Daily Indian Funding Roundup & Key News - 25 August 2026: Airbound Raises $37 Million, Pernia's Pop Up Shop Files RHP for ₹680 Crore IPO, and More
Five funding rounds closed on 25 August 2026, spanning aerospace, wealthtech, electric motorcycles, climate tech and spiritual tech. Greenoaks, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Helena and Atomic Capital were among the day's lead investors. The headline raise is Airbound's $37 million Series A round to scale its autonomous aircraft business.
Away from funding, Pernia's Pop Up Shop parent Purple Style Labs filed its RHP and increased its IPO size to INR 680 crore, while Karnataka suspended the food licences of Amazon, Instamart and BigBasket over listings of poisonous Datura seeds.
Daily Indian Startup Funding Roundup - 25 August 2026
| Startup | Sector | Funding | Round | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbound | Aerospace (Autonomous Aircraft) | $37 Mn | Series A | Greenoaks |
| Matter | Electric Motorcycles | $25 Mn (~₹250 Cr) | Growth Round | Helena |
| Nexedge Capital | Wealthtech | $20 Mn | Maiden Round | Mirae Asset Venture Investment |
| Utsav | Spiritual Tech | ₹36 Cr | Series A | Atomic Capital |
| CarbonStrong | Climate Tech | ₹12.5 Cr | Seed | IAN Angel Fund, Rainmatter |
Airbound Raises $37 Million Series A Funding
Airbound raised $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures. The round takes its total funding to nearly $50 million since launch. The funds will accelerate engineering, commercial-scale manufacturing and go-to-market efforts.
Founded by Naman Pushp, Airbound is a Bengaluru-based aerospace startup developing lightweight autonomous aircraft that can carry a passenger or around 100 kg of cargo at a lower cost than conventional aircraft. It has completed more than 1,000 autonomous flights with Narayana Health and signed a deployment deal with the Andhra Pradesh government to scale to 10,000 daily flights.
Matter Raises $25 Million Growth Round
Matter raised $25 million, around INR 250 crore, in a growth equity round from existing investors Helena, Capital 2B, Japan Airlines, TransLink Innovation Fund and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The round takes Matter's total capital raised to more than INR 1,000 crore. The funds will expand its distribution network, raise manufacturing capacity and develop new products.
Matter is an Ahmedabad-based electric motorcycle maker known for its AERA model, with production capacity of nearly 1,000 vehicles a month and plans to reach 5,000 by the end of the financial year. The company plans to expand its dealership network from 30 to around 50 outlets and is developing four new motorcycles in the 150cc to 200cc segment.
Nexedge Capital Raises $20 Million Maiden Funding Round
Nexedge Capital raised $20 million in its maiden funding round led by Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Elev8 Venture Partners. The funds will strengthen its technology platform, expand its senior banker network, and build a dedicated NRI proposition along with a new NBFC business.
Founded by Anirudha Taparia in February 2025, Nexedge is a New Delhi-based wealth management and multi-family office firm serving HNIs, UHNIs, families and corporates. It has surpassed $3 billion in assets under management across around 1,300 clients within 18 months, and has onboarded more than 95 senior bankers.
Utsav Raises INR 36 Crore Series A Funding
Utsav raised INR 36 crore in a Series A round led by Atomic Capital, with existing investors India Quotient and Equanimity Investments also participating. The round takes its total funding to INR 42 crore. The funds will expand its temple network, strengthen its technology and fulfilment capabilities, and grow its team.
Founded by Sourajit Basu, Ankita De and Prajata Samanta, Utsav is a Kolkata-based spiritual and devotion platform that works with temple priests and scholars to offer puja bookings, pujari consultations and e-prasad. Its revenue has grown eight times since its previous funding round, and it now fulfils around 2.5 lakh orders per month.
CarbonStrong Raises INR 12.5 Crore Seed Funding
CarbonStrong raised INR 12.5 crore in a seed round co-led by IAN Angel Fund and Rainmatter, with participation from Social Alpha, Full Circle Ventures and existing investors Momentum Capital and Spectrum Impact. The funds will set up its first production facility, expand the team, and scale from customer trials to commercial production.
Founded in 2022 by Harsh Jain and Vikramaditya Singh, CarbonStrong is a Bengaluru-based climate tech startup that produces low-carbon binders by upcycling industrial waste to replace up to 50% of cement in concrete. The company has run customer trials across Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai and aims to build capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes a year.
Muskaan Kapoor
Key Business News for 25 August 2026
Pernia's Pop Up Shop Files RHP For INR 680 Crore IPO
Pernia's Pop Up Shop parent Purple Style Labs filed its red herring prospectus and increased its IPO size to INR 680 crore, up INR 20 crore from the initially proposed size. The fresh issue-only IPO opens for subscription on 31 August and closes on 2 September, with anchor bidding on 28 August.
A large share of the funds, INR 371.1 crore, will go towards clearing lease liabilities of its experience centre network, with another INR 138.9 crore earmarked for sales and marketing until FY30. Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Agarwal, Purple Style Labs is an omnichannel luxury fashion house whose FY26 net loss widened 51% to INR 285.4 crore even as revenue grew nearly 14% to INR 557.8 crore.
Karnataka Suspends Amazon, Instamart, BigBasket Food Licences
Karnataka suspended the food licences and registrations of Amazon, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket after poisonous Datura fruits and seeds were found listed for human consumption on their platforms. The state's Food Safety and Drug Administration Department said the platforms' explanations were unsatisfactory and ordered the suspensions under the Food Safety and Standards Act.
Amazon did not respond to the department's notice, Instamart sought more time, and BigBasket said it had removed the listing and would relabel products as not for human consumption. The platforms must now submit compliance reports before a hearing decides whether the suspensions are lifted, and the order also covers sellers supplying Datura products through the three platforms.
Muskaan Kapoor
