Dosa with a side of AI; Startups fast-tracked their IPOs in 2025

Happy National Startup Day!

Entrepreneurship is now considered a respectable career choice, and not something that people are born into.

At YourStory, we have championed startup stories—from bustling metros to Bharat—and tracked the ecosystem’s evolution from its early days to its current, more disciplined phase. 

Moving on: Is it the end of days for Stack Overflow?

Since 2008, the immensely popular website has been the go-to place for developers. However, the arrival of GenAI models such as ChatGPT has become extinction level threat to the website. From fielding 100,000 questions a month in 2023 to just over 3,500 in December 2025, Stack Overflow has seen a dramatic decline.

Speaking of ChatGPT, the high-stakes world of AI has seen another shift in its talent landscape, as three researchers depart Mira Murati-founded Thinking Machines Lab to return to Sam Altman-led OpenAI.

Lastly, from Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s asserting that autonomous humanoid robots like Optimus are the key to his company’s future to Meta’s plans to build its own robots, tech leaders want us to believe we are close to having our robot butlers. However, the demos so far have been closely controlled, and the consumer tech needs time to take off.

Now, here’s a video of a dancing robot! 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Dosa with a side of AI
• Startups fast-tracked their IPOs in 2025
• Safe motherhood in Indian villages

Here’s your trivia for today: Which car manufacturer was the first to introduce front-wheel-drive in 1934?

Startup

Dosa with a side of AI

Friends Avinit Bagri and Sankrit Iyer launched The Filter Coffee in 2014—with a Rs 75 lakh investment—as a 40-seater outlet in Bengaluru’s Kalyanagar. Their mission was simple: South Indian food deserves better. 

The Filter Coffee treats its restaurants like factory floors and its manufacturing facility like a tech lab. From AI-powered manufacturing to multi-format expansion and a new FMCG vertical, the company is rewriting the South Indian ‘darshini’ experience.

South Indian delights:

• By October 2026, the brand aims for 22 outlets in Karnataka’s capital alone, and by 2027, new cities are on the horizon.
• The most interesting part of The Filter Coffee’s operations is its early adoption of AI-powered monitoring systems implemented more than a year ago. The brand has installed AI cameras across its manufacturing facility, monitoring everything with precision.
• The system tracks other things too, like employees wearing specific coloured shirts entering restricted areas trigger alerts; flame detection happens before sprinkler systems activate; cold vehicle loading must happen within 10 minutes, and if it exceeds that, the team gets notified.

Funding Alert

Startup: Wint Wealth

Amount: Rs 250 Cr

Round: Series B

Startup: Emversity

Amount: $30M

Round: Series A

Startup: Truva

Amount: $9M

Round: Undisclosed

Insights

Startups fast-tracked their IPOs in 2025

The Indian startup ecosystem saw heightened listing activity in 2025 with companies like Urban Company, Meesho, and Groww ringing the bell on Dalal Street. A deeper dive into the timelines of these companies showed that Indian startups are becoming IPO-ready sooner than before. 

According to a report by Orios Venture Partners on India Tech Unicorns & Exits: 2025, the 20 startups that listed during the year managed to do so in 13.3 years. This is slightly lower than the 13.4 years it took for companies to go public in 2024. 

Key takeaways:

• While 2023 saw companies like Mamaearth and Yatra hit the public bourses within 12.5 years, in 2022 and 2021, companies took around 16 years to reach this milestone. 
• The report also notes that in 2025, India led the global IPO market with 254 companies going public. In terms of IPO value, India commands $11.8 billion in value, only behind the US, China, and Hong Kong. 
• Looking ahead, the IPO pipeline for 2026 looks healthy with Shadowfax aiming to list later this month and companies like Zepto, Rebel Foods, Flipkart, and PayU, among others, in various stages of IPO readiness.

Social Impact

Safe motherhood in Indian villages

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="588105" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/5/f9bdfa20c75811ed9569e5d19beae38b/Screenshot2026-01-15-09-37-45-3871a729390c97f0859a897142dab869f32-1768451170892.jpg" data-alt="In many parts of rural India, pregnancy and childbirth are still shaped by tradition, misinformation, and limited access to timely healthcare. Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme works within these realities to support women’s health." data-caption="

In many parts of rural India, pregnancy and childbirth are still shaped by tradition, misinformation, and limited access to timely healthcare. Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme works within these realities to support women’s health.

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In many parts of rural India, pregnancy and childbirth are still shaped by tradition, misinformation, and limited access to timely healthcare. Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme works within these realities to support women’s health.

Swabhiman, which means ‘self-respect or dignity’, has been Smile Foundation’s women empowerment programme since 2005. While the NGO began its journey in 2002 with education as its flagship focus, it soon realised that a child’s learning outcomes or even survival could not be separated from the mother’s health, agency, and decision-making.

News & updates

• Smooth sailing: Maersk will resume sailings via the Red Sea and Suez Canal for one of its services this month, marking a first step towards ending two years of global trade disruption due to attacks on ships by Yemeni Houthi rebels. The group’s share price fell over 7% on the news, reflecting the likelihood of lower freight rates as vessels gradually return to the shorter Suez route.
• Record quarter: TSMC reported a 35% increase in Q4 profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for AI chips remained strong. The world’s largest contract chipmaker has now posted year-over-year profit growth for eight consecutive quarters.
• Landmark case: India’s Supreme Court has ruled that Tiger Global’s $1.6 billion stake sale in ecommerce firm Flipkart to Walmart is subject to taxes, handing a win to New Delhi in a landmark ruling that will shape future cross-border deals.

Which car manufacturer was the first to introduce front-wheel drive in 1934?

Answer: Citroën

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