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Former Flipkart executive’s startup FirstClub raises $8 Mn in seed round

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
Former Flipkart executive’s startup FirstClub raises $8 Mn in seed round
Medial

FirstClub, the latest venture of former Flipkart executive Ayyappan R, has raised $8 million in its seed round from Accel and RTP Global. The proceeds will be used to set up a few dark stores in Bengaluru and then later plans to expand with experience centers. It will also build its technology infrastructure, refine an omnichannel retail strategy, add talent for critical functions, and expand the platform’s product offerings. FirstClub is an omnichannel retailer that looks to offer high-quality products in fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, bakery, nutrition supplements, and health and fitness. The platform is expected to go live by the middle of the calendar year 2025. The startup is set to compete with services like Swiggy's Handpicked as well as offline retailers such as FoodHall and Nature’s Basket.

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Dodo Payments raises $1.1 Mn in pre-seed round

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
Dodo Payments raises $1.1 Mn in pre-seed round
Medial

Dodo Payments raises $1.1 Mn in pre-seed round Fintech startup Dodo Payments has raised $1.1 million in its pre-seed round led by Antler, 9Unicorns, and Venture Catalysts. Nitin Gupta (Uni Cards and PayU), Maninder Gulati (former Oyo CSO/Lightspeed), Raymond Russell (former Chief of Staff at Boom Supersonic), Preethi Kasireddy (former Partner, a16z), and Nishant Verman (former Flipkart CorpDev head) have also participated. The proceeds will be used for several strategic initiatives, including enhancing the technological infrastructure by introducing modules for subscriptions, billing, fraud detection, and risk management. Additionally, Dodo Payments plans to establish local payment rails in over 30 countries, focusing on regions such as the European Union, United Kingdom, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Brazil, and Australia. Founded in 2023 by Rishabh Goel and Ayush Agarwal, Dodo Payments simplifies complexities, enabling merchants to easily accept payments from over 150 countries with success rates exceeding 90%. The platform supports over 25 local payment methods, including Apple Pay, Klarna, Affirm, Cash App, UPI, and all major card networks, and is available in 14 languages, covering 86% of the global population. In its initial phase, Dodo Payments claims to have onboarded over 1,000 merchants across 30 countries and aims to expand this to more than 10,000 merchants globally by the end of the year.

Kluisz.ai raises $9.6 Mn in seed round led by RTP Global

EntrackrEntrackr · 16d ago
Kluisz.ai raises $9.6 Mn in seed round led by RTP Global
Medial

Kluisz.ai raises $9.6 Mn in seed round led by RTP Global Enterprise AI infra startup Kluisz.ai has raised $9.6 million in a seed round led by RTP Global, making it one of the largest seed fundraises for an AI-focused deeptech company out of India in 2025 so far. The round also saw participation from Unicorn India Ventures, Blume Founders Fund, Climber Capital, and several strategic angels, including Oyo’s Ritesh Agarwal, Innov8’s Ritesh Malik, Aditya Virwani of Embassy Group, and others. Founded earlier this year by former Oyo COO and CPO Abhinav Sinha, ex-McKinsey partner Vamshidhar Reddy, and former Jio cloud executive Abhijeet Singh, Kluisz.ai is building a developer-first AI-native private cloud platform for enterprise use cases. The product aims to orchestrate AI workloads across hybrid, on-premise, edge, and sovereign cloud environments, with embedded security, observability, and automation. Kluisz.ai allows developers to define performance, compliance, or cost objectives while the platform auto-manages deployment and execution across infrastructure stacks. According to the company, the fresh proceeds will be used to scale the core engineering team in Bengaluru, accelerate product development, and onboard early design partners. The startup is initially targeting sectors like BFSI, manufacturing, and regulated industries with edge-heavy infrastructure. For RTP Global, this marks a deeper bet on AI infra emerging out of India. “Kluisz.ai is taking on a highly complex, globally relevant problem with a team that has done this at scale before,” said Madhur Makkar, Partner at RTP Global. The startup currently employs under 20 people and plans to expand rapidly over the next 12–18 months.

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