.png "A quick and simple roundup of startup news for 23 Nov 2025. See today’s funding deals, new launches, and important updates.")
A quick and simple roundup of startup news for 23 Nov 2025. See today’s funding deals, new launches, and important updates.
Indian Startups Raise 171 Mn This Week Yubi AgroStar Lead Funding
Indian startups pulled in 171.4 million dollars this week, nudging funding up about 5 percent from the previous week. Fintech player Yubi grabbed the biggest slice with 46.4 million dollars, while agritech platform AgroStar brought in 30 million dollars in a round led by Just Climate. Fintech, agritech and AI are doing most of the heavy lifting here, helped by active backers like Inflection Point Ventures and Titan Capital keeping seed stage deals lively.
Campus Hiring Booms Top Engineers Grab Offers Despite IT Slowdown for Startups
Even though big global IT names are hiring more slowly, placement activity at top engineering campuses such as BITS Pilani and leading NITs is still buzzing. Students are seeing more recruiters on campus, fatter pre placement offers and headline packages crossing 1 crore rupees. The energy has shifted towards sectors like banking building data centers, semiconductors, data science and consulting, which are soaking up talent that might once have gone straight into generic IT services.
Trade Unions Slam New Labour Codes Founders Face Nationwide Protests
Ten of India’s major trade unions have come out swinging against the new consolidated labour codes, calling them a fraud on workers and vowing nationwide protests. They want the laws scrapped outright, arguing that provisions around easier hiring and firing undermine job security and weaken collective bargaining. While the codes do promise things like broader social security and minimum wages, union leaders say those gains are overshadowed by the extra flexibility handed to employers.
Fixed Term Employees Win Big Under New Labour Laws Entrepreneurs Alert
The new labour code is a real step up for fixed term contractual employees, who are now entitled to the same pay and statutory benefits as permanent staff. That covers things like leave, medical benefits and social security, removing the old two tier feel inside many workplaces. A standout change is gratuity eligibility dropping from five years to just one year of continuous service, backed by equal pay provisions, gender nondiscrimination rules and mandatory health and social security protections for contract workers.
Sunil Singhania Backed Smallcap Unlocks 10 Lakh Shares Monday
Around 10 lakh shares of Mangal Electrical Industries are set to hit the market on Monday as the pre listing lock in for some early holders ends. That chunk represents about 4 percent of the company’s outstanding equity and includes positions held by marquee anchor investors such as the Abakkus Diversified Alpha Fund. The timing is awkward, since the transformer components maker is already trading about 24 percent below its IPO price of 561 rupees, and the new supply has investors worrying about fresh selling pressure.
Apple India Crosses 3000 Cr Profit Entrepreneurs Eye India Growth
Apple’s India unit has cleared a major milestone, with net profit for FY25 jumping 16 percent to 3,196 crore rupees. It is the first time the business has crossed the 3,000 crore profit mark, powered by an 18 percent rise in revenue to 79,378 crore rupees. That lift points to rising demand for Apple hardware in India, helped by more physical stores, tighter channel execution and a strong run of product launches.
Agnikul Cosmos Raises 17 Mn Hits 500 Mn Valuation Scale Fast
Agnikul Cosmos has raised 17 million dollars, about 150 crore rupees, at a 500 million dollar valuation to push its spacetech roadmap forward. The startup, known for 3D printed rocket engines, plans to spend the cash on scaling production, advancing its stage recovery work and sharpening its reusable launch architecture. Funds will also go into building out an integrated space campus in Tamil Nadu, part of its ambition to compete globally on lower cost access to orbit.
Byju Founder Ordered to Pay 1.07 Billion USD Court Shocks Startup World
A bankruptcy court in Delaware has issued a default judgment ordering Byju founder Byju Raveendran to pay more than 1.07 billion dollars tied to Byju Alpha, the company’s US financing arm. The judge acted after he repeatedly failed to appear or provide documents the court had demanded, and the order accuses him of personally directing the transfer and hiding of funds. His legal team says they will appeal quickly, rejecting the allegations and arguing that creditors have painted a misleading picture.
