From QWR’s bets on indigenous XR hardware for India to Tuco Kids’ fundraise for product development and expansion, YourStory brings you the developments from the Indian startup ecosystem.
Featured stories
Pune startup QWR bets on indigenous XR hardware to cut India’s dependence on imports
Extended Reality (XR) is expanding into education, healthcare, defence, and manufacturing, but India still depends heavily on imported devices. Pune-based QWR (Question What’s Real), founded by Suraj Aiar, is changing that by designing and manufacturing VR headsets, AR glasses, and AI-powered wearables tailored to India’s compliance and customisation needs.
Its flagship VRone.Edu headset, aligned with NCERT K–12 curriculum, NEP 2022, Samagra Shiksha Yojana, and UN SDG 4, is deployed in 19 states, reaching 200,000+ students; while its latest product, HUMBL, is India’s first AI-powered smart glasses.
“If India wants to lead in AI, XR, and next-generation computing, we cannot build our future on imported foundations. Software may change the world, but without hardware, it’s just an idea. We have to own the stack,” Suraj Aiar, Founder and CEO of QWR told YourStory.
Bootstrapped since inception, QWR has shipped over 50,000 units to 17 countries and aims to scale manufacturing under India’s PLI scheme, targeting $100M revenue and global leadership.
Read more here.
How Rian is traversing the world of linguistics with AI-human synergy
Founded in 2019 by Anand Shiralkar, Pune-based Rian offers multilingual document and media translations in 50+ languages, serving 2,000+ clients including JioHotstar and Sony YAY.
With a 45-member core team and 1,200 freelance linguists, Rian blends AI efficiency with human cultural nuance. Its upcoming ‘Dub Now, Pay Later’ model will let creators dub content globally with zero upfront cost.
“Most players in this industry are either tech-heavy with less focus on quality, or they are quality-rich but slow and expensive. We decided to blend AI scale with a human soul. Our goal was never to translate. We want to distribute culture, not just content,” said Anand Shiralkar, CEO of Rian.
The startup recently became profitable, and clocked ₹5 crore revenue in FY25. It aims for ₹20 crore by FY26 and ₹200 crore in three years. Backed by an angel round, Rian is also eyeing international expansion and IP acquisition.
Read more here.
Funding stories
Offgrid Energy Labs raises $15M in Series A funding round
Energy storage solutions startup Offgrid Energy Labs has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by speciality chemicals manufacturing company Archean Chemical Industries. The round also saw participation from existing investor Ankur Capital.
Founded in 2018 by Kusurkar, Srivastava, Brindan Tulachan, and Ankur Agarwal, Offgrid Energy Labs focuses on delivering commercially viable and sustainable stationary energy storage solutions for three key applications: peak shifting, net-zero industrial electricity, and decentralised off-the-grid energy solutions.
According to the company’s co-founders Rishi Srivastava and Tejas Kusurkar, the major portion of the new funding will go into setting up its 10 megawatt hour (MWh) UK demo manufacturing facility, which will act as the test-bed for the company’s ZinGel technology equipped batteries, before it starts commercialisation.
Read more here.
Tuco Kids raises $4M in Series A round Led by RTP Global
Kids personal care brand Tuco Kids has raised $4 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by an early-stage VC firm RTP Global, with participation from existing investors Fireside Ventures, Whiteboard Capital and MG investments.
The company plans to use the funds on deepening the brand’s presence, product innovation, and expansion across online and offline channels.
Founded by Aishvarya Murali (ex-Unilever, Ola, ZestMoney, Furlenco) in 2023, Tuco Kids had recently appointed Chanakya Gupta, a former executive at Curefit and Flipkart, as co-founder to spearhead growth and scale business operations.
Tuco Kids makes products for children aged 3 to 13 years. Its portfolio comprises hair care products, body wash, soap, face cream, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, kids’ makeup, deodorant, kajal, and curated gift packs—available through Tuco’s own D2C platform and leading marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra, FirstCry, Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart.
Tuco had previously raised $2 million in seed funding from investors including Fireside Ventures, Whiteboard Capital, MG Investments and other angel investors. Over the last year, the company claims to have recorded 10x growth.
Edited by Swetha Kannan
