Startup news & updates: Daily roundup (January 10, 2025)

From Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside highlighting the significance of India's engineering and software talent to Zepto Cafe achieving 50,000 daily orders within a week, YourStory brings today’s headlines that highlight significant developments across industries.

Featured news:

‘India is super important for us’: Freshworks CEO on harnessing engineering talent

Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside believes leveraging India's vast engineering and software talent remains crucial for the software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider to innovate and expand globally.

“A vast majority of our team is in India. We have over 3,800 employees here spread across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. We built virtually all of our products—almost all of our code—here in India. That’s very unique,” Woodside says in an exclusive interaction with YourStory. 

Freshworks' strategy of basing the bulk of its engineering and product work out of India allows the firm to benefit from the nation’s deep energy for software development. This, according to Woodside, gives the Nasdaq-listed company an edge over most international companies that only have a portion of their product development in India.

Mudrex reports 200% growth in user base in 2024

Indian crypto investment platform Mudrex on Friday said it saw a 200% rise in its user base in 2024 as the company doubled down on building customer relationships and focusing on educating its users.

“A lot of these (education, partnerships) initiatives finally started to bear fruit over the last year. We put in a lot of effort in helping people understand what crypto is, demystifying crypto, giving them a sense of how they can participate in investing in crypto without risking a lot and figuring out what's the right balance between risk and reward so that they can invest with confidence and invest with the right outcomes in mind, “ said Edul Patel, Co-founder and CEO at Mudrex in an interview with YourStory. “That, I think, was a journey that we spent time on over the last year and I think that  has helped us to our milestones today.”

Mudrex has also clocked in a 20X surge in monthly trading volume, touching $200 million. This refers to the total value of all trades executed on the platform. The company aims to onboard 10 million users by the end of 2025 by entering new markets and catering to a wider range of audience.

Latest News:

Quick food delivery app Bistro won't use Zomato restaurant data: Blinkit CEO

Bistro by Blinkit, Zomato's play in the quick food delivery space, will not use restaurant data from Zomato's food delivery and dining-out operations.

"This is going to be a significant additional cost to us, but ethics and sticking to our word mean more than anything else to us at Zomato and we are not going to give it up to save some marketing cost," noted Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Blinkit, in a post on X.

Bistro's standalone app is built by a separate team rather than being operated under Blinkit's parent Zomato. Zomato will not even market Bistro, clarified Dhindsa in a post.

Zepto Café hits 50,000 daily orders within four weeks of app launch: CEO Aadit Palicha

Quick commerce major Zepto’s 10-minute food delivery service, Zepto Café, has surpassed 50,000 daily orders just four weeks after the launch of its dedicated app, according to CEO Aadit Palicha. “In December, I posted that we launched a new app for Zepto Café (food delivered in 10 minutes), which was doing 30K orders/day. Just 4 weeks later, we have crossed 50K orders/day - that's 60% month-on-month growth 🤯,” Palicha wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Zepto Café, originally part of Zepto’s quick commerce app, was recently launched as a standalone app to capitalise on the growing demand for 10-minute food delivery. The move came amid growing competition from players like Swiggy, Zomato, magicpin, Ola Dash, BigBasket, and the new entrant, Swish.

Funding news:

Agentic AI startup Quash raises pre-seed funding from Arali Ventures

Quash, a Bengaluru-based AI startup, has raised $635,000 in pre-seed funding, led by Arali Ventures, with participation from Java Capital, PeerCheque, Matrix Partners, and Tracxn co-founder Abhishek Goyal.

It plans to use the capital to expedite the development and deployment of its AI agents, enhancing its AI QA platform and expanding its developer-first community initiatives for speedy and accurate software releases.

Quash, an AI-driven startup based, aims to revolutionise the software testing landscape by offering two core offerings: Quash Report, an open-source bug reporting tool, and Quash Automate, an AI-driven QA agent that automates end-to-end testing, enabling development teams to achieve faster software delivery cycles and higher-quality products.

Other news:

Cornitos appoints Kumar Vishal as National Sales Manager to drive transformative growth

Greendot Health Foods Pvt. Ltd., the maker of Indian snack brand Cornitos, has appointed Kumar Vishal as its National Sales Manager. With 16 years of experience in the Food and FMCG sectors, including leadership roles at Adani Wilmar Limited, Vishal will drive the brand's sales and distribution growth.

His leadership is expected to play a key role in Cornitos' expansion and market dominance, and the company is confident in his ability to lead the brand to greater success in the competitive snacking market.

Cornitos offers a range of products including Nacho Crisps, Taco Shells, Chunky Salsa Dips, Cheese dips, Roasted Premium Nuts, Cashews, Peanuts Almonds, Roasted Salted Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower seeds, Coated Green Peas, and Pickles - Jalapeno Peppers & Gherkins.

With a wide distribution network across India, Cornitos products are exported globally to the USA, Australia, China, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Hong Kong, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and South East Asia.

TechXpedite accelerator by Games24x7 welcomes 17 startups, Including Delhi’s Rising Innovators

Games24x7 has announced the cohort for its TechXpedite accelerator program, featuring 17 promising startups from across India, including two from Delhi.

Launched in October 2024, TechXpedite aims to foster entrepreneurship and technological innovation with support from state government stakeholders such as DPIIT and the governments of Karnataka, Telangana, and Maharashtra.

The program received over 330 applications across gaming, AI, and impact-driven inclusive technology, selecting 17 startups for an intensive growth-focused initiative.

Notable participants include LiaPlus AI and Gabify from the Inclusive Technology and AI categories, alongside others like Arficus, Cairovision, Chittoo.com, Noha.ai, Spoda, Zeuron.ai, Choira, Mple.ai, Qlan, Skitii, Glovatrix, BeAble Health, HomeGround, Tuttifrutti Interactive, and VocBot.ai.

The selected startups in TechXpedite will engage in a structured mentorship program, interacting with industry leaders, venture capitalists, and domain experts to address challenges and enhance their products and solutions.

Offering a comprehensive support ecosystem with masterclasses, networking opportunities, expert guidance, and credits worth over $500,000 from over 30 tech partners, TechXpedite aims to empower startups to scale, innovate, and drive impactful solutions, strengthening India’s startup ecosystem.

Supercoder expands hiring portfolio to include product owners and designers

Supercoder, a South Korean remote hiring platform, has expanded its portfolio to include Product Owners and Designers, aiming to meet the evolving demands of a dynamic market.

The platform, which connects top-tier software developers with global employers, is part of K-Startup Centre (KSC) - India 2024, an accelerator program run by The Circle: Founder Club.

The expansion reflects Supercoder's mission to provide end-to-end solutions for global organizations, driving innovation and aligning product strategy with market demands. By bridging talent gaps across disciplines, Supercoder empowers businesses to accelerate growth and deliver exceptional user experiences.

Supercoder connects the top 5% of global developers through a rigorous vetting process, including interviews, coding tests, and technical interviews. Out of 110,000 applicants from over 15 countries, over 5,000 have passed. It offer development process and project management consulting to help domestic companies collaborate with overseas developers.

Agritech startup Wavar announces strategic partnership with Krushi Sarthi

Wavar, a agritech company, has partnered with Krushi Sarthi to accelerate the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices across key farming regions, advancing its mission of "Har Gaon IPM."

This collaboration combines Wavar’s advanced IPM technologies with Krushi Sarthi’s grassroots farmer connections to reduce chemical dependency, enhance crop health, and improve profitability.

Krushi Sarthi will implement Wavar’s solutions through field training and knowledge-sharing, empowering farmers while promoting long-term sustainability, crop resilience, and economic growth.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)