Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (February 2, 2026)
Featured stories
The next chapter at Tilaknagar Industries: Why a brandy giant is betting big on luxury whisky
After nearly a century of dominance in brandy, Tilaknagar Industries is crafting a new identity, one that combines legacy, luxury, and a sharper focus on premiumisation.
In 2025, the company formally established House of TI as its luxury vertical, housing Monarch Legacy Edition and, more recently, Seven Islands Pure Malt Whisky. The luxury push is unfolding alongside one of the most significant transactions in the Indian alcobev space.
TI recently announced the acquisition of the Imperial Blue whisky portfolio from Pernod Ricard — one of the largest deals in the sector. The move transforms TI from a brandy player dominated by the south into a pan-India spirits company. With Imperial Blue, TI’s dependence on southern states is expected to fall from around 90% to 50%, while brandy’s share of its portfolio will reduce from nearly 90% to about 30%. Read more.
How Bharat Intelligence uses AI to solve farm labour crisis in Maharashtra’s villages
Mumbai-based agritech startup Bharat Intelligence has created a digital model of villages across Maharashtra, where its AI engine accurately deploys labourers to farmers. The startup has a 22-member team spread across Nashik, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. It is currently working with grape farmers in Nashik, where almost eight lakh labourers depend on seasonal farm work for their livelihoods.
“We are trying to solve the agricultural labour crisis end-to-end. As per the last Census, nearly 14 crore labourers work on someone else’s farm. We want to ensure these labourers have access to consistent wages for at least 300 days a year,” Azhaan Merchant, Co-founder at Bharat Intelligence, tells YourStory.
Bharat Intelligence’s technology serves two sides of the marketplace: farmers (demand) and labourers (supply). On the farmer’s side, the startup has created robust profiles of farmers in Nashik, capturing over 1,000 data points on each through its partners. It also uses geospatial data, which, on deeper analyses, reveals to the agritech firm when to aid which farm and with how many labourers. Read more.
Latest News
Why girls’ hostels will matter in higher education in India
In the Union Budget 2026–27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a girls’ hostel in every district. We examine how this move could transform how young women pursue higher education.
“In higher education, STEM institutes’ prolonged hours of studying and laboratory work pose some challenges for the girl students. Through VGF (Viability Gap Funding) or capital support, one girls’ hostel will be established in every district,” she announced on Sunday in the parliament.
In this year’s Union Budget, the share of the gender budget has risen to 9.37%—up from 8.86% last year. The Gender Budget Statement (GBS) reports an allocation of Rs 5 lakh crore for women and girls, a 11.36% jump from last year’s Rs 4.40 lakh crore. Read more.
Other news
Ola Electric begins deliveries of residential storage system, secures certification for smaller unit
Ola Electric commenced deliveries of its residential battery energy storage system, Ola Shakti 9.1kWh, in Bengaluru.
The company also announced it has received Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for the smaller 3kW/5.2kWh variant of the system. The 3kW/5.2kWh unit is priced at Rs. 1,49,999, while the 6kW/9.1kWh version is priced at Rs. 2,49,999. Both units feature IP67-rated batteries and offer a backup capacity of up to 1.5 hours on full load.
Ola Electric plans to scale up deliveries of the storage systems across India in the coming months. The systems are powered by the company’s 4680 Bharat Cells and are designed to replace conventional lead-acid inverters and diesel generators for homes and small businesses.
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Nucleus Software appoints Apurva Chamaria as Chief Business Officer
Nucleus Software, a global provider of lending and transaction banking solutions to the financial services industry, has appointed Apurva Chamaria as Chief Business Officer, effective February 2, 2026. The appointment underscores the company’s focus on strengthening leadership as it scales its global operations.
Chamaria, with over two decades of experience across fintech, enterprise technology, and financial services, will lead business growth initiatives, deepen customer relationships, and drive expansion across key international markets.
Noida Film City to house integrated content creator ecosystem
Bayview Bhutani Film City in Noida plans to establish a large-scale incubation and lab ecosystem for content creators, filmmaker Boney Kapoor said.
The initiative, announced as part of the vision outlined in the Union Budget 2026, aims to provide a platform for creators to launch careers, develop intellectual properties, and build creative businesses. The ecosystem will accommodate filmmakers, YouTubers, gamers, and other audio-visual innovators. It will feature studios, technology hubs, and incubation labs designed to support production across cinema, OTT platforms, and digital formats such as vertical dramas.
The development is intended to generate employment and support the creator economy by enabling talent to monetize their work on international platforms.
Kore.ai raises strategic growth investment led by AllianceBernstein
Kore.ai, a global enterprise AI and agentic solutions company has secured a strategic growth investment led by AllianceBernstein Private Credit Investors, with continued participation from existing investors Vistara Growth, Beedie Capital, and Sweetwater Private Equity. The investment will support Kore.ai’s next phase of growth, including scaling go-to-market initiatives, deepening global customer engagement, and accelerating innovation across its agentic AI platform.
The funding follows a strong 2025 for Kore.ai, marked by rapid enterprise adoption and expanded partnerships with Microsoft and AWS. The company was a launch partner for Microsoft Agent 365 and is an agentic competency partner for AWS.
This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.
Edited by Suman Singh
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