Bharat Forge to Build India’s Ist Private Marine Gas Turbine R&O and Development Hub at Visakhapatnam

• Bharat Forge’s Aerospace division to Power India's Naval Self-Reliance Aligned to its Commitment to Aatmanirbhar Bharat

Bharat Forge Limited, through its Aerospace business, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to establish India's first private-sector Marine Gas Turbine (MGT) Repair, Overhaul and indigenous Development complex at Visakhapatnam, over an ~80 acres within the Andhra Pradesh Defence Manufacturing Corridor. The MoU was signed by Mr. Guru Biswal, CEO — Aerospace, Bharat Forge Limited, in the distinguished presence of Shri Rajnath Singh, Raksha Mantri, and Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, at the landmark Aerospace and Defence Investment Conclave at Puttaparthy. The occasion also witnessed the foundation stone laying for India's AMCA fifth-generation stealth fighter programme.

The Visakhapatnam facility co-located with the Naval Dockyard, INS Eksila, and Eastern Naval Command Headquarters, will for the first time bring this critical propulsion sustainment capability into India's private sector. Phase 1 will deliver a full Marine GT Repair and Overhaul complex: hot section restoration of blades, vanes and combustion liners, component manufacturing, NDE laboratory, and a 72-hour turnaround capability for the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam. Phase 2 will establish India's first private-sector Marine GT Development and Assembly Hall, a full-spectrum hot test cell scalable across all propulsion ratings, and for the very first time on Indian soil, the development and qualification of an indigenous Marine Gas Turbine. The facility will also serve as a regional R&O hub for friendly nation navies, creating ~750 direct and indirect employment opportunities.

These projects will cater to all three Services and strengthen our efforts to make India self-reliant in defence manufacturing. Andhra Pradesh is set to emerge as a major hub of aerospace and defence production. —
Shri Rajnath Singh, Raksha Mantri, Government of India — Puttaparthy, 15th May 2026.

New Andhra Pradesh is being built on the pillars of innovation, infrastructure and industrialisation. As India moves towards Viksit Bharat, Andhra Pradesh will lead from the front. — Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh — Puttaparthy, 15th May 2026

India's warships have long carried the might of this nation on engines built abroad. That dependence ends here, at Visakhapatnam. Bharat Forge’s Aerospace division is committing to bringing Marine Gas Turbine repair, overhaul, and indigenous development onto Indian soil — for the first time in the private sector, co-located with the very Naval Command that depends on these engines. This is not just an investment. This is our pledge to the Indian Navy, and to the nation. — Mr. Amit Kalyani, Vice Chairman & Joint Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited.

Gas turbines are the propulsion backbone of the Indian Navy's frontline surface combatants. The overseas supply chain for these engines has been severely disrupted in recent years, directly impacting fleet R&O cycles and operational readiness. This facility by Bharat Forge, is a national strategic imperative — embodying the resolve of Sushakt Bharat- Surakshit Bharat and laying a decisive cornerstone towards Viksit Bharat 2047.

Trackk Raises $3.7 Million Led by Lightspeed to Re-imagine Investing for Young India

Aryan Jain, Vedant Gupte, Sidharth Takkar, Cofounders of Trackk

• Trackk is building for a growing base of young Indians entering financial markets for the first time

Trackk, Young India’s investment platform built for Gen Z investors, has raised $3.7 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed, with participation from Info Edge Ventures and angel investors including Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Tanmay Bhatt, Varun Mayya, and Gaurav Kapoor.

The company will use the fresh capital to strengthen its broking infrastructure, expand product capabilities, accelerate user acquisition and customer onboarding, grow its team across key functions, and build additional financial products aimed at younger Indian investors.

Founded by Vedant Gupte, Siddharth Thakkar and Aryan Jain, Trackk is building a platform designed around how younger users discover and engage with financial markets. The company combines AI-led stock discovery, personalised user journeys and simplified execution tools to make investing more accessible for first-time investors.

Vedant Gupte, Co-Founder & CEO, Trackk said, “Younger investors today consume financial information very differently from previous generations. Discovery is increasingly happening through digital communities, creators and social platforms, but the investing experience itself still feels overly complex for first-time users. With Trackk, we are building a platform that simplifies participation in financial markets for young Indians while making the overall investing journey far more intuitive and accessible.”

