• 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.
  • How Quanten Media Is Using Data to Transform the USD 150B Global Entertainment Industry

    Quanten Media

    Chennai/Singapore: An Indian-origin startup is redefining global entertainment by introducing a data-driven solution to predict audience engagement before release. Quanten Media, founded by serial entrepreneur Vijay Anand, has launched a biometric-based quantitative pre-release audience testing platform designed to help studios understand real-time viewer responses.

    The Singapore-based company, already working with an Oscar-winning distributor as a paying client, has successfully tested over 40 films and is scaling its operations globally.

    Anand, who earlier played a pivotal role as the Head of Incubation at IIT Madras and helped build unicorn Uniphore, brings extensive experience in data-driven transformation across industries.

    Also Read: Screen Awards 2025 Goes Digital-First with YouTube Partnership

    Quanten Media: Applying the “Moneyball” Approach to Movies

    The entertainment industry spends nearly $150 billion annually on films and TV shows, yet 93% of productions fail commercially. Vijay Anand drew parallels between Hollywood and professional sports, where data analytics revolutionized decision-making. “The entertainment industry was ripe for the same data-driven transformation that revolutionized sports through Moneyball,” Anand stated.

    Traditional audience testing has relied on surveys and focus groups, which often fail to capture genuine reactions. In contrast, Quanten Media uses biometric signals such as eye-tracking, heart rate variability, and micro-expressions to deliver second-by-second engagement analytics.

    Hollywood Validation for Quanten Media

    The startup gained industry validation when an Oscar-winning distributor adopted its platform. A video featuring this collaboration amassed over 450,000 views on YouTube and 38 million views on TikTok. The film tested through Quanten Media’s system later achieved a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, reinforcing the platform’s accuracy in predicting audience sentiment.

    Also Read: Former Google Leader Alap Ghosh to Oversee Media-Tech Integration at Assembly India

    “Validation from Oscar-winning distributors shows that our technology resonates with the industry’s most sophisticated players,” Anand noted. “They are paying for actionable insights that influence real distribution decisions.”

    Quanten Media’s Technology Advantage

    The platform leverages machine learning algorithms to transform raw biometric signals into a proprietary 23-parameter engagement model. It directly maps audience data to scripts, scenes, and narrative beats, helping creators identify pacing issues, emotional peaks, and drop-off points with unmatched precision.

    Interactive dashboards provide creative teams with detailed insights, enabling data-driven decisions before significant marketing or distribution investments are made.

    Indian Innovation on the Global Entertainment Stage

    Quanten Media’s rise highlights a growing trend of Indian entrepreneurs shaping category-defining companies on a global scale. The startup is actively expanding its reach to key content markets, including India, Korea, and the UK.

    “Two unstoppable arcs will define the decade ahead,” Anand explained. “AI will embed into workflows, freeing up millions of human work hours, and people will seek richer entertainment experiences with their time. Quanten Media is positioned at the intersection of these trends.”

    With a growing client pipeline of more than five major studios, the company is now in early-stage discussions with investors to raise seed funding as it moves to become the analytics backbone of the entertainment industry’s digital transformation.

    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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