Top 5 tech and startup stories of the day
BigBasket's longtime leader Hari Menon has stepped down as CEO. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ SpaceX goes AI shopping
■ Indian VCs eye US AI startups
■ India's Telegram restrictions
BigBasket CEO Hari Menon steps down; Amazon veteran Amit Nanda takes over
(L-R) BigBasket founder Hari Menon and CEO Amit Nanda
BigBasket cofounder Hari Menon has stepped down as chief executive of the Tata Digital-owned online grocery platform, the company said on Tuesday.
Hot seat: Amazon veteran Amit Nanda, currently director of selling partner services, has been named the new CEO. Menon and fellow cofounder Vipul Parekh will remain on the BigBasket board, while Nanda leads the company’s next phase of growth, with a mandate to sharpen its quick commerce play and drive innovation across the business.
ET had reported in September 2025 that Menon was preparing to hand over the reins as his five-year tenure neared completion.
Background:
Yes, but: In an interview with ET in April, Tata Digital chief executive Sajith Sivanandan said BigBasket was beginning to claw back lost market share.
Industry executives say BigBasket’s rapid delivery service, BB Now, currently runs around 500 dark stores and fulfils roughly 450,000-500,000 orders a day.
Our capital raise is large for India but quite small in global context: Sarvam's Vivek Raghavan
(L-R) Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, cofounders, Sarvam
In an interview with ET following Sarvam’s unicorn funding round, cofounder Vivek Raghavan said the company will use the capital to build compute infrastructure, train and fine-tune models, scale inference, and build software layers for enterprise and government customers.
Edited excerpts:
On AI costs: The capital we’ve raised is very large in the Indian context, but still quite small globally. We will have to remain capital-efficient in how we do things. At the same time, we also need significantly more capital to develop frontier capabilities.
On scale: Over the last few months, we have more than tripled the number of people calling our APIs. Last month, we saw more than 300 million API calls. Similarly, in conversational AI, we are averaging more than 2 million calls a day with many different businesses across Indian languages.
China's DeepSeek closes record $7 billion-plus funding with unusual deal structure: Report
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has secured more than $7.4 billion in its first fundraising round, valuing the company at over $50 billion, The Information reported.
Tell me more: To preserve founder control, investors were asked to put their money into a limited partnership managed by DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng, rather than invest directly in the company.
SpaceX to acquire AI coding company Cursor for $60 billion
Elon Musk, founder, SpaceX
Days after its market debut, Elon Musk's SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in a deal valued at $60 billion.
Deal details:
The acquisition could bolster xAI's position in the AI coding market, where it trails larger rivals. Cursor is expected to gain access to far greater computing power to train and deploy its AI models.
Musk's Starlink may face curbs on satellite data routing in India
India is unlikely to permit interlinked satellites for internet services, a move that could complicate Starlink’s launch plans in the country.
What’s the news: “The laser inter-satellite link (LISL) tech allows the new-generation Starlink satellites to beam data directly to one another in space, forming a mesh network above Earth, creating a unique security challenge,” sources told us.
This setup could lead to Indian data being routed through hostile jurisdictions or surveillance hubs before reaching its destination. The issue has been raised with satcom firms, including Starlink, and safeguards are being worked out to prevent this, they added.
Threat potential: SpaceX-owned Starlink has been engaging with Indian authorities to allay national security concerns and has also demonstrated its technology to security agencies last year.
The interlinked satellite system is controlled by SpaceX in the US, allowing the company to remotely switch connectivity on and off—another point of concern for the government, according to sources.
Indian VCs turn to US AI startups in search of bigger returns
Indian venture capital firms such as Peak XV Partners, NuVentures, DeVC and Activate are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence (AI) startups founded by non-Indians, attracted by the prospect of higher returns and deeper enterprise relationships, some investors told ET.
Driving the news:
Venk Krishnan, cofounder of NuWare and NuVentures, told ET that the company is evaluating three US-based startups across AI, robotics, and the agentic space.
Context: While momentum is building, breaking into the US market remains challenging for Indian investors due to the presence of marquee global funds. “Companies we are speaking to in the US have come from our customers’ referrals. We also need to take more risks than our US counterparts to have a right to win,” Krishnan said.
Also Read: VCs double down on high-growth bets as select startups ratchet up steep valuations Telegram blocked in India until June 22
The National Testing Agency (NTA) said access to the messaging app Telegram has been temporarily restricted in India, and its message-editing feature has been disabled after the platform was allegedly used to circulate false claims about a NEET paper leak.
Driving the news: The curbs have come ahead of the NEET UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
According to NTA, the steps are aimed at curbing the spread of fabricated “paper leak” evidence and maintaining public order.
Tell me more: The agency said the question paper remains secure and has not been compromised outside the official examination process. It urged candidates to rely on official communication and report suspected fraud through the national cybercrime helpline or portal.
Also in the letter:
■ SpaceX goes AI shopping
■ Indian VCs eye US AI startups
■ India's Telegram restrictions
BigBasket CEO Hari Menon steps down; Amazon veteran Amit Nanda takes over
BigBasket cofounder Hari Menon has stepped down as chief executive of the Tata Digital-owned online grocery platform, the company said on Tuesday.
