. While health consciousness was rising and people were searching for preventive healthcare solutions, credible, science-backed nutritional products were scarce.
Drawing on their family’s five-decade legacy in healthcare manufacturing through Lifestamin Healthcare and with an initial investment of Rs 2 crore, they founded INLIFE, a brand focused not on flashy marketing, but on research, manufacturing, and delivering quality systems.
According to the brothers, when they founded INLIFE, their source of inspiration was a “mutual faith in the fact that preventive wellness in India must be accessible, transparent, and science-driven…We perceived a huge deficit at that time as health consciousness was increasing, quality nutritional solutions were scarce, particularly in Tier I and Tier II cities,” Prateek tells SMBStory.
Latest news
Wakefit IPO promises huge windfalls for founders and early backer Peak XV
Omnichannel furniture retailer Wakefit is set to launch its Rs 1,288-crore IPO on Monday, delivering stellar gains for its promoters and early investors.
The company has set the price band at Rs 185 to Rs 195 per equity share. This values Wakefit at $669 million at the upper end of the price band.
Ankit Garg, Co-founder and Director at Wakefit, holds a stake of 33.03%, which translates to a holding of Rs 2,012 crore. Garg plans to offload 77 lakh equity shares in the offering, acquired at a weighted average price of Rs 0.02 per share, allowing him to take home Rs 150 crore.
Chaitanya Ramalingegowda. Co-founder and CEO, currently holds a stake of 9.98%, taking the value of his holdings to Rs 608 crore. He is expected to offload 44 lakh shares, acquired at a weighted average price of Rs 0.04, allowing him to take home Rs 86.8 crore.
Funding news
Modulus Housing raises $7.83M in Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital, others
Real estate tech startup Modulus Housing has raised a Series A round of $ 7.83 million to drive its next phase of growth.
The funding round was led by Kalaari Capital, Hero and Samarthya, with participation from SVAS, Sigma, Zetwerk founder Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Zetwerk director Sanjiv Rangrass, and others.
Chennai-based Modulus Housing specialises in factory-built modular construction. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate market expansion across India and global markets and on advanced R&D, including the launch of a next-generation concrete modular system.
StockGro secures Rs 150 Cr to expand AI-driven investment platform
StockGro, an investment advisory and knowledge platform connecting users with SEBI-registered experts, has raised Rs 150 crore from leading stock market investor Mukul Agrawal in its Series B funding round.
The round is structured as a convertible investment, with the company’s valuation to be determined based on future performance.
The funding will be used to expand StockGro’s geographic presence, introduce new product features, and extend offerings across multiple asset classes. The company currently partners with more than 1,500 educational institutions globally and provides tools that help retail investors access market knowledge and analytics traditionally available only to professional research desks.
Other news:
QWEEN secures Rs 1,000 Cr investment to expand experiential jewellery retail
QWEEN, founded by Amit Kumar and Suyash Motarwar as a bootstrapped venture, began with the aim of offering a new approach to fine jewellery for Indian women.
The company received early seed funding from Japanese jeweller Kashikey Co. Ltd., and has now secured an additional Rs 1,000 crore investment from Rosy Blue and Kashikey to support its expansion.
QWEEN plans to introduce more than 20 collections and over 3,000 SKUs across natural diamonds, gemstones, gold and silver, including multiple gold colours and diamond shades. Its first experiential stores, measuring 5,000–6,000 sq ft, are scheduled to open by mid-February in Bangalore and Delhi.
Rosy Blue will contribute its six decades of mine-to-market expertise to strengthen QWEEN’s sourcing and product traceability.
Ola Consumer launches Non-AC Ride category across India
Ola Consumer has launched a non-AC ride category across India, becoming the only player in the country to offer this option at scale.
The move is aimed at providing riders with more affordable travel choices while allowing drivers to reach a broader customer base, reduce fuel costs, and increase earnings. The rollout covers autos, bikes, and cabs and builds on Ola’s 0% commission model, which lets driver partners retain their full fare income.
Ola Consumer is a ride-hailing platforms, operating nationwide and also working on electric vehicle production through its Futurefactory.
Catalyst Brands Business Services appoints Nihar Nidhi as Managing Director
Catalyst Brands Business Services (CBBS), the global capability centre of Catalyst Brands, has appointed Nihar Nidhi as its new Managing Director. Based in Bengaluru, he will oversee the centre’s operations supporting Catalyst Brands’ portfolio of six American retail brands, including JCPenney, Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand and Nautica.
Nidhi Nihar, Managing Director, Catalyst Brands Business Services (CBBS)
Nidhi brings more than 30 years of experience across hospitality, telecommunications and financial services. He joins CBBS after over two decades at JPMorgan Chase, where he served in several senior roles, including Managing Director for Consumer and Community Banking Operations and CEO of the bank’s Global Capability Centre in the Philippines. His tenure included leading large-scale transformation programmes and operational teams across global markets.
His earlier career includes leadership positions at Sterling Holiday Resorts, Reliance Telecommunications, FIS and Tech Mahindra. CBBS, located in Manyata Tech Park, Bengaluru, currently employs more than 800 associates across technology, digital and e-commerce, supply chain, finance, merchandising, marketing and data functions.
HDFC Capital backs Earth Fund with Rs 20 Cr, acquires minority stake in Zoiros Projects
HDFC Capital has partnered with Brigade Enterprises Limited and Gruhas PropTech LLP to strengthen technology-led innovation in India’s built environment. As part of the collaboration, HDFC Capital has acquired a minority stake in Zoiros Projects Private Limited and committed Rs 20 crore to the Earth Fund.
The Earth Fund, anchored by Brigade Group and Gruhas, is positioned as India’s only PropTech-focused venture platform supporting early-stage companies developing solutions for the real estate sector. The fund offers portfolio companies access to developer networks, industry expertise, and opportunities for on-ground deployment.
The partnership brings together the capabilities of HDFC Capital, Brigade Enterprises and Gruhas PropTech to identify and scale technology-driven solutions for the built ecosystem, aiming to advance efficiency, transparency, and sustainability across the sector.
(The article will be updated throughout the day with the latest developments and news)
