Top Startup News Today: A Day of Funding, Consumer Shifts & Sectoral Disruptions | 9th December

India’s startup ecosystem continues to pulse with energy, reinvention and unexpected momentum. What looks like an ordinary weekday on the surface is, in reality, a microcosm of how rapidly the country’s innovation landscape is evolving.

Consumer behaviour is shifting faster than brands can adapt, categories are being built from scratch, modern enterprise stacks are being rebuilt, and new-age businesses across food, fintech, healthcare, D2C and crypto are quietly shaping the next decade of Indian commerce.

Here’s a deep, narrative-led look into the developments driving India’s entrepreneurial engine.

Top Startup News Today

The Great Indian Consumer Reset: Protein, Pickleball & Micro-Dramas Take Over

If the last two years were about experimentation, this year has been about full-blown transformation. The Indian consumer is living faster, choosing smarter, and demanding more from every experience.

Once a quiet community sport, pickleball has burst into the mainstream with remarkable scale and velocity. Courts across India shot up from around 200 in early 2024 to nearly 1,200 by mid-2025, backed by influencers, institutions and an entire emerging ecosystem of training, tournaments and commercial ventures.

Entertainment got shorter—and far stickier

Micro-dramas and bite-sized content dominated attention spans, especially in Tier II and III cities, becoming a magnet for venture funding. For brands, these formats became the quickest way to capture mindshare.

Protein mania enters everyday dining

Protein is no longer the gym bro’s domain—it has entered kitchens, snacks, beverages and ready-to-eat meals. Quick commerce platforms are witnessing a surge in protein-rich food consumption, and startups are building entire product lines around this trend.

Ultra-fast convenience and sustainable luxury rise in parallel

Hyper-fast delivery branched into fast food, fashion, home services and more. At the same time, lab-grown diamonds went mainstream, winning consumer trust and attracting major investments from established jewellery brands.

Rebuilding India’s Messaging Core: The Fyno Story

Every BFSI customer knows the frustration: an SMS arrives late, an email doesn’t sync, a WhatsApp alert never shows up. For Aniketh Jain, this wasn’t a minor inconvenience—it was a systemic flaw he was determined to fix.

How Fyno is rewriting communication infrastructure

After previously building the enterprise messaging company Kaleyra, Jain founded Fyno in 2022 with CTO Ashish Agarwal to solve one major gap: fragmented enterprise communication.

Fyno’s unified layer offers:

• Integration with 100+ messaging providers

• Intelligent routing across SMS, email and WhatsApp

• Compliance-ready template management

• End-to-end audit trails for BFSI regulatory needs

Today, Fyno serves around 60 banks, fintechs and NBFCs, operates via SaaS and on-premise models, and is backed by $4 million in seed funding. The company reported $2 million revenue in FY25 and aims to hit $5 million next year, mirroring the urgency for dependable communication rails.

Nova Dairy: A Legacy Brand Scaling Modern, Sustainable Innovation

What started decades ago as a modest dairy shop in Old Delhi has grown into a processing giant—Nova Dairy, the consumer arm of Sterling Agro Industries.

A dairy network built on scale and precision

• Handles 2.6 million litres of milk daily

• Sources from 1.5 lakh farmers

• Earns ~Rs 1,500 crore annual revenue

• Runs three advanced plants across Haryana, MP and UP with European-grade machinery

Sustainability at its core

Nova claims to operate carbon-negative facilities through:

• Renewable energy adoption

• Biogas systems

• Methane-reduction initiatives

With exports to 30+ countries and clients like Indian Railways, Nestlé, ITC, and Air India, Nova represents the new face of India’s dairy transformation—large, tech-driven and environmentally conscious.

Crypto Keeps Moving—And So Do the Taxes

Despite concerns around the 1% TDS on crypto transactions, activity in India remains strong.

TDS collections from VDAs over the years:

• FY22–23: Rs 221.27 crore

• FY23–24: Rs 362.70 crore

• FY24–25: Rs 511.83 crore

Maharashtra led with Rs 293.40 crore, up 30.63%, followed by Karnataka.
The consistent rise signals that crypto trading, transfers and spending continue despite regulatory headwinds.

Funding Highlights: Healthcare, Fintech, D2C & QSR in Focus

SSO raises $2.8M to expand oncology care in Western India

Speciality Surgical Oncology Hospital (SSO) secured $2.8 million from Everhope Oncology, backed by Narayana Health, W Health Ventures and 2070 Health.

What SSO has built since 2021:

• Founded by Dr. Sanket Mehta and seven cancer surgeons

• Network of five oncology centres

• Team of 20 surgeons

• 20,000+ cancer procedures completed

The fresh funds will help open three centres in Mumbai and expand across Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Conscious Chemist raises Rs 15 Cr to accelerate its skincare play

D2C skincare brand Conscious Chemist raised Rs 15 crore in a bridge round led by Atomic Capital.

Growth trajectory:

• Founded in 2021 by Robin Gupta & Prakher Mathur

• Achieved 3x revenue in the last 12 months

• Profitable at the CM3 level

• Doubling down on quick commerce channels

• Entering scalp and haircare

• Aiming for Rs 500 crore ARR in 24–36 months

The funds will go toward hiring, product innovation and R&D.

Lumov Health raises $1.2M to strengthen orthopaedic solutions

Bengaluru-based Lumov Health secured $1.2 million in seed funding led by Incubate Fund Asia.

What they focus on:

• Post-surgical orthotics and bracing

• Devices tailored for Indian patients

• Co-development with surgeons and hospital chains

The company will now expand to Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Mumbai, while scaling manufacturing and clinical partnerships.

Frex raises Rs 9.5 Cr to build a global payments bridge

Gurugram-based Frex, founded by Aditya Varma, Himanshu Arora and Nikhil Shanker, raised Rs 9.5 crore in a pre-seed round.

Their promise:

• Zero-fee international transfers

• Near real-time settlements

• Infrastructure spanning North America and India

• Strengthened compliance frameworks

The startup aims to simplify remittances for immigrants, global workers and freelancers.

Koriken raises Rs 4 Cr as Korean street food fever rises in India

Korean cuisine continues to surge in popularity, especially among Gen Z—making it fertile ground for QSR innovation.

Koriken, founded by Hasan Patel, raised Rs 4 crore in seed funding from Rukam Capital.

What Koriken offers:

• Korean fried chicken

• Ramen

• Mandu

• A range of Korean street-food staples

What’s next:

• Expansion into more high-street and flagship outlets

• Enhanced kitchen automation

• Stronger retail and brand marketing

Koriken aims to capture India’s growing appetite for Korean flavours and culture.

From high-growth consumer trends to foundational tech fixes, and from healthcare expansions to cross-border fintech innovations, the Indian startup ecosystem continues to evolve through bold bets and steady momentum.

The developments reflect one clear reality: India is not transforming in isolated pockets—it’s accelerating across categories simultaneously, driven by founders who are rethinking how India eats, pays, heals, communicates and consumes.