L&T Inks MoU with TuTr Hyperloop for Next-Generation Mobility Infrastructure

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TuTr Hyperloop Private Ltd, an IIT Madras-incubated deep-tech mobility start-up, to explore opportunities in the development and deployment of next-generation mobility technologies and infrastructure in India.

The MoU establishes a framework for jointly exploring and pursuing opportunities in the emerging mobility ecosystem, with project-specific engagements to be undertaken through separate agreements.

The collaboration combines L&T's engineering, procurement and construction expertise with TuTr Hyperloop's capabilities in indigenous electromagnetic propulsion and advanced mobility systems. The two organisations will assess opportunities across a range of infrastructure and technology domains, including Linear Induction Motor-based propulsion systems, vacuum tube infrastructure, pressure management systems, civil and structural works, electrical infrastructure, signalling, telecommunications and systems integration.

The partnership envisages a complementary division of responsibilities spanning technology development, engineering, procurement, manufacturing, construction, installation and testing, as required for individual projects. The organisations will also engage with prospective customers to evaluate technical feasibility, commercial viability and implementation requirements.

By bringing together indigenous deep-tech innovation and large-scale infrastructure execution capabilities, the collaboration seeks to support the development of future-ready transportation systems in India. It will also explore opportunities across freight and logistics, port connectivity, industrial transportation and other emerging mobility applications.

For TuTr Hyperloop, the collaboration aligns with its broader vision of developing modular, indigenous mobility technologies, beginning with Linear Induction Motor-based systems and progressively advancing towards magnetic levitation and vacuum-based transportation applications.

Commenting on the collaboration, Mr S V Desai, Whole-Time Director, Senior Executive Vice President – Infrastructure, L&T, said: “Hyperloop represents an exciting frontier in next-generation mobility, with the potential to redefine the movement of people and goods. Its innovative propulsion technology and low-friction environment enable faster transit, improved logistics efficiency, reduced energy consumption and lower emissions. Translating such technological innovation into practical deployment requires robust engineering, scalable infrastructure and close collaboration across the ecosystem. Our partnership with TuTr Hyperloop is a step in that direction”.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Professor, IIT Madras, said: “The transition of advanced mobility technologies from research and development to real-world deployment requires strong collaboration between academia, technology developers and industry. This partnership between TuTr Hyperloop and L&T brings together complementary strengths that can help address the engineering and infrastructure challenges involved in scaling next-generation transportation systems. It is an encouraging step towards translating indigenous innovation into practical, deployable solutions for India”.

Dr Aravind S Bharadwaj, Co-Founder and CEO, TuTr Hyperloop, said: “At TuTr Hyperloop, our focus is on developing indigenous mobility technologies that can address real-world transportation and logistics challenges. Our collaboration with L&T brings together our capabilities in electromagnetic propulsion, advanced mobility systems and technology development with L&T’s extensive engineering and infrastructure execution expertise. Together, we aim to work on commercialisation these technologies”.

Through this collaboration, the two organisations will identify suitable opportunities, engage with prospective customers and develop project-specific solutions that combine technology innovation with engineering excellence and infrastructure execution capabilities.

Rural Entrepreneurship Fuels Microfinance Growth as Institutions Hold Lending Rates Steady

Microfinance sector expected to grow 10 to 15% at the end of FY2026-27

Rural livelihoods enhancement and entrepreneurship to drive demand for lending

Microfinance institutions will keep lending rate unchanged, will absorb the repo rate hike

The microfinance sector is expected to grow at over 15% in the third and the fourth quarters of the current financial year, micro lending institutions’ leaders said at the 21st annual conference on inclusive growth, organised by Sa-Dhan.

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founder and Chairman, Bandhan Group was felicitated at the conference for his exemplary contributions to bringing formal credit to people in rural areas. He had started Bandhan with a loan from a moneylender in 2001, and over the years has built an NGO to a microfinance institution and now to a universal bank. Speaking on the occasion Shri Ghosh said, “Serving women and transforming their families through income generating loans has been the contribution of Bandhan. Discipline in underwriting and lending, supervision at the ground and the entity level, wealth creation through mutual funds and resilience through insurance, and IT for enhancing efficiency has led to the scale Bandhan has achieved.”

Speaking at the conference, V Vaidyanathan, CEO, IDFC First Bank said, “Microfinance is at the intersection of business and social service; 90% of the microfinance lending is to women borrowers for entrepreneurship such as for making agarbatti, chappals, papad and for dairying. Over 50% of the borrowers are Below Poverty Line card holders. Technology adoption is enhancing productivity, with disbursements directly into the bank accounts and collections through UPI autopay; it is adding to the confidence to lend. We have had a good experience with lending to this sector, with self-regulation and the guardrails, the sector has the potential to grow its loan portfolios substantially in the future.”

