The Supreme Court of India has granted interim relief to Paytm’s gaming arm, First Games, by staying proceedings on a ₹5,712 crore GST notice issued by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The notice, sent in April 2025, demanded GST for the period January 2018 to March 2023, based on the department’s view that 28% GST should be levied on the total entry amount, rather than the 18% GST currently paid on platform fees.

First Games challenged the notice in the Supreme Court, which on May 23, 2025, ordered a stay on all further proceedings until a final decision is reached. The dispute is part of a broader industry-wide debate over the correct GST treatment for real money gaming platforms, with similar cases pending before the court. Following the stay, Paytm shares rose nearly 2% in early trading, reflecting investor optimism.

The Supreme Court’s order provides temporary relief to First Games and signals ongoing judicial scrutiny of GST demands across India’s online gaming sector.

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.

Chennai-based deep-tech startup Tan90 Thermal Solutions has raised INR 20 crore (about $2.3 million) in Series A funding, led by NABVENTURES, with participation from Blue Ashva Capital, Capital-A, and 3i Partners. The fresh capital will help Tan90 expand its energy-efficient cooling solutions across India and into Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Founded in 2019 by IIT alumni Soumalya Mukherjee, Rajnikant Rai, and Shiv Sharma, Tan90 develops innovative phase change materials (PCMs) that enable precise, sustainable cooling for sectors like food logistics, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Their technology covers temperatures from –50°C to +80°C, offering up to 40% energy savings and a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

Tan90’s Cooling-as-a-Service platform currently operates in eight Indian cities, serving clients like Swiggy Instamart and Kisaan Konnect, with plans to expand further. Recognized by organizations such as the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and UNIDO, Tan90 aims to make scalable, sustainable cooling infrastructure accessible to enterprises worldwide.