Raghu Yarlagadda

From our PearX S25 cohort, meet Pravāh, the AI-native operating system for the electric grid When Mohak Mangal, Dhruv Suri, and Aman Gupta looked at the strain on the U.S. electric grid, they saw a system pushed to its limits. Exploding demand and unpredictable supply have made blackouts increasingly common. This costs the economy more than $150B a year, a number that could 10x in the next five years. Mohak Mangal and team founded Pravāh to help fix it. Their platform helps utilities and grid operators make real-time decisions on load, generation, and congestion, reducing blackout risks, optimizing power procurement, and bringing much-needed stability to the backbone of modern life. We’re proud to support the Pravāh team as they take on one of the toughest and most important infrastructure challenges of our time.

804

23 Comments

Moonrider.ai founded by Anoop Srikantaswamy and Ravi Kulkarni Raises US $6 Million Seed/Series A — Powering India’s EV-Tractor Revolution pi Ventures has led a US $6 million funding round for Moonrider, with participation from Singularity AMC and existing backers. 🚀 What’s significant: ~Moonrider — a Bengaluru-based EV-tractor startup — builds heavy-duty electric tractors with the goal of offering diesel-tractor performance but with dramatic savings on operating costs. ~The fresh capital will help transition from pilots to full commercial roll-out: refining powertrain and battery technology, preparing 27 HP / 50 HP / 75 HP models for market launch, and scaling manufacturing readiness. ~In a market where Indian agriculture sells nearly 1 million diesel tractors annually, price-parity + lower running cost EV tractors can reshape farm economics — reducing fuel dependency and enhancing sustainability. 🧭 How Alacrity EXTN LLP can add value for EV- & deep-tech-manufacturing ventures like Moonrider ✅ Financial Modelling & Capital Planning — We help structure cash-flow models to align manufacturing cap-ex, R&D burn, production ramp-up and cash-flow runway — critical for asset-heavy startups gearing for scale. ✅ Deal & Funding Strategy — Advising on investor mix, terms, milestones and tranche structuring so that growth capital supports execution — not just product ambitions. ✅ Investor-Ready Documentation & Pitch Materials — Crafting clear investment memos, financial forecasts, unit-economics breakdowns (CAPEX, OPEX, price-parity analysis), and risk disclosures — helping firms present a credible, investable story. 🎯 Takeaway The EV-tractor segment is emerging as one of the most interesting intersections of deep tech, sustainability, manufacturing and rural transformation. As production scales and EV-tractors begin replacing diesel tractors en-masse, the rural economy will likely see gains in profitability, emissions reduction and operational efficiency. For founders and investors in this space: success will come to those who combine engineering excellence, capital discipline and strategic clarity. #EV #AgriTech #ElectricVehicles #StartupFunding #DeepTech #Manufacturing #SustainableFarming #SeriesA #ClimateTech #StrategicAdvisory #AlacrityEXTN

3

The India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA), was announced yesterday by Celesta Capital's Sriram Viswanathan at the opening session of Semicon India in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, MEITy Secretary S Krishnan, and other government and business leaders. The synergies of talent in the U.S.-India corridor, combined with appropriate financing and expertise, can create globally successful enterprises from India. https://lnkd.in/g6NjdRrH

132

17 Comments

What a joy to speak with this brilliant cohort of innovators in the The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) ENTICE (Energy Transitions Innovation Challenge) 2.0 program and taking on their sharp questions at the investor bootcamp. 80% of global GHG emission reduction goals for 2050 can be met through energy system decarbonization, efficiency and electrification. This represents a US $100 trillion opportunity according to the IEA.     A stronger, more stable grid is at the heart of building a #resilient #energy future. This year’s program challenges innovators to tackle:  1) Behind-the-meter digital twins: #AI tools to analyse consumption and create appliance-level insights  2) Industrial flexibility at scale: AI solutions using smart meter data to identify flexible assets and operational inefficiencies    Kudos to the entrepreneurs and the GEAPP team for curating and executing such a thoughtful program.     Looking forward to seeing how these #innovations scale #impact.  Synapses Dalberg Media Vaishali (Vish) Mishra Anukul Tripathi (He/Him) Jayant Sinha Saurabh Kumar

57

Cloaked has raised a $375M Series B led by General Catalyst with participation from HUMAN CAPITAL and Lux Capital. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work alongside Arjun Bhatnagar, Abhijay Bhatnagar, and the team at Cloaked to fight against surveillance, spam, & identity theft.

60

1 Comment

Emergent just raised $70M from SoftBank + Khosla — less than four months after its last round — and is now at $50M ARR, 5M users, and live in 190+ countries… What’s most interesting to me isn’t just the speed or the valuation pop. It’s who is using it. Non-technical founders. Small business owners. Even seniors. All “vibe-coding” real products into existence without engineering teams. This is what it looks like when AI raises the floor AND lowers the ceiling. Proud that VSC gets to help take this story to the mainstream. 🚀

2

India just committed $1.1B to a state-backed AI venture fund. Blackstone took a majority stake in an AI compute startup for $600M. Every major AI CEO is in Delhi this week. Everyone's racing to own AI infrastructure. But most are buying the wrong layer. GPUs and compute are first-order infrastructure. Necessary, but commoditizing fast. The second-order infrastructure — the layer that controls how AI actually touches customers, enforces compliance, and compounds data — that's where durable value lives. Compute is the highway. We're building the toll booths. While $2B+ flows into GPU farms this week, the real moat is being built quietly: AI systems that own the customer engagement layer for entire industries. Which layer of AI infrastructure are you betting on? #SecondOrderThinking https://lnkd.in/esPXVG8P

7

It's been quite amazing to see Shaurya Gupta, Chandan Yadav, Divyansh Ameta and team Wishlink create an entirely new category of creator commerce in India. They're building the rails that help brands grow through social platforms like Instagram, while giving creators a convenient way to monetize their audiences. Historically only large brands had access to creators and only large creators had the ability to monetize well. Wishlink is democratising this in a purely performance driven manner, which makes it win-win. Fortunate to be part of this journey since the seed round and really excited to triple down in this round. Welcome aboard Ben Mathias Nikhil Marwaha! Ashish Kumar Sanjeev Aggarwal Vaibhav Chowdhury Elevation Capital

67

2 Comments

The Circle GTM Studio specializes in helping global startups soft-land in India. A structured accelerator designed to help growth-stage founders localize for India, run pilots, acquire early customers, and prepare for fundraising — backed by deep ecosystem access and real-world insights from founders who’ve successfully navigated the Indian market. If India is on your roadmap, this is where you begin. #thecircle #acceleratorprogram #startups #growth

19

1 Comment