Dr Shaji Krishnan V, Chairman, NABARD said, “For over 50% of SHG members, who are women, microfinance is their point of entry into the financial sector; they subsequently graduate to entrepreneurship. NABARD aims to make everyone’s bank better, NABARD has built a technology infrastructure for the cooperative banks which is helping them serve customers better, like intimation over sms or WhatsApp for every transaction. The sector should also leverage technology like the agristack which provides a wealth of anonymized data that allows for a granular view, reduces cost of underwriting, allows for climate-adaptation financing and enables fintechs to build solutions for the rural sector.

NABARD supports the sector through capacity building of microfinance institutions, and is also focussing on enabling entrepreneurship among the youth. The Government is also supporting the sector by encouraging private capital into rural financing as the sector is integral to realizing the Viksit Bharat vision.”

Dr K Paul Thomas, MD & CEO, ESAF Small Finance Bank and Chair, Sa-Dhan said, “Self-regulation in the microfinance sector has been effective, and the sector has prioritized discipline in underwriting over growth. The microfinance loan is for livelihood finance enhancement and diversification, and the average ticket size of loans is increasing towards Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000 earlier. The NCAER study has also shown the impact on the society and local communities from turning borrowers into entrepreneurs. The sector has emerged stronger from the stress of the last two years, major credit for it goes to the frontline employees.”

The Bharat Microfinance Report was also released at the conference. The report draws on data from Credit Information Companies, Micro Lending Institutions, NABARD and other stakeholders to provide a comprehensive view of the sector. 178 Micro Lending Institutions shared their data, which represents more than 98% of micro-lending business in India.

Jiji Mammen, Executive Director & CEO, Sa-Dhan added, “FY2025–26 can be characterised as a period of consolidation and recalibration, with lenders focusing on strengthening portfolio quality, controlling borrower indebtedness, improving collections and restoring sustainable credit growth. The third set of guardrails from industry leaders and SROs, issued in April 2026, have strengthened credit discipline. The sectoral outlook is expected to further improve in the current financial year.”

Zepto Tops LinkedIn’s 2026 India Startup List for Fourth Year, AI and Quick Commerce Drive Momentum

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, today unveiled its 2026 Top Startups India List, an annual ranking of emerging companies where careers can thrive. Based on exclusive LinkedIn data across employment growth, engagement, job interest, and attraction of top talent, the list offers professionals a view of companies gaining momentum and potential opportunities to explore in the country.
Quick-commerce company Zepto retains the #1 spot for the fourth consecutive year, followed by topmate.io (#2) and Matiks (#3). Four of the top five companies are first-time entrants, with 13 new companies making it to this year’s top 20 list, reflecting a changing mix of businesses gaining traction across India’s startup ecosystem.

Quick service and AI cos shape this year’s list

• Snabbit (#6), an on-demand house help service, climbs up from #14 last year.
• Swish (#11) and FirstClub (#16), 10-minute food and grocery delivery platforms, reflect the growing quick economy.
• AI remains a prominent theme, with six of the top 20 startups offering AI services at their core:
  • Sarvam (#9) – foundational models
  • Weekday (YC W21) (#8) – AI-driven hiring
  • Zetheta Algorithms (#5) – investment solutions

Emerging opportunities across content, expertise and education

• topmate.io (#2)
• Figuring Out Media & Education (#4)
• Bhanzu (#18)

Professional networks can help turn interest into opportunity

LinkedIn’s latest data shows:

• 94% of professionals at companies with 10-49 employees say their professional network is important in navigating careers.
• 35% say a connection has helped their career.
• 29% have heard about a job or opportunity through their network.

Nirajita Banerjee, LinkedIn Career Expert and Sr. Managing Editor, LinkedIn India News, said: “This year’s list reflects the expanding ambition of India’s startup ecosystem, from the continued evolution of quick commerce to the growing role of AI across businesses. It also highlights emerging opportunities across education-focused and content-led companies. For professionals, understanding what a company is building and the skills it values can help them make more informed career choices. Equally important is building the right professional connections, which can offer valuable insights and open doors to opportunities that may not always be visible.”

Zepto CHRO Sneha Arora: “At Zepto, our biggest talent bet is on people who combine ambition with ownership - those willing to challenge the status quo, solve complex problems and build for scale. In a high-growth startup, the opportunity goes beyond the role itself; we believe the real opportunity lies in learning fast, taking on meaningful challenges and creating impact from day one.”

