Daily Indian Funding Roundup & Key News - 3 September 2026: Cradlewise Raises $12 Million, Zerodha Gets SEBI Nod for Merchant Banking, and More
Here's your daily dose of Indian startup funding roundup and key business news for 3 September 2026. Cradlewise raises $12 million, Zerodha gets SEBI's nod for merchant banking, and Alpha Wave sells its INR 550 crore Pine Labs stake.
Three funding rounds closed on 3 September 2026, spanning consumer baby tech, semiconductor metrology and edtech. 3one4 Capital, Bluehill VC and ABP Education were among the day's lead investors. The headline raise is Cradlewise's $12 million Series A round to expand its AI-first smart crib business.
Away from funding, Zerodha received SEBI's approval to enter merchant banking, Alpha Wave sold almost its entire Pine Labs stake in a INR 550 crore block deal, Uber is set to lay off 200 to 250 employees in India, and D2C brand The Ayurveda Co shut down after overexpansion.
Daily Indian Startup Funding Roundup - 3 September 2026
| Startup | Sector | Funding | Round | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cradlewise | Consumer Baby Tech | $12 Mn | Series A | 3one4 Capital, Prudent Investment Management |
| Makr Microsystems | Semiconductor Metrology | ₹10.2 Cr | Seed | Bluehill VC |
| YoLearn.ai | Edtech | Undisclosed | Seed | ABP Education |
Cradlewise Raises $12 Million Series A Funding
Cradlewise raised $12 million in a Series A round led by 3one4 Capital and Prudent Investment Management, taking its total funding to $26 million. The funds will support growth, channel expansion, product R&D and geographic expansion.
Founded in 2019 by Radhika Patil and Bharath Patil, Cradlewise is an AI-first consumer tech company that makes smart cribs designed to soothe babies and improve family sleep. Its AI-enabled cribs use sensors to track movement, sound and sleep state, predicting when a baby is likely to wake and intervening before it fully wakes, with models trained on more than 75 million hours of sleep data.
Makr Microsystems Raises INR 10.2 Crore Seed Funding
Makr Microsystems raised INR 10.2 crore in a seed round led by Bluehill VC, with participation from Artha Venture Fund. The proceeds will go towards technology development, customer validation and commercialisation, with initial applications in advanced packaging, hybrid bonding and defect detection.
Founded by Ashwin Lal, the Bengaluru-based startup is developing nanoscale 3D subsurface metrology technology that lets chipmakers see and measure hidden structures and defects beneath semiconductor surfaces without damaging the chip, combining acoustic atomic force microscopy, optical tomography and 3D data analytics.
YoLearn.ai Raises Seed Funding From ABP Education
YoLearn.ai raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round led by ABP Education, the education arm of ABP Group. Along with the capital, ABP Education will support the startup with content, marketing and distribution, and its group companies Headword Publishing and KIPS Learning will convert their school books into AI tutors accessible through classroom textbooks.
Founded in January 2025 by Kirti Prakash Mishra, YoLearn.ai is a Noida-based voice-first AI tutoring platform that lets students scan a code in a textbook and interact with an AI tutor in 22 Indian languages, offering step-by-step solutions, practice tests and score predictions aligned to CBSE, ICSE and state boards.
Muskaan Kapoor
Key Business News for 3 September 2026
Zerodha Gets SEBI Nod For Merchant Banking
Zerodha received SEBI's approval to operate as a merchant banker through its wholly owned subsidiary, Zerodha Corporate Advisors. The company said it expects to begin operations over the next few months, with an initial focus on equity IPOs by new-age businesses raising capital from public markets.
The move is part of Zerodha's broader diversification push as its core stockbroking business faces softer trading activity and regulatory changes. Zerodha's brokerage revenue fell 10.4% to INR 2,738 crore in FY26, though its net profit still rose 1.2% to INR 4,283 crore, helped by a jump in revenue from delayed payment charges and its margin trading business.
Alpha Wave Sells Almost Entire Pine Labs Stake In INR 550 Crore Block Deal
Global investment firm Alpha Wave exited almost its entire stake in Pine Labs through a block deal worth around INR 550 crore, selling 3.54 crore shares at INR 155.10 apiece. The shares were picked up by a group of institutional investors led by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, along with Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore.
The exit leaves Alpha Wave with only 4.85 lakh shares in Pine Labs and comes as the investor has been actively monetising its Indian tech holdings, having already exited its stakes in Delhivery and Aye Finance and pared its Lenskart position this year. Pine Labs' shares closed at INR 162.3 on the day, giving the fintech company a market capitalisation of nearly $2 billion.
Uber To Lay Off 200-250 Employees In India Amid Global Restructuring
Uber is set to lay off around 200 to 250 employees in India as part of a global restructuring aimed at simplifying its organisational structure and reducing management layers, according to a report. The India cuts are expected to affect teams across its People and Earners organisations, including some engineers working on its internal recruitment platform.
Globally, Uber is eliminating around 3,300 roles, or roughly 10% of its workforce, in its largest reduction since the Covid-19 pandemic. The company said its commitment to India as a key market remains unchanged and that it is expanding the country's role in driving its mobility business across the Asia-Pacific region.
The Ayurveda Co Shuts Down After Overexpansion
D2C ayurvedic beauty brand The Ayurveda Co has shut down, along with sister brand Khadi Essentials, more than a year after both ceased operations in July 2025. Cofounder Param Bhargava announced the closure in a LinkedIn post, saying the startups' assets have been liquidated and the entities are undergoing a formal winding-up process.
Founded in 2021 by Bhargava and Shreedha Singh, the brand had raised about INR 125 crore and built an extensive online and offline presence before its collapse. Bhargava attributed the failure to expanding too fast and hiring too many senior executives before the business was ready to support them.
Adobe Acquires AI Marketing Startup Rilo In Second India Acquisition
Adobe acquired Indian marketing intelligence startup Rilo in a deal involving the licensing of its technology and the onboarding of its six-member team, marking Adobe's second acquisition from India. The financial terms were not disclosed, though Rilo's existing investors are expected to receive an exit.
Co-founded in 2025 by Georgi Boby and Dhruv Jaglan, Rilo had raised $1 million from Peak XV Partners, DeVC and Day Zero Ventures at a $10 million valuation, and built AI-powered tools that helped go-to-market teams automate marketing and sales workflows. Following the acquisition, Rilo will shut down its platform, and its products will no longer be available to existing customers.
