How Karnataka is Building India’s Quantum Future? – Indian Startups News 278

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00:00 Karnataka’s Quantum City
04:31 D2C Founders Meetup
05:24 RMG Ban After Effects
06:54 Licious shuts down Uncrave
07:15 OpenAi-Reliance Deal
07:39 OYO’s Name Change
07:57 Funding News

Karnataka’s Quantum City

Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, is aiming to become a global leader in quantum technology with an ambitious plan to build a “Quantum City.” The goal is to create a $20 billion quantum economy by 2035, transforming Bengaluru from India’s IT capital into Asia’s quantum capital. This initiative aims to leapfrog India into the next frontier of computing, which uses qubits to process information at an unprecedented speed. For example, a task like drug discovery that could take a supercomputer months could be completed in just hours by a quantum machine.

Karnataka’s Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, has laid out a detailed strategy to make this a reality. The plan begins with education, as the government will introduce quantum learning in schools, launch skill development programs in over 20 colleges, and provide 150 PhD fellowships annually to cultivate a generation of quantum-ready scientists. The state plans to develop a 1,000-qubit processor and pilot its applications in key sectors like healthcare, agriculture, defense, and cybersecurity. The Quantum City will feature India’s first Quantum Hardware Park, four innovation zones, and a dedicated manufacturing facility (FabLine) for quantum components. To support the ecosystem, a Quantum Venture Capital Fund will be established to back over 100 startups and support more than 100 patents. The project is expected to create 200,000 jobs, including 10,000 high-skilled positions. To attract global talent and investment, Bengaluru will also host an annual conclave for Nobel laureates and scientists, and a new international task force will focus on securing global partnerships.

RMG Ban After Effects

India’s recent ban on real-money gaming has devastated the industry, an estimated $23 billion market with over 400 million users. Major companies like MPL and Games24x7 laid off hundreds of employees, with MPL’s revenue plummeting by over 50%. Dream11’s co-founder stated the ban wiped out 95% of its revenue and 100% of profits, forcing them to pivot to free games, sports streaming, and fintech. Similarly, Zupee laid off 170 staff and is now shifting to creating short video content to survive.

Quick Updates
Licious has shut down its plant-based meat brand UnCrave to focus on profitability ahead of their IPO. The company entered the plant-based meat market in 2022 but struggled to scale due to weak demand. Now Licious says it will double down on its core fresh meat and seafood business as it works toward a profitable listing – which is expected in 2026.

OpenAI is in talks with Reliance Jio to bring its massive $500B “Stargate” AI infrastructure project to India. The plan includes setting up a 1 GW hyperscale data centre, which would be one of the largest in the country. But the deal isn’t final yet and Reliance isn’t the only one OpenAI is talking to – they are also talking to other data centre companies like Yotta Data Services, E2E Networks, CtrlS Datacenters and Sify Technologies

OYO’s parent, Oravel Travels, has rebranded to PRISM – an umbrella corporate entity for all their businesses to reflect their expanded global portfolio and longer term vision. The new name was picked from 6,000+ public submissions in a global naming contest.

Funding News

This week, Indian startups raised $41 million, a significant drop from the previous week. Notable funding rounds included Trufrost & Butler ($7 million) for commercial kitchen equipment, and Hyderabad-based defense startup Indrajaal ($5.5 million) for an AI-powered drone security system. Non-toxic cookware brand Ember raised $3.2 million, while deeptech startup EndureAir, which develops drones for logistics and defense, secured $2.85 million. Finally, Mumbai-based biotech company BioKraft Foods raised $230,000 to produce lab-grown chicken meat.

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