ADVA 2.0 works like a smart assistant or chatbot, enabling managers and employees to perform R&R-related actions seamlessly. They can give awards, redeem points, and redeem wellness options, all through simple, real-time conversations. For example, if a manager wants to appreciate a team member, they can simply say, “Hey ADVA, appreciate Pam for closing the deal today,” and ADVA will instantly suggest a personalized message and reward option. It also makes redeeming rewards effortless. If an employee has 1000 points and wants a brand coupon, they just need to say, “ADVA, get me a voucher for Shopping,” and the AI will immediately share the coupon code. There’s no need for multiple steps or navigating complex systems—everything happens in one quick, smooth conversation. This technology is making employee engagement easier than ever, helping companies connect with their teams in real time and in ways that truly resonate.

Before the introduction of Agentic AI, AdvantageClub.ai’s ADVA already played a key role in improving employee engagement. It provided smart nudges to remind managers to recognize employees at the right time, personalized content for communications to make messages more meaningful, and automated the creation of recognition events like work anniversaries and performance milestones. For instance, managers would receive reminders to send a thank-you note for doing good work, and the AI would help craft personalized messages like, “Your leadership on the product launch really made a difference!” These features ensured that recognition was timely and meaningful, but the process still required interacting with different systems and tools.

Sourabh Deorah, CEO and Co-Founder, AdvantageClub.ai, shared, “The future of HR is agentic and we are excited to bring this change to employee experience with ADVA Agentic AI. We are proud to be the first in the world to introduce Agentic AI for EX. This will completely change the way employees get recognized, redeem rewards and access wellness benefits making everything quick, easy and seamless through simple conversations.”

Smiti Bhatt Deorah, COO and Co-Founder AdvantageClub.ai expressed “With ADVA Agentic AI, we are making employee engagement effortless and more meaningful. Recognition, rewards and wellness should not feel like a task, they should be a natural part of work culture. Now, with just a simple conversation, employees can get appreciated, redeem rewards or access wellness benefits instantly. This is the future of workplace engagement and we are excited to lead the way.”

Now, with ADVA, AdvantageClub.ai has simplified the entire experience by bringing everything into one easy, conversational interface. It’s not just about making recognition and rewards faster, it’s about making them feel more natural and personal, strengthening the connection between employees and their workplaces.

About AdvantageClub.ai:

AdvantageClub.ai is a global AI-powered employee engagement, rewards, and wellness platform with offerings like rewards & recognition, wellness solutions including OPD plans, Annual health checkups, and wellness challenges, sales incentive automation, flexible benefits, surveys, moments that matter, and communities on a single platform. It provides end-to-end solutions to facilitate employee engagement by digitizing the company’s R&R policies, allowing them to drive better employee retention and happiness. AdvantageClub.ai has over 5.5 million users, with a presence in over 100+ countries, 1000+ clients, and 10,000+ brand options. Established in 2016, AdvantageClub.ai is the brainchild of UCLA postgraduates Sourabh Deorah and Smiti Bhatt Deorah, who identified employee engagement as a space to create disruption using AI, data mining, and analytics. Headquartered in San Francisco, AdvantageClub.ai has an impressive client portfolio featuring Air India, BCG, Biocon, Concentrix, HCL, Hexaware, L&T, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Teleperformance, and many more.

Joining Jordan—who has collaborated with global music icons like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Imagine Dragons and is associated with Blue Amber Investments and State of the Art Entertainment—are Expedia CTO Ramana Thummu, formerly CTO of Fanatics Commerce, prominent investor Madhusudan Kela and Akash Bhanshali, principal owner of EnamGroup, who participated in the funding round through their respective family offices.

While Ikonz Studios has not disclosed the amount raised in its Series-A funding round, sources estimate the company’s current valuation at $80 million.

Founded in 2021, Ikonz stated that the investment from these four industry leaders will help significantly expand its intellectual property (IP) portfolio across Indian and global markets while also scaling its technical and execution teams.

The startup plans to nearly triple its workforce from 34 to approximately 100 employees, hiring across technical and non-technical roles to support its ambitious growth trajectory. About 80% of the team will work from India, while the remaining 20% will be US-based.

As advanced AI models drive rapid innovation in robotics and automation, major tech players like Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Tesla, and numerous startups compete to develop humanoid robots.

Companies are designing humanoid robots to address future labour shortages and handle repetitive, hazardous, or tedious logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing tasks. Figure AI already counts German automaker BMW among its customers.

Last year, Figure AI announced it had raised $675 million in a funding round that included prominent investors such as OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, bringing the company’s valuation to $2.6 billion.

