Singapore-headquartered angel investment platform ThinKuvate has announced the first close of its India fund at INR 250 million. The investment comes within four months of the formal launch of the ThinKuvate India Fund — I.

The firm has made investments in four startups – Rosh.ai, Zippee, Pantherun, and NymbleUp.

Rosh.ai was founded in 2021 by Roshy John and Rajaram Moorthy. It specialises in autonomous vehicle technology, providing solutions for the automotive, seaport, and mining industries. The company has raised $1 million in Pre-Series A led by EV2 Ventures, with participation from Caret Capital and ThinKuvate.

Zippee was founded by Madhav Kasturia in 2021 and offers same-day delivery for more than 100 (D2C) brands. Zippee is scaling its operations in metro cities and expanding its brand partnership.

Founded in 2019 by Srinivas Shekar, Pantherun is a cybersecurity company specialising in advanced data protection solutions. The company has raised a bridge round led by QuickHeal Family Office and SIDBI Ventures, with participation from 8X, PiperSerica, and ThinKuvate.

NymbleUp.ai was founded in 2019 by Yogesh Bhatt & Manish Thakur. It has secured pre-series A  led by Chandigarh Angels, IVY Cap, and ThinKuvate. It provides AI-driven predictive workforce management solutions for QSRs and retail chains; forecasting demand across all sales channels at 15-minute intervals. 

ThinKuvate plans to invest in early-stage startups from seed to Series A, focusing on companies leveraging technology at the forefront.

Ghanshyam Ahuja, Managing Partner, ThinKuvate said, “We have been investing in Indian startups and saw the potential growth opportunities. That led us to launch an India-focused fund, we have reached the first milestone in little over 100 days. This validates our thesis on the next-gen innovations taking place in India, which have a global appeal.”

ThinKuvate continues to raise its target corpus, the fund plans to invest in 30 – 40 startups with an average investment size of INR 15 million to INR 40 million. The fund has also attracted top tier general partners globally, to manage the deal flow, due diligence, and overall portfolio management. More than 50 percent of investors in the fund are NRIs from various countries, top of them being Singapore, Australia, the USA, the UK, and Indonesia.

Mayank Jain, CEO, ThinKuvate, says, “We have built capabilities within our team to provide support and help to startups scale faster. The profile of limited partners, who are working professionals with senior roles in large corporates, would be a huge differentiator for the companies we back. Our vast network will not only bring in quality capital but provide access to the founders to accelerate their growth journey post funding from ThinKuvate. As we continue to raise the target corpus, we have already built a healthy deal flow and we are confident that with this fund, we will be able to build a strong portfolio and generate stellar returns for our investors.”

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Bengaluru-based electric powertrain start-up Entuple E-Mobility has raised INR 130 million in a funding round led by Varanium Capital, which also participation from existing investors Blue Ashva Capital, alongside high-net-worth individuals and family offices, including Mohit Oswal, founder of Roop Automotives.

The start-up operates a 25,000 sqft manufacturing plant in Bengaluru, where it produces hub and mid-motor powertrains for two- and three-wheelers. Entuple develops its motors, controllers and firmware in-house without external licensing.

The funding will be used to advance the company's technology stack and expand into new vehicle segments. Key areas of focus include:

• High-Voltage Systems: Development of motors for four-wheelers, buses and trucks.
• Power Electronics: Research and development into new-generation intelligent motor controllers.
• Commercial Vehicles: Engineering powertrains specifically for the heavy-duty commercial segment.

By deepening its indigenous technology, Entuple aims to provide powertrain solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India and international markets.

Rakesh Mishra, Founder and CEO, Entuple E-Mobility, said, “This round enables us to double down on high-voltage powertrain platforms for four-wheelers, passenger vehicles, and commercial vehicles while continuing to strengthen our core IP in motors, power electronics, and controls. We are excited to partner with Varanium Capital and our existing investors as we scale from proven 2W/3W solutions to becoming a key technology enabler for the next generation of EV programs in India and beyond.”

