Founded in 2018 by Sridhar Venugopal and Aswin Venu, Intellithink actively enables large enterprises to monitor and understand the health of machinery used in industrial operations. Moreover, the company focuses on predictive maintenance and machine health monitoring to improve operational efficiency. “We’re a full-stack company in the machine health space of rotating equipment, where our solution monitors machines 24×7 and detects anomalies, identifying not just the issue, but also its nature and the steps needed to fix it,” said Sridhar Venugopal, founder and CEO.

Currently, Intellithink serves more than 50 enterprises, including Jindal Steel, Jindal Stainless, JSW Steel, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, Adani, Ultratech, Dalmia, Ducab, and L&T. Furthermore, the company continues to expand its presence in international markets, particularly across the Middle East, where demand for AI-driven industrial solutions is rising steadily.

Importantly, the startup plans to deploy the newly raised capital to strengthen its market presence. “The funding will primarily go towards expanding our footprint across India and the GCC, while also helping us build and launch our next-generation solution,” said Venugopal. Consequently, this strategic investment will accelerate product innovation and geographic expansion.

Meanwhile, the industrial AI and predictive maintenance space continues to attract strong investor interest. For instance, Infinite Uptime, which focuses on reducing maintenance downtime for manufacturers, raised $35 million in a funding round led by Avataar Ventures in March 2025. Similarly, UptimeAI, an AI startup specializing in manufacturing and heavy industries, secured $14 million in a Series A round led by Westbridge Capital, with participation from Emergent Ventures and Aditya Birla Ventures in July 2024.

Overall, Intellithink’s latest funding round highlights the growing momentum in the industrial AI and predictive maintenance sector. As manufacturers increasingly adopt AI-driven solutions to enhance efficiency and reduce downtime, startups like Intellithink are well-positioned to capture significant market share across India and global markets.

At the same time, Minor Hotels is developing a unified digital platform that connects global guest data, marketing, and service operations. As a result, the group will recognise guests more consistently across brands and geographies, personalise communication and offers based on preferences and past stays, and ensure responsible data management with embedded privacy and governance frameworks from the outset.

Moreover, the company is building this platform independently of legacy systems, enabling it to leapfrog traditional technology constraints. The platform, expected to be fully deployed by 2026, will leverage advanced enterprise-grade AI capabilities, including generative AI, intelligent agents, and automation. Consequently, this clean-sheet approach will accelerate development timelines and allow Minor Hotels to rapidly evolve its commercial and service capabilities as AI technologies mature.

“AI is becoming the front door to travel—and with it, control over demand is shifting,” said Ian Di Tullio, Chief Commercial Officer of Minor Hotels. “The brands that win will not be the most visible but the most intelligent: those able to respond in real time, own their data, and shape the guest relationship directly. At Minor Hotels, we are building that capability at scale, ensuring we don’t just participate in this new landscape but define our position within it.”

Furthermore, the platform will run on Google Cloud’s AI-optimized stack, with BigQuery and Vertex AI forming the interoperable data and intelligence layer. This integration will unify guest data across brands, regions, and digital touchpoints, thereby enabling seamless and consistent guest experiences across properties such as Anantara in Thailand and Tivoli in Portugal.

In addition, Minor Hotels is moving beyond basic AI functionalities toward agentic orchestration. The platform will support the deployment of Google-built, third-party, or custom AI agents powered by unified data. These agents will handle tasks such as booking management, itinerary curation, and real-time resolution of complex guest requests, significantly enhancing service efficiency.

“The future belongs to context-aware AI agents that anticipate needs and execute tasks throughout the travel journey,” said Mark Micallef, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud. “By anchoring its transformation on Google Cloud’s open and secure full-stack architecture, our native integrations with Salesforce, and the solution engineering expertise of our partners like Deloitte, Minor Hotels is bypassing the integration hurdles of fragmented traditional clouds and establishing the blueprint for more personalised, proactive, and responsive guest experiences.”

Meanwhile, Salesforce will power marketing automation and guest communications through Agentforce Marketing, while Data 360 will integrate guest preferences and enable real-time segmentation. This will help Minor Hotels unlock new commercial opportunities while improving guest satisfaction and loyalty.

