The global search and tech giant Google has selected 11 startups for their Google Developers’ Launchpad Build mentorship program. These women led startups will be trained under their Launchpad Accelerator Program to achieve rapid progress in a short time. The Developers Launchpad Build event was hosted in Bengaluru and explored the challenges of being a startup leader.
The digital world today is seeing a lot of women stepping out to pursue their dreams and ambitions. This program gives the selected women entrepreneurs a chance to build successful startups through focused, one on one mentorship from Google and other industry experts.
According to the Google Launchpad website, this edition plans to support women entrepreneurs from startups across various stages. Different expert areas including Product Strategy, UX/UI, Marketing with a special focus in Technology covering Android/Firebase, Web and Cloud were taken into consideration for this program.
This program will include leadership workshops driven by Google and was organized in collaboration with Google’s Women Techmakers Initiative and Google’s Women@program.
Here are the 11 entrepreneurs that will receive training from Google and industry experts.
1. Mishipay: A new retail payments startup founded in 2015, Mishipay uses new technology that eliminates queuing from the point of sale. Their technology allows shoppers to pick up a product they wish to buy, scan the bar code with their phone, pay through their phone and simply walk out. The goal of this startup, cofounded by Mustafa Khanwala and Tanvi Bhardwaj is to reduce queue times and facilitate faster checkouts.
2. Guvi Geek Network: Guvi Geek Network was initially started as a YouTube Channel with more than 400 technical videos in vernacular languages. It was incorporated as a startup in 2014, as an online tech skill accelerator in vernacular languages. This startup, incubated in Madras, seeks to help users acquire new skills in vernacular languages, sticking to their motto ‘Learn in your native language.’
3. Evibe Technologies Evibe is an online platform for hassle free party planning service. They offer services ranging from private farm birthdays to themed wedding cakes and even offer drone proposals and chauffeured Audis. This Bengaluru based startup was founded in 2014 by B. Anjaneyulu Reddy and Swathi Bavanaka who aspire to touch millions of lives with their skill and expertise.
4. LetsEndorse This Bengaluru based startup builds holistic ecosystems and acts as a digital market network dedicated to social development. Cofounded by Monika Shukla and Varun Kashyap, this venture enables intelligent knowledge harnessing of practicable social models and builds collaborations for co-creating and scaling up of solutions. The startup, backed by Social Alpha and incubated as part of NASSCOM 10 k Startups, brings together social change makers and mobilizes funds and resources through a mix of crowd funding.
5. Fundamentor Fundamentor is a Bengaluru based edutech startup that uses methods which children enjoy to ensure effective cognitive aptitude development. Founded in 2014 by Bhargavi A.R., it is an innovative product that improves logical reasoning, Maths, English and creative thinking aptitude in children aged 8 to 15. The platform helps develop life skills to bridge the gap between academics and professional success. They claim to have more than 5000 subscribers and 16,000 parents and user community.
6. Talking Street This startup, founded by Maheima Kapur is a ‘local foodie helpline’ which helps travelers and foodies experience and discover the most popular eateries that are frequented by the locals. Their content is created with the help of foodies in the city and so far have a presence in 24 cities.
7. Clinikk Healthcare Founded by Bahvjot Kaur, Clinikk is a personalized health concierge for blue collar workers and their families. The startup provides a centralized, convenient, trustworthy and top notch quality healthcare experience ensured by an internal medical monitoring platform. This health assistant is the single point of contact for an entire subscribed family for any medical need.
8. CampusTime: CampusTime helps universities and colleges set up private social networks that enable students to connect with everyone on the campus. This Bengaluru based startup founded by Amrutha Desai, helps students connect and get access to part time jobs and internships.
9. Omnify: A new age scheduling and ecommerce platform for small businesses, Omnify was founded by Kabandi Saikia and Manik Mehta in 2016. It is a global Saas platform centered around helping businesses manage their schedules, sell omnichannel and improve engagement with their customers.
10. PlexusMD: Online professional network exclusively for medical professionals and healthcare organizations, PlexusMD was founded by IIM alumni Rohan Desai and Binal Doshi along with Kinnar Shah. The startup helps doctors create their professional identity in the web, stay updated on the latest news and developments in their specialty, find and connect with other medical professionals. They claim to be India’s fastest growing online community of healthcare professionals with 75,000 doctors across 25 states and over 300 hospitals across 120 cities.
11. PregBuddy: Week by week pregnancy tracker, PregBuddy is a comprehensive health monitoring and concierge platform for women around the world. Founded by Subhadeep Modal and Sivareena Sarika in 2016, it provides personalized care via health experts and doctors during the years of pre-conceiving to early years of motherhood.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is not just a cricket tournament—it’s a cultural phenomenon that captures the imagination of millions. The 2025 season was especially significant as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ended their 18-year wait for an IPL trophy, sparking nationwide celebrations and a flurry of creative marketing from brands eager to ride the wave of emotion.
