Explore Business Standard
Start- Ups
The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will invest Rs 25 crore in Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos under the TIDCO Startup Investment Policy 2025. Established in 1965, TIDCO is a premier industrial development agency of the Tamil Nadu government, and undertakes joint ventures and facilitates big industrial and infrastructure projects in the state. The latest investment would help accelerate Agnikul's operational readiness, supporting the scaling of its aerospace manufacturing capabilities, advancing its stage recovery program, and strengthening the development of its integrated space campus on the 300 acres allocated by the Tamil Nadu government near Kulasekharapatnam. In a statement, Moin SPM, co-founder and COO of the company, said, "This investment from the state government is a strong motivation for all of us to build and give back to the local community." Agnikul is currently scaling its first orbital launch with Agnibaan, a small satellite launch vehicle capabl
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday urged the Tamil Nadu government to work closely with the Centre to further strengthen the state's startup ecosystem, noting that despite significant progress, it still has immense untapped potential. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day Research, Industry, Start-up and Entrepreneurship (RISE) Conclave here, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences highlighted India's exponential growth in the sector, which has increased from 350 startups in 2014 to over 2 lakh today. "Tamil Nadu has contributed 34,000 registered startups, but there is still significant untapped potential. We need to create an enabling ecosystem, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities, to accelerate innovation-driven entrepreneurship," Singh said. He encouraged youth in growth hubs like Chennai and Coimbatore to leverage central initiatives to scale up their ventures, pointing out that startups have already ...
Total funding in the Delhi-NCR tech ecosystem rose 9 per cent to USD 2.9 billion in 2025, driven by a massive surge in late-stage investments and a blockbuster year for the auto tech sector, according to a report by data intelligence platform Tracxn. While the total capital raised saw an uptick from USD 2.7 billion in 2024, the ecosystem witnessed a significant 34 per cent decline in deal volume, with the number of funding rounds dropping to 415 from 630 in the previous year. This indicates a "shift toward higher conviction in fewer assets", the report noted. Total funding growth was driven by a sharp rise in late-stage investments, while seed and early-stage funding fell compared to previous years. Late-stage funding witnessed a 47 per cent surge, reaching USD 1.8 billion in 2025. In sharp contrast, seed-stage funding plummeted by 38 per cent to USD 260 million, while early-stage funding dropped 18 per cent to USD 839 million. The auto tech sector emerged as the frontrunner of ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged industry and start-ups to focus on quality and resolve to make excellence a benchmark in manufacturing. In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio address, Modi said Indian products should be synonymous with top quality and urged the industry to manufacture zero-defect products. "Let us resolve to improve the quality of whatever we manufacture. Be it our textiles, technology, electronics or even packaging; an Indian product should become synonymous with top quality," the prime minister said in his 130th Mann ki Baat address. He also lauded the efforts of youngsters who participated enthusiastically in India's start-up journey that began 10 years ago in 2016. "Today India has turned into the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world. These start ups are out of the box; they are working in sectors that were unimaginable even 10 years ago," Modi said. The prime minister said Indian start-ups are working in sectors as diverse as AI, space, ..