Homegrown sneaker brand Gully Labs, AI-native career acceleration platform MU20, defence drone technology startup insideFPV, social networking platform Culture, and vinyl-themed microbrewery 33&Brew have raised early-stage funding in separate rounds.
Gully Labs, a homegrown sneaker brand, has raised Rs 30 crore ($3.3 million) in a Series A funding round led by Saama Capital, with participation from existing investor Zeropearl VC.
Zeropearl, which led the company’s seed round in early 2025, has invested beyond its pro-rata allocation.
The round also saw participation from founders and angel investors across consumer and technology sectors, including Mokobara’s co-founder Sangeet Agrawal, Veeba founder Viraj Bahl, Unacademy co-founders Roman Saini and Gaurav Munjal, Genesis Luxury founder Sanjay Kapoor, and Edelweiss Mutual Fund MD and CEO Radhika Gupta.
Founded in 2023 by Arjun Singh and Animesh Mishra, Gully Labs designs premium sneakers inspired by regional Indian art forms and contemporary culture.
The fresh capital will be used to expand the company’s product portfolio, scale its offline retail presence across key Indian markets, and strengthen brand visibility in international markets such as the US and the UK.
Since its seed round, the company has reached Rs 30 crore in annualized revenue, built an offline footprint across five Indian cities, and established early traction overseas.
Gully Labs is now targeting Rs 100 crore in annualized revenue by FY27.
MU20
MU20, an AI-native career acceleration platform for school students, has raised about $500,000 in pre-seed funding from education entrepreneur Aakash Chaudhry and ISB DLabs at the Indian School of Business.
The Hyderabad-based startup works with students aged 13-18, helping them discover and build career pathways before college.
The fresh capital will be used to strengthen its AI-driven career engine, enhance personalized recommendations, and scale pilot programmes across partner schools.
Founded by Tejas K Jain and Madhur Oza, with guidance from Sumer B Singh, MU20 combines an AI mentor, university-backed clubs, and in-school career incubation labs.
The platform has worked with more than 300 schools and reached tens of thousands of students through summits, challenges, and experiential programmes, and is now focused on building a scalable product at ISB DLabs.
Venture capital firm GVFL has led a Rs 6 crore pre-Series A funding round in Ahmedabad-based defence drone technology startup insideFPV.
The capital will be used to accelerate product development and capability building, including strengthening core engineering, improving manufacturing readiness, and advancing defence-grade drone platforms designed for real battlefield conditions.
Founded in 2020 after the Galwan clash, insideFPV FPV, kamikaze, surveillance, and interceptor drones, with an emphasis on reliability in extreme environments.
The fresh funding will also support capacity expansion, testing and validation, and deployment support, including operator training and rapid repair capabilities. The company plans to scale production over the next year and position itself as a globally recognized Indian defence drone manufacturer over the next three-five years.
Culture
Hyderabad-based ART Pvt Ltd, which operates Culture, a social networking platform, has raised Rs 2 crore in seed funding from Acuvest Infra.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand community initiatives, and strengthen the platform’s safety-focused infrastructure as it scales early adoption across India.
The fresh capital will also support the rollout of creator-led Spaces, a feature that enables creators and community leaders to host live discussions, events, and hybrid online-offline experiences.
Culture plans to grow through college activations, partnerships with cafés and breweries, and creator collaborations, while preparing for a broader rollout across major Indian cities.
Over the longer term, the company aims to introduce premium subscriptions, creator monetization tools, and interest-aligned advertising as it works toward building a more trusted, conversation-driven social network.
33&Brew
Optimistic Capital India has launched a Rs 200 crore beer-focused fund and announced its maiden investment in 33&Brew, a vinyl-themed microbrewery. The fund has already deployed Rs 30 crore and plans to invest the remaining Rs 170 crore over the next three years as it looks to back premium microbrewery concepts across key urban markets.
As part of its strategy, Optimistic Capital plans to invest in two more microbreweries in Bengaluru, partnering with MasterChef winners and global brewers. The fund aims to support the next phase of India’s craft beer ecosystem by backing differentiated brands, strengthening operational capabilities, and helping scale high-quality brewing concepts.