Romit Mehta, Investor, Lightspeed said, “Trackk is building for a generation of investors whose relationship with financial products is fundamentally different from that of previous generations. The team has shown strong understanding of younger user behaviour and is creating a product experience that feels far more aligned with how new-age investors discover, learn and participate in markets.”

Chinmaya Sharma, Partner, InfoEdge Ventures, said, “Young Indians should have access to investing platforms that help them make informed financial decisions and build long-term wealth responsibly. As participation in the markets grows among GenZ users, there is a clear need for products that simplify investing, improve access to insights, and encourage disciplined capital allocation over speculative trading behaviour. We believe Trackk is building thoughtfully for this new generation of investors, and we are excited to back the team at Trackk.”

Trackk has seen strong adoption among younger investors, with nearly 90 per cent of its user base belonging to the Gen Z demographic and the average user age ranging between 20 and 24 years. The company is building toward a larger multi-asset financial platform spanning investing, wealth creation and broader financial products for young India.

In October 2025, Trackk became one of India’s youngest registered brokers following a felicitation by Sundararaman R, Managing Director & CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

About Trackk:

Trackk is Young India’s investing platform, built for the Gen Z investor. Founded by Vedant Gupte, Siddharth Thakkar, and Aryan Jain, the company is focused on simplifying how younger Indians discover stocks and participate in financial markets through AI-led stock discovery, personalised investing journeys, and simplified investing and trading execution.

Today, nearly 90 per cent of Trackk’s users belong to the Gen Z demographic, with the platform’s average user age ranging between 20 and 24 years. Built around the evolving behaviour of younger investors, Trackk is focused on creating financial products for a generation that increasingly engages with investing through creators, communities, and digital platforms rather than traditional financial channels.

Backed by Lightspeed, Info Edge Ventures and angel investors including Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Tanmay Bhatt and Varun Mayya, Trackk is building toward a larger multi-asset financial platform spanning investing, wealth creation, and broader financial products for young India. In 2025, the company became one of India’s youngest registered brokers following a felicitation by the Managing Director of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

About Lightspeed:

Lightspeed is a global multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally, including Anthropic, Acceldata, Carta, Cato Networks, Darwinbox, Epic Games, Faire, Grab, Innovaccer, Suno, Mulesoft, Mitral, Navan, Netskope, Nutanix, Physics Wallah, Razorpay, Redotpay, Rubrik, Skilld AI, Sharechat, Snap, OYO, Ultima Genomics, Zepto, and many more. Lightspeed’s emerging focus areas include Generative AI, Deep-tech, Climate, EVs, Agri-tech, B2B supply chain, and Frontier Tech. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage over $40 billion in assets under management across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors based in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. www.lsip.com

Tonbo Imaging Secures Indian Navy ADITI 3.0 Contract to Integrate High Power Microwave Systems for Next‑Gen Maritime Defence

• Indian Navy Awards ADITI 3.0 contract for High Power Microwave System to Tonbo Imaging, Among a Select Few Globally with HPM Capability

Defence technology company Tonbo Imaging has been awarded a contract by the Indian Navy under the ADITI 3.0 innovation framework to integrate and commission a High Power Microwave (HPM) system for naval platforms.

The programme is supported by iDEX and the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Under the scope of the engagement, Tonbo Imaging will undertake system integration and commissioning activities, followed by the supply of multiple production units upon successful development, validation, and acceptance.

High Power Microwave systems represent a strategically significant directed-energy capability and are considered a strategic asset owned by only a limited number of countries today. Such systems provide a non-kinetic means of disabling or degrading adversary electronics, sensors, and unmanned systems, and are one of the few practical approaches to countering swarms of drones, making them increasingly relevant in modern maritime and asymmetric threat environments. The Indian Navy’s continued investment in this domain reflects a forward-looking approach to electromagnetic spectrum dominance and next-generation deterrence.

ADITI (Advanced Defence Technology Incubation) is a Government of India initiative designed to enable the maturation, integration, and validation of advanced defence technologies prior to induction. The selection of Tonbo Imaging under ADITI 3.0 reflects the emphasis on indigenously developing strategic capabilities aligned with the Navy’s evolving operational requirements and long-term force modernisation plans.

Commenting on the development, Arvind Lakshmikumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tonbo Imaging India Limited, stated “this programme represents a significant responsibility to execute complex capability integration with discipline, rigour, and clear alignment to end-user operational needs. Over the past several years, Tonbo Imaging has invested substantially in the indigenous development of core building blocks of High Power Microwave technology, including critical sub-systems and vacuum tube sources. We are among the very few private organisations to own core intellectual property in vacuum tube technologies that are fundamental to HPM systems, and this deep technology foundation has been a key factor in our selection for this naval programme.