Canva CoFounder Eyes IPO in Next 2 Years Startup Exit Inspiration
Cliff Obrecht, the co founder and chief operating officer of Canva, says the company is lining up for an IPO sometime in the next couple of years. The design platform, last valued at roughly 42 billion dollars, is leaning hard into enterprise use cases and a new AI powered suite called Affinity to fuel its next growth leg. Bringing in former Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg as a senior finance leader is another clear sign they are getting ready for the scrutiny that comes with going public.
Sierra Hits 100 Million ARR in 2 Years Founder Bret Taylor Scales Fast
Sierra, an AI focused customer service startup co founded by former Salesforce co chief executive Bret Taylor and ex Google leader Clay Bavor, has hit 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue in only 21 months. That pace underlines just how hungry big companies are for AI based automation in complex support workflows. Sierra’s agents help with tasks like identity checks and mortgage support for major tech and traditional firms, and its outcomes based pricing model gives it a distinctive angle in a crowded AI market.
Waymo Gets Green Light to Expand Robotaxi Across California Startups Watch
Waymo has secured a key approval from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles that lets it expand its driverless operations far beyond its earlier test zones. The company can now deploy fully autonomous vehicles across the whole Bay Area, Sacramento and most of Southern California right down to the Mexican border. That scale up should help Waymo build a true regional robotaxi network, although it still needs a separate sign off from the state utilities regulator before fully commercial operations can ramp.
Figure AI Faces Whistleblower Lawsuit Over Dangerous Robots Startup Risk
Figure AI is being sued by a former employee who says they were fired after flagging serious safety concerns about the startup’s humanoid robots. The whistleblower claims the machines have enough power to fracture a human skull and that leadership pushed ahead in pursuit of a multibillion dollar valuation without properly addressing those risks. The case puts a bright spotlight on how aggressively robotics companies are moving and whether their internal safety checks keep pace with the technology.
Alibaba Becomes Hidden AI Leader Founders Study Their Playbook
Alibaba has repositioned itself as a major AI player by leaning on the data and cloud muscle it built in e commerce. At the center of that shift is its Qwen family of large language models, backed by heavy research investment and made more accessible through open source releases that speed up adoption. The AI push got a huge boost when Apple reportedly picked Qwen to power new AI features on iPhones sold in China, a decision that anchors Alibaba’s status in the local AI race.
Allica Bank Lending Adds 5.8 Billion GBP to UK GDP Startup Impact
Fresh analysis of Allica Bank’s lending book estimates that its support for established small and medium sized businesses added 5.8 billion pounds to UK GDP over the past year. That activity is linked to more than 84,000 jobs, roughly one in every 440 positions in the country. The report argues that challenger banks like Allica play an important role by channelling money to SMEs that often struggle to get the same attention from bigger legacy lenders.
Kalshi Hits 11 Billion Valuation After 1 Billion Raise Venture Boom
Event trading platform Kalshi has seen its valuation leap to 11 billion dollars after pulling in a 1 billion dollar funding round. The money reportedly came from heavyweight backers including Sequoia Capital and CapitalG, signaling a big vote of confidence in regulated prediction markets. As more investors use event contracts for hedging and speculation around things like economic data and geopolitics, Kalshi is positioning itself as the core exchange for this emerging asset class.
DATE 2025 Dubai Brings Top Tech Founders Venture Deals
The Digitization, AI and Emerging Technology Summit, known as DATE 2025, is set to run in Dubai as a showcase for top tech voices and ventures across the Middle East and North Africa. Organisers are bringing together founders, policymakers and investors to focus on areas such as AI, digital assets, cybersecurity and quantum computing. Co locating the event with the Climate Action, Renewable Energy & Sustainability Forum keeps sustainability in the frame, with live deals, formal agreements and an AI powered matchmaking system aimed at pushing digital transformation in the region.
Bitcoin Crashes Below 80000 Crypto Founders Brace for Winter
Bitcoin has slid to a multi month low, flirting with the 80,000 dollar support area after shedding nearly 13 percent in a week. The drop is part of a wider pullback from risk heavy assets as traders digest uncertainty over United States interest rate cuts and strain on richly valued tech stocks. Roughly 2 billion dollars worth of leveraged crypto bets have been wiped out in the turbulence, showing how quickly speculative positions can unwind when momentum flips.
