Welcome to the Backstage with Millionaires weekly Indian startup news show, hosted by Caleb Friesen. This channel is part of Zerodha’s Zero1 Network. This week, Elon Musk’s Starlink receives government approval to launch in India, Sarvam AI unveils Bulbul V2 to challenge ElevenLabs with ultra-fast, multilingual TTS, the IndiaAI Mission adds 15,000 more GPUs for model training, Evera Cabs takes over BluSmart’s EV fleet, Ather Energy lists on the stock market, Pristyn Care opens five hospitals in NCR, and Indian startups raise $158 million.
00:00 - Is Starlink Finally Coming to India?
02:24 - Sarvam AI Launches Bulbul V2
04:34 - Next Steps for IndiaAI Mission
05:35 - BluSmart Update
06:56 - Quick News
07:26 - Indian Startup Funding News
Is Starlink Finally Coming to India?
Elon Musk’s Starlink has received a Letter of Intent from the Government of India, clearing the path to launch satellite internet services. This follows nearly three years of regulatory delays. Starlink agreed to strict data security rules from the Department of Telecommunications: all user data must remain in India, with no foreign routing or international gateways. Starlink must also track mobile terminal locations and prevent foreign facility access. After lobbying for administrative spectrum allocation—opposed by Reliance Jio, which wanted auctions—Starlink prevailed. Interestingly, Starlink has now signed partnerships with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to offer services via their platforms. Starlink may also become the first in India to offer mobile satellite internet, not just fixed connections. Final steps include spectrum assignment and IN-SPACe clearance.
Sarvam AI Launches Bulbul V2
Sarvam AI has launched Bulbul V2, positioning itself as a direct competitor to ElevenLabs in India’s text-to-speech space. Supporting 11 Indian languages with native accents, Bulbul V2 addresses the robotic tone of existing models. Sarvam AI claims Bulbul V2 has a P90 latency of 0.398 seconds—less than half the time of ElevenLabs—and costs only ₹15 per 10,000 characters, making it five times cheaper. Sarvam AI also enables creators and brands to build custom voice identities and is planning English-to-Indian language dubbing. The launch expands on Bulbul’s first version with new languages like Bangla, Odia, and Punjabi, plus features like code-mixing. Sarvam AI is part of the IndiaAI initiative to build India’s first homegrown LLM for speech, reasoning, and secure deployment.
Next Steps for IndiaAI Mission
The IndiaAI Mission is expanding GPU infrastructure to train advanced AI systems. Seven companies—Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, Sify Digital, Netmagic, Yotta, Locuz, and Ishan Infotech—have been shortlisted to supply GPUs in a new procurement round. These firms will present technical proposals on May 14. This adds 15,000 GPUs to the 14,500 acquired in April, bringing the total to over 29,000 GPUs. These chips will power initiatives like Sarvam AI’s language models. The IndiaAI Mission has a ₹10,372 crore budget to build self-reliant AI infrastructure over five years.
BluSmart Update
With BluSmart shutting down operations in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai due to issues tied to Gensol Engineering, Evera Cabs has stepped in. Operated by Prakriti Mobility, Evera Cabs is taking over BluSmart’s 500 EV fleet—220 vehicles are already under Evera Cabs, with the rest coming soon. Evera Cabs is now expanding from operating only at Delhi’s Terminal 3 to covering all airport terminals. About 150 former BluSmart drivers have resumed work with Evera Cabs, but others are still without jobs or salaries. Some have protested at Jantar Mantar demanding regulatory protections.
Quick News
Pristyn Care has launched five hospitals across NCR in just 75 days and plans to expand to Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Ather Energy listed on May 6, debuting at a 1.57% premium on the BSE and 2.18% on the NSE.
Indian Startup Funding News
Indian startups raised $158 million this week. Bengaluru-based Routematic raised $40 million in Series C for its AI-powered employee transport platform. Flipspaces, based in Mumbai, raised $35 million for its VR design platform VIZWORLD. Thane-based InspeCity raised $5.6 million in seed funding to develop VEDA, a platform that uses robotics to service or deorbit aging satellites. Bengaluru startup Alt DRX raised ₹23 crore ($2.7 million) to fractionalize real estate into blockchain