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Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (May 26, 2025)
YourStory presents daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Monday, May 26, 2025.
From stock broking firm Groww confidential filing IPO to raise $700 million-$1 billion with SEBI to Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha accusing a rival CFO of a smear campaign over the company’s growth and cash burn, YourStory brings today’s headlines that highlight significant developments across industries.
Latest news
Groww files confidential IPO prospectus with Sebi; could raise up to $1B
Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the parent company of the investment platform , has filed a confidential pre-filed draft red herring prospectus (PDRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as it prepares for a potential initial public offering.
The filing, dated May 24, was made under Chapter IIA of SEBI’s Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, which permits companies to submit draft IPO documents privately before going public. The move allows Groww to engage with SEBI and the stock exchanges BSE and NSE to receive feedback before releasing its IPO details to the public. The PDRHP filing does not specify the size or timing of the proposed IPO.
According to a report in The Economic Times, the IPO is estimated to be $700 million to $1 billion.
Zepto CEO claims rival CFO behind smear campaign
Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha has alleged a rival CFO in the quick commerce space of orchestrating a smear campaign targeting the company's growth trajectory and its purported high cash burn strategy.
Palicha clarified that Zepto's Gross Order Value (GOV) per month grew to Rs 2,400 crore in May 2025, as compared to Rs 750 crore in May 2024. It takes the sale of fruits and vegetables at their selling price, along with advertising revenues as a part of its GOV.
TATA Motors EV business posts positive EBITDA margin
Tata Motors’ electric vehicle segment posted a positive EBITDA margin in FY25 despite a demand dip in the first half of the year due to the expiry of government incentives and subsidies. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin shows the company’s operating profit as a percentage of its revenue.
A positive EBITDA margin indicates that the company is generating more revenue than its expenses before accounting for interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation. However, the company also reported an 11.8% decline in FY25 revenue to Rs 8,187 crore compared with Rs 9,285 crore in FY24 due to the demand dip in H1. However, the second half of the year saw a strong revival amidst new product launches and a growing charging network in the country.
No product was ever an instant hit: Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu backs Sarvam AI
Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corporation.
Zoho's top boss Sridhar Vembu has defended homegrown AI startup Sarvam AI following backlash over the company’s newly released large language model (LLM) Sarvam-M.
“In defence of Sarvam AI, I will point out that there is no product we have built that was ever an instant hit. Even when we were the first mover in a new market and we had done a lot of technical work, we only got slow traction. Instant success is neither necessary nor sufficient to succeed long term,” said Vembu, Co-founder, Zoho, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The model in question is Sarvam-M (where M stands for Mistral), a 24-billion-parameter open-weights hybrid LLM based on Mistral Small, an open-source language model developed by the French startup Mistral AI. Sarvam AI stated in a blog that the new model designed for Indian languages is capable of handling reasoning tasks in mathematics and programming.
Funding news
Mufin Green secures $18M to scale EV loans for MSMEs
Mufin Green Finance, a publicly-listed non-banking financial company (NBFC), has secured $18 million in debt funding from a US-based institution to expand its electric vehicle (EV) financing and leasing operations. The 10-year facility includes an initial disbursement of $10 million, with the remaining $8 million expected within a year.
The company said the capital will help scale its offerings for electric two-, three-, and four-wheelers, as well as related infrastructure. A substantial share of the funds will be directed toward improving credit access for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in underserved regions.
Other news
Indian HR leaders expect 383% surge in agentic AI adoption by 2027: Salesforce report
A new report showed that HR leaders in India are preparing for a major shift in how work gets done. According to the study, agentic AI adoption, which refers to AI agents that can independently perform tasks, is projected to grow by 383% over the next two years, leading to a 41.7% boost in productivity.
The survey, which polled 200 global HR executives, found that nearly a quarter (24.7%) of the workforce in India is expected to be redeployed as companies adopt digital labour. The move signals a broader rethinking of how organisations structure teams and develop skills.
(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh
