Daily Indian Funding Roundup & Key News - 1 September 2026: Yuma Energy Raises $35 Million, Unacademy Closes UpGrad Deal at $200 Million, MS Dhoni Joins SpeakX
Here's your daily dose of Indian startup funding roundup and key business news for 1 September 2026. Yuma Energy raises $35 million, Unacademy closes its acquisition by upGrad at $200 million, and MS Dhoni joins SpeakX's cap table.
Nine funding rounds and investor additions closed on 1 September 2026, spanning battery swapping, spacetech, deep tech aerospace, industrial deep tech, power electronics, enterprise AI and neurotech. Magna International, Blue Ashva Capital, Rainmatter and Titan Capital were among the day's lead investors. The headline raise is Yuma Energy's $35 million Series A round, alongside its acquisition of battery technology company Grinntech.
Away from funding, Unacademy officially closed its acquisition by upGrad for just over $200 million, former India captain MS Dhoni joined edtech startup SpeakX's cap table, Niyo agreed to acquire Capital India's RemitX forex business for INR 11.4 crore, and InsuranceDekho and RenewBuy officially announced their merger.
Daily Indian Startup Funding Roundup - 1 September 2026
| Startup | Sector | Funding | Round | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuma Energy | Battery Swapping (EV) | $35 Mn | Series A | Magna International |
| Kepler Aerospace | Spacetech | $8 Mn | Seed | Blue Ashva Capital |
| Aeron Systems | Deep Tech (Aerospace/Defence) | ₹45 Cr (~$4.7 Mn) | Pre-Series B | Riverwalk Holdings, MGF-Kavachh |
| Zenergize | Deep Tech (Power Electronics) | $4 Mn | Pre-Series A | Giraffe Studios |
| Minimac Systems | Industrial Deep Tech | ₹30 Cr | Pre-Series A | Rainmatter |
| Alteon | Deep Tech (Aerospace) | $2.5 Mn | Pre-Seed | Lachy Groom |
| Oppex AI | Enterprise AI | ₹4.2 Cr | Pre-Seed | Info Edge Ventures |
| xStep | Neurotech | Undisclosed | Funding Round | Titan Capital |
| SpeakX | Edtech | Undisclosed | Investor Addition | MS Dhoni |
Yuma Energy Raises $35 Million Series A Funding
Yuma Energy raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Magna International, alongside acquiring battery technology company Grinntech to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities. The funds will expand Yuma's battery-swapping infrastructure across India and broaden its customer base across EV users, fleet operators and OEM partners.
Founded in 2023, Yuma Energy operates a battery-swapping network for electric mobility and claims to have delivered more than 60 million battery swaps through over 100,000 batteries, 2,500-plus charging units and more than 400 touch points across 18 cities. The Bengaluru-based startup powers Yulu's electric fleet and also provides open-access battery-swapping services to third-party OEMs and last-mile delivery operators.
Kepler Aerospace Raises $8 Million Seed Funding
Kepler Aerospace raised $8 million in a seed round led by Blue Ashva Capital, with participation from Finvolve India Accelerator and other investors. The funds will develop and deploy next-generation space-based persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, while scaling its mission operations and avionics-as-a-service businesses.
Founded in July 2018 by Navneet Singh and Kiran Sharma, Kepler Aerospace builds scalable space and ground systems for strategic, defence and commercial missions, spanning satellite avionics, ground infrastructure and mission operations. The Bengaluru-based startup has secured two IDEX prime contracts for swarming ISR constellations and operates a network of more than 70 ground stations.
Aeron Systems Raises INR 45 Crore Pre-Series B Funding
Aeron Systems raised INR 45 crore, about $4.7 million, in a Pre-Series B round jointly led by Riverwalk Holdings and MGF-Kavachh. The funds will expand manufacturing capacity, accelerate R&D, develop new products and strengthen the company's presence in international markets.
Founded by Ashvani Shukla and Abhijeet Bokil, Pune-based Aeron Systems develops navigation, weather sensing and monitoring technologies for aerospace, defence and industrial applications, including inertial navigation systems, air data computers and flight test instrumentation. Its products are used across aircraft, helicopters, unmanned platforms, missiles and naval platforms.
Zenergize Raises $4 Million Pre-Series A Funding
Zenergize raised $4 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Giraffe Studios, with participation from industrial entrepreneurs and existing investors. The round included both equity and venture debt, and the funds will expand manufacturing capacity, strengthen engineering and R&D, and build out its sales and service network.
Founded by Navneet Daga and Veer Karan Goyal, Gurugram-based Zenergize develops Silicon Carbide power electronics for electric mobility and renewable energy, including solar inverters and AC and DC EV chargers supporting capacities of up to 240 kW. The company claims an annual revenue run rate of INR 30 crore and an order book exceeding INR 150 crore.
Minimac Systems Raises INR 30 Crore Pre-Series A Funding
Minimac Systems raised INR 30 crore in a Pre-Series A round led by Rainmatter, the investment firm backed by Zerodha, with participation from other venture capital firms. The funds will advance R&D in miniaturised treatment infrastructure, fleet automation and fluid analytics, and scale its Recycling on Wheels model through regional hubs.
Founded in 2012 by Anshuman Agrawal, Minimac Systems focuses on lubricant lifecycle management, reliability and circularity, and claims to have deployed more than 2,500 miniaturised fluid-treatment systems with combined processing capacity of over 300,000 litres per minute. Its customers include NTPC, Adani Power, JSW Steel and Tata Steel.
