• 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.
  • Biotech Startup Loopworm Secures USD 3.25M in Pre-Series A Round Led by WaterBridge Ventures

    Loopworm

    Bengaluru-based biotechnology startup Loopworm has raised $3.25 million in a Pre-Series A funding round to scale up its breakthrough recombinant protein production platform.

    The round was led by WaterBridge Ventures, with participation from ENRISSION INDIA CAPITAL, a Japanese venture capital firm focused on sustainability and industrial biotech.

    Loopworm is revolutionizing the biotech industry by replacing traditional bioreactors with a silkworm-based system to produce complex recombinant proteins used in diagnostics, animal vaccines, and industrial applications.

    Also Read: LogicFlo AI Secures USD 2.7 Million Seed Funding from Lightspeed

    The company’s proprietary process transforms silkworms into cost-effective, scalable bio-factories, addressing the limitations of conventional protein manufacturing which typically demands high capital, energy, and time investments.

    Loopworm: A New Paradigm in Biomanufacturing

    “Recombinant protein manufacturing has traditionally required expensive infrastructure and posed scalability challenges,” said Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-founder and CEO of Loopworm. “Our silkworm-based platform eliminates the need for bioreactors, making protein production faster, more affordable, and sustainable.”

    Abhi Gawri, Co-founder, added, “We’re building a flexible and production-ready platform that aligns with India’s national bioeconomy vision. With this funding, we will fast-track commercialization for applications with lower regulatory barriers, including diagnostics and veterinary medicine.”

    Global-Ready Infrastructure

    Loopworm currently operates a 6,000-tonne-per-year insect processing facility in Bengaluru, from which it exports silkworm-derived protein and oil to Europe, ASEAN, and South America for aquaculture and pet food markets.

    Also Read: DeHaat Only Indian AgriTech Startup Featured in 2025 THRIVE Top 50 AgTech Report by SVG Ventures

    The company has successfully expressed complex proteins such as antigens and growth factors in silkworm pupae and is filing multiple patents for its platform.

    Backing from Global Investors

    “Loopworm represents the future of Indian biotech,” said Ashish Jain, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures. “Their silkworm recombinant platform is not only novel but potentially transformative for global life sciences.”

    Harsh Deodhar, Principal at ENRISSION INDIA CAPITAL, emphasized, “This partnership reflects our belief in Loopworm’s vision and its alignment with Japan’s biotech and sustainability goals.”

    Mark Kahn, Managing Partner at Omnivore, an early backer of Loopworm, said, “India is poised to lead the next wave of industrial biotech, and Loopworm is creating a platform that makes that future real.”

    The company’s facility is ISO 22000, GMP+, HACCP, and EU Traces certified, and it has already received regulatory approval for R&D-scale recombinant protein production.

    With global demand for bio-manufacturing solutions on the rise, Loopworm’s disruptive approach could pave the way for a new era of decentralized, nature-powered biotech manufacturing.

    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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