Venture capital firm GVFL led a $3 million investment in Mohali-based Antier Solutions, marking the blockchain firm’s first institutional funding after a decade of bootstrapped growth. Founded by Vikram R. Singh, Antier employs over 600 specialists and has delivered more than 1,000 projects globally. Google for Startups and Antler India launched an AI immersion program for Indian founders, with applications closing May 22, 2026. Balwaan Krishi acquired agriculture platform Farming Leader, gaining access to 15 million farmers. PayNearby facilitated Rs 550 crore in gold loan disbursals in FY26, with Rs 100 crore disbursed in March 2026 alone, primarily across semi-urban and rural regions.
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How MeMeraki is bringing Indian folk art and master artists online
Yosha Gupta is the founder of MeMeraki, a tech-enabled platform that works with over 500 master artisans across 300+ traditional art forms, supporting them reach global customers and build sustainable livelihoods.
Funding news
GVFL invests $3M in Antier Solutions
Venture capital firm GVFL has led a $3 million investment in Mohali-based Antier Solutions, marking the enterprise blockchain firm’s first institutional funding after over a decade of bootstrapped growth. Founded by Vikram R. Singh, Antier operates with 600 plus specialists and has delivered over 1,000 projects globally. Its flagship platform, EduBlock Pro, powers tamper-proof government examination management, including deployments with Punjab State AIDS Control Society.
Antier founders: Vikram Singh (left) and Shashi Pal
The company also builds programmable money infrastructure for tokenisation and digital asset workflows. The capital will be utilized to scale platform offerings, expand across government and BFSI sectors, and grow in the US, MENA, and Asia-Pacific markets.
Other news
Genpact expands alliance with Google Cloud for CFO Solutions
Genpact has announced an expanded alliance with Google Cloud to develop agentic AI solutions for the Office of the CFO. Combining Genpact’s domain expertise with Google Cloud’s technology capabilities, the partnership aims to modernise enterprise finance operations.
Genpact is building specialised AI agents available through Google Cloud’s Agent Marketplace. Its first offering, Finance One – Revenue Lens Agents, supports CFOs improve revenue forecasting, cash flow management, and team productivity. Additional agentic capabilities across accounts payable, record-to-report, and financial planning are planned. The alliance provides enterprises a streamlined path to deploy and scale AI solutions within existing cloud environments, turning AI investments into measurable business outcomes.
Google for Startups and Antler India launch AI immersion programme
Google for Startups and Antler India have launched the Google for Startups Immersion, a two-phase hybrid program for founders, CTOs, and technical leads building AI companies in India. Applications close May 22, 2026. Tarreceiveing startups with live products and early traction, the program’s first phase offers four virtual sessions for up to 5,000 founders, covering AI Studio, Antigravity, and Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, alongside venture tracks on investment, unit economics, and defensibility. Top 25 startups will be invited to an in-person session at Google’s Bangalore office, featuring architecture whiteboarding, 1:1 Antler office hours on go-to-market strategy, and a founder mixer.
Udemy expands AI-powered Role Play learning capabilities
Udemy has announced enhanced capabilities for Role Play, its AI-powered learning experience designed to build professional skills through immersive practice scenarios. New features include greater customisation, allowing organisations to tailor scenarios to specific roles and industries, and immersive video with lifelike AI avatars for more realistic practice.
With over 15,000 instructor-created scenarios, Udemy’s Role Play enables learners to practise high-impact workplace conversations—from leadership discussions to sales neobtainediations—in a risk-free environment. Since launch, the platform has powered over 400,000 interactive simulations. The updates deepen personalisation, drawing on insights from millions of global learners and expert-led content delivered in local languages worldwide.
Samsung advances AI-powered enterprise solutions in India
Samsung is strengthening its enterprise business in India by delivering AI-powered, connected ecosystem solutions designed to support organisations modernise operations through ininformigent and secure technologies. Extfinishing beyond consumer electronics, Samsung is offering finish-to-finish solutions enabling businesses to transition toward adaptive, data-driven environments. Its Business Experience Studios (BES) in Gurugram and Mumbai serve as live demonstration platforms, displaycasing integrated capabilities across devices, displays, mobility, AI platforms, and Knox security.
BES highlights real-world applications across retail, BFSI, healthcare, education, and hospitality—demonstrating how AI-led ecosystems address sector-specific challenges, from immersive customer engagement in retail to secure digital interactions in financial services.
Adobe opens new office in Noida
Adobe has inaugurated a new office in Noida marking its seventh location in India and third in Uttar Pradesh. The campus houtilizes over 700 employees across engineering and customer-focutilized roles, reflecting Adobe’s continued investment in India as a key innovation hub. India is Adobe’s largest workforce outside the US, with over 8,000 employees contributing to more than a third of the company’s global innovation.
The new building is IGBC Platinum-certified, incorporating sustainable design and energy-efficient systems aligned with Adobe’s environmental commitments. Adobe has operated in India since 1997, evolving from an R&D centre into a driving force behind the company’s global product development strategy.