Alteon Raises $2.5 Million Pre-Seed Funding
Alteon raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Lachy Groom, with participation from Together Fund. The funds will support offshore tests aimed at achieving autonomous dynamic soaring without propulsion, and scale R&D to deploy a fleet of such aircraft over the ocean.
Founded in 2025 by Samay Sanghvi, Bengaluru-based Alteon develops autonomous aircraft designed to fly for months by harvesting energy from wind gradients, similar to albatrosses. The company recently demonstrated autonomous flight within a metre of the ocean's surface, and its aircraft fleets are aimed at applications including weather mapping, ship tracking and defence support.
Oppex AI Raises INR 4.2 Crore Pre-Seed Funding
Oppex AI raised INR 4.2 crore in a pre-seed round led by Info Edge Ventures. The funds will accelerate product development, expand the team, and scale deployments with customers across India, the UK, the EU and the US.
Launched in June last year by Prasun Kumar and Pranit Kumar, Bengaluru-based Oppex AI builds an AI-native platform for production operations, aiming to shift incident management from human-led to AI-led by bringing together context from observability, customer support and cloud infrastructure to automate incident response.
xStep Raises Funding From Titan Capital
xStep raised funding from Titan Capital, with the investment amount undisclosed, marking the neurotech startup's entry into the Titan Capital portfolio. The funds will support commercial expansion across India, manufacturing scale-up, clinical evidence generation and regulatory work in domestic and international markets.
Founded by neuroscientist and biomedical engineer Dr Parag Gad, xStep is a Shark Tank India-featured company built on nearly two decades of spinal neuromodulation research at UCLA, offering a non-invasive neurorehabilitation platform for people with cerebral palsy, stroke, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. More than 1,000 individuals have been treated or supported through its technology and clinical programmes to date.
SpeakX Adds MS Dhoni As Investor
SpeakX added former India captain MS Dhoni as a strategic investor and brand ambassador, with the financial terms undisclosed. The startup said Dhoni's investment is part of a larger funding round it plans to raise next year.
Founded in 2020 by Arpit Mittal, SpeakX, formerly known as Yellow Class, is an AI-based English-tutoring platform that has expanded from a Hindi-first approach to cater to users in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi. The startup has around 2 lakh active paid subscribers, turned EBITDA profitable in FY26 with revenue of INR 45 crore, and is targeting INR 70-80 crore in FY27.
Muskaan Kapoor
Key Business News for 1 September 2026
Unacademy Closes UpGrad Deal At $200 Million
Unacademy officially closed its acquisition by upGrad for just over $200 million, marking a 94% decline from its peak valuation of around $3.4 billion in 2021. The transaction was structured as an all-stock deal, with co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal expected to continue leading Unacademy after the combination.
Munjal said the deal was not driven by a cash crunch, noting that Unacademy has a topline of around INR 400 crore, with most businesses profitable or near profitable, and around INR 900 crore in the bank. The acquisition gives upGrad entry into test-preparation categories such as UPSC, JEE, NEET and GATE, adding to its existing higher education and upskilling portfolio.
Niyo To Acquire Capital India's RemitX Forex Business For INR 11.4 Crore
Niyo signed a definitive agreement to acquire the forex and cross-border payments business of Capital India Finance, operated under the RemitX brand, for INR 11.4 crore. The transaction will be undertaken through Niyo's subsidiary Kanji Forex, which operates under an RBI Authorised Dealer Category-II licence, and is expected to close by 31 October.
The acquisition will add RemitX's 32 branches across 16 states and more than 2,500 distribution partners to Niyo's network, taking its physical footprint to over 40 locations nationwide. Founded in 2015 by Vinay Bagri and Virender Bisht, Niyo offers digital banking and travel-related financial services, and has raised close to $180 million to date from investors including Accel, Lightrock and Tencent.
InsuranceDekho And RenewBuy Officially Announce Merger
InsuranceDekho and RenewBuy officially announced their merger to create a unified insurance distribution platform with a pan-India presence, operating under the InsuranceDekho brand with founder and CEO Ankit Agrawal leading the combined business. The merger brings together InsuranceDekho's presence in northern and western India with RenewBuy's network in southern markets.
The merged entity generated more than INR 6,600 crore in insurance premiums through its POSP network in FY26, with over 6 lakh digital partners reaching 98.57% of India's pin codes. InsuranceDekho is preparing to file its DRHP by the end of September, targeting an IPO of INR 2,500 to 3,000 crore by March 2027.
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale And Millennium Sell Lenskart Shares In INR 2,670 Crore Block Deals
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Millennium Management offloaded Lenskart shares worth INR 2,670.2 crore through multiple block deals, with BlackRock emerging as the major buyer, picking up shares worth INR 1,876.3 crore. The stake sale came as Lenskart, along with Groww, was included in the MSCI global standard index.
This is the latest in a series of large investor sell-downs in Lenskart, following stake sales by Alpha Wave Ventures, SoftBank, Temasek and ADIA over the past few months. The selling comes amid a sharp rally in Lenskart's stock, which has climbed 26.5% over the past three months after the company's Q1 FY27 net profit surged 273% to INR 228.4 crore.
Muskaan Kapoor