Robert Kiyosaki Sells 2.25 Million Bitcoin Founders Watch Closely
Author and long time Bitcoin supporter Robert Kiyosaki says he has sold about 2.25 million dollars worth of Bitcoin that he originally bought at around 6,000 dollars per coin. He is redirecting that money into what he calls real world cash flow plays, including two surgery centers and a billboard business. Even while taking chips off the table, he has restated his bullish long term view on Bitcoin, framing the move as following his own rule of using volatile assets to fund steady income streams.
XRP Whales Now Control 35 Percent Supply Massive Accumulation Startups Note
Large XRP holders often called whales have added roughly 4.07 billion tokens to their wallets in a fresh accumulation wave. On current estimates they now control about 35 percent of the entire XRP supply, a concentration that has caught the eye of traders. The buying spree appears to reflect optimism that Ripple’s drawn out legal fight with the US securities regulator will resolve in a way that gives the token clearer regulatory footing and room for a price rebound.
Grayscale Launches Dogecoin XRP ETFs on November 24 Fintech Startups
Grayscale is preparing to launch two new crypto exchange traded funds, the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF and the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust ETF, with trading slated to start on November 24 on the New York Stock Exchange. The products are designed to let traditional investors get exposure to XRP and Dogecoin through regular brokerage accounts, without handling tokens directly. Approval of these funds points to regulators becoming more comfortable with a broader set of digital assets and is expected to draw more institutional money into both markets.
Pew Report Shows X Still Strong Among US Founders Entrepreneurs
New survey work from Pew Research Center shows that X, the platform once known as Twitter, still has a firm hold on a slice of United States adults even as rivals like Threads and Bluesky try to peel people away. Usage has dipped slightly, from 23 percent in 2021 to about 21 percent now, but that is a slow fade rather than a collapse. One big reason is that X remains a go to window for breaking news and fast moving events, making it hard to fully replace for journalists, politicians and creators.
Meta Enters Electricity Trading Business New Founder Opportunity
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is moving to enter electricity trading in the United States as it chases more power for its expanding data center fleet. The company has sought regulatory approval that would let it line up long term power deals with new plants and then sell surplus supply into wholesale markets. If it secures that flexibility, Meta can better manage the energy risks tied to its AI workloads while nudging new generation projects into being.
CompanyCam Becomes Nebraskas First 2 Billion Unicorn Startup
CompanyCam, a Lincoln based startup that builds photo centric documentation and project management tools for construction teams, has reached a 2 billion dollar valuation. That figure puts it firmly in unicorn territory and makes it the first startup founded and scaled in Nebraska to cross the billion dollar line. The win is a big signal to founders and investors that high growth software businesses do not need a Silicon Valley postcode to reach global scale.
Ather Energy Launches Rizta in Sri Lanka Global EV Scale Move
Indian EV maker Ather Energy has pushed further into overseas markets by launching its family focused Rizta scooter in Sri Lanka. The company is working with Evolution Auto as its distribution partner and is building on early traction for the model in India and Nepal. By bringing the Rizta into Sri Lanka, Ather is targeting riders looking for modern, reliable electric options and shoring up its broader international product strategy.
MENA Early Stage Startup Funding Stays Hot Entrepreneurs Raise Fast
Despite global economic jitters, the Middle East and North Africa region is keeping up a steady rhythm of early stage startup funding. Mega rounds in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates still skew headline numbers higher, but underneath that there is ongoing deal flow into seed and pre Series A companies. Deep tech and SaaS ventures are starting to grab more investor attention alongside familiar strongholds like fintech, keeping the pipeline of future growth stories well stocked.
Egypt HR Startup bluworks Raises 1 Million to Scale Fast
Egyptian startup bluworks has raised 1 million dollars in seed funding from backers including A15 and Beltone Venture Capital. The company builds HR tools for blue collar teams, handling scheduling, attendance, payroll and real time salary payouts in one system. With the new cash, bluworks plans to go deeper into the Egyptian SME crowd and then push across the wider MENA region, where many frontline workers still deal with clunky, paper heavy processes.
