YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors. New data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) highlights a stark gender divide in the reasons why people remain outside the labour force. Among men, 53.5% said they were not working because they wanted to continue their studies, while 68.7% of women cited childcare and household responsibilities as the primary reason for staying out of the workforce. These numbers, released by NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for 46-million-plus cities (cities with a million-plus population as per Census 2011), are based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025 and the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025. Physical AI startup Mowito, which is developing foundation models for industrial robotic arms, has raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Version One Ventures. The round also saw participation from All In Capital, Unisol, iSeed, and a group of angel investors, including Soumith Chintala (Thinking Machines Lab), Adarsh Kulkarni (Foundry Robotics), Ashish Kulkarni (Coformer.ai), and Vaibhav Domkundwar (Better Capital). The fresh capital will be used to expand Mowito's presence in the US market, grow its engineering and go-to-market teams, and accelerate deployments with automotive and electronics manufacturers. AI startup Blurgs AI has raised $2.2 million in a funding round led by Pravega Ventures and Shastra VC to accelerate the global expansion of its intelligence platforms for defence, national security, and commercial maritime applications. The round also saw participation from angel investors Suraj Nalin, Co-founder of PlaySimple Games, and Yashwanth Madhusudhan, Co-founder of Fyle. The Chennai- and Bengaluru-based startup develops AI-powered intelligence platforms used by mission-critical organisations across defence, maritime, conservation, and the public sector. Its customers include the Indian Navy, the Indian Coast Guard, Bharat Electronics, DRDO Labs, Mumbai Port Authority, Dubai Maritime City, and The Nature Conservancy Group. The company said it built this customer base across multiple sectors and geographies before raising institutional capital. Functional hydration startup Hydron has secured Rs 20 crore in growth capital to accelerate scientific research, expand its product portfolio, and complete the acquisition of alkaline ionised water company Zoss Water. The Bengaluru-based company said the funding will help strengthen its position in the preventive healthcare and functional hydration market. As part of the transaction, Hydron has acquired 100% of Zoss Water, one of India's early players in alkaline ionised water. Hydron develops alkaline ionised water systems that use electrolysis to convert purified drinking water into functional hydration without adding chemicals. Its portfolio includes residential and under-sink hydration systems, workplace and institutional dispensers, industrial hydration platfo
