• Startup Pulse
    EloElo Group raises $80 million in a Series C round led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, with MIT Investment Co. and existing investors participating. Peppermint Robotics raises ₹100 crore (approximately $10.5 million) in a Pre-Series B round led by pi Ventures and Crane Venture Partners, with Asiana Fund participating. Traversal raises $120 million in a Series B round at a $1 billion valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint and Khosla Ventures, with Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures and Amex Ventures participating. GIVA raises over $100 million in a round led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management. The Croffle Guys raises ₹14 crore in a round led by V3 Ventures, with N.A.N Partners participating. Solgram raises over $1 million in a pre-seed round led by DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital, with Kapil Chopra participating. Sachin Tendulkar makes a strategic investment in Metasports Interactive, the company behind Hitwicket. The amount was not disclosed. Hyeglo Beauty raises ₹7 crore in a round led by Sauce, with Giga Capital, Consumer Collective, Reckitt's Arjun Purkayastha and The Patient Capital participating. Unify Foodworks raises ₹5 crore in seed funding through convertible debentures from Atrium Ventures, SailThru Ventures, Arjun Vaidya and Abhishek Goyal. OBSESS raises approximately ₹3 crore in an angel round from Pushpendra Singh, Amit Goel and Harshit Vij. EloElo Group raises $80 million in a Series C round led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, with MIT Investment Co. and existing investors participating. Peppermint Robotics raises ₹100 crore (approximately $10.5 million) in a Pre-Series B round led by pi Ventures and Crane Venture Partners, with Asiana Fund participating. Traversal raises $120 million in a Series B round at a $1 billion valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint and Khosla Ventures, with Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures and Amex Ventures participating. GIVA raises over $100 million in a round led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management. The Croffle Guys raises ₹14 crore in a round led by V3 Ventures, with N.A.N Partners participating. Solgram raises over $1 million in a pre-seed round led by DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital, with Kapil Chopra participating. Sachin Tendulkar makes a strategic investment in Metasports Interactive, the company behind Hitwicket. The amount was not disclosed. Hyeglo Beauty raises ₹7 crore in a round led by Sauce, with Giga Capital, Consumer Collective, Reckitt's Arjun Purkayastha and The Patient Capital participating. Unify Foodworks raises ₹5 crore in seed funding through convertible debentures from Atrium Ventures, SailThru Ventures, Arjun Vaidya and Abhishek Goyal. OBSESS raises approximately ₹3 crore in an angel round from Pushpendra Singh, Amit Goel and Harshit Vij.
  • The Luma Dream Brief: Luma AI Offers USD 1 Million for Cannes Lions Gold-Winning Creative

    The Luma Dream Brief

    Luma AI has announced The Luma Dream Brief, a global creative competition that invites advertising creatives to turn their best unmade ideas into fully realized commercials, with a grand prize of $1 million for work created using Luma AI that wins a 2026 Cannes Lions Gold Lion.

    Developed in collaboration with experiential and creative agency DE-YAN, The Luma Dream Brief challenges creatives worldwide to use Luma AI’s platform to create award-ready commercials for Luma itself.

    The initiative is rooted in a familiar advertising industry reality – many ambitious ideas never reach execution, not due to a lack of originality, but because they are often viewed as too risky, too expensive, or too difficult to visualize.

    Also Read: Luma AI Ray3.14 to Eliminate Quality-Speed-Cost Trade-Off in AI Video

    By combining creative ambition with Luma AI’s advanced generative tools, The Luma Dream Brief enables creatives to gain greater control, predictability, and craft in producing AI-generated commercials, advertisements, and content.

    “A lot of great advertising never gets made,” said Caroline Ingeborn, COO of Luma AI. “The Dream Brief is about removing those constraints and letting creatives prove what’s possible when ideas set the ceiling.”

    “Almost everyone in advertising has an idea they loved that never saw the light of day,” said Jason Kreher, Chief Creative Officer at DE-YAN and former creative leader at Wieden+Kennedy, Maximum Effort, and Accenture Song.

    “That shared frustration became the insight behind this project. Rather than fearing how generative AI might change our industry, this is a chance to understand it, by using it to make something that previously had no path to being real.”

    The Luma Dream Brief: Global Rollout, Cannes Eligibility, and Jury Review

    The Luma Dream Brief will roll out in multiple phases, starting with a launch week featuring original films created using Luma AI.

    Following this, creatives will be invited to submit their own commercials through The Luma Dream Brief website by March 22.

    In line with Cannes Lions rules, Luma AI will issue a formal brief to ensure all submissions are legitimate and created for a real client.

    Also Read: Luma AI Raises USD 900 Million Series C, Partners with HUMAIN on 2GW AI Supercluster

    Addressing one of the most common barriers to awards consideration, selected finalists will receive paid media support to ensure their work launches publicly and runs within the required Cannes Lions eligibility period.

    All submissions will be reviewed by a jury comprising leading voices from advertising and culture. The Luma Dream Brief is open to creatives globally, with all entries required to be created using Luma AI.

    Full rules, eligibility criteria, and submission details are available at www.LumaDreamBrief.com.

    Author

    • Salil Urunkar

      Salil Urunkar is a senior journalist and the editorial mind behind Sahyadri Startups. With years of experience covering Pune’s entrepreneurial rise, he’s passionate about telling the real stories of founders, disruptors, and game-changers.

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