Korea Investment Partners Leads 10 Million AI Startup Round
AI startup Redrob has closed a 10 million dollar Series A round led by Korea Investment Partners to bring high powered models to more people at lower cost. Its platform is pitched as a budget friendly alternative to the big LLMs, aiming to deliver similar flagship performance without the usual fat bill. The team will spend the money on advancing its core machine learning architecture and building out presence in markets like India, where it wants to give students nationwide free access to LLM tools.
Lambda Secures 1.5 Billion to Build AI Cloud Growth Engine
Lambda Labs has secured more than 1.5 billion dollars to ramp up its AI cloud footprint in a huge step up. The company plans to use the money to build what it calls gigawatt scale AI factories, vast GPU packed data centers that act like shared supercomputers for training and running models. The goal is to make serious compute feel as common and available as electricity for hyperscalers, large enterprises and frontier labs scrambling for AI capacity.
Zone Co Launches First ERP Native Global Payments Fintech Startups
Zone and Co has rolled out Zone AP Payments, a global payments product that lives directly inside customers’ ERP systems. Built with TransferMate, it lets finance teams automate the whole accounts payable flow and send local or cross border payments from within the ERP instead of juggling bank portals. Users get instant reconciliation, sharp foreign exchange rates and compliant payouts to suppliers in over 200 countries across 140 currencies, which takes a lot of friction out of paying vendors.
SoFi Becomes First FDIC Insured Bank to Offer Crypto Fintech Startups
SoFi Technologies has launched SoFi Crypto, making it the first nationally chartered FDIC insured bank in the United States to offer direct crypto trading to regular customers. Through the familiar SoFi app, users can buy, sell and hold coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum alongside their other financial products. The coins themselves are not covered by deposit insurance, but the setup leans on the bank’s compliance and security playbook for people who prefer dealing with a regulated institution for their digital assets.
eToro Stock Jumps 29 Percent on Debut Day IPO Success Startup Story
eToro’s first trading day on Nasdaq finished with the stock up nearly 29 percent, a strong vote of confidence from public market investors. The social trading and multi asset brokerage, which priced its IPO in May 2025, now has public currency to push harder into retail investing and crypto products. The upbeat start also sends a hopeful signal for the broader IPO pipeline, especially for mature fintech names that already have scale and brand recognition.
Triller Receives Nasdaq Delisting Notice Founders Fight Back
Triller Group has received another delisting determination letter from Nasdaq after failing to file its Form 10 Q for the quarter ending September 2025 on time. That delay breaks listing rule 5250 c 1, which covers timely financial reporting for listed companies. Triller has asked for a hearing with the exchange’s panel to argue its case and lay out how it plans to get current and stay compliant so the shares can keep trading.
Datavault AI Updates Dream Bowl 2026 Meme Coin Startup Move
Datavault AI has shared a new update on how it will distribute Dream Bowl 2026 meme coins to eligible shareholders. After talking with Nasdaq, the company says there will be no ex dividend date quoted for this distribution, which is an unusual twist. That means only holders of record as of November 25, 2025 who own the stock on that date will receive the tokens, so traders cannot rely on the usual ex date mechanics.
Sam Altman Reportedly Plans Designer Babies via Genetic Engineering Founder
Reports say Sam Altman and his husband Oliver Mulherin are putting millions into a biotech startup called Preventive that wants to use gene editing on embryos. The idea is to strip out serious inherited disorders before a child is born, which supporters frame as a way to cut disease at the root. Critics warn that long term effects of rewriting human DNA are still murky and fear the slide toward designer baby territory and sharper inequality if only wealthy parents can access the tech.
Trump Net Worth Drops 1.1 Billion Impact on Founder Brand
President Donald Trump has seen his estimated net worth fall by about 1.1 billion dollars, according to fresh tallies. Big legal penalties, including a 355 million dollar fraud judgment plus hefty interest, have piled pressure on his balance sheet alongside weakness in parts of his commercial real estate portfolio. Assets linked to ventures such as the parent of Truth Social have also taken valuation cuts, leaving his total wealth near 2.6 billion dollars and below the bar for the Forbes 400.
