Indian technology services company Hexaware Technologies sees an opportunity for itself in the global capability centre (GCC) segment by enabling enterprises to become artificial intelligence (AI) ready.
India is already home to over 1,900 GCCs employing close to two million professionals and this number is projected to grow in the coming years. Along with this, GCCs in the country are also rapidly transforming themselves as technology centres of excellence.
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Venture capital firm Accel and Google’s AI Futures Fund on Monday announced the five startups selected for the 2026 Atoms AI cohort, a programme aimed at helping early-stage artificial intelligence ventures scale their products globally.
The initiative combines Accel’s experience backing Indian founders with Google’s AI infrastructure and research capabilities to support startups building with advanced AI tools.
The five companies were chosen from more than 4,000 applications. Each startup will receive a co-investment of up to $2 million, equally funded by Accel and the AI Futures Fund.
In addition to capital, participating startups will also get up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and resources from Google DeepMind, giving founders access to infrastructure and research support as they build and scale AI-driven products.
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Men’s grooming brand MANNLICH has raised $294,000 in a seed funding round led by BeyondSeed.
The round also saw participation from Chandigarh Angels Network, Signal Ventures, Growth Sense and Growth91, along with several angel investors including Arjun Vaidya, founder of Dr. Vaidya's; Arush Chopra, founder of Just Herbs; Megha Sabhlok, co-founder of Just Herbs; and Gaurav Kumar, founder of Yubi.
The startup said the fresh capital will be used to strengthen its research and development capabilities and expand its team, particularly across R&D and branding.
Mannlich focuses on developing dermatologically tested men’s grooming products designed to meet German quality standards while remaining affordable for the Indian market, the company said.
AGNIT Semiconductors raises $2.6M led by Shastra VC
Deeptech startup AGNIT Semiconductors has raised $2.6 million in a seed extension equity round of funding led by Shastra VC. The round also witnessed participation from existing investors 3one4 Capital and Zephyr Peacock, doubling down on their earlier investments.
With the fresh capital, AGNIT is targeting a production scale of 1 lakh GaN components over the next 24 months and expanding into telecom infrastructure and high-efficiency power semiconductor devices.
AGNIT is India’s first vertically integrated Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor manufacturer, incubated at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. The 7-year-old startup has raised $7.47 million in total so far and is now focused on transitioning its existing pilot products into volume manufacturing.
AGNIT Semiconductor CEO and Co-founder Hareesh Chandrasekar said, “This round comes at an important point in our journey as we move from technology validation to building scale. As a deep-tech company, AGNIT’s patent-protected Gallium Nitride technology is rooted in over 15 years of R&D at IISc, which gives us a strong scientific and engineering foundation.”
AGNIT is one of the first startups incubated by the Gallium Nitride Ecosystem Enabling Centre and Incubator managed by the Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) located at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY).
Indian Institute of Technology Madras’s Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence has developed a new education technology programme aimed at making digital learning more accessible for schools operating in low-infrastructure environments.
Called EduReach, the initiative offers modular, open-source learning tools that schools can adopt selectively, allowing institutions to implement digital education components based on their specific needs rather than deploying a single, comprehensive system. The approach is designed to lower adoption costs while enabling a gradual transition to digital learning.
The programme will now be expanded under the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Education, known as Bodhan AI, recently awarded to the institute by the Ministry of Education.
Backed by funding from BACI as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, EduReach has already been deployed in the field. A customised version of the platform was developed for the Tamil Nadu School Education Department and used during the previous academic year for weekly evaluations in smart classrooms across 3,860 schools, reaching more than 1.9 million students.
QMS Medical Allied Services Ltd has appointed Himani Pruthi as Strategy & Marketing Business Unit Head, the healthcare management solutions company said on Monday.
Pruthi brings more than 15 years of experience in healthcare and pharmaceutical marketing, with expertise in strategic brand planning, integrated marketing, patient support programmes and digital health transformation.
In her new role, she will lead the company’s strategy and marketing business unit, overseeing initiatives aimed at strengthening QMS’ strategic capabilities and driving integrated growth across its healthcare programmes and platforms. She will also work on building brand and marketing frameworks designed to support scalable, patient-centric platforms.
Before joining QMS, Pruthi held senior leadership roles at Publicis and MIMS, where she led multidisciplinary teams and managed large-scale healthcare marketing and strategic communication initiatives across several healthcare portfolios. Earlier in her career, she worked with Novartis, focusing on pharmaceutical brand management and commercial strategy.
EBG Group has entered into a strategic brand licensing partnership with Hard Rock International to introduce a premium range of Hard Rock–branded coffee machines and small kitchen appliances in India.
The collaboration marks Hard Rock’s entry into India’s home appliance segment and will be backed by a planned investment of Rs 100 crore. The partners are targeting revenue of Rs 500 crore over the next five years from the initiative.
The companies aim to tap into India’s rapidly growing premium home appliance market, which is estimated to be valued at around Rs 29,000 crore and expanding at an annual growth rate of about 9%.
The product range will include premium coffee machines and small kitchen appliances carrying the Hard Rock brand, as the companies seek to capitalise on rising consumer demand for premium lifestyle and kitchen products in the country.
(The copy will be updated with latest news through the day)
