Kult Undone Again, Zaggle CFO Quits & More
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Inside Another Kult Meltdown
Kult is in the middle of a full-blown crisis once more. The beauty marketplace is at war with its primary backer, resulting in operations coming to a grinding halt and employees unpaid for months. So, how did the controversial beauty startup end up on the verge of a collapse?
The Kult Whirlpool: In April 2025, the startup announced a $20 Mn (₹185 Cr) Series A round led by the M3M Family Office to clear its previous liabilities and scale to over 10,000 daily orders. Instead, sources say only about ₹50 Cr actually came in. The new infusion did not reset the business, but merely extended the runway for the governance problems to resurface.
Troubles Emerge: By December 2025, the cracks started to appear. Salaries stopped, vendors were left unpaid, and employees claim only a small inner circle kept getting paid. The company also shut its Mumbai office and moved staff to Gurugram. Meanwhile, internal communication was cut off and official email access was revoked for several staffers.
The Blame Game: As pressure mounted, CEO Karishma Singh maintained silence while her husband Rahul Yadav, the beleaguered cofounder of Housing.com, allegedly pushed Kult employees to pursue M3M for their dues. Meanwhile, the investment firm distanced itself from the matter and announced a financial audit to probe the matter.
Meanwhile, numbers paint a bleak picture of Kult’s business model. Despite raising roughly ₹50 Cr in tranches, Kult’s FY25 revenue was just ₹27.5 Lakh against losses of ₹3.2 Cr. Sources claim that the company relied on debt and even explored inventory financing to chase scale, but those plans depended on guarantees that never fully materialised.
With liabilities unresolved and operations stalled, can Kult survive this latest round of allegations or will it become another cautionary tale in India’s startup landscape? Let’s find out…
From The Editor’s Desk
Zaggle CFO Quits
- The listed fintech SaaS company’s chief financial officer Aditya Kumar has tendered his resignation citing personal reasons. In the meanwhile, Zaggle has elevated deputy CFO, Rajesh Tummalaganti, to the post of interim CFO.
- Kumar joined the company in 2022 as a vice president of finance and was elevated to the role of CFO later that year. Prior to joining Zaggle, he also held various positions with companies like Spandana Sphoorty, noon, The Sanmar Group and others.
- Founded in 2011, Zaggle provides expenses, payments, and corporate employee benefit solutions to enterprises. On the financial front, Zaggle’s profits rose 88% YoY to ₹37.1 Cr in Q3 FY26, while operating revenue zoomed 56% YoY to ₹525.6 Cr.
Weekly Startup Funding Tanks
- Amid escalation in geopolitical tensions, Indian startups cumulatively managed to raise nearly $131.5 Mn last week, down 62% decline from $348.2 Mn raised in the preceding week. Deal count also declined 28% week-on-week to 18.
- Ecommerce topped the sectoral funding charts, bagging $50.5 Mn across three deals. Fintech also raised $13.1 Mn across a similar number of deals.
- Seed-stage startups lapped up $2.2 Mn last week, down 27% from the preceding week. Meanwhile, InfoEdge Ventures emerged as the most active investor with four funding deals.
New-Age Tech Stocks Rebound
- Of the 55 startup stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 31 gained in a range of 0.26% to nearly 17% last week. The remaining 24 stocks lost in the range of 0.04% to 12%. While Ola Electric emerged as the biggest gainer, BlueStone was the biggest loser.
- Despite the heavy selling, the cumulative market capitalisation of these 55 new-age tech companies rose to $119.04 Bn at the end of last week, up from $116.31 Bn in the preceding week.
- Market trends this week will be dictated by persisting geopolitical tensions in West Asia, inflation risks and rising crude oil prices. Investors will also be closely watching RBI’s MPC meeting for a rate pause.
Top Startup Investors In Q1 2026
- Venture debt remained the flavour of the season in Q1 2026. Stride Ventures and BlackSoil emerged as the most active investors during the quarter, participating in 38 and 36 deals, respectively.
- Among VC firms, Peak XV Partners turned out to be the most active investor in the quarter with 16 deals. Other prominent VCs like Accel, 3one4 Capital and Rainmatter also actively expanded their portfolios during the period under review.
- Meanwhile, unique investor participation remained largely flat YoY at 634 in Q1 2026, staying below the 700 mark for the third year in a row. In total, VC and PE firms pumped $2.3 Bn in Indian startups during the quarter.
Indian Listed Startup Tracker
- Over 60 Indian new-age tech companies have so far crossed the IPO milestone and are now listed on the bourses. The cumulative market cap of these listed startups currently stands at around $133 Bn.
- While 13 startups went public in 2024, 18 companies made their market debut in 2025. As many as five new-age companies – Aye Finance, Fractal Analytics, Amagi, Shadowfax and SEDEMAC – have already made their public market debut this year.
- Delhi NCR is home to the biggest chunk of listed new-age tech companies, while fintech has emerged as the sector with most startup public listings.
Inc42 Markets
Inc42 Startup Spotlight
Can Cent Make Preventive Screening Mainstream?
Life expectancy in India has improved in recent decades, but living longer does not always mean living healthier. Most people still discover serious diseases only after symptoms appear, making treatment costlier. Cent wants to change this by making preventive screening mainstream.
The Preventive Stack: Founded in 2025, Cent is building a D2C preventive healthcare platform for asymptomatic users. Its core idea is simple – detect cancer, cardiac, neurological and metabolic risks early, before the body gives warning signs.
Making Imaging Precise: Cent’s diagnostic protocol combines MRI, ECG, and 120 other blood and urine biomarkers. These test results are then synthesised with AI to generate a risk profile to detect risks in asymptomatic people. This is then followed by a clinical consultation.
Going Offline: Backed by South Park Commons, the startup claims to have grown 50% month-on-month since its inception and is clocking an ARR of $2 Mn. With an eye on completing 5,000 scans by year-end and expanding physical presence, Cent is eyeing a pie of the Indian preventive healthcare market, which is projected to reach $2.25 Bn by 2030. So, can Cent turn early disease detection into a curated experience?
Infographic Of The Day
RentoMojo has filed its DRHP with SEBI for its coming IPO. We broke down the full cap table of India’s first furniture rental company set to go public…
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