Daily Indian Funding Roundup & Key News - 14 September 2026: UniqYou Raises INR 15.8 Crore, PwC India And US Join Forces In New JV, Airtel And Jio Accuse Vi Of Unfair Practices

One funding round closed on 14 September 2026 in the fashion-tech space. Arkam Ventures and Antler led the round. The raise is UniqYou's INR 15.8 crore seed round to build its AI-led fashion platform for women shoppers.

Away from funding, PwC India and PwC US launched a joint venture with 40,000 employees, Airtel and Jio accused Vodafone Idea of unfair customer-acquisition practices and asked TRAI to investigate, while Lenskart increased its stake in AjnaLens' parent company to 9%.

Daily Indian Startup Funding Roundup - 14 September 2026

UniqYou Raises INR 15.8 Crore Seed Funding

UniqYou raised INR 15.8 crore in a seed round led by Arkam Ventures and Antler, with participation from angel investors including Tracxn co-founder Abhishek Goyal, Wakefit co-founder Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Myntra co-founder Raveen Sastry and former Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha. The round values the company at around INR 64 crore post-money, higher than the INR 12 crore the startup was earlier reported to be targeting. The capital will support working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2026 by Sneha Priya Reddy and Nishanth Jois, UniqYou is a Bengaluru-based fashion-tech startup building a technology-led platform for women's fashion. The company uses artificial intelligence to identify emerging fashion trends and curate products for shoppers, aiming to create a more personalised shopping experience.

Key Business News for 14 September 2026

PwC India And US Join Forces In New JV With 40,000 Employees

PwC India and PwC US launched a joint venture combining PwC India's consulting business with PwC US's acceleration centres in India, creating a platform with about 40,000 employees. PwC India will own 49.9% of the venture and PwC US will own 50.1%, though operating control will rest with PwC India, whose chairperson Sanjeev Krishan will also lead the new entity as CEO. The deal still requires regulatory clearances, including approval from India's Competition Commission.

The joint venture will combine PwC India's management, technology and risk consulting practices with PwC US Advisory's India capabilities, though it excludes audit, tax, transactions and certain government advisory work. PwC India, which already employs more than 33,000 people, expects its business to grow from $1.3 billion to around $2 billion on day one of the merger, and the deal could close as early as mid-2027.

Airtel And Jio Accuse Vi Of Unfair Customer-Acquisition Practices

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have alleged that Vodafone Idea engaged in unfair practices to lure away their customers through mobile number portability, and have asked TRAI to investigate. The two carriers claim callers posing as executives from rival telcos warned customers of tariff hikes before Vodafone Idea representatives followed up to persuade them to switch.

Airtel and Jio also allege that Vodafone Idea restricted SMSes needed to generate porting codes in several circles and promoted discounted postpaid plans to induce churn, both of which they say violate TRAI norms. Vodafone Idea denied the allegations, saying it operates within existing rules, as the company pursues a revival plan backed by a planned INR 35,000 crore bank funding push and an aggressive new marketing campaign.

Lenskart Increases Stake In AjnaLens Parent To 9%

Lenskart increased its stake in AjnaLens' parent company, Dimension NXG, to 9.01% after investing an additional INR 8 crore, its third stake purchase in the extended reality startup this year. The eyewear company has now invested INR 18.5 crore in total to raise its holding from 4.84% to 9.01% since its first investment in July 2025.

Founded in 2014 by Pankaj Raut, Abhijit Patil and Abhishek Tomar, AjnaLens develops hardware and software using XR technology for sectors including defence and enterprise. Lenskart said the investment strengthens its push into smart eyewear, an area where it has already launched Phonic audio glasses and is developing AI-powered smart glasses in partnership with Qualcomm.