For the class of effects required in High Power Microwave applications, vacuum tube–based sources remain the practical path forward, as they are capable of generating the extremely high peak power and energy levels necessary for effective target coupling. Solid-state RF sources, while well suited for many RF applications, cannot today achieve the required peak power and pulse energy levels within feasible size, weight, and efficiency envelopes for operational HPM systems.”

With this engagement, Tonbo Imaging’s role extends well beyond that of an imaging and electro-optics company, reinforcing its position as a defence technology company focused on the development and integration of advanced defence systems. The programme underscores the company’s growing involvement in complex system-level integration, advanced electronics, embedded software, and emerging directed-energy and mission systems, in addition to its established strengths in electro-optics. This evolution reflects Tonbo Imaging’s transition toward delivering integrated defence capabilities.

About Tonbo Imaging India Limited

Tonbo Imaging India Limited is a defence technology company focused on the design, development, and integration of advanced sensing, perception, and mission-critical systems for military and security applications. The company’s portfolio spans electro-optics, thermal imaging, situational awareness, advanced electronics, embedded software, and emerging directed-energy technologies, enabling the delivery of integrated defence solutions that support operational requirements across land, maritime, and air domains.

In recent years, Tonbo Imaging has continued to evolve as a defence technology and systems company, investing in the development of next-generation directed-energy systems as well as advanced defence solutions such as loitering munitions and counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), reflecting its strategic focus on addressing emerging operational threats through indigenous capability development.

Aeravti Ventures Leads $1.2M Pre‑series A in ONO, Doubling Down on AI‑driven Agri‑Finance and Post‑Harvest Infrastructure in India

Founders of Aeravti Ventures

• Having previously led ONO’s seed round, Aeravti Ventures leads the latest investment alongside Angels and Tremis Capital as ONO expands across India, strengthens its lending footprint through an NBFC acquisition, and prepares for its next phase of growth

Aeravti Ventures, the early-stage venture capital firm, has led a $1.2 million Pre-Series A funding round in Agri-Finance startup ONO. The round also saw participation from Angels and Tremis Capital.

This marks Aeravti Ventures’ second investment in ONO, having previously led the company’s seed round, reinforcing the fund’s conviction in ONO’s vision of building India’s data and AI-led post-harvest infrastructure for Agri-SMEs across markets.

Commenting on the investment, Rishabh Singh, Managing Partner of Aeravti Ventures, said, "ONO is solving one of the most critical infrastructure gaps within Indian agriculture, building trust, transparency, and financial accessibility across post-harvest supply chains. The company’s ability to leverage data and AI to unlock market access and reduce inefficiencies at scale strongly aligns with our investment thesis at Aeravti Ventures. Having partnered with ONO since its seed stage, we continue to remain highly confident in the team’s execution capabilities and long-term vision.”

Rama Rao Kancharapu, Founder & CEO, ONO, said, "The agricultural supply chain continues to operate with significant inefficiencies due to a lack of structured data, trusted networks, and timely access to finance. At ONO, we are building a technology and intelligence layer for the post-harvest ecosystem that enables stakeholders to make faster, smarter, and more reliable decisions,and more importantly, get timely access to fair credit. With Aeravti Ventures continuing to back us in this journey, we are focused on scaling our lending and market infrastructure capabilities across India.”

ONO Founders

Founded by Rama Rao Kancharapu and David Pokuri, ONO is leveraging data and AI to solve critical challenges in India’s agricultural value chain, including access to formal credit, solving operational inefficiencies and supporting trusted long-distance market linkages for Agri-SMEs.

Recognizing the lack of structured data and technology adoption in agriculture, ONO built a data-first fintech and market linkage platform that enables smarter proprietary underwriting and decision-making across the post-harvest supply chain, which is validated by a 0.05% NPA across 100Cr of co-lending. Its platform provides farmers and Agri-SMEs with real-time intelligence around pricing, volumes, logistics and market behaviour, enabling faster payments, improved price realisation and reduced transaction risks.