Hot seat: Amazon veteran Amit Nanda, currently director of selling partner services, has been named the new CEO. Menon and fellow cofounder Vipul Parekh will remain on the BigBasket board, while Nanda leads the company’s next phase of growth, with a mandate to sharpen its quick commerce play and drive innovation across the business.
ET had reported in September 2025 that Menon was preparing to hand over the reins as his five-year tenure neared completion.
Background:
- Tata Group took control of BigBasket in 2021 after acquiring Alibaba's stake – then its largest shareholder – in a deal that valued the company at $1.5-2 billion.
- The company, initially cautious, fully pivoted to quick commerce in August 2024.
- But it later lost ground to faster-growing rivals in the segment, with its turnover slipping in FY25.
Yes, but: In an interview with ET in April, Tata Digital chief executive Sajith Sivanandan said BigBasket was beginning to claw back lost market share.
Industry executives say BigBasket’s rapid delivery service, BB Now, currently runs around 500 dark stores and fulfils roughly 450,000-500,000 orders a day.
Our capital raise is large for India but quite small in global context: Sarvam's Vivek Raghavan
In an interview with ET following Sarvam’s unicorn funding round, cofounder Vivek Raghavan said the company will use the capital to build compute infrastructure, train and fine-tune models, scale inference, and build software layers for enterprise and government customers.
Edited excerpts:
On AI costs: The capital we’ve raised is very large in the Indian context, but still quite small globally. We will have to remain capital-efficient in how we do things. At the same time, we also need significantly more capital to develop frontier capabilities.
On scale: Over the last few months, we have more than tripled the number of people calling our APIs. Last month, we saw more than 300 million API calls. Similarly, in conversational AI, we are averaging more than 2 million calls a day with many different businesses across Indian languages.
China's DeepSeek closes record $7 billion-plus funding with unusual deal structure: Report
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has secured more than $7.4 billion in its first fundraising round, valuing the company at over $50 billion, The Information reported.
Tell me more: To preserve founder control, investors were asked to put their money into a limited partnership managed by DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng, rather than invest directly in the company.
Days after its market debut, Elon Musk's SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in a deal valued at $60 billion.
Deal details:
- SpaceX expects to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2026.
- The company had been exploring a deal with Cursor for several months.
- In April, SpaceX secured an option to buy the startup for $60 billion or pay $10 billion to deepen its partnership instead.
The acquisition could bolster xAI's position in the AI coding market, where it trails larger rivals. Cursor is expected to gain access to far greater computing power to train and deploy its AI models.
India is unlikely to permit interlinked satellites for internet services, a move that could complicate Starlink’s launch plans in the country.
What’s the news: “The laser inter-satellite link (LISL) tech allows the new-generation Starlink satellites to beam data directly to one another in space, forming a mesh network above Earth, creating a unique security challenge,” sources told us.
This setup could lead to Indian data being routed through hostile jurisdictions or surveillance hubs before reaching its destination. The issue has been raised with satcom firms, including Starlink, and safeguards are being worked out to prevent this, they added.
Threat potential: SpaceX-owned Starlink has been engaging with Indian authorities to allay national security concerns and has also demonstrated its technology to security agencies last year.
The interlinked satellite system is controlled by SpaceX in the US, allowing the company to remotely switch connectivity on and off—another point of concern for the government, according to sources.
Indian VCs turn to US AI startups in search of bigger returns
Indian venture capital firms such as Peak XV Partners, NuVentures, DeVC and Activate are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence (AI) startups founded by non-Indians, attracted by the prospect of higher returns and deeper enterprise relationships, some investors told ET.
Driving the news:
- In 2025, Peak XV Partners invested in more than 10 US-based AI startups, including backend platform Supabase and AI analytics company PostHog, both founded by non-Indians.
- Activate, an AI-focused early-stage fund, has backed ElevenLabs.
- DeVC invested in six US companies last year, along with Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures. Among them is Answers.ai, founded by Zhou Li.
Venk Krishnan, cofounder of NuWare and NuVentures, told ET that the company is evaluating three US-based startups across AI, robotics, and the agentic space.
Context: While momentum is building, breaking into the US market remains challenging for Indian investors due to the presence of marquee global funds. “Companies we are speaking to in the US have come from our customers’ referrals. We also need to take more risks than our US counterparts to have a right to win,” Krishnan said.
Also Read: VCs double down on high-growth bets as select startups ratchet up steep valuations Telegram blocked in India until June 22
The National Testing Agency (NTA) said access to the messaging app Telegram has been temporarily restricted in India, and its message-editing feature has been disabled after the platform was allegedly used to circulate false claims about a NEET paper leak.
Driving the news: The curbs have come ahead of the NEET UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
- Access to Telegram will remain blocked until June 22.
- The ban on editing messages will stay in place until June 30.
According to NTA, the steps are aimed at curbing the spread of fabricated “paper leak” evidence and maintaining public order.
Tell me more: The agency said the question paper remains secure and has not been compromised outside the official examination process. It urged candidates to rely on official communication and report suspected fraud through the national cybercrime helpline or portal.
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