Daily Indian Funding Roundup & Key News - 22 September 2026: Definedge Raises INR 22 Crore, Spinny Confidentially Pre-Files IPO, and More

Four Indian startups closed funding rounds on 22 September 2026, led by Pune-based Definedge’s INR 22 crore pre-Series A, while Bengaluru’s Demoverse raised $600,000 in a pre-seed and Protein Pantry and Nuvah secured INR 9 crore and INR 4 crore respectively. The day also saw major corporate and market moves: Spinny confidentially pre-filed IPO documents with SEBI aiming to raise around INR 2,500–3,000 crore, AceVector set an INR 30–32 price band for its INR 420 crore IPO, PhonePe received in‑principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE, and Lavni Ventures closed its second deep‑tech impact fund at INR 200 crore.

"The funds will go towards infrastructure and low-latency execution, scaling its Zone and Opstra trading products, expanding Algostra into a no-code retail algo-trading platform, and advancing Momentify into a wealth creation platform," the company said of Definedge's raise.

Definedge’s INR 22 crore pre-Series A lifts its total funding to INR 30 crore. Co-founded in 2021 by Prashant Shah and Rajesh Badiye, the Pune-based wealth-tech firm operates a suite of more than 14 platforms, including Opstra, Zone, Algostra, Momentify and Gurukul. The company said it is targeting INR 5,000 crore in assets under management (AUM) through Momentify over the next 24 months, up from the INR 1,000 crore milestone it has already crossed, and that its user base has grown 10X over the last 36 months. The round included continued participation from existing backers Nitin Agarwal and D. Prasad, alongside new investors Anant Jain and Sachin Kasera.

In consumer food, Protein Pantry raised INR 9 crore in a seed round led by Sharrp Ventures, with participation from Peercheque, Consumer Collective by Atrium, Indian Silicon Valley Capital and angels including Varun Alagh and Saurabh Munjal. Co‑founded in November 2025 by Disha Bhattacharya and Prashanth Bhushan, the Delhi-based clean‑label frozen food brand will use the capital to "set up and scale a manufacturing unit, along with continued investment in R&D and supply chain." The brand has served more than 30,000 households across D2C and quick commerce channels and plans expansion into six additional quick-commerce cities before year-end.

Demoverse, a Bengaluru startup founded earlier this year by Akshay Mehta, raised $600,000 in a pre-seed led by Lumikai’s Pixels programme, with participation from UAE-based Marlan and angels. "The funds will build out its design community, strengthen its consumer application, and support expansion into the US market," the company said. Demoverse is developing an AI‑powered platform that enables brands to involve consumers directly in product design and co-creation and has run around seven closed trials with brands including Purplle.

Nuvah, a comfort‑engineered heels brand founded by Avni Jain in October 2025, closed an INR 4 crore pre‑seed angel round backed by Amit Jain (CarDekho), Shantanu Deshpande (Bombay Shaving Company) and Ishendra Agarwal (GIVA). The funds are earmarked for R&D, its proprietary SteadyForm footbed technology—which went through 24 prototypes and more than 900 hours of wear testing—and customer acquisition ahead of a festive collection timed for Navratri.

Market and corporate developments

• Spinny has confidentially pre-filed draft IPO papers with SEBI targeting a 2027 listing and plans to work with Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup; it has appointed Akhil Gupta and Geeta Mathur as independent directors.
• AceVector set an IPO price band of INR 30–32 per share for a combined fresh issue and offer for sale totaling INR 420 crore; SoftBank’s Starfish I Pte Ltd may sell up to 2.76 crore shares via OFS.
• PhonePe received in‑principle Central Bank of the UAE approvals for Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes and Stored Value Facilities and will pursue final regulatory clearance to operate in the UAE.
• Lavni Ventures closed Fund II at its INR 200 crore target, deploying INR 2–6 crore per seed and INR 8–15 crore for follow‑ons, with initial investments in Padcare Labs, Monitra Healthcare and Vidcare.

Outlook: Definedge’s push to scale low-latency execution and no-code retail algo-trading via Algostra positions the company to pursue its INR 5,000 crore AUM target; Demoverse’s US expansion and community build will test demand for AI-enabled consumer co‑creation tools; and the IPO activity from Spinny and AceVector signals continued momentum in Indian tech listings as firms ready for public markets into 2027.