Satya Bansal, Founder & CEO, Blue Ashva Capital, said, “We reinforce our confidence by further participating in the current fund raise. In a market often relying on assembled solutions, Entuple differentiates itself by engineering superior technology fully designed and developed in India. This is one of the best design and engineering teams in the motor and controller space in the country, which was largely dominated by imported or assembled components in India so far.”

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Gujarat-headquartered AI automotive safety solutions company drivebuddyAI has announced its first participation at CES 2026. The company, appearing alongside its parent firm Roadzen Inc., will showcase its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

The company’s technology has recently achieved validation under India’s AIS-184 driver monitoring standard. It also meets the requirements of the European Union’s General Safety Regulation (GSR) 2144 and the EURO NCAP 2026 protocols regarding driver engagement.

The platform utilises a vision-first, closed-loop learning architecture. According to company data, the AI has been trained on 3.5 billion kilometres of driving data. In previous commercial fleet deployments, the system has been credited with reducing accidents by more than 70 percent.

The system functions by:

• Monitoring: Real-time tracking of driver behaviour and engagement.
• Risk Intelligence: Identifying potential hazards and providing alerts.
• Continuous Learning: Updating the AI model as it encounters new driving environments and edge cases.

drivebuddyAI aims to provide safety solutions to automakers and mobility operators as international regulations for vehicle safety become more stringent. By integrating real-time monitoring with risk intelligence, drivebuddyAI seeks to improve safety outcomes for large-scale fleets.

Nisarg Pandya, Founder and CEO, drivebuddyAI, said, “Participating in CES 2026 is a tremendous opportunity for us, and we are excited to be part of the world’s leading technology showcase. CES is where the future of innovation takes shape, and drivebuddyAI is proud to be among the innovators driving that future.”

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TIER IV, a developer of open-source autonomous driving software, has been selected by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to lead an initiative focused on industrial competitiveness.

The project involves the creation of an AI data platform and ecosystem to support the development of autonomous vehicle technology.

The initiative addresses the requirements of end-to-end AI, which relies on large volumes of diverse data. As real-world collection of rare driving scenarios is often restricted by cost and time, TIER IV will utilise multimodal AI to generate synthetic datasets.

The project is structured around three core technical areas:

• Data Collection and Processing: Gathering driving data across various vehicle models and developing automated labelling technologies to improve efficiency.
• Generative AI for Synthetic Data: Developing a multimodal generative AI model compatible with multiple sensors. This system will simulate rare scenarios, such as the moments preceding an accident, across various weather and lighting conditions.
• Infrastructure Development: Building an AI data infrastructure that allows Japanese developers to access high-quality datasets, reducing the development requirements for individual firms.

The platform is intended to standardise data access within the Japanese autonomous driving sector. By combining real-world data with synthetic environments, TIER IV aims to produce training sets that improve the safety and efficiency of autonomous systems.

TIER IV is a founding member of the Autoware Foundation and maintains the world’s first open-source software for autonomous driving. This NEDO-backed project is expected to accelerate the deployment of intelligent vehicles by providing the foundational data required for advanced AI training.

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Taiwan-based XING Mobility has announced it will showcase its immersion-cooled battery technology across three sectors – Electric Vehicles (EV), Energy Storage Systems (ESS) and AI data centres – at CES 2026.

XING Mobility’s technology is featured in Project V, an all-electric sports car from the British brand Caterham. The vehicle uses module-free, cell-to-pack (CTP) immersion cooling to manage thermal loads while maintaining a lightweight profile. A production prototype is scheduled for a global debut at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2026.

Royce YC Hong, Founder and CEO, XING Mobility, said, "When we began building these solutions, the world had not yet fully recognised the problems ahead. As voltage levels and power density continue to rise, the challenge is no longer just about cooled batteries, it is about solving safety, efficiency and system architecture together. XING Mobility’s immersion cooling enables every critical component of the battery system to operate within the same controlled environment, with thermal management fully integrated into the system design. At CES 2026, what we are presenting is a high-voltage power platform centred on ultra-high safety and ultra-high efficiency, capable of simultaneously supporting EV, ESS and AI data centre BBU.”

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