Sarvam Eyes Unicorn Tag, Euler Nets $47 Mn & More

Sarvam Eyes The Unicorn Tag

Sarvam AI may soon become India’s newest unicorn, and potentially one of the youngest ones too. The AI juggernaut is in talks to raise up to $250 Mn at a valuation of $1.5 Bn. For a company founded just 18 months ago, what does this capital infusion mean?

The Unicorn Ascent: The potential deal, which will likely be led by NVIDIA, Accel, and HCLTech, represents a staggering 7X jump in valuation in under two years. Then, there is NVIDIA’s participation, which underscores how India’s LLM ecosystem has caught the attention of global AI giants. 

India’s Sovereign AI Bet: Founded in 2023, Sarvam has quickly become the flagbearer of India’s sovereign AI vision. At the 2026 India AI Impact Summit, it unveiled its flagship Sarvam-30B and Sarvam-105B LLMs. These models have been built from scratch in the country and optimised for 22 Indian languages. Built using mixture-of-experts architecture, these models mark India’s first serious shot at homegrown LLMs to rival global peers.

Beyond Software: Not just indigenous AI models, Sarvam is also experimenting with hardware with Kaze, its AI-powered smart glasses. This move of combining software with hardware signals an ambition to own the entire user journey, from foundational models to the devices that house them.

Sarvam’s Deployment Gap: Despite the capital and the technical flex, Sarvam faces its own set of frictions. Early developer feedback suggests a few pain points like lack of GGUF formats, missing vLLM integrations, and limited tooling support. In a market where fast deployment is paramount, many enterprises may find themselves drifting back to established global alternatives that offer the simplicity of plug-and-play tools.

Amid this backdrop, all eyes will now be on whether the potential fundraise will help the company take on global giants. For now, here is what’s brewing on the funding front at Sarvam.

From The Editor’s Desk

Euler Motors Nets ₹437 Cr

• The electric commercial vehicle maker has bagged $47 Mn in its Series E round led by new investor Lightrock. Alongside the equity  infusion, the startup also secured about ₹250 Cr in debt from BlackSoil and others.
• With this, the startup now plans to undertake its next phase of growth – expand its product line and manufacturing capacity, scale its dealer network across India and strengthen its operations.
• Founded in 2018, Euler Motors builds electric three- and four-wheeler commercial vehicles. It claims to be the second-largest player in India’s electric four-wheeler commercial vehicle segment by market share. Euler has raised $229 Mn to date. 

CoinDCX Founders Get Bail

• Days after getting arrested, the crypto unicorn’s two cofounders, Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, have received bail. The duo were released on bail after executing a bond of ₹50,000 each, with directions to cooperate with the investigation and trial.
• Last week, Maharashtra police arrested the two from CoinDCX’s Bengaluru office. The complainant alleged that a person defrauded him of ₹71 Lakh by convincing him to invest money in a franchise of the company.
• The Bengaluru-based cryptocurrency exchange has claimed that the whole situation is a case of scamming and impersonation, with the URL of the fraudulent website being different from the site of the real platform.

Swiggy Too Hikes Platform Fees 

• Following rival Zomato’s suit, the Sriharsha Majety-led foodtech major has also increased platform fees by over 17% to ₹17.58 per order from ₹14.99 earlier. Swiggy claims that the revised fee will help it “operate and maintain” its platform.
• The increase in platform fees is expected to help Swiggy and Zomato parent Eternal improve their margins amid heavy strain due to LPG shortage. Making matters worse is their heavy spending on expanding quick commerce verticals
• On the financial front, Swiggy’s net loss widened 33% YoY to ₹1,065 Cr in Q3 FY26, while operating revenue rose 54% YoY and 11% QoQ to ₹6,148 Cr during the quarter. 

Fino Shares Hit Record Low

• Shares of the payment bank hit lower-circuit and tanked to an all-time low of ₹111.6 apiece on the BSE yesterday. This came after Telangana HC dismissed MD and CEO Rishi Gupta’s petition seeking bail in an alleged tax evasion case. 
• With the bloodbath, Fino’s market cap has plunged from $240 Mn at the beginning of the year to $100 Mn as of now.
• The stock has com under selling pressure after Gupta was arrested last week by the DGGI over allegations that he was one of the “masterminds” of a syndicate that channelled funds from illegal online gaming platforms through shell entities.

Swish Bags $38 Mn

• The quick food delivery startup has raised nearly ₹356 Cr in its Series B round led by Hara Global and Bain Capital Ventures to scale its 10-minute offering across new cities and invest in team expansion, kitchen automation and supply chain infrastructure. 
• Founded in 2024, Swish claims to deliver food in under 10 minutes. It claims to process 20,000 orders per day across offerings like breakfast items, healthy bowls, desserts and protein-rich meals. It has raised $58 Mn to date.
• Swish’s fundraise comes as established rivals continue to grapple with the unit economics of the quick food delivery segment. While Swiggy and Zomato have wrapped up similar offerings, Zing shut shop last year.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How AquaExchange Is Automating Shrimp Farming In India

India’s ₹35,000 Cr shrimp export industry has long operated without formal finance, insurance, and reliable data. This leaves small farmers vulnerable to predatory lending. Enter AquaExchange, a startup trying to solve this problem with its data-driven approach.

The IoT Edge: Founded in 2020, AquaExchange is building a full-stack agritech platform for shrimp farming, spanning IoT devices, AI models, financing, insurance, and market linkages. The startup manufactures 15 categories of IoT devices for real-time monitoring of shrimps, precision feeding and optimising power usage. 

It utilises underwater hydrophones (sensors) and AI to track shrimp appetite and health, turning shrimp ponds into manageable assets.

Plugging The Fintech Gap: On top of its sensors, AquaExchange has also layered fintech. By providing banks and NBFCs with real-time farm risk scores, the startup offers formal lending for the credit-starved sector. The company is also experimenting with disease-based insurance, allowing farmers to claim losses for specific syndromes detected by its AI models. This full-stack approach has scaled the startup’s reach to 71,000 acres and nearly 6,000 farmers.

Going Global: The agritech startup’s 80% revenue comes from financing and procurement, while the high-margin technology division is targeting a 25% revenue share by 2027. With a projected ₹275 Cr revenue for FY26 and recent expansion into Ecuador and Saudi Arabia, the company is looking to replicate its shrimp playbook across fish, poultry, and dairy. Can AquaExchange become the go-to-platform for India’s shrimp farmers?

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