New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- Media agency Wit & Chai, electric trike developer iGo Wise Mobility and voice-agent platform Vaani AI Research has raised early stage-funding.

Wit & Chai

Pune-based Wit & Chai Group has raised an undisclosed amount in its seed funding round at a valuation of Rs 40 crore (around $4.5 million).

The funding round saw participation from Mantri Landmarks' promoter Rohan Vijay Mantri, Quickheal Technologies' managing director Sanjay Katkar, Icertis' co-founder Monish Darda, and Sahyadri Industries' managing director Satyen Patel.

With new funding, Wit & Chai Group will focus on three areas of growth: hiring for its Mumbai operations, scaling up in London, and preparing to expand into the UAE. It aims to grow its team by 25-30% across direct and indirect roles.

iGo Wise Mobility

iGo Wise Mobility (iGo), a smart electric trike (tricycle) developer, has raised Rs 8.2 crore (around $920,000) in cumulative funding from several ISB Angels, 888VC, and Guptaji VC.

The company is using the funding to fuel tooling and automation that cut production costs, to expand customer experience and after-sales channels, to drive further R&D and new variants, and for working capital to fulfill the current order book.

The company, which claims to have a 100% in-house R&D, 12 patents, and a fully indigenous supply chain, will launch its first product, the BeiGo rugged utility vehicle, in 32 months of its operations.

The company claims that its models are five times more cost-effective, three times more energy-efficient, and twice as compact compared to global peers.

Vaani AI Research

Early-stage investor and incubator Venture Catalysts has led an $400,000 (around Rs 3.5 crore) pre-seed funding round for Vaani AI Research, an AI startup that offers a full-stack, production-grade voice agent platform.

The round also saw participation from Abhishek Sharma of Meta's SuperIntelligence team and Apple; Dr. Viveka Kulharia of MoonValley; Shashikant Chaudhary, former MD of GlobalLogic; Ejaz Ahmed of Meta Reality Labs; Nikhil Tripathi of Bijak; and Uday Sodhi, former business head at Sony Pictures India, among others.

Vaani, founded by Tushar Shinde, Nitesh Tripathi and Nitish Mishra, had been selected for the Google for Startups AI Accelerator 2025 cohort and is also an active part of NASSCOM GenAI Foundry.

Nupur Recyclers-Tycod Autotech

Nupur Recycling Ltd, a recycling and waste management company, has acquired engine-component maker Tycod Autotech Pvt. Ltd in an all-cash deal worth Rs 24 crore (around $2.7 million) to support its forward integration play.

The acquisition deepens Nupur's strategy to move up the value chain from scrap processing to the production of aluminium alloys and precision-engineered automotive components.

Post-acquisition, the company has invested an additional Rs 10 crore to modernise Tycod's production infrastructure, including the installation of high-pressure die casting (HPDC), VMC, and CNC machinery.

"Tycod gives us the capability to not only expand our aluminium alloy ingot sales but also venture into precision manufacturing for the automotive sector," said Rajesh Gupta, managing director, Nupur Recycling.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.