Kheyti, an Indian startup based in Hyderabad, has won a prestigious award and a cash prize of $ 42,000 in Israel for developing an affordable modular greenhouse. The aim of the modular greenhouse is to provide farmers with a steady and dependable income. Kheyti, along with Sukriti which developed a smart toilet cabin employing hygiene maintenance systems to enhance user experience in sanitation, were two of the top ten startup finalists in the MassChallenge Israel contest. The contest saw a participation of over 500 companies from 40 different countries.
The agricultural startup Kheyti, provides technology solutions for small farmers using low cost farming solutions to help the farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. After a rigorous three month process, they shared the honor with an Israeli startup as the “diamond winners” of this year’s contest. Both startups were awarded a cash prize of $ 42,850. Speaking about the startup’s success, the Indian Ambassador to Israel, Pavan Kapoor said he hopes Kheyti’s win will motivate and encourage more Indian startups to innovate and work in the social sector and lead to a further collaboration between India and Israel.
Kheyti was started by Sathya Raghu V. Mokkapati and Kaushik K. The startup has 3 other members with strong entrepreneurial backgrounds who design and implement affordable and end to end farming solutions that help farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. The aim of the startup is to offer farmers a seamless path to increase their income by using innovative technological solutions. The team developed a modular greenhouse called the ‘greenhouse-in-a-box’ with full stack services that uses 90% less water and grows seven times more food while protecting the farmers’ crops from wind, rain, hail, heat and pests.
Since its inception, the startup has also won the People’s Choice Award at the Wharton India Startup Competition 2015 in Mumbai and bagged a prize money of $ 5000. Their greenhouse in a box solution was developed over the past eight months and according to co founder Satya Raghu V. Mokkapati, proof of the concept will be ready by the end of this financial year. The startup also plans to develop a model that suits multiple geographies and protocols to meet the farmer’s needs, over the next 2 to 3 years.
The MassChallenge Israel is a startup friendly accelerator that selects startups from multiple countries and works across a range of industries including future mobility and visual technologies, among others. This week, the company awarded $ 143,000 zero equity cash prizes to four of the highest impact startups from its 2017 cohort. The cash prize winners will have the opportunity to take part in the first MassChallenge Israel US Trek in November, which is a curated business trip to the innovation ecosystems in Boston and New York.
Imarticus Learning, an IPO-bound professional education firm, has acquired Bengaluru-based edtech platform MyCaptain for INR 50 crore in a cash-and-stock deal. This marks Imarticus’s fourth acquisition in four years and is aimed at expanding its presence in non-tech career training, especially across India’s Tier-II and Tier-III cities. MyCaptain, which has over 500,000 learners and a revenue of ₹27 crore for FY25, specializes in creative and entrepreneurial fields, with 60% of its users from smaller cities.
With this acquisition, Imarticus will bring MyCaptain’s employability bootcamps in digital marketing, design, and content to its 20+ classroom centers in 16 cities, blending online and offline learning. MyCaptain will operate as a fully-owned subsidiary, and all 250 of its employees will join Imarticus, expanding the combined workforce to over 850. The move supports Imarticus’s goal to reach five million learners by FY28 and deepen its offerings in non-tech domains.
Former 100X.VC partners Yagnesh Sanghrajka and Shashank Randev have launched a new venture capital firm, 247VC, unveiling a maiden fund with a target corpus of INR 250 crore (about $30 million). The SEBI-registered Category II AIF includes a base of INR 200 crore and a INR 50 crore greenshoe option, and is focused on backing 30 seed-stage startups across India over the next three years.
247VC will target high-potential founders in sectors like deeptech, enterprise tech, consumption, and Industry 5.0, with initial cheque sizes ranging from INR 3 crore to INR 4 crore and follow-on capital for top-performing companies. The fund has attracted prominent early backers, including Sachin Tagra (JSW Ventures), Vivek Mathur (ex-Elevation Capital), and Shailendra Majmundar (Johns Hopkins University).
Sanghrajka and Randev, who together have invested in over 200 startups previously, aim to support ambitious founders building for scale and innovation, especially in emerging and underexplored markets. The launch comes as seed-stage investing gains momentum in India, with average cheque sizes rising despite a cautious funding environment.
AI infrastructure startup Flam has raised $14 million in a Series A round led by RTP Global, with participation from Dovetail and existing investors, bringing its total funding to $22 million. Founded in 2021, Flam enables brands to create and deliver high-fidelity mixed reality (MR) and generative AI experiences without the need for app downloads, allowing consumers to access immersive content via QR codes or links in under 300 milliseconds.
Flam’s platform is already used by over 100 global brands-including Google, Samsung, and Netflix-reaching more than 380 million users. The new funding will accelerate product innovation, expand operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, and launch a full-stack enterprise suite for MR and GenAI-driven marketing. The company currently has over 120 employees and plans to grow to 180 by the end of 2025, aiming to transform every brand touchpoint into an interactive digital experience.