Yotta’s AI Infra Play, BUILT Bags $2 Mn & More

Yotta’s Billion-Dollar Silicon Safari

Yotta Data Services is building one of India’s biggest AI compute reserves. The neocloud giant is undertaking a massive GPU build-out, chasing global clients and gearing up for a potential IPO. So, can Yotta turn its capital-heavy ambition into a durable AI business?

Going All Out: Yotta plans to invest $7 Bn in AI infrastructure by FY27. As part of this, it plans to deploy 40,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs in the next four months, taking its total capacity to about 85,000 chips by FY27-end. However, most of this compute will be diverted to overseas markets. 

The Global Push: Until recently, Yotta devoted nearly 70% of its GPUs to India-based training workloads. Once those projects wrapped up, it began redirecting its compute to international markets, where demand is stronger and pricing is 50% higher. As a result, its customer mix has now swung to 75% international and 25% domestic, with management expecting it to reach 90:10 by year-end.

Financing The Build-Out: To cater to its $7 Bn expansion plans, the neocloud major recently raised $150 Mn at a $3.9 Bn valuation and is also dipping its toes into GPU financing. Under this, it has partnered with US-listed Gorilla, which funds and owns the chips. Meanwhile, Yotta operates the GPUs, which cuts upfront capex and helps secure newer hardware for deployment.

Markets Await: Yotta’s AI push is unfolding just as it is preparing to file its DRHP for a $1.5 Bn public listing. The management cites the company’s multi-billion-dollar enterprise contracts as a key hook to woo public investors.

As Yotta looks to transition into a global neocloud powerhouse, will public investors embrace its capex-heavy play or will caution follow it to the bourses? Let’s find out… 

From The Editor’s Desk

BUILT Bags $2 Mn

• The D2C footwear brand has raised ₹17 Cr in a pre-seed round from Singapore-based VC firm Tanglin Venture Partners to invest in R&D, proprietary tooling, product design and manufacturing capabilities.
• Founded earlier this year, BUILT makes footwear with wider toe boxes, minimal heel drop and greater flexibility to encourage more natural foot movement. It currently claims to have nine footwear SKUs under its belt.
• Going forward, BUILT plans to introduce newer iterations of its existing footwear, launch professional variants and expand into new product categories. It has also set its eyes on international expansion after establishing a stronger presence in India.

Centre Infuses $6 Mn In Dhruva

• The spacetech startup has raised ₹60 Cr from IN-SPACe’s recently commissioned VC fund Antariksh Venture Capital Fund. The investment marks the maiden deployment from the ₹1,600 Cr state-backed spacetech fund.
• The infusion is part of Dhruva Space’s ongoing pre-Series B round. The spacetech startup has so far raised ₹275 Cr during the round, including ₹150 Cr in equity and ₹125 Cr in debt.
• Founded in 2012, Dhruva develops end-to-end space engineering solutions, including building small satellites, ground stations, launch solutions and allied mission support. It currently claims to maintain an order book of ₹500 Cr and has raised $23 Mn so far.

Zee Vs Pirated Content

• The Delhi HC has directed social media platform Meta to take down multiple Facebook URLs, which allegedly unauthorisedly hosted Zee’s content. However, the HC declined to block the Facebook accounts in question at this stage.
• The interim order was passed during the hearing of Zee’s copyright infringement lawsuit against several Facebook profiles. The entertainment giant alleged that users were uploading and monetising its IP content without approval.
• Zee is currently battling multiple copyright infringement lawsuits. Earlier in May, the Delhi HC sent Zee’s copyright dispute with JioStar to mediation. It is also suing Nykaa for allegedly using its copyrighted songs in promotional Reels without permission. 

India Halts Foreign AI Deployment

• A department under the IT ministry has directed central ministries to pause deployment of AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic for cybersecurity and related functions. The directions are not a permanent ban but a caution against premature use.
• The move comes after representatives of the two US-based AI giants approached multiple ministries with proposals to deploy their models. The bid was rejected last week, with the government warning against deploying the LLMs before policy safeguards are ready.
• The episode comes as critics raise concerns that access to advanced AI models remains dependent on US export controls. This was exemplified by Anthropic’s temporary suspension of Mythos 5 and Fable 5 for foreign nationals last month.

FY26 Startup Financial Tracker

• Of the 54 startups that have released their FY26 numbers, 40, or about 74%, stood in the black. Together, these 40 startups generated a net profit of ₹10,765.1 Cr, while the remaining 14 posted a cumulative loss of ₹14,730.3 Cr.
• The 54 new-age tech companies also cumulatively generated ₹2.44 Lakh Cr in operating revenue in the fiscal under review, a sharp 48.7% increase from ₹1.64 Lakh Cr in FY25. 
• The profitability surge comes after a prolonged funding crunch and geopolitical uncertainties, which pushed many startups to rethink their models and focus on unit economics and revenue discipline rather than merely chasing scale.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Ubiqedge Is Making Industrial Infra Smarter

Industrial systems still rely on patchy monitoring and manual control. This slows response times, raises compliance risk and leaves operators blind to issues until they become expensive. Ubiqedge is building a full-stack platform to close this gap with artificial internet of things.

The Full-Stack Model: Founded in 2024, Ubiqedge combines proprietary hardware, KLEON, with its cloud AI layer, SAMASTH. Together, the two layers help enterprises monitor critical assets, analyse data continuously and act before small failures turn into operational disruptions.

Built For Critical Sectors: Ubiqedge claims to have so far deployed its solutions across water management, solar energy, air quality monitoring, construction and industrial operations. In each case, the platform aims to reduce manual intervention, improve uptime and meet strict regulatory requirements without adding complexity.

The startup claims to have so far digitised more than 23,000 borewells across India, and slashed issue-resolution timelines by more than 80%. 

Growing The Stack: Ubiqedge now plans to deepen its AI capabilities, expand into new industrial verticals and grow a wider network of OEM and systems integration partners. Operating in the global industrial IoT market, which is projected to cross $500 bn by 2030, can Ubiqedge become the digital backbone for India’s industrial infrastructure?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s startup funding story is becoming increasingly concentrated—and Bengaluru is leading the charge.

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