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.
Flick TV, India’s first mobile-focused OTT platform dedicated to micro-dramas, has secured $2.3 million in seed funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners, with participation from Gemba Capital and Titan Capital. Founded in early 2025 by Kushal Singhal, Pratik Anand, and Sanidhya Mittal, the platform aims to address the growing demand for high-quality, short-form storytelling tailored for mobile consumption. Unlike traditional user-generated short video platforms, Flick TV produces professionally shot, under-five-minute dramas across genres such as romance, thrillers, and slice-of-life—each crafted for vertical viewing to suit India’s rapidly expanding mobile internet audience.
The newly raised capital will be used to scale up content production, with plans to launch over 100 original titles, enhance the platform’s streaming technology, and expand offerings into four regional languages. Flick TV is also investing in generative AI and advanced workflows to streamline scripting and production, aiming to combine creative excellence with operational efficiency. The founders bring deep expertise from previous roles at ShareChat, EloElo, Meesho, and Pocket FM, positioning the company to bridge the gap between creator agility and cinematic storytelling in India’s nascent micro-drama ecosystem.
Industry observers see Flick TV as a frontrunner in India’s next entertainment wave, which is expected to be mobile-native, emotionally engaging, and built for short attention spans. With the micro-drama market projected to reach $5 billion in India over the next five years—mirroring the $7 billion success in China—Flick TV is poised to set new standards for premium, binge-worthy short-form content and redefine streaming for the modern Indian viewer.
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.