Seizing the Moment with Creative Campaigns
Brands across sectors quickly recognized the marketing goldmine that was RCB’s historic victory. Social media platforms became the battleground for witty, nostalgic, and heartfelt content. Voltas Beko, for example, cleverly played on the long wait with a pun: “This moment’s been cooking for 18 years,” featuring a microwave set to 18:00
. Fevicol used humor, captioning a visual of the trophy snuggled in bed with the iconic fan chant: “Ee sala cup chipak gaya ;)”. MG Motor referenced Bangalore’s infamous traffic, declaring, “The only time Bangalore enjoys slow traffic,” as a car displayed “Trophy On Board”.
From Jerseys to Delivery Trucks
Official kit partner Puma India launched a special jersey commemorating the win, emblazoned with RCB’s tagline, “Played Bold”. Quick commerce brands like BlinkIt and Swiggy joined in, with BlinkIt showing the cup being delivered to Bengaluru via a delivery partner and Swiggy featuring a GPS tracker with a delivery executive en route to deliver the trophy. Zomato kept it simple yet impactful with a post reading “EE Sala Cup Namdu,” echoing the fans’ rallying cry.
Emotional Storytelling and Viral Reach
Brands leveraged the emotional high of RCB’s win to connect with audiences. Lego India posted an animated Virat Kohli with the cup, highlighting loyalty and perseverance: “Some waited for years, some questioned loyalty, but greatness? That’s built brick by brick. Champions at last!” Google India, Coca Cola, boAt, and others added to the chorus, each with their own creative spin.
Conclusion
RCB’s IPL 2025 win became more than a sports story—it was a moment of national pride and a catalyst for innovative, real-time marketing. Brands that adapted quickly, using humor, nostalgia, and emotional storytelling, not only amplified their reach but also deepened their connection with fans across India. This approach highlights the power of tapping into trending moments to create memorable, shareable content.
Google’s Gemini 2.5 marks a significant leap forward in artificial intelligence, introducing groundbreaking capabilities in dialogue and audio generation. Designed from the ground up as a multimodal model, Gemini 2.5 can natively understand and generate content across text, images, audio, video, and code, making it a versatile tool for developers, content creators, and businesses alike.
Advanced Dialogue: Real-Time, Natural, and Context-Aware
Gemini 2.5 excels in real-time audio dialogue, offering users remarkably fluid and expressive conversations. The AI’s ability to interpret tone, accent, and even non-speech vocalizations like laughter enables interactions that feel genuinely human. Users can customize speech delivery using natural language prompts, adjusting accents, tone, or even requesting whispered responses. This level of control is invaluable for applications ranging from virtual assistants to customer service bots.
The model is also context-aware, distinguishing between relevant speech and background noise, ensuring it responds only when appropriate. Integration with external tools, such as Google Search, allows Gemini 2.5 to incorporate real-time information seamlessly into conversations. Moreover, its multilingual capabilities support over 24 languages, enabling users to mix languages within a single phrase—ideal for global audiences.
Cutting-Edge Audio Generation: Flexible and Engaging
Beyond dialogue, Gemini 2.5 offers advanced text-to-speech (TTS) features. Users can generate everything from short snippets to long-form narratives, with precise control over style, tone, and emotional expression. The TTS engine supports multi-speaker dialogue, making it perfect for creating engaging summaries, podcasts, and audiobooks. Enhanced pace and pronunciation controls ensure audio clarity and naturalness, while multilingual output makes content accessible worldwide.
Developers can access these features through Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, with options for both high-fidelity (Gemini 2.5 Pro) and cost-effective (Gemini 2.5 Flash) audio generation. All generated audio includes SynthID watermarking for transparency and safety.
Conclusion
Gemini 2.5 is redefining the boundaries of AI-driven dialogue and audio generation. Its natural, expressive, and customizable voice capabilities, combined with robust reasoning and multilingual support, make it a powerful tool for the next generation of digital experiences.
Whether for interactive applications, content creation, or global communication, Gemini 2.5 sets a new standard for intelligent, multimodal AI.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Bengaluru bench has dismissed an insolvency plea filed against quick commerce startup Dunzo by its invoice discounters, declaring the petition “not maintainable” after several postponements. This decision offers temporary relief to Dunzo, which has been facing multiple insolvency petitions from various creditors, including Velvin Packaging Solutions and Betterplace Safety Solutions, over unpaid dues.
The invoice discounters alleged that Dunzo had paid only 50% of the required amounts, though the exact sum was not disclosed. Despite ongoing settlement talks, no resolution was reached, and the tribunal noted Dunzo’s delays in responding to creditor petitions. Dunzo continues to grapple with severe liquidity issues, delayed payments, and significant losses—reporting a ₹1,801.8 crore loss in FY23 and owing approximately ₹11.4 crore to major vendors like Google India and Facebook India.
While this NCLT ruling provides Dunzo some breathing room, the company still faces ongoing financial and operational challenges as it works to resolve its outstanding liabilities.