Snabbit Head of People & Culture Vaibhav Sabhlok: “Snabbit offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to disrupt one of India’s largest consumer categories, empower millions of women, and build a legacy far bigger than ourselves. Extraordinary outcomes demand extraordinary ambition. We move relentlessly fast, challenge conventions, set uncompromising standards, and expect people to take ownership well beyond their roles.”

Full List of 2026 LinkedIn Top Startups India

• Zepto
• topmate.io
• Matiks
• Figuring Out Media & Education
• Zetheta Algorithms Private Limited
• Snabbit
• Emergent
• Weekday (YC W21)
• Sarvam
• PALMONAS
• Swish
• Pronto
• GoodSpace AI
• Lucidity
• Immunoscript Life Science
• FirstClub
• Arrowhead
• Bhanzu
• Scapia
• Akasa Air

Tips to land a job at a LinkedIn Top Startup

• Look for momentum: Follow companies expanding products, entering new markets, or solving growing customer needs.
• Understand the business: Research what the company does, who it serves, and the problems it solves.
• Build relationships: Connect with employees, engage with their work, and ask informed questions.
• Show impact: Demonstrate problem-solving and relevant projects beyond listing qualifications.
• Stay curious and adaptable: Startups evolve quickly; initiative and adaptability stand out.

LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars:

• Employment growth: % headcount increase (minimum 10%).
• Engagement: Non-employee views and follows of company page.
• Job interest: Rate of views and applications to jobs.
• Attraction of top talent: Employees recruited away from LinkedIn Top Companies.

Eligibility

• Independent, privately held
• 30+ full-time employees
• 5 years old or younger
• Headquartered in the country
• Excludes staffing firms, think tanks, VC firms, law firms, consulting, nonprofits, accelerators, government-owned entities
• Not eligible if laid off 10%+ workforce between July 1, 2025 and launch

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn connects professionals globally to make them more productive and successful. Vision: create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 1.2 billion members and offices worldwide.

Circle Raises Rs 25 Crore Led By Nexus Venture Partners, To Build India’s Trusted AI‑Driven Pre‑Owned Marketplace

Circle combines AI-powered verification and logistics to make buying and selling pre-owned goods as easy and trustworthy as buying new.

Circle, a managed customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplace for pre-owned goods, has raised ₹25 crore in seed funding, led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Titan Capital and Raveen Sastry, co-founder of Myntra. Ajith Pai, COO of Delhivery, has also joined the round as an angel.

In just a year since launch, Circle has facilitated about ₹25 crore in pre-owned sales, attracting over 1 million visitors and generating 100,000 listings from Bengaluru alone. On Circle, sellers typically find a buyer within three days, while listings on classifieds can take weeks or even months to sell. Circle is bringing much-needed liquidity and trust to a market that has long lacked both.

India’s pre-owned market isn’t short of buyers or sellers. It’s short of trust.

Millions of Indians already trade through classifieds, neighbourhood groups and informal networks. But unreliable product information, limited verification, logistical hassles and payment risks make transactions difficult. Existing solutions often depend on manual processes that are labour-intensive, difficult to scale and prone to inconsistencies.

Circle combines AI-native technology, human verification and managed fulfilment to run trusted C2C commerce at a lower cost. By reducing manual effort for users, it makes every transaction convenient. And unlike existing resellers, it doesn’t own inventory, so more of the value stays with buyers and sellers.

On Circle, great deals aren’t limited to sale days. Buyers get incredible value simply by choosing pre-owned, from iPhones, PlayStations and cameras to premium office chairs, designer furniture, watches, handbags and sneakers. Every purchase is backed by product verification and the 3-Day Circle Guarantee.

For sellers, Circle makes it easy to turn things they no longer use into money, handling everything from listing to pickup and payout.

“Nearly 40% of our buyers come back within 90 days, and half our sellers list again. That tells us buying and selling pre-owned can become a regular part of people’s lives. India has an incredible amount of value sitting in its homes. We’re building Circle to make it ridiculously easy to unlock that value, and to make pre-owned a natural first choice for millions of Indians,” said Ankit Misra, Co-founder, Circle.

“India’s pre-owned market is large, but selling used goods remains difficult due to costs, trust & scale. Circle has understood this problem deeply and is executing exceptionally well to solve it. We believe they have the potential to fundamentally reshape how India buys and sells pre-owned goods,” said Suvir Sujan, Partner, Nexus Venture Partners.

The new funding will accelerate Circle’s expansion beyond Bengaluru. Circle will invest further in AI-powered pricing, discovery and verification to simplify listing, improve the customer experience and scale efficiently, alongside expanding its Trust Hubs and logistics network.

“Too many Indians have experienced the uncertainty of buying or selling pre-owned goods. At Circle, we’re taking ownership of trust, so buyers and sellers have someone they can count on. That’s why we built dedicated Trust Hubs for verification and fulfilment. Our ambition is to help 100 million Indians buy and sell with confidence on Circle,” said Chirag Kataruka, Co-founder, Circle.

Circle was founded in 2025 by Chirag Kataruka and Ankit Misra, friends for 18 years who have built a startup together before. United by the belief that buying and selling pre-owned in India deserved a complete rethink, they set out to replace uncertainty and hassle with trust and convenience. Both bring experience across consumer marketplaces and technology. Chirag held leadership roles at Mu Sigma and Swvl, where he worked through Swvl’s 2022 Nasdaq listing, while Ankit was a product leader at Jupiter Money and previously founded Chase. At Circle, Ankit drives product, growth and business, while Chirag leads operations, customer experience and strategy.

About Circle

Circle is a Bengaluru-based managed C2C marketplace making pre-owned commerce simple, trustworthy and accessible. Its AI-native platform combines verification, secure payments and logistics so buyers and sellers can transact across categories without Circle owning any inventory.

For more information, visit https://www.justcircleit.com/
Download the app at: https://justcircleit.com/download-app

From One IoT Deployment to a SaaS Product: How to Scale Without Rebuilding for Every Customer

Consider a small software team that has built a cold-chain monitoring system for a logistics operator. Sensors report temperatures from refrigerated warehouses and trucks, while dispatchers receive alerts when conditions put shipments at risk. After months of adjustments, the system runs reliably, the client is satisfied, and five other operators express interest in a similar service.

The team assumes it now has a product to sell. Yet the first prospective customer asks how its contractors will access vehicle data, who will configure new sensors, and whether its own incident procedures can be supported. The requests are reasonable, but answering them means reopening decisions made for the first client. A second deployment is beginning to look almost as labour-intensive as the first.

A successful IoT project is not automatically a SaaS product

An individual IoT deployment is built against a known set of requirements. Devices need to connect reliably, data must reach the right people, and workflows have to match the customer's operations. Meeting those requirements can involve sensible shortcuts: a dedicated integration, manually configured accounts, or rules designed around one team's processes. None of that prevents the project from being a success.

A SaaS product has a different obligation. It must serve organisations that were not involved in its original design without forcing the team to develop, update, and support a separate version for each customer. A founder may see five new contracts as growth; the engineering team may see five separate implementations. The gap between those perspectives can become expensive long before the customer base looks particularly large.

Moving the application to the cloud and charging a subscription will not resolve the problem. Productisation requires deciding which capabilities should be shared, which customer differences can be handled through configuration, and which requests justify individual development. Those decisions shape the roadmap and determine how much additional work comes with every new sale.

For the cold-chain team, the first deployment proves that its software solves a real operational problem. It has yet to establish whether the same value can be delivered repeatedly without turning every customer relationship into another development project.

The second customer exposes the first product decisions

The next logistics operator has a different setup. Some refrigerated vehicles belong to contractors, warehouses use sensors from several manufacturers, and regional managers should only see shipments they are responsible for. Temperature alerts also need to reach different people depending on the cargo, route, and time of day.

The requests themselves are ordinary. The original system, however, may have no way to handle them without code changes. Perhaps device credentials are created manually, access permissions are tied to a fixed organisational structure, or alert rules are embedded in application logic. The first operator never needed anything else, so there was little reason to question those decisions.

The team can accommodate the differences. Engineers add another protocol adapter, adjust permissions, and modify the alerting workflow. But the third customer may bring a different warehouse management system, and the fourth may need separate access for its transport partners. What began as a few reasonable exceptions gradually becomes a collection of customer-specific code, configurations, and deployment procedures.

Those customer-by-customer changes stay with the team after launch. When a bug is fixed or a new feature is released, the team must account for differences between customer environments. Support engineers need to know which configuration or software version each client uses. Even routine changes can require additional testing and coordination.

The warning sign is the amount of engineering involvement required for each new account. If adding a customer means copying an existing deployment and then modifying it until it fits, the company is still largely delivering projects. To change that pattern, the team needs to identify which parts of the system should become reusable product capabilities before those differences multiply.

What should become reusable before the next customer arrives

The first priority is to separate functions that every customer needs from the features that make the product valuable in its particular market. For a cold-chain monitoring service, the differentiating features might include shipment tracking, temperature compliance rules, exception reporting, and integrations with logistics systems. But creating customer accounts, connecting devices, assigning permissions, and maintaining equipment are recurring requirements regardless of the operator.

These common functions should work through established processes rather than being recreated for each deployment. A new customer organisation needs its own users, devices, data, and access boundaries. Equipment should follow a consistent provisioning process, with credentials and ownership recorded from the start. Firmware updates, configuration changes, and troubleshooting also need to work across customer fleets without requiring separate maintenance procedures.

A reusable foundation for multi-tenant device management helps bring these operations into a common model. Customer onboarding, tenant isolation, and device lifecycle management can be handled through established platform capabilities instead of custom implementation work. This is particularly useful when clients have different organisational hierarchies or involve external partners who need restricted access to certain equipment.

Building every one of these capabilities specifically for a new SaaS product is possible, but it also means taking responsibility for developing and maintaining functions that are largely independent of the product's competitive advantage. Starting with prebuilt IoT modules allows a team to concentrate more of its engineering effort on the workflows, integrations, and customer experience that distinguish its service.

Reusability does not mean that every customer must share the same physical infrastructure. Some organisations may need dedicated environments because of security policies, contractual requirements, or operational constraints. What matters is whether those environments can be provisioned, configured, monitored, and updated through a repeatable delivery model.

Keep the product configurable without turning it into custom software

One logistics operator may need alerts based on strict temperature thresholds, while another uses different rules for pharmaceuticals, frozen food, and fresh produce. Their reporting requirements and escalation procedures may differ just as much as their equipment.

Many of these differences belong in configuration rather than application code. Temperature limits, notification recipients, user permissions, and reporting schedules can be defined per customer while the underlying mechanisms remain unchanged. The product supports different operating practices without maintaining a separate implementation for each one.

Other requests call for extensions. If a customer needs to exchange shipment data with a particular transport management system, the team might develop an integration adapter that becomes available to other customers. A new reporting capability could follow the same approach. The initial request comes from one organisation, but the resulting functionality becomes part of a product that serves many.

Some requirements will still justify bespoke development. The important question is whether a requested change belongs in the shared product, can be isolated as an extension, or should remain outside the standard offering. That decision involves more than technical feasibility. The team must consider likely demand, maintenance costs, and the effect on its roadmap.

Configuration itself also needs limits. An application with hundreds of interdependent settings can become nearly as difficult to maintain as multiple custom deployments. The aim is to support meaningful customer differences through a manageable set of options, rather than make every aspect of the software independently adjustable.

Make onboarding, billing and support part of the product model

Reusable software solves only part of the delivery problem. The team also needs a consistent path from a signed contract to a working service.

For the cold-chain platform, that process might involve creating a customer account, assigning administrators, registering equipment, selecting alert templates, and connecting any required external systems. Some steps may still require assistance, particularly where physical devices are involved. A useful test is whether an implementation specialist can onboard the next operator using a documented procedure without developers modifying the application or relying on undocumented workarounds.

AWS makes this distinction explicit in its SaaS design principles, recommending a single, repeatable tenant onboarding process and tenant-aware operations. The same guidance recognises that customers may have different isolation requirements and service expectations without needing entirely separate product versions.

Billing introduces its own operational questions. Subscription plans, service tiers, usage limits, and feature entitlements need to correspond to capabilities the product can actually deliver. If a customer upgrades to more advanced reporting or adds another operating region, the change should ideally be handled through established account and configuration procedures rather than a new development request.

After launch, support engineers need to identify which tenant owns an affected device, inspect its configuration, review relevant events, and distinguish customer-specific problems from platform-wide incidents. Updates should also follow a controlled release process, with enough consistency across deployments to avoid maintaining several incompatible versions.

Each extra onboarding step, support exception, or customer-specific release adds to the cost of serving that customer. Revenue may increase with each new subscription, but profitability depends partly on how much onboarding, support, and maintenance effort accompanies that growth. A product that can accommodate additional customers without continuously expanding its implementation workload has a much stronger basis for sustainable growth.

Product ownership matters more as the customer base grows

As the cold-chain platform attracts more operators, decisions that once seemed purely technical begin to affect what the company can sell. A larger customer may require a dedicated hosting environment. Another may need integration with its fleet management software or support for equipment that the original platform never anticipated. The team needs enough control over its technology to respond without having