Founder and CEO Brett Adcock revealed last week that Figure AI has ended its collaboration agreement with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, attributing the decision to an internal breakthrough in AI technology for robotics.

“Figure’s AI models are built entirely in-house, making external AI partnerships not just cumbersome but ultimately irrelevant to our success,” Adcock posted on X.

Bloomberg News first reported the development, noting that Align Ventures expects to co-lead Figure AI’s funding round alongside Parkway Venture Capital.

Both Align Ventures and Figure AI have yet to respond to requests for comment on the report.

If finalized, this funding round would mark a significant milestone for Figure AI, further solidifying its position in the competitive robotics industry and fueling its efforts to advance humanoid robotics technology.

According to the statement, the funding round also included contributions from Venture Catalysts, Ever Grow Capital, Nine ALPS, and several other high-net-worth individuals.

“Almonds Ai, through its business model, aims at redefining how brands engage with distribution networks and rewards for retailers, dealers, and influencers,” the company statement said.

Haldiram Snack Foods posted a revenue of ₹12,800 crore in FY24. The company produces and distributes 500 varieties of snacks, namkeen, sweets, ready-to-eat, and pre-mixed foods. It also operates in over a hundred countries, mainly through franchise partnerships in regions such as the UK and the US.

“Almonds Ai’s approach to channel partner engagement is transforming the industry. We see immense potential in their platform,” Manohar Lal Agarwal, chairman and managing director of Haldiram’s, said as part of the statement.

Almonds Ai will use the new capital to boost research and development, grow its team, and revolutionize the channel loyalty sector.

Sagar Gosalia, chief operating officer of JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation, said the platform “is committed to supporting businesses that leverage technology”.

The startup’s main offerings include the Channelverse ecosystem and Green Loyalty programs.

Abhinav Jain and Apurv Modi, co-founders at Almonds Ai, said the funding “will enable scale operations, forays to global markets, and foster long-term relationships with channel partners.”

This development coincides with reports that private equity firm Temasek is poised to acquire a 10% minority stake in Haldiram Snacks Food for over $1 billion. The Haldiramfamily is merging its Delhi and Nagpur branches to realize synergies.

Founders Fund has supported Anduril since its inception in 2017, with one of the startup’s co-founders, Trae Stephens, also serving as a partner at the firm. Based in Costa Mesa, California, Anduril specializes in developing autonomous weapons integrated with various sensors, including drones. Last month, the company announced plans to establish a large-scale weapons manufacturing facility in central Ohio, utilizing its funding to expand production capabilities.

In 2023, Anduril introduced Lattice for Mission Autonomy, an AI-powered software designed to coordinate teams of autonomous systems under human oversight during missions.

Before founding Anduril, Palmer Luckey was known for creating Oculus VR, the virtual reality company that Facebook acquired for $2.3 billion in 2014.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance previously invested in Anduril as a venture capitalist and still holds shares in the company, according to his filings. Meanwhile, Peter Thiel, who co-founded military tech firm Palantir, has been a longtime Republican donor, supporting Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Vance’s 2022 Senate run.

Ibiden is building a new substrate facility in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, and plans to begin operations at 25% capacity in late 2025 and reach 50% capacity by March 2026. However, Kawashima indicated this might not suffice, as discussions are underway to determine when to activate the remaining 50% capacity.

“Our customers have concerns,” he said in an interview. “We’re already being asked about our next investment and the next capacity expansion.”

Ibiden’s shares surged by as much as 5.5% in Tokyo on Monday, marking the most significant intraday gain in over a month.

According to Bloomberg data, the company’s clients include major players such as Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and Nvidia. Many of these companies collaborate with Ibiden early in product development because they need to customize the substrates for each chip. These substrates will withstand the heat generated by Nvidia’s graphics processing units, which are essential for AI chip packages that include components like memory.

Founded in 1912 as a power utility, Ibiden developed its semiconductor expertise through a partnership with Intel. CEO Koji Kawashima cultivated this relationship in the early 1990s by regularly meeting with Intel engineers and executives to gather product feedback. At one point, Intel accounted for 70% to 80% of Ibiden’s chip package substrate revenue. However, this share dropped to about 30% in the fiscal year ending March as Intel struggled to recover, resulting in the recent departure of CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Ibiden’s reliance on Intel has negatively impacted its stock, which has fallen around 40% this year. In October, the company lowered its profit forecast after weak demand for components used in general-purpose servers offset growth in AI server components. Despite this, Kawashima remains confident that Intel will recover and that expanding partnerships with other chipmakers is important for Ibiden’s future.

“Intel’s overall technology is very sophisticated,” the Kawashima said. “Intel raised us up and opened so many doors. Our relationship with Intel will always be our treasure, and Intel will forever be an important customer.”