Today, ONO operates across 12 states and over 125 districts, serving more than 1.3 lakh ecosystem participants including farmers, commission agents, traders, transporters and buyers. The platform has over 2,000 paid subscribers and has facilitated over Rs 200 crore in beneficiary payouts while enabling the movement of more than 25,000 metric tonnes of produce through long-distance markets, often spanning over 500 kilometres.

Through its proprietary Data and AI-led onboarding infrastructure, ONO has also significantly reduced frauds and defaults in long-haul agri trade transactions to below 2%, compared to industry levels ranging between 25% and 30%.

As part of its next phase of growth, ONO has acquired a significant stake in an NBFC to deepen its lending capabilities and strengthen credit access for underserved Agri-SMEs. The company is additionally preparing for a larger Series A raise as it looks to further scale its presence across India and strengthen its technology and financial infrastructure offerings.

The fresh capital will be utilised towards strengthening ONO’s technology platform, expanding its presence across newer markets, deepening its lending infrastructure and accelerating ecosystem growth across the agricultural value chain.
About Aeravti

Aeravti Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on backing transformative startups across sectors like Agriculture, Healthcare, Deeptech, and enterprise technology. The firm partners with founders building scalable technology-led businesses solving large structural challenges across India.
About ONO

ONO is an Agri-Finance startup building a data and AI-led fintech and post-harvest supply chain platform for India’s agricultural ecosystem. The company leverages proprietary market intelligence, underwriting infrastructure and long-distance market linkages to improve price realization, credit access and transaction trust for smallholder farmers and Agri-SMEs across India.

MetaShot Partners Yudiz to Launch World’s Ist Smart Pickleball Game, Opening Its Motion Gaming Platform to External Studios

• Following a 115% YoY revenue growth, MetaShot accelerates platform expansion with Yudiz Solutions partnership
• MetaShot opens its motion gaming platform to third-party studios for the first time as it expands beyond cricket

MetaShot, a Bengaluru-based sports-tech and gaming startup has partnered with Yudiz Solutions, an NSE-listed game development company, to launch the world’s first smart pickleball game - an exclusive title built for MetaShot’s motion gaming console.

Shark Tank India-featured company MetaShot, specializes in seamlessly blending real-world sports movements with immersive virtual gameplay. The partnership marks a major milestone for MetaShot as it opens its proprietary motion gaming platform and SDKs to an external game development studio for the first time. Following a 115% year-on-year revenue growth in FY26, the company is now evolving into a platform ecosystem designed for third-party developers, studios, and sports gaming experiences.

Set to launch in the US in Q3 FY26 and subsequently in India, the smart pickleball game is developed exclusively for the MetaShot platform by Yudiz Solutions. The integration was completed in record time, showcasing how seamlessly external studios can build motion-based gaming experiences on MetaShot’s technology stack. The launch also signals the beginning of MetaShot’s larger platform vision, with additional third-party partnerships, new sports titles, and a developer funding programme currently in the pipeline.

The announcement comes on the back of MetaShot’s cricket title crossing 5 million completed matches, validating strong consumer demand for immersive, movement-led gameplay experiences that blend physical sports actions with digital interactivity.

“Partnering with MetaShot to build the world’s first smart pickleball experience is an exciting opportunity for us as a gaming studio,” said Chirag Leuva, CEO, Yudiz Solutions. “What stood out immediately was the strength of the platform and how quickly we were able to bring a completely new motion-based sports experience to life on it. This collaboration represents a larger shift in gaming, where studios can now build experiences that combine real-world movement with connected gameplay at scale. Pickleball is the first step, and we’re excited about the possibilities this opens up for future sports and interactive experiences globally.”

“Our partnership and the opportunity to open the MetaShot platform to Yudiz Solutions is a significant moment for us as a company,” said Prince Thomas, CEO, MetaShot. “Over the last few years, we’ve built and validated the platform through cricket, and this partnership is the first real example of how third-party studios can create entirely new experiences on top of our motion gaming ecosystem. Pickleball felt like the perfect category to begin with given its global momentum and community-driven appeal. This is the start of MetaShot becoming a larger platform for sports gaming innovation.”

The launch taps into one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Industry reports project that Pickleball now has over 50 million players globally, and the global pickleball market is projected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2024 to $9.1 billion by 2034, at a 15.3% CAGR. In India alone, active players have surged nearly 300% in three years, with courts growing 10 - 12x across the country.

As MetaShot scales its platform ambitions globally, the company plans to work with more external studios and developers to bring new sports, gaming formats, and immersive experiences onto its motion gaming ecosystem.