India’s semiconductor dreams power up; Powering agriculture with modern tools

A modern-day Nosteradamus?

A London-based startup called Mantic, which claims to have developed tech that can forecast world events, has reportedly come out of stealth, raising $4 million in its pre-seed funding.

“Our system thinks like a human forecaster, but with digital speed and scale. This means it shines in data-poor or fast-moving domains like geopolitics and business,” the company says in a LinkedIn post.

Toby Shevlane and Ben Day, the brains behind the startup, have previously worked at Google DeepMind.

What does the future hold for India’s startup ecosystem? More public outings!

Capital markets regulator SEBI has cleared the initial public offering plans of 13 companies, including consumer electronics maker and boAt parent  Imagine Marketing, home services provider Urban Company, and renewable power producer Juniper Green Energy. 

Meanwhile, the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla could not have predicted that the emergence of AI would help it hit a jackpot. Back in the 1990s, the island landed the unique address “.ai”. With the boom in AI, companies and individuals are paying the British Overseas Territory to register new websites with the .ai domain, BBC reported.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• India’s semiconductor dreams power up
• Powering agriculture with modern tools
• Indigenous XR hardware FTW!

Here’s your trivia for today: Which type of legal defence is derived from the Latin word meaning “elsewhere”?

Interview

India’s semiconductor dreams power up

India’s ambitious push into semiconductor manufacturing is gaining tangible momentum. 

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), says India Semiconductor Mission has moved decisively from policy blueprint to manufacturing reality, with CG Power’s pilot plant recently inaugurated in Sanand, Gujarat, and Micron Technology’s large-scale facility nearing completion.

Ecosystem building:

• India has focused on mature semiconductor technology to power automobiles, home appliances, and consumer electronics. “For a country just beginning in this area, it is better to go with well-established technology and succeed than to take a risky bet on very advanced nodes,” Krishnan explains.
• India’s model borrows from Taiwan’s successful Hsinchu Science Park. The government is fostering similar clusters in Gujarat while leveraging existing design talent concentrated in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Noida.
• The state has contracted 38,000 graphics processing units worth of compute capacity, nearly quadrupling original targets, while supporting development of domestic AI models, including Sarvam, Gyani, GAN, and Socket. A national data platform now hosts over 1,000 datasets for researchers and entrepreneurs.

Funding Alert

Startup: CityMall

Amount: $47M

Round: Series D

Startup: Offgrid Energy Labs

Amount: $15M

Round: Series A

Startup: Tuco Kids

Amount: $4M

Round: Series A

SMB

Powering agriculture with modern tools

KisanKraft began its journey from a small garage in Bengaluru as an exclusive importer and distributor of farming tools from renowned American and Japanese brands such as Ardisam and Tanaka.  

“We saw a massive gap in accessibility—most small farmers simply couldn’t afford mechanisation. That’s where KisanKraft came in,” Agrawal, Founder and MD of KisanKraft, tells SMBStory.

Rural innovation:

• Among its most significant breakthroughs is the development of rice varieties that grow without standing water, cutting down on water use, reducing chemical inputs, and curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
• The company set up advanced R&D facilities featuring molecular labs, seed labs, and tissue culture units that meet international standards.
• KisanKraft operates through a vast network of 5,000 dealers, covering nearly every district in India—over 750 in total. This presence ensures easy access to products and after-sales support for millions of farmers.

Startup

Indigenous XR hardware FTW!

Extended Reality (XR) is expanding beyond gaming and entertainment.

Founded in 2017, Pune-based QWR is a deeptech startup building XR hardware. It designs and manufactures advanced head-worn computing devices, including Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, and AI-powered smart glasses. The startup’s focus is on enterprise applications, particularly in education, healthcare, defence, and skill training.

News & updates

• Cyberattack: Jaguar Land Rover says a cyberattack has “severely disrupted” vehicle production as well as its retail operation. The firm, owned by Tata Motors, says it took immediate action to minimise the impact of the hack and is working quickly to restart operations.
• Amazon: Groups backing millions of small Indian retailers have urged the government to shun Amazon’s request to ease strict foreign investment rules for exports, a letter shows, as opposition to a contentious policy change grows.
• Gold rush: The price of gold has hit a record high as demand for the precious metal remains strong amid global economic uncertainty. The spot gold price hit $3,508.50 per ounce early on Tuesday, continuing its upward trend, which has seen it rise by nearly a third this year.

Which type of legal defence is derived from the Latin word meaning “elsewhere”?

Answer: Alibi

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