Kawashima stated that with many foreign chipmakers hesitant to transfer their latest technologies to the US, Intel will play a crucial role in helping Washington achieve its goal of enhancing domestic semiconductor production capabilities. Ibiden, however, has no manufacturing facilities in the US and has no plans to build them due to the high labor and logistics costs, regardless of US President-elect Donald Trump’s intentions to impose tariffs on various products.

Nvidia’s AI semiconductors currently use Ibiden’s substrates, although Taiwanese competitors like Unimicron Technology Corp. are eyeing the market. According to Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda, breaking Ibiden’s dominant position as a supplier will not be easy despite this.

“Nvidia’s AI chips need sophisticated substrates, and Ibiden is the only one that can mass produce them at a good production yield,” he said. “Taiwanese competitors won’t be able to take Ibiden’s share away by much.”

AI semiconductors now account for over 15% of Ibiden’s sales, which total approximately ¥370 billion ($2.3 billion), and this share will grow. After overcoming some initial technical hurdles, Nvidia announced the production of its next-generation Blackwell chips. In the long term, Nvidia may face increasing competition from application-specific chips developed by Marvell Technology Inc. and Broadcom Inc. and in-house silicon from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft Corp. However, Kawashima believes Ibiden will be able to support all these players, as the design and materials used for AI chip packages will likely remain similar to those for Nvidia’s chips.

The funding will accelerate the growth of Resilience360, the company’s flagship platform that delivers comprehensive climate risk management solutions for businesses and public sector organizations. With this investment, Resilience AI plans to co-develop innovative solutions with its clients, expand its market reach, and advance research-driven climate technologies.

Founded by Samhita R., Resilience AI transforms how organizations prepare for and respond to extreme climate events such as heatwaves, floods, cyclones, landslides, and earthquakes. The platform leverages machine learning and advanced climate analytics to provide hyperlocal risk assessments, automated climate risk diagnostics, and actionable climate plans tailored to global sustainability standards.

The flagship product, Resilience360, provides a comprehensive suite of solutions, including hyperlocal climate risk assessments and mapping, tools for creating customized risk mitigation strategies (Plan), features for implementing and tracking climate actions (Action), and support for continuous monitoring and scaling of adaptation efforts (Scale).

By enabling businesses to move from reactive to proactive climate resilience strategies, Resilience AI is paving the way for a more sustainable future.

At the core of Exotel’s innovation is its cutting-edge Harmony platform, an AI-first solution that revolutionizes CX by seamlessly integrating conversations, context, and workflows across multiple channels and systems.

Harmony is the foundation for enterprise-grade CX transformation, leveraging advanced AI technologies such as Generative AI voice bots and Conversational Quality Analysis (CQA). This powerful platform fosters smooth collaboration between human agents and AI, enabling businesses to deliver highly personalized, context-aware customer interactions. With intelligent routing and real-time decision-making capabilities, Harmony enhances customer satisfaction, optimizes operational costs, and drives revenue growth.

Exotel is reimagining how enterprises connect with their customers through this AI-powered approach, shaping the future of exceptional customer experiences.

The platform delivers tailored capabilities to address the customer engagement needs of banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, e-commerce, and other industries.

“FY24 has been transformative for Exotel as we advanced our product strategy to empower enterprises with cutting-edge AI-driven solutions,” said Adarsh Dikshith, CFO of Exotel.

“Our focus on innovation and operational efficiency not only enhances customer outcomes but also creates new growth opportunities for businesses navigating the complexities of modern CX,” Dikshith added.

Alongside its product innovations, Exotel highlighted notable financial milestones in FY24. The company announced achieving profitability with positive EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization) in Q3 and Q4 of FY24. Exotel expects a robust 100% year-on-year EBITDA growth in FY25, reflecting its strong financial performance and strategic advancements. Furthermore, the company significantly reduced its FY24 losses by 65%, from ₹108.8 crore in FY23 to ₹38.8 crore.

Exotel powers over 7,000 businesses worldwide and enables over 25 billion conversations annually through its unified customer engagement platform.

Expanding its global footprint, Exotel has entered high-growth markets such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the USA, unlocking new revenue opportunities and reinforcing its position as a leading provider of AI-driven customer experience solutions.

Commenting on Exotel’s progress, Gautam Mago, general partner at A91 Partners, an investor, said, “Exotel’s robust product roadmap and customer-centric innovation is inspirational for their customers and employees. The company’s commitment to constant improvement and transforming customer engagement through AI will allow Exotel to maintain its industry leadership status while continuing its financial growth path,” said Mago. 

Exotel is focusing on maintaining its growth momentum by advancing AI-driven innovations and expanding its presence in global markets.