IBM and Yotta Partner to deliver agentic AI Platform in India
IBM and Yotta Data Services have announced plans for a strategic partnership to deliver an Agentic AI platform for Indian enterprises and government organisations. The platform will be built on IBM watsonx Orchestrate and deployed on Yotta’s Shakti Cloud, addressing data residency, security, and regulatory compliance requirements. IBM Sovereign Core, which is now generally available, will also be brought onto Shakti Cloud, providing continuous compliance monitoring, verifiable control, and governed AI execution.
Toreceiveher, the offerings aim to give Indian organisations a complete foundation for deploying agentic AI at scale. Yotta’s GPU infrastructure combined with IBM’s enterprise AI orchestration platform is designed to accelerate time-to-value across business functions.
Balwaan Krishi acquires Farming Leader platform
Agri-equipment company Balwaan Krishi has acquired Farming Leader, an agriculture focutilized content platform gaining access to a combined audience of over 15 million farmers. The Farming Leader YouTube channel alone boasts 6.5 million subscribers, 1.18 billion views, and 1,500+ field-tested videos.
Darshan Singh (left), CMO – Balwaan Krishi and Rohit Bajaj- founder and CEO Balwaan Krishi
The acquisition enables Balwaan to build a full-stack digital content ecosystem for agriculture, delivering farmer education, mandi insights, live demonstrations, and government scheme awareness. Content will be scaled in multiple regional languages with structured series on crop optimisation, farm mechanisation, and agri news—integrating content, commerce, and on-ground distribution into a unified farmer ecosystem across India.
PayNearby facilitates Rs 550 Cr gold loan disbursals in FY26
PayNearby, Bharat’s leading branchless banking network, has facilitated gold loan disbursals worth Rs 550 crore in FY26, with Rs 100 crore disbursed in March 2026 alone, primarily across semi-urban and rural regions.
Through its retailer network, PayNearby enables discovery and initiation of gold loan applications beyond traditional branch catchments, with disbursement completed at partner branches within as little as two hours. Gold loans offer houtilizeholds, tiny business owners, and micro-entrepreneurs rapid access to formal credit with minimal paperwork. The assisted model is also enabling greater financial participation from women, who can leverage gold to access credit and support income generation.
Cognizant concludes Technoverse Hackathon 2026
Cognizant has concluded its Technoverse Hackathon 2026 at its Pune facility, drawing participation from over 22,000 pre-final year engineering students across 450+ colleges and 160 cities in India. Notably, 62% of participants were women with over 1,100 all-women teams competing. Partnering with AWS for the finals, Cognizant shortlisted 24 teams for a 24-hour challenge to build and present MVPs. Team AeroFyta from Chennai Institute of Technology claimed top honours, winning ₹3 lakh. First runner-up Team Owlgorithms and second runner-up Team Devtronix received ₹2 lakh and ₹1 lakh respectively. The event underscores Cognizant’s commitment to nurturing AI-ready engineering talent.
EquiRize Securities launches online bond platform
EquiRize Securities has launched an Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP), offering retail and HNI investors regulated, structured access to exalter-listed and rated bonds through a single interface. A standout feature is its dedicated visibility for sustainability and green bonds under SEBI’s ESG debt securities framework, with optional educational materials presented as contextual information rather than performance claims. As a SEBI-registered OBPP and member of both BSE and NSE, EquiRize operates within India’s full regulatory framework for debt broking. The company is backed by Vertex Ventures, Antler, Dezerv Innovation Fund, and Force Ventures, and was co-founded by Mohit Gupta, Neha Juneja, and Ravinder Voomidisingh.
Nolte Küchen opens flagship displayroom in Bengaluru
Germany’s leading kitchen brand Nolte Küchen has launched a flagship 3,500 sq. ft. displayroom in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar, reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Indian market. The space displaycases Nolte Neo, Nolte, and Express collections, featuring advanced material palettes including anti-fingerprint acrylic glass fronts and precision-engineered designs manufactured entirely in Germany. The brand currently operates 13 stores across India and plans to open seven more by year-finish, with an investment of nearly ₹50 crore earmarked for expansion.
Celonis unveils new process monitoring platform
Celonis, a process ininformigence technology company has announced the launch of the Celonis SOX and Internal Controls Manager by Deloitte. The new application delivers finish-to-finish process visibility to support leaders across finance, controlling, internal audit, and procurement efficiently manage risk and compliance through a data-driven approach to internal controls. The Celonis SOX and Internal Controls Manager by Deloitte is the latest addition to the Celonis Platform Apps Programme. The program provides pre-built, domain-specific solutions created by trusted partners with deep indusattempt knowledge, all built on the Celonis Process Ininformigence Platform.
UClean expands into Somalia and Mongolia
UClean, the laundry and dry-cleaning chain brand in India has announced its enattempt into Somalia and Mongolia markets under a franchise model. This brand is already present across multiple international markets, including Nepal, Bangladesh, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Ghana, and Mauritius. The addition of Somalia and Mongolia further strengthens its growing international footprint.
According to UClean, its international operations are already witnessing strong traction, particularly in the UAE, Africa, and South Asia. With its enattempt into Somalia and Mongolia, UClean is now focapplying on strengthening its presence across emerging international markets while continuing to expand its footprint in regions where demand for organized laundry services is rapidly increasing.
This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.
