Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (March 6, 2025)

From AI startups securing millions in fresh funding to investors doubling down on enterprise automation, today’s headlines reflect the growing momentum in the AI and SaaS landscape. YourStory brings you key updates, including MaxIQ’s $7.8 million seed round and Beacon.li’s $7 million Series A funding.

Here’s a roundup of the top stories shaping the ecosystem:

Featured stories

[YS Exclusive] SquadStack debuts AI-driven CX platform featuring humanoid AI agent

SquadStack, a SaaS-enabled talent marketplace for sales, has rolled out an AI-driven customer support solution featuring a ‘humanoid AI agent’ to help businesses streamline their support operations.

The newly launched platform aims to improve customer experience by combining intelligence automation with human oversight. It is said to implement up to 80% automation to reduce costs and speed up issue resolution, while retaining human specialists for complex escalations.

The company claims that this approach reduces wait time and unnecessary handovers, and provides a 10x improvement in customer experience. “We believe in a “humans + tech” approach, where humanism is at the core of everything we build.

To achieve this, we constantly run A/B testing with humans, ensuring our AI agents first match human interactions before learning to replicate and scale them,” Apurv Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder, Squadstack tells YourStory. Read more.

Securing the foundation: How plutos ONE facilitates digital payments from behind the scenes

In India’s rapidly evolving digital economy, seamless and secure payment infrastructure is essential. With payment solutions such as UPI, mobile wallets, and digital banking apps becoming mainstream, it has become critical to strengthen the underlying technology given the threat of cyberattacks, network congestion during high-traffic periods, and glitches and outages that may interrupt transactions.

This becomes even more crucial as India’s payments market—estimated at $421.50 billion and expected to reach $960.22 billion by 2030, according to Mordor Intelligence—faces increased regulatory scrutiny. Recently, the Enforcement Directorate initiated an investigation into Paytm for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act violations and rising digital fraud cases flagged by the RBI.

plutos ONE, a fintech startup founded in 2022 by Rajjat Gulati and Rohit Mahajan, helps financial institutions modernise their payment systems, ensuring efficiency, security, and scalability. It is a licensed and empanelled technology service provider for the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) under NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited. Read more.

Latest news

Gyaan AI rebrands as MaxIQ; raises $7.8M in seed funding

AI firm MaxIQ (formerly Gyaan AI) has raised $7.8 million in seed funding led by Dell Technologies Capital, with participation from Intel Capital. It will use the fresh capital to scale operations, fuel product development, and expand its leadership team.

“The complexities of managing modern B2B SaaS sales from product-led growth to complicated enterprise campaigns across each stage of the customer lifecycle has organisations drowning in a sea of fragmented data,” said Chris Hillock, Investor, Dell Technologies Capital, in a statement.

He added, “MaxIQ’s vision for unifying the entire customer journey is bold and creates an opportunity for companies to harness information intelligently to streamline organisational productivity and maximise value capture. We are thrilled to support the team as they drive this much-needed transformation.” Read more

AI startup Beacon.li raises $7M in Series A funding led by Sorin Investments

Beacon.li, an AI-driven product assistant for enterprises, said on Thursday it secured $7 million in a Series A funding round led by Sorin Investments, an early-stage Indian venture capital firm co-founded by former KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar.

The company will use the new capital infusion to expand its AI capabilities, scale its global footprint, and enhance enterprise automation. The round also saw participation from Athera Venture Partners, JAFCO Asia, existing backer Unicorn India Ventures, along angel investors, including Aneesh Reddy (CEO, Capillary Technologies), Kapil Bharti (CTO, Delhi), Aravind Sanka (CEO, Rapido).

“AI agents are redefining the $250 billion global enterprise software market, and Beacon.li has the vision to be at the forefront of this shift. As businesses prioritise automation and AI-driven solutions to improve efficiency and adoption, the need for intelligent enterprise tools is more critical than ever. Beacon.li is not only addressing a fundamental pain point but also setting a new standard for AI-powered assistance,” said Subeer Monga, Partner, Sorin Investments, in a statement. Read more

AgriTech startup MapMyCrop raises $1.8M to scale precision farming

MapMyCrop, an AI-powered satellite imagery platform for agriculture, has raised $1.8 million in a Pre-Series A round led by YourNest Venture Capital, with participation from Eaglewings Ventures and other angel investors.

The funding will help the company scale operations, close pilot orders, and launch AI-driven solutions such as a farm credit score tool and a forest monitoring system. “This investment is a step towards transforming agriculture into a high-precision, data-driven industry,” said Swapnil Jadhav, CEO and Founder of MapMyCrop.

“MapMyCrop’s satellite-based insights optimize yields while addressing food security and climate change,” said Girish Shivani, Executive Director of YourNest. The company is targeting expansion into Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia as the global AgriTech market is projected to hit $45 billion by 2028.

MS Dhoni-backed Garuda Aerospace invests in defence drone startup Zuppa

Drone startup Garuda Aerospace has made a strategic investment in Zuppa, a deep-tech firm specializing in cyber-secure drones and advanced autopilot systems.

“Our investment in Zuppa strengthens our vision of homegrown, secure, and cutting-edge drone solutions,” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace.

Zuppa, one of only seven firms globally with proprietary deep-tech in secure autopilot systems, will leverage the partnership to fast-track the development of next-gen drone solutions.

Garuda Aerospace, backed by cricket legend MS Dhoni, has been aggressively expanding its drone portfolio, recently unveiling eight defence and logistics drones at Aero India 2025.