Since its inception in 2017, Misfits Communications has focused on developing software solutions and products for various industries. The company’s earlier successes, such as E-log, a software product for the pharmaceutical industry, and Acebot, an AI-powered chatbot, have laid the foundation for this latest innovation. Agrim, which means “the first” in Sanskrit, builds on this legacy, offering a solution tailored for any industry with customer service as its key function.

“We are building a suite of products that use Gen AI technologies to create solutions which aim to solve complex business problems. Agrim is the first of this suite to be launched,” said Siddharth Verma, Founder of Misfits Communications. “Agrim is India’s first AI-powered voicebot platform. It will allow our customers to build browser based voicebots for providing human-like customer support from their websites and mobile applications in 41 languages.”

The power of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing helps deliver an intuitive experience that supports both voice and text interactions. The virtual assistants created using Agrim can extract relevant information from any document, website, audio, or video file and generate appropriate user responses. Agrim caters to a wide range of business requirements. It facilitates real-time communication and supports nine Indian and thirty-two international languages, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity.

Agrim’s applications are wide-ranging. It can function as an intelligent chatbot embedded in websites, capable of answering user queries by analyzing website data or reading documents such as policies, regulations, manuals, etc. The platform also addresses customer service needs by delivering instant, round-the-clock responses, reducing wait times, and freeing up human agents for more complex tasks. Furthermore, Agrim offers solutions for e-commerce businesses by enhancing the customer journey with personalized recommendations, addressing queries, and resolving concerns in real time. The platform’s capabilities extend to interactive advertising, enabling dynamic, voice-responsive campaigns that foster engagement and deliver impactful customer experiences.

“Through Agrim, we aim to simplify the application of AI to solve the day-to-day problems that businesses face. AI is very powerful and can provide innumerable benefits if one can use it effectively understanding the challenges of businesses,” said Sanchayita Deb, Co-founder of Misfits Communications. “We built on the features of Agrim after interacting with several customers and understanding their key needs.”

About Agrim

Agrim was beta-launched in September 2024, receiving positive feedback from early users for its adaptability and impact. Its official release as an off-the-shelf product marks a significant milestone in Misfits Communications’ journey. The company also plans to launch two more AI-driven products, Prakhar and Drishti, by the end of the financial year, further solidifying its role as a leader in AI-based solutions.

About Misfits Communications

Founded in October 2017 in Delhi, Misfits Communications is an innovator in AI-driven software solutions that address complex business challenges. The company’s mission is to leverage artificial intelligence to enable businesses to achieve their digital potential. Starting with E-log, a production process optimization tool for the pharmaceutical industry, Misfits expanded its portfolio with impactful solutions like Acebot, an AI-powered customer service tool. In 2024, the company introduced Agrim, an advanced platform catering to diverse industries, with additional products like Prakhar and Drishti set to launch soon. Driven by a passion for solving real-world challenges, Misfits Communications continues redefining AI’s role in business operations and customer engagement.

The Pune-based company, which streamlines industrial processes for over 100 clients in India, the Middle East, and Africa, previously raised $20 million in Series B funding in 2021, led by Ascent Capital.

“Even in the Western markets, there’s a big scarcity of experienced talent and human capital needed to operate and run manufacturing plants. Hence, we are seeing a big uptick for increased adoption of automation and software solutions,” said Vipin Raghavan, CEO of Haber. “Last year, we began exploring the North American market and secured our first customer there… We’ve added a few more in the region.”

Founded in 2017 by Raghavan, Arjunan PN, and Priya Venkat, Haber creates AI-driven robots to automate tasks like sample collection and analysis in factories. Their technology has saved clients over 50 billion liters of water and reduced carbon emissions by 500,000 tonnes.

Priya Venkat, who is also the COO, said Haber’s success has laid the foundation for its next big step—expanding into the Americas, “where the demand for industrial AI solutions is immense”. 

“We also plan to extend our solution to other process manufacturing industries,”  she added. 

Raghvan indicated where that would be. “We’re exploring opportunities in two more industry verticals: metals and metal processing, as well as food and beverage processing. The main focus is to go deeper and capture wallet share and market share in bulk packaging globally,” he said. 

BEENEXT’s Managing Partner Hero Choudhary emphasised the company’s performance: “The company’s ability to prioritise and deliver on both profitability and margin growth is truly impressive. They have built immense trust with their customers, consistently delivering measurable results. This is why we’ve chosen to double down on our investment.”

Over the past year, the company doubled its revenue from key clients while achieving zero churn. Prominent clients, including ITC, the Aditya Birla Group, and Tata Steel, benefit from their services, which cater to industries like sugar mills, distilleries, paper mills, breweries, and mining operations.