“In the AI era, the margin for error in customer experience has disappeared. Guests expect interactions to be instant, intuitive, and deeply personal,” said Apisit Kuparatana, Country Leader and Managing Director, Salesforce Thailand. “Automation grounded in relevant guest insights can help turn distinct guest touchpoints into a meaningful, connected journey.”

At the same time, OneTrust will ensure responsible data governance by embedding privacy and consent management directly into the platform. This approach will allow Minor Hotels to scale personalisation while maintaining transparency and trust with guests.

“Consent is the foundation of lasting customer relationships and durable data strategies,” said Arran Mulvaney, Regional Director, ASEAN, OneTrust. “With privacy and governance embedded in its platform from the outset, Minor Hotels demonstrates a clear commitment to its guests by making responsible data use a priority, not an afterthought.”

Additionally, the platform will introduce AI-enabled capabilities designed to enhance both guest engagement and operational efficiency. Intelligent service agents will support hotel teams and contact centres in responding faster to guest requests, while AI-driven engagement tools will deliver personalised recommendations for experiences and upgrades. As AI continues to reshape travel discovery and booking, the platform will also help Minor Hotels adapt to emerging AI-led ecosystems where digital assistants increasingly influence consumer decisions.

Deloitte, acting as the strategy and implementation partner, is leading the integration of this advanced technology stack into a cohesive enterprise operating model. The firm is ensuring that AI capabilities are deeply embedded into core business processes, decision-making, and workflows across Minor Hotels’ operations in more than 63 countries.

“Transformations of this scale not only require powerful technology, but they also require alignment across the organisation and working with each of the country operations to ensure that utilisation is seamless and effective,” said Dr. Metinee Jongsaliswang, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Thailand. “It is a great privilege for us to work together with Minor Hotels and the other partners to bring together the right technology ecosystem and integration strategy to create a platform that can evolve with the business, unlock new opportunities for growth and guest engagement, and be the forefront of the future for the hospitality sector.”

Minor Hotels is setting a new benchmark in AI-driven hospitality by building a future-ready platform that integrates data, technology, and guest experience. With strong partnerships and a clear innovation roadmap, the company is well-positioned to lead the next phase of personalised, intelligent, and scalable hospitality solutions globally.

Moreover, the partnership leverages Profinch’s expertise in OIPA implementation and system integration, enabling insurers to achieve core modernization while incorporating AI-powered functionalities. As a result, carriers can enhance operational efficiency and accelerate digital transformation.

Currently, Insillion serves more than 45 carriers and MGAs globally and is known for its product builder, distribution APIs, AI-driven workflows, and middleware that supports rapid product launches. At the same time, Oracle’s policy administration system offers a comprehensive, rules-based framework that manages the entire policy lifecycle. Additionally, Profinch operates in over 60 countries and brings deep domain expertise, ensuring seamless integration with existing systems while helping insurers reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Importantly, this partnership addresses a major industry challenge—managing multiple systems, integrations, and vendors. Therefore, it enables both greenfield and established carriers to modernize legacy infrastructure, speed up product deployment, and introduce AI-driven capabilities without replacing their existing core systems.

“Carriers need to innovate without disrupting their core operations. This partnership makes that possible,” said Mahavir, co-founder of Insillion. “By connecting Insillion’s APIs and AI features with OIPA through Profinch’s implementation, we give carriers a faster way to launch insurance products.”

Furthermore, Arun Mallavarapu highlighted the strategic value of the collaboration. “Our clients want the reliability of Oracle’s policy administration combined with robust, front-end capabilities,” he said. “By combining Insillion’s API-led capabilities with OIPA and Profinch’s accelerator-led implementation, we enable insurers to innovate while maintaining core system stability.”

The Insillion–Profinch partnership represents a significant step toward simplifying insurance technology ecosystems. By integrating AI-driven platforms with proven policy administration systems, the collaboration empowers insurers to innovate faster, reduce complexity, and remain competitive in an increasingly digital-first market.

