India’s AI Stack Comes Alive, LAT’s Defence Tech Foray & More

India’s AI Stack Builders 

India is shaking up the global AI order. At the recently concluded India AI Impact Summit 2026, homegrown startups debuted sovereign models and teased new hardware. While the event signalled the emergence of a layered Indian AI stack, what exactly was the nation’s billion-dollar pitch to the world?

The Pitch: The country’s pitch at the summit centred on a layered Indian AI stack, which integrates foundational models with public digital infrastructure. Leading the charge, Sarvam AI unveiled its two indigenous AI models and a multilingual chatbot called Indus. Simultaneously, BharatGen unveiled Param 2, a 17-Bn parameter model trained extensively on Indian archival data. 

These were not just announcements, but strategic assets designed by the Centre to reduce reliance on foreign infrastructure.

The Moat: The buzzword at the summit was “inference Efficiency”. Both BharatGen and Sarvam AI showcased models built on the mixture-of-expert (MoE) architecture. This DeepSeek-style strategy hinges on the realisation that AI models can be optimised through smart deployment, rather than just massive spending. With MoE, the country aims to make AI available at a “fraction of the cost” charged by global hyperscalers.

The Models: Beyond general models, the summit was also a showcase for vertical AI sovereignty. Tech Mahindra’s 8 Bn Hindi-first LLM targets education, while Fractal’s Vaidya 2.0 caters to the healthcare segment. Simply put, these models aren’t just POCs, but ready-to-deploy solutions that cater to India’s specific niches and needs.

The Test: However, real questions remain. For starters, there appears to be no clue about how open these models will be. Then, there are concerns such as the valuation gap (Sarvam’s $200 Mn versus OpenAI’s $500 Bn) and the global competitiveness of local LLM players. Success will hinge on transparency, multilingual accuracy and reliability.

With the dust now settled on the summit, here is how India’s AI stack is shaping up. 

From The Editor’s Desk

LAT Aerospace Acquires Sharang Shakti

• The Deepinder Goyal-backed aviation startup has forayed into the defence tech space with the acquisition of early stage startup Sharang Shakti. 
• Sarang Shakti is building an anti-drone air defence system, equipped with low C-SWaP radars for micro-drone detection and interceptors capable of physically neutralising rogue drones.
• LAT is entering the defence tech space at a time when the sector is witnessing healthy traction on the back of post-Operation Sindoor mania. Of the nearly $78 Mn raised by Indian defence tech startups over the last decade, $68 Mn was raised in 2025 alone.

Wishlink Bags $17.5 Mn 

• The social commerce startup has raised ₹159 Cr in its Series B round led by Vertex Ventures to improve its tech stack for affiliate marketing.
• Founded in 2022, Wishlink connects content creators with brands, enabling the former to share monetisable product links with their audiences. The startup is projecting a revenue of ₹150 Cr in FY26.
• The coinciding boom of social media and ecommerce has created a multi-billion-dollar creator economy in India, with 2.5 Mn creators influencing up to $400 Mn in annual consumer spending. This market is expected to reach $1 Tn by 2030.

Now, Livspace CBO Quits

• Organisational troubles continue for the home interiors startup as its chief business officer, Lalit Mittal, has left the firm to follow his own “entrepreneurial journey”. 
• This follows a wave of exits at the company recently. Last week, it was reported that cofounder and CEO Saurabh Jain quit to pursue “personal interests”. The unicorn is also laying off 1,00 employees, citing AI-led automation.
• Founded in 2014, Livspace operates an omnichannel home interiors and renovation platform which connects homeowners with professional interior designers and vendors. It has raised over $450 Mn in funding to date.

GIVA’s FY25 Show 

• The D2C jewellery platform reported an 89% YoY surge in operating revenue to ₹518 Cr in FY25. However, net losses widened 23% YoY to ₹72.3 Cr in the fiscal under review on the back of rising expenses.
• In line with the revenue growth, GIVA’s total expenditure shot up 76% to ₹595 Cr in FY25 as against ₹338 Cr in FY24. Meanwhile, the company internally is projecting at least 55% YoY growth in revenues to ₹800 Cr in the ongoing fiscal. 
• GIVA is betting heavily on new jewellery formats like lab-grown diamonds to fuel its next phase of growth. With an eye on going public in a few years, the D2C brand is currently looking to raise ₹150-₹200 Cr from existing investors. 

Infra.Market Eyes $137 Mn

• The IPO-bound building materials platform is raising ₹1,250 Cr debt from Singapore-based private credit platform Ascertis Credit for capital expenditure as well as mergers and acquisitions.
• Infra.Market will raise the capital by hypothecating its assets – meaning pledging promoter shares in the startup as well as in other group companies.
• Founded in 2016, Infra.Market is a marketplace for construction materials. It also manufactures construction materials under its private label brands. The company also received SEBI’s nod for its ₹5,000 Cr IPO last month. 

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Flo Is Automating India’s Construction Sites

India’s construction sites remain mired in manual bottlenecks. Labourers endlessly haul cement, which ties up most of the manpower on repetitive tasks and reduces efficiency. Enter Flo Mobility, a startup that is trying to automate material handling at construction sites. 

Robots To The Rescue: Founded in 2021, Flo Mobility builds Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for the construction industry. Inspired by Tesla Autopilot and Roomba, it targets repetitive site tasks, claiming to deliver 6X efficiency and up to 50% cost savings. 

Flo’s Tech Stack: The startup’s compact, battery-powered robots use onboard sensors (camera, RTK GPS, LiDAR), local AI compute, and SPDA cycles for real-time navigation in harsh environments. It claims to have deployed 55 robots at 24 construction projects.

Carving A Niche: Backed by DevX Ventures and LetsVenture, the Bengaluru-based startup’s current annual revenue run rate hovers around the ₹4 Cr mark, backed by a robust order book. Going forward, theFlo Mobility has set its eyes on scaling its top line by 5X and increasing its machine deployment four-fold in FY27. 

The company is also looking to roll out wall-finishing and painting bots in the near future and enter the US market. With India’s AMR market projected to grow to $1.3 Bn by 2033, can Flo Mobility automate India’s dusty construction sites? 

Infographic Of The Day

Marico is on an acquisition spree. It has already bought stakes in three D2C brands so far in 2026. But, this inorganic strategy is part of the FMCG giant’s decade-old D2C playbook…

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