Sagarmala Finance to Raise 8000 Crore for Maritime Growth
Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited has cleared a plan to raise 8,000 crore rupees, close to 960 million dollars, this fiscal year to power India’s maritime ambitions. The lender wants to deploy that capital into loans spanning ports, last mile port connectivity, coastal community projects and vessel purchases and operations. The push lines up with the government’s broader agenda to upgrade maritime infrastructure, cut logistics costs and support coastal economies.
LenderLink Named Startup of the Year by Industry Peers
LenderLink has been named Startup of the Year at the 2025 KMC Startup Awards, capping a busy growth phase. The credit data exchange now works with 12 lending members and manages more than 36 million borrower records on its platform. By giving lenders real time, consent based insight into applicants, it helps reduce fraud, speed up loan approvals and open formal credit to more people in the Philippines.
SkySafe Pays Crypto to Install Drone Tracking Sensors Startup Idea
SkySafe is rolling out FliteGrid, a decentralized physical infrastructure network that rewards people in crypto for buying and installing drone tracking sensors. For 949 dollars, participants can set up a sensor, monitor local drone activity and earn FLITE tokens as part of a crowdsourced surveillance grid. The project, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, hopes to solve the scale problem in drone detection, though some observers remain wary after mixed results from past crypto hardware reward experiments.
New Credit Card Gives Cashback on Mortgage Payments Small Business Win
The Made Card, launched through a partnership between Made Card and Visa, is taking a different swing at credit card rewards by tying them to home loans. Cardholders can rack up bonus points or cash back not only on everyday swipes but also by paying their mortgages on time. Those rewards can be steered toward cutting down the principal on the loan or spent on home related buys, effectively turning routine spending into small nudges toward owning the house outright.
Apple Warns All iPhone Users About Dangerous Scam Calls Entrepreneurs
Apple has pushed out a broad warning to iPhone owners about a spike in scam calls designed to steal personal details. The company is telling users to lean on tools like Silence Unknown Callers and credible caller ID apps to filter out suspicious numbers. This is part of a wider battle against social engineering schemes that dress up as official support or business calls while fishing for passwords, codes and payment information.
Google Rolls Out New Gmail Features Entrepreneurs Must Update Now
Google has flipped on new Gmail features powered by its Gemini AI that can scan emails and attachments far more actively than before. The change has upset some users and triggered legal action, since this data is used to train and refine AI features such as smart suggestions across Google’s ecosystem. Privacy advocates are urging people to dive into their settings and adjust permissions if they are uncomfortable with cross platform analysis of messages that were once only lightly filtered for spam and malware.
One Click Shows If Your Phone Is Secretly Tracked Founders Beware
Recent coverage about hidden tracking on iPhone and Android phones has highlighted just how much data everyday apps quietly gather. Millions of titles pull location, contact details, call logs and device identifiers like the IMEI, often in the background. Security experts advise regularly pruning app permissions, especially for location, and remembering that even metadata from encrypted chats can still be harvested and stitched together into detailed profiles.
Africa Bitcoin Miners Lose Hashrate to Exfiltration Attacks Startups
Analysts say Africa has a Bitcoin mining hashrate exfiltration problem, meaning a big slice of the region’s mining power is credited to pools and operators outside the continent. As a result, much of the revenue, influence and security tied to that hashrate flows abroad instead of supporting local firms and ecosystems. Building regulated, transparent African based mining pools and infrastructure could keep more value onshore and strengthen the region’s hand in global digital asset networks.
India Israel FTA to Boost Startup Collaboration Funding Deals
India is pushing for a Free Trade Agreement with Israel with a strong focus on startups and innovation. Talks led by the commerce and industry minister have centered on using Israel’s edge in deep tech, cybersecurity and medical devices alongside India’s massive market and growing founder base. A formal startup bridge is on the table to help Indian companies plug into Israeli tech while giving Israeli founders smoother access to Indian customers and partners.
PYMNTS Execs Declare Resilience Core Business Model for Founders
Executives at PYMNTS say resilience is not just marketing language for them anymore, it is the backbone of how they build products and run operations. They argue that after years of economic stress, consumers are picky and cautious, gravitating to brands that deliver clear value, fair prices and trust. That shift is nudging companies to rethink pricing, product design and communication so they can serve a customer base that is still spending but much more selective about where each unit of currency goes.