As part of the strategic move, Dhawan will lead Exotel’s Conversation Quality Analytics (CQA) solution, while Gupta will head the company’s AI division, according to founder Shivakumar Ganesan. Meanwhile, Dubverse will continue to operate as an independent platform. The startup, backed by Kalaari Capital, had raised $800,000 in June 2022.

Notably, Exotel—supported by investors such as A91 Partners, Blume Ventures, and CX Partners—serves over 7,000 enterprises, including Apollo 24/7, Shiprocket, HDFC Securities, Truecaller, and MG Motor. Furthermore, the platform handles more than 20 billion interactions annually across sectors such as financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce.

This acqui-hire aligns with Exotel’s broader transition into an AI-first customer engagement platform. Consequently, the company is ramping up investments in voice AI, automation, and conversation intelligence. In total, it has onboarded five to six senior hires from Dubverse to accelerate this transformation.

“Customers started asking us to derive insights from call recordings, train models on their own data, and improve performance for their use cases. We needed a team that had experience with GPUs, training, and fine-tuning models. That’s the context in which we brought in the Dubverse team,” Ganesan said.

Founded in 2021, Dubverse has developed multilingual voice AI systems, including text-to-speech and speech synthesis technologies. As a result, the platform has served over 3 million users across more than 70 languages.

At the same time, Exotel continues to operate predominantly in the business-to-customer (B2C) segment. Shivakumar Ganesan stated that AI could automate nearly 60% of customer experience operations. However, he added that companies may reduce the total number of human agents by around 60%, while transitioning the remaining workforce from on-premise setups to cloud-based systems.

“Exotel is one of the few Contact Centre-as-a-Service (CCaaS) players offering the full stack—software, network, and infrastructure. So we are actually seeing growth in contact centre seats as well, even as automation increases,” Ganesan explained.

Financially, Exotel reported operating revenue of Rs 490.5 crore in FY25, up from Rs 444 crore in the previous year, reflecting steady growth.

Geographically, around 80% of Exotel’s revenue currently comes from India. However, the company is witnessing faster growth in international markets, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. That said, geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East could impact approximately 10% of its growth projections.

“The situation in the Middle East is expected to impact about 10% of our growth plans. One large deal has already been delayed, with customers preferring to hold off on new decisions for now,” Ganesan said.

Looking ahead, Exotel is actively exploring expansion into newer markets such as Japan, Latin America, and Australia. Additionally, the company has a track record of strategic acquisitions, including Ameyo and Cogno AI in 2021 and Croak.it in 2015.

Exotel’s acqui-hire of the Dubverse team marks a significant step in its AI-driven transformation strategy. By strengthening its voice AI and conversational intelligence stack, the company is positioning itself to lead the next phase of customer engagement innovation while expanding its global footprint.

Notably, the equity round has valued Firmus at $5.5 billion post-money. In addition, leading AI chipmaker Nvidia also participated in the investment, further strengthening the company’s strategic positioning in the AI ecosystem.

Furthermore, Firmus stated that it will deploy the funds to accelerate its ambitious Project Southgate initiative. This project focuses on building a large-scale network of AI factories across Australia. Developed in collaboration with Nvidia and CDC Data Centres, the initiative is expected to reach a capacity of up to 1.6 gigawatts over the next three years.

Meanwhile, this latest equity funding follows a significant $10 billion debt package that the company finalized in February. The debt round was led by Coatue and global investment giant Blackstone, highlighting strong institutional confidence in Firmus’ long-term growth strategy.

Overall, Firmus is rapidly positioning itself as a key player in the global AI infrastructure space. As demand for scalable AI computing continues to surge, the company is well placed to capitalize on emerging opportunities across the Asia-Pacific market while strengthening Australia’s role in next-generation AI development.

Firmus’ latest funding round marks a significant milestone in its expansion journey. By combining strong investor backing, strategic partnerships, and large-scale infrastructure initiatives, the company is set to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of AI infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Ideathon witnessed participation from 38 fintechs, techfins, and technology innovators who submitted solutions aligned with real-world business use cases identified by HDB Financial Services. Moreover, the program aimed to uncover scalable, technology-driven approaches capable of enhancing accessibility, improving service delivery, and boosting operational agility across India’s financial ecosystem.

