Wednesday was a busy day as the government unveiled a Rs 1.27 lakh crore plan for thesemiconductorindustry while AI startup Emergent turned unicorn,YourStorybrings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors. Ather Energy has approved a preferential fundraise from Hero MotoCorp, the India-Japan Fund and its founders to support manufacturing expansion, product development, research and general corporate purposes. Gurugram-based Shunya Labs is building CPU-first voice AI infrastructure designed for multilingual, accented, and code-switched speech, with enterprise deployments across banking, healthcare, telecom, and automotive. The investment platform noted that its strong performance was supported by focus on product quality, user experience and trust, resulting in better user retention rates than the industry. Emergent said it will use the funds to hire talent across the United States and India, accelerate product development, and expand its go-to-market efforts. The startup said the fresh capital will be used to accelerate product innovation, strengthen the company’s research and development efforts, and expand its market presence across India ahead of the commercial launch of its first scooter, E3 TRION. BiofuelCircle, a digital biomass and biofuels platform, has raised Rs 35 crore in bridge funding from existing investors led by Spectrum Impact, with participation from Better Capital, Karma Capital and others. The fresh capital will strengthen working capital and support the company's next phase of growth by expanding India's biomass supply chain. Founded in 2020, BiofuelCircle connects farmers, biomass aggregators, transporters and industrial consumers through a technology platform that enables price discovery, logistics, quality assurance and trade facilitation. The company said the funding will also complement additional working capital financing to deepen its biomass aggregation network and support India's clean energy transition by improving reliable biomass availability for industries adopting cleaner fuels. Hyperlocal fresh staples startup Anmasa has raised Rs 30 crore in a seed funding round led by Fireside Ventures, with participation from Blume Ventures, existing investors and select high-net-worth individuals. The company will use the capital to expand into new cities, establish additional manufacturing hubs, strengthen its technology infrastructure, hire senior talent and enhance product personalisation. Anmasa operates neighbourhood micro-manufacturing stores that prepare stone-ground flour, wood-pressed oils and freshly milled spices only after an order is placed, with deliveries promised within 90 minutes. The company said its stores function as production units, experience centres and fulfilment hubs, enabling customers to receive freshly prepared staples while preserving nutrition, flavour and quality. Maternal and baby care brand Promom has raised ₹30 crore in funding from Fireside Ventures to expand its
