Month: April 2025

JIIF deploys ₹60 crore in 25 startups

JIIF has incubated 25 startups through three dedicated cohorts, out of which more than 30% have already raised their seed round. Additionally, 30 seed-stage startups incubated by JIIF till date have demonstrated aggressive month-on-month growth, securing next-round funding at 3x-5x higher valuations. (Image Source: Smart Governance)

Within last seven years of operations, JIIF has backed 108 startups with investments exceeding Rs 260 crores, with 20 startups successfully raising their next rounds this year alone.

India at the helm of AI’s next leap: Nothing, ElevenLabs bet big on voice and smart interfaces

The leaders agreed that India is not just a market, it’s the testbed for global AI innovation. With its young, digital-first population, multilingual landscape, and rapidly evolving user behavior, the country is poised to lead the next tech revolution.

Akis Ecangelidis from Nothing and ElevenLabs’ Siddharth Srinivasan shared insights into how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way people engage with devices and content—ushering in an era of seamless, personalized and purposeful tech experiences at Rising Bharat Summit 2025.

McCann Worldgroup names Sumeer Mathur as Chief Strategy Officer

During his time at Dentsu, Sumeer Mathur led the growth vertical through integrated approaches (Creative, CX, Media, and tech), established Dentsu Creative's first strategy department, and promoted "Modern Creativity" combining culture, data, and technology.

Previously, Sumeer Mathur led Dentsu Creative in a similar position.

Online searches for women’s wear dip 6.68% in FY’25; ethnic fashion, mobile apps surge: Techmagnate Report

Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai remain the largest contributors to search traffic, together accounting for 67.82% of the total search volume, although each saw a year-on-year decline.

In terms of fashion brands, Zara continues to lead with an average monthly search volume of 2.79 lakh, followed by H&M, Biba, Libas and Puma.

Nestlé India warns against fake job posts, urges youth not to fall for online scams

The company has assigned senior officials, Vaibhav Chaturvedi and Venkateswaran T.S., to engage with LinkedIn directly in an effort to address the issue at the platform level and to find a long-term solution to prevent the recurrence of similar fraudulent job advertisements. (Photo: Unsplash)

“I appeal to the young talent yet again NOT to respond to or fall prey to the false promises,” Narayanan urged, emphasizing the emotional toll it takes to see individuals in modern India being misled during their pursuit of honest work.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani hits back at startup critics: ‘Founders take a risk, we should be grateful’

Sanjeev Bikhchandani has praised the resilience of Indian entrepreneurs. (Image sourced via Forbes India)

Slamming startup backlash, Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani took to X to share, “Start-up founders take a risk with their careers and their future to do what they do. And they struggle and they tighten their belts and they don’t give up. They are heroes and they should be respected and lionised not abused.”

CEO pay in India hits Rs 10 Crore Median, 60% of compensation now at-risk: Deloitte Survey

On average, 60% of CXO pay is fixed, with the rest evenly split between short-term and long-term incentives.

Other C-suite leaders, including COOs, CFOs, CHROs, CMOs, and CSOs, also witnessed a pay hike of 7% to 11% over the past year. Among them, COOs and CFOs remain the highest paid after the CEO, with average annual compensation nearing Rs 4 crore.

WATCH: Kunal Shah on AI, creativity, and the future of human adaptation

At Storyboard18's Global Pioneers Summit, Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO of CRED observed, "The biggest disruption will be how humans adapt. High-commitment actions—like having kids—might decline. People may choose perpetual excitement over long-term responsibility."

“Every home has a CTO aged 10 to 18. They’re also becoming the procurement officers. Businesses will cater to them,” Kunal Shah said.