Subsequently, the Ideathon shortlisted 10 high-potential teams, who worked closely with mentors from HDB Financial Services and AWS over several weeks. During this phase, participants leveraged AWS’s cloud infrastructure, data capabilities, and generative AI tools to design solutions tailored to real operational challenges within HDB’s business environment.

The final stage featured Shark Tank-style presentations, where innovators showcased how emerging technologies can address long-standing inefficiencies and unlock new opportunities in financial services. Following a rigorous evaluation process, Noventiq emerged as the winner for its Agentic AI solution. Meanwhile, Nugget by Zomato and Ganit Business Solutions Pvt Ltd secured the runner-up positions with their scalable, technology-driven offerings.

Commenting on the successful conclusion, G Ramesh said, “Through this Ideathon, we have seen how startups can build enterprise-scale solutions that improve operational efficiency while also supporting financial inclusion across India. The collaboration demonstrates the potential of combining innovation with the scale and reach of established financial institutions.”

Looking ahead, the selected winners will enter a pilot phase with HDB Financial Services, opening pathways for potential long-term commercial partnerships. These pilots will focus on integrating the solutions into HDB’s extensive pan-India network of over 1,700 branches. As a result, customers can expect faster, more seamless, and highly personalised financial services, including improved access to affordable credit, reduced turnaround times, and enhanced overall service experience.

Founded in October 2024 by Sayantan Biswas, Abhishek Garg, VP Singh, and Dan Smith, the company enables real estate owners and operators to automate leasing, operations, and resident engagement through conversational AI. By leveraging advanced AI capabilities, VerbaFlo addresses inefficiencies in communication and workflow management within the real estate sector.

Currently, VerbaFlo powers communication and operations across more than 200,000 units globally while adding nearly 30,000 units every month. Moreover, the platform supports conversations in over 200 languages, thereby enabling seamless engagement across diverse markets. The company serves leading operators across the UK and Europe and has recently expanded into the United States. Furthermore, it continues to scale its presence across the Middle East, Australia, South Africa, and additional European markets. Its client portfolio includes major operators such as Homes for Students, Moda Living, Fusion Students, Housing Hand, and Downing, among over 40 others.

Sayantan Biswas, Founder at VerbaFlo, said, “Real estate is one of the largest industries in the world, yet much of its revenue still depends on fragmented communication across channels. We built VerbaFlo to address this by creating a purpose-built vertical AI platform for residential real estate that integrates with the systems operators already use, enabling them to automate and optimize conversations across the resident life cycle. Today, VerbaFlo supports more than 40 use cases across enquiry management, lead qualification, bookings, onboarding, and resident engagement. We are incredibly proud to have the backing of Pi Labs alongside an exceptional group of investors, and this investment will accelerate product development and expand our presence across the UK, US, and European markets.”

Meanwhile, Faisal Butt, Founder & Managing Partner at Pi Labs, said, “Sayantan and his team have built an exceptional AI-native platform for multi-unit residential, using agentic AI to orchestrate leasing and property management. The impact is immediate: faster leasing, lower operational friction, and a better resident experience. VerbaFlo is exactly the type of vertical AI company we are backing at Pi Labs, a platform that delivers measurable operational impact for global real estate owners. We believe the next wave of value creation in the built world will be driven by applied, vertical AI, a thesis we are executing on in our latest fund, Pi Labs Fund IV.”

In addition, Ivan Nikkhoo, Founder and Managing Partner at Navigate Ventures, said, “AI is transforming what is possible in vertical markets like real estate that have often been underserved by traditional enterprise software. The door is now open to bold startups like VerbaFlo that have a clear strategy for augmenting legacy systems and becoming the intelligence layer for the world’s largest real estate operators. We’re excited by the team’s vision and the impact VerbaFlo can have across the industry.”

Bay Downing, Joint CEO of Downing, said, “The impact Verbaflo is having on the residential sector is remarkable. By automating lead generation and significantly lowering the cost of acquisition for operators, they are solving one of the most persistent challenges in the industry. The traction they have built across the UK and Europe has been exciting to witness, and I look forward to seeing them take this globally.”

Unlike traditional chatbots layered onto existing systems, VerbaFlo has built a purpose-driven AI communications platform specifically for real estate. Notably, operators use the platform to deploy multiple specialized AI agents across functions such as sales, leasing, marketing, finance, operations, maintenance, and resident engagement. Each agent integrates directly with live systems, thereby enabling it to qualify leads, respond to property queries, schedule viewings, automate follow-ups, manage maintenance requests, and update records in real time.

Furthermore, by centralizing communication across email, web chat, WhatsApp, phone, and other channels, VerbaFlo ensures instant, 24/7 responses in more than 200 languages. Consequently, instead of adding another tool to the tech stack, the platform acts as an intelligent layer that seamlessly manages communication, data, and operational workflows at scale. This results in faster response times, improved conversion rates, reduced manual workload, and enhanced portfolio visibility for operators.

As a result of its rapid growth, VerbaFlo has emerged as one of the largest vertical AI platforms serving real estate operators across the UK and Europe. By integrating deeply with existing systems, the company is positioning itself as a core infrastructure layer for modern property businesses seeking to optimize customer engagement and operations.

Looking ahead, VerbaFlo plans to utilize the newly raised capital to accelerate its expansion into the United States and other global markets. Additionally, the company will invest in product innovation and scale its team worldwide, thereby strengthening its competitive position in the evolving proptech landscape.

Playbook Partners managing partner Vikas Choudhury said that the company is helping large enterprise clients migrate their systems to the cloud from on-premises infrastructure. It is also helping these companies become AI-ready.

Founded in 2006, the Chennai-based company delivers SAP-led digital transformation services to enterprises. The firm provides a wide range of solutions, including SAP implementation and support, cloud and data services, artificial intelligence-driven automation, analytics, and managed services. Consequently, businesses rely on the company to modernize and streamline their operational systems.

According to regulatory filings, the company approved the issuance of 4,00,520 Series B compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of Rs 2,496.75 per share. Through this issuance, the company raised the capital from Playbook Partners to strengthen its financial position and support expansion plans.

The company plans to allocate the newly raised capital toward capital expenditure, business expansion, and general working capital requirements. Furthermore, the funding will help the firm enhance its enterprise technology capabilities and scale its global operations.

The investment has valued KaarTech at nearly Rs 2,100 crore (approximately USD 231 million) on a post-money basis. Earlier in 2023, the company had already secured USD 30 million from A91 Partners to support its strategic expansion initiatives.

KaarTech has also demonstrated strong financial performance. The company increased its revenue by about 56 percent year-on-year, reaching Rs 718 crore in FY25 compared to Rs 458 crore in the previous fiscal year. Moreover, the firm returned to profitability and reported a net profit of Rs 7.74 crore after posting a loss in FY24.

Entrepreneurs Maran Nagarajan, Ratnakumar N., Selvakumaran Manickam, and Gaurdian George founded the company to help enterprises manage and optimize their business operations through digital transformation technologies.

The latest funding round marks another milestone for KaarTech as it strengthens its position in the enterprise technology and SAP transformation ecosystem. Strong revenue growth, renewed profitability, and support from strategic investors position the company to accelerate innovation, expand internationally, and help enterprises advance their digital transformation journeys.

Notably, the round, scheduled to be announced on Thursday, was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, A*, and Hanabi Capital. In addition, prominent AI leaders such as Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy also invested in the round. However, Simile chose not to disclose its valuation.

Meanwhile, Simile emerged from stealth this week after spending the past seven months building an AI model trained on interviews with hundreds of real people about their lives. At the same time, the company enriched its system with historical transaction data and text drawn from scientific journals focused on behavioral experiments.

According to the startup, Simile aims to leverage this technology to anticipate decisions individuals might make in specific situations. To achieve this, the company constructs simulations populated by AI agents that mirror the preferences and tendencies of real people.

Importantly, this novel approach offers companies an alternative to traditional focus groups. For example, CVS Health Corp. has already been testing Simile’s platform to guide decisions on which products to stock and how to display them in stores.

Beyond retail, Simile believes its technology can also help organizations prepare for analyst questions on earnings calls or predict reactions to corporate announcements by analyzing historical earnings calls and research reports.

At the leadership level, Simile is led by co-founders Joon Park, Michael Bernstein, Percy Liang, and Lainie Yallen, all of whom have academic ties to Stanford University. Notably, Bernstein is a co-author of the influential ImageNet project, which established a foundational benchmark for modern computer vision systems.

Simile’s $100 million funding round underscores growing investor confidence in AI-driven behavioral prediction. By combining real human insights with large-scale simulations, the startup positions itself to reshape how companies understand consumers, anticipate market reactions, and make strategic decisions—potentially redefining the future of enterprise intelligence.

In recent months, vibe coding has emerged as a highly disruptive force in software development, as it allows developers and nondevelopers alike to generate, refine, and debug application code using natural language prompts. As a result, the approach has shifted developer focus away from writing code line by line and toward higher-level guidance, while significantly accelerating development cycles.

However, IBM has pointed out that vibe coding does not always deliver flawless results. Although large language models excel at producing logic, they often struggle to maintain consistent, high-quality, and brand-aligned user interfaces. Consequently, Anima addresses this gap by democratizing UI design through an AI agent that enables virtually anyone to function as an application designer. Importantly, Anima’s agents access complete brand context, including design files, codebases, and brand language, which allows the platform to create branded products that teams can ship instantly.

Anima refers to this approach as “design-to-code.” Its platform integrates seamlessly with tools such as Adobe XD, Figma, and Sketch and converts UI designs into fully functional, high-fidelity code with a single click. In doing so, the company positions itself as a critical bridge between designers and developers by transforming static visual layouts into clean, responsive code that teams can deploy directly into production.

Moreover, the company says its platform accelerates the design-to-development pipeline by automating repetitive tasks such as writing boilerplate frontend code, HTML, and CSS. As a result, developers can concentrate on complex application logic rather than visual presentation. Users simply upload a visual design, after which Anima generates the necessary code to build a working user interface. From there, users can further refine designs through natural language prompts until they achieve the desired outcome.

Meanwhile, IBM has not disclosed the size of the investment but has emphasised that it shares a core belief with Anima that design should no longer exist as a static artifact. Instead, IBM views design as evolving into living, interactive code that responds dynamically and connects to real-world data. Notably, AI enables this shift because it understands the structure of code more effectively than it interprets pixels or vectors.

Commenting on the broader trend, Anima Chief Executive Officer Avishay Cohen said vibe coding is pushing the industry toward a future in which more than 3 billion people globally will become coders. “AI brings a new era for design and product, where code is the new canvas,” he said. “This strategic investment from IBM supercharges our mission to bring Anima to every enterprise team, drawing on its global operations and extensive expertise in enterprise technology and AI.”

Anima, which last raised external funding in September 2021, said the undisclosed investment will help deepen platform integrations with enterprise brands and design tools while also enabling support for legacy front-end code. Already, the startup has gained strong traction, becoming a core part of design workflows at companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Deloitte Touche Ltd., and Accenture Plc. These organisations report that Anima accelerates design timelines by up to 50% on average while reducing frontend development costs by nearly 80%.

From IBM’s perspective, Emily Fontaine, IBM’s global head of venture capital, said Anima’s platform has strongly resonated with enterprise product and design teams. “We are confident Anima will stay at the forefront as design and engineering converge, delivering greater efficiency and innovation for enterprise clients,” she said.

IBM’s investment in Anima highlights a growing shift toward AI-native, design-driven software development where speed, brand consistency, and automation converge. By backing Anima’s design-to-code vision, IBM strengthens its position in the evolving vibe-coding landscape while supporting a future where design and engineering merge into a single, intelligent workflow for enterprises worldwide.