The company plans to deploy the newly raised capital to accelerate product development, strengthen its leadership and operational teams, invest in brand-building initiatives, and expand its offline distribution network. Initially, CUNIN will focus on scaling its debut fragrance category and its innovative range of carryable perfume accessories.

Former NEWME executives Kunal Shukla, Amish Bibhu, and Afsal founded CUNIN with a vision to create a lifestyle brand centered on culture, identity, and storytelling rather than conventional product marketing. Through this approach, the startup aims to establish deeper emotional connections with young consumers while building a distinctive global brand.

Commenting on the company’s vision, Kunal Shukla said, “CUNIN is built as a global cultural IP designed to resonate far beyond India. Our vision is not simply to build products people consume, but to create symbols, stories, and experiences people emotionally connect with and proudly identify with.”

As part of its initial product lineup, CUNIN has introduced carryable perfume accessories, which customers can wear or clip onto clothing, bags, and accessories. The company has launched these products alongside its fragrance collection, offering consumers a new way to incorporate perfumes into their everyday lifestyle.

The startup believes that combining fashion, fragrance, and self-expression will help it stand out in India’s rapidly growing beauty and lifestyle market. CUNIN designs its products to appeal to Gen Z consumers who increasingly value individuality, personal identity, and experience-driven brands.

Speaking about the investment, Sanil Sachar, Founding Partner at Huddle Ventures, said, “The next generation of consumer brands will be built through culture as much as commerce. CUNIN combines complementary operating experience with a bold vision to build a culture-first lifestyle brand for Gen Z.”

India’s beauty, fragrance, and lifestyle sectors continue to witness robust growth, driven by rising disposable incomes, premiumization, and increasing demand from younger consumers. Consequently, startups that combine innovative products with strong brand storytelling are attracting growing investor interest.

The $450,000 pre-seed funding marks an important milestone for CUNIN as it seeks to redefine the fragrance and lifestyle segment for Gen Z consumers. Backed by experienced founders and prominent investors, the startup plans to combine innovative products, cultural storytelling, and strategic expansion to build a globally relevant lifestyle brand originating from India.

The investment highlights growing investor confidence in the evolving social travel industry, where companies increasingly focus on facilitating real-world human connections rather than simply offering booking platforms. At the same time, rising concerns around loneliness, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z consumers, continue to create new opportunities for startups building community-driven offline experiences.

While much of the technology industry currently prioritises artificial intelligence, WeRoad has positioned itself within the expanding “IRL economy,” a category of startups that monetise in-person interaction instead of digital screen time. Additionally, companies such as Timeleft, 222, and Pie are also exploring similar concepts through social dinners, clubs, local events, and community-focused gatherings.

The founders of WeRoad — Paolo De Nadai, Fabio Bin, and Erika De Santi — created the company after experiencing the growing challenge of finding meaningful travel companions as adults.

“It started from a very personal need. When you finish college and start working, it becomes harder to find people to travel with. Friends were settling down, having kids, moving away, or simply couldn’t align schedules anymore,” De Nadai said. “My cofounder Fabio and I both tried companies offering similar group travel experiences for solo travellers, but while the trips were good, something was missing. The guides were professional local experts, and the groups were mixed in age, and people didn’t really see eye to eye. People were traveling together, but not really connecting.”

In response, the founders redesigned group travel around shared interests, compatible age groups, and stronger social interaction. Consequently, WeRoad primarily targets younger travellers by organising trips around themes such as beach vacations, skiing, adventure travel, and lifestyle-focused experiences.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What if we created trips for Millennials and Gen Z travellers, bringing together people from the same age groups with shared cultural references but completely different backgrounds, and focused on creating real bonds between them?’” De Nadai added.

Before each journey begins, WeRoad adds travellers to WhatsApp groups managed by group leaders so participants can start interacting before departure. Typically, each travel group includes between eight and fifteen people.

“The biggest concern people have is rarely the destination,” De Nadai said, explaining that travellers often worry more about social compatibility within the group. Therefore, WeRoad intentionally designs itineraries around group dynamics and schedules collaborative or adventurous activities early in the trip to encourage interaction and break social barriers.

Most of the company’s itineraries last between 10 and 12 days. However, WeRoad has also introduced shorter weekend travel formats to attract first-time users and younger consumers seeking flexible travel experiences. According to the company, nearly 60% of travellers eventually book another trip through the platform.

Instead of using traditional tour guides, WeRoad appoints “group leaders,” coordinators closer in age to the travellers who act more like companions than instructors. Currently, the company works with more than 4,000 group leaders globally.

“We’re not looking for destination experts but for people with travel experience and strong soft skills. Can they lead a group, handle tension, adapt when plans change, and help strangers connect?” De Nadai said.

Meanwhile, WeRoad has expanded beyond travel services by launching WeMeet in 2025, an app dedicated to local in-person gatherings, including dinners, yoga sessions, hikes, running clubs, after-work social events, and board game nights. The company stated that more than 50,000 people attended WeMeet events across 35 cities last year, while the app achieved over 150,000 downloads.

Furthermore, WeRoad plans to use WeMeet as a central pillar of its U.S. expansion strategy. Instead of immediately expanding nationwide, the company intends to focus on a select group of cities beginning with Austin, where it will recruit group leaders, organise local events, and establish community partnerships before scaling operations further.

“We’ll be launching WeMeet events across multiple U.S. cities throughout 2026, starting with Austin because of its incredible energy and vibrant community scene,” De Nadai said.

Although questions remain around whether companies can build sustainable businesses focused on loneliness and social connection, investors continue to place strong bets on the sector’s long-term potential.

WeRoad reported €130 million in revenue in 2025, marking a 30% year-on-year increase, while the company organised trips for more than 100,000 travellers during the year alone. Since launching in 2017, WeRoad has facilitated travel experiences for more than 300,000 customers across over 1,000 itineraries worldwide.

The latest funding round and U.S. expansion plans position WeRoad among the fastest-growing players in the social travel and community-driven experience economy. As younger consumers increasingly prioritise meaningful human interaction, shared experiences, and community-based travel, companies like WeRoad could reshape the future of global tourism and experiential networking.

This comes after Slice, based in Bengaluru, secured Rs 300 crore in debt funding. The round was led by the Taneja Family Trust, Anju Family Personal Trust, UK2 Family Trust, and MN Family Trust, along with participation from Blume Ventures, 8i Ventures, and others.

Slice provides prepaid accounts, UPI payments, and consumer credit, mainly targeting young users. The company is well-known for offering no-fee credit services and a rewards program. Additionally, Slice has entered the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) market, giving millennials and Gen Z more control over their spending.

In 2021, the company reached unicorn status by raising $220 million in a round led by US investors Tiger Global and Insight Partners. As of March 2023, Tracxn valued Slice at $1.3 billion.

In August, Slice’s merger with North East Small Finance Bank, based in Guwahati, received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had cleared the merger in October 2023. This will allow Slice to deliver tech-driven financial services to North East Small Finance Bank’s customers.

The funding aligns with a growing trend where founders and executives invest in their startups. For example, in August, Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo, invested Rs 830 crore in his company, while Gaurav Kumar, founder and CEO of fintech unicorn Yubi, put Rs 250 crore into Yubi.

In fiscal year 2023, the firm’s operating revenue jumped to Rs 846.7 crore, three times higher than the Rs 283 crore of the previous year. However, its net loss increased by 60% to Rs 405.7 crore from Rs 253.6 crore.

The Bengaluru-based startup, established in 2022, sells its clothing brand through various channels, both online and offline. It had previously received funding from investors like Aum Ventures, 2am VC, and All In Capital, who have also participated in the recent funding round.

“With this new round of capital, we are going to enhance our supply chain and scale-up the manufacturing in the country, go from two to 20 cities in our offline play with 1.5 lakh square feet of space, and build a stronger technology team over the course of the coming 12 months,” founder and CEO Sumit Jasoria said.

Presently, approximately 35% of Newme’s apparel is produced in Mumbai, with the remaining 65% in China. The brand aims to increase local production to 50% in the short term, signaling a commitment to bolster local manufacturing.

Newme, with a focus on catering to Gen Z (individuals born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s), has successfully served over 3.5 lakh customers through its website and stores. Leveraging technology guided by four designers, the brand introduces 500 new designs per week, consistently refreshing its curated collection to meet the dynamic preferences of its target audience.

In July 2023, Newme inaugurated its initial two stores in Bengaluru, located at Forum South Mall and Orion Mall Rajajinagar. Expanding its physical presence, the third store was launched in December 2023 at Infiniti Mall Malad in Mumbai. The brand has ambitious plans to extend its footprint to additional cities, with Chandigarh and Jaipur being part of the upcoming expansion strategy, Jasoria added.

Before joining Newme, Jasoria held various roles, including overseeing the expansion of the e-commerce platform Daraz in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Additionally, he served as the head of Meero, a company specializing in professional fashion photography, artificial intelligence-driven image management, and quality enhancement services in India, among other responsibilities.

“Today, the fast fashion space has become less a fashion game and more a technology game,” he added. Newme currently retails its apparel at an average price point of Rs 900. Its average billing value comes to about Rs 1,500 online and Rs 2,500 offline, Jasoria said.

Newme has primarily expanded its consumer base by targeting students in approximately 300 colleges across 150 cities, employing campus ambassador programs as a key strategy, Jasoria added.

Bloomberg reports that Spotify has started discussing the potential offering to bring full-length music videos to its platform with potential partners.

According to the Bloomberg report, Spotify’s ongoing attempts to make video a significant part of its application align with the prospective addition of full-length music videos to its platform.

Video content has consistently been shown to be more valuable than audio in the era of streaming media. Musicians may already upload brief looping GIFs to Spotify called “canvases,” which are displayed on the screen while music is playing. This year, the platform unveiled “clips,” short videos under 30 seconds, to provide artists a storytelling tool to interact with their fans and talk about their music, much like TikTok.

Before listening to a complete track, users can preview and swipe through highlighted videos on Spotify’s new music home screen, reminiscent of TikTok. Additionally, the company recently disclosed that its platform now supports over 100,000 podcasts with video, highlighting Spotify’s commitment to expanding its video offerings.

Spotify is trying to strengthen its position in response to the growing competition from YouTube and TikTok, particularly in pursuing the Gen Z audience. The platform has widened its reach by incorporating podcasts into YouTube Music, which provides a streaming music service in addition to full-length music videos and shorter Shorts.

ByteDance, on the other hand, is reportedly looking into ways to expand Resso into regions where Spotify is already present. TikTok has developed into a powerful music discovery tool that helps various musical artists.

Spotify has previously developed original series and worked with media giants like Paramount Global and Vice Media to enter the world of video content. Due to this, TV content, such as snippets from the Comedy Central program “Broad City,” was included in the Spotify app. Some of these partnerships, meanwhile, eventually came to an end. Despite this, Spotify is committed to finding innovative ways to reach more people and remain a leader in the fast-changing streaming service industry.