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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China-headquartered PATEO Connect Technology has announced two major strategic partnerships – AUMOVIO and NVIDIA – during the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, focusing on the global expansion of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and high-performance computing in the automotive sector.

The leading Chinese provider of intelligent vehicle connectivity solutions, specialising in AI-enabled, cloud-based infotainment, Operating Systems (PATEO OS) and hardware for automakers

PATEO entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AUMOVIO Holding China Co. The parties intend to jointly develop cross-domain integration and AGI technologies. The agreement focuses on leveraging high-computing SoC platforms and integrated cockpit-driving domain controllers for R&D. It will utilise global supply chains, OEM resources and manufacturing capabilities. Promoting Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) domain control and AGI automotive application projects.

The partnership aims to establish a ‘channel + product’ alliance, combining joint investment with technology collaboration to address future market demands for intelligent mobility.

PATEO also confirmed deep collaborations with NVIDIA and a leading New Energy Vehicle (NEV) OEM. To address the demand for computing power in Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving, PATEO is developing on-vehicle solutions powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor platform.

As per the understanding, the partnership will implement PATEO’s AI Box on the NVIDIA platform to support vehicle-side deployment of next-generation models. PATEO has received a nomination for a model project representing an integrated ‘software and hardware’ solution. The project marks a commercial application coupling ByteDance's general large model with PATEO’s edge model.

PATEO and its partners have initiated deployment for vehicle-side scenarios, including physical AI, AI agents, and AI emotional agents. The company is also exploring business models such as computing power charging and vehicle-mounted tokens billing.

As automotive intelligence shifts toward being ‘AI-defined,’ PATEO said it continues to execute its ‘AI + Globalisation’ strategy, transitioning large-scale models from verification to mass production.

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Epsilon Cathode Active Materials (Epsilon CAM) has revealed its Gen III LFP Cathode Material, marking a significant non-Chinese advancement in high-energy-density battery chemistry at a commercial scale.

The technology was developed at the company’s Cathode Technology Centre in Moosburg, Germany, an innovation hub supported by a portfolio of over 145 active patents. The breakthrough addresses the global automotive industry's need for high-performance battery materials that offer supply chain diversification and regulatory compliance.

The Gen III LFP material is engineered to provide electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers with claimed performance differentiation through several key metrics:

• Energy Capacity: Achieves a discharge capacity of ≥159 mAh/g.
• Architecture: Features an electrode density of ≥2.51 g/cc, allowing for denser cell architecture.
• Longevity: Delivers 2X cycle life for extended battery pack durability.
• Thermal Stability: Offers proven performance in high-temperature environments.

A primary feature of the Gen III LFP material is its full PFE (Prohibited Foreign Entity) approval. This compliance allows for unrestricted entry into North American battery manufacturing and automotive supply chains, providing a critical advantage as manufacturers seek to meet diversified regulatory mandates.

Vikram Handa, Managing Director, Epsilon Group, said, "This isn't just incremental. With our Gen III LFP Cathode Material, we've engineered a formulation that gives EV makers genuine performance differentiation – more energy per cell, denser electrode architecture and the compliance pathway that matters most for the North American market: full PFE approval."

To support global demand, Epsilon is advancing manufacturing with a planned capacity of 30,000 TPA (tonnes per annum) in India. By combining German research and development with Indian production, the company offers a credible alternative to Chinese dominance in the battery materials sector.

This ‘dual-hub’ strategy allows EV OEMs to mitigate geopolitical exposure and supply chain concentration risks while achieving performance parity with current Chinese alternatives. The Moosburg facility will continue to lead global R&D and product development for successive generations of LFP materials.

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Sterling Tools has entered a technology collaboration with China-based Nanjing Haohang to manufacture Advanced Rider Assistance Systems (ARAS) for the Indian two-wheeler market.

The agreement establishes a framework for Sterling Tools to lead local engineering, manufacturing and sales of ARAS in India. These systems utilise sensors and software to provide real-time alerts, functioning similarly to ADAS in passenger cars but adapted for the specific dynamics of two-wheelers. The partnership aims to address safety gaps in India, where two-wheeler accidents represent a significant portion of road fatalities.

The collaboration has already resulted in the testing and validation of several features on Indian roads. These include Front and Rear Collision Warning, Blind Spot Detection, Lane Change Warning, and Wrong-Side Alert.

Sterling Tools plans to offer these production-ready systems to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to support the adoption of intelligent mobility and safety-driven regulations.

Anish Agarwal, Director, Sterling Tools, said, “We are moving toward an era of intelligent mobility. This partnership with Haohang, tailored for the Indian market, equip two-wheeler OEMs with advanced rider assistance technologies that address a critical safety gap. Two-wheeler accidents account for a significant share of road fatalities in India and our collaboration aims to foster a safer environment for the 2W industry and its manufacturers.”

Nanjing Haohang will provide the global technology platform, while Sterling Tools will manage system adaptation for local road conditions. This expansion follows Sterling Tools’ recent investments in EV power electronics and rare-earth-magnet-free motor solutions.

LI Zhipan, General Manager, Nanjing Haohang, added, “India represents one of the most important markets for advanced rider assistance technology, given the scale and safety challenges of its two-wheeler segment. Our collaboration with Sterling Tools allows us to localise our solutions for Indian road conditions and bring validated, life-saving technology to automakers and riders across the country.”

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Pony.ai, a technology company, has announced a significant cost breakthrough in its autonomous vehicle roadmap at Auto China 2026.

The company expects the total cost of its 2027 Gen-7 Robotaxi – including the vehicle and the autonomous driving kit – to fall below RMB 230,000 (USD 33,000 / INR 2.74 million).

This price point is notably lower than the current starting price of a Tesla Model 3 in China, which it said signals a shift from experimental technology to economically viable infrastructure.

The company has transitioned from testing to scaling, citing a 70 percent reduction in bill-of-materials costs for its latest hardware. Key updates include:

• Fleet Expansion: Pony.ai's fleet has grown from 270 to over 1,400 vehicles, with a target of 3,000 units across 20 global cities by end-2026.
• Economic Breakeven: The company has achieved unit-economics breakeven in two major Southern Chinese economic hubs.
• Toyota Collaboration: The Gen-7 bZ4X Robotaxi has received on-road testing permits in Guangzhou, with plans to deploy 1,000 units in tier-one cities this year.

World’s First L4 autonomous light-duty truck

Furthermore, Pony.ai also expanded into urban logistics by unveiling an L4 electric light-duty truck developed in partnership with CATL.

Built on CATL’s Kunshi chassis, the e-truck features 100 percent automotive-grade redundancy across all critical systems (steering, braking and sensors). It is designed to reduce freight costs by 40 percent to 50 percent compared to human-driven transport. It features 18 cubic metres of cargo capacity and a range of 320–450 km, intended for supermarket restocking and cold-chain delivery.

Dr. Tiancheng Lou, CTO, Pony.ai, introduced PonyWorld 2.0, an upgraded proprietary world model. Unlike standard simulation tools, this system uses reinforcement learning to:

It can identify specific scenarios where the ‘Virtual Driver’ underperforms. It’s targeted learning approach guides data collection to improve model training efficiency. The technology enforces ‘fail-operational’ capabilities, ensuring the vehicle can safely pull over even during hardware failures.

Dr. James Peng, Founder and CEO, Pony.ai, said, “Today, the question is no longer whether Robotaxi can work. The focus is how to scale it safely, efficiently and at the right cost.”

With the launch of these new platforms, Pony.ai is leveraging a shared technology stack across both passenger mobility and urban logistics, creating economies of scale that allow for rapid deployment in both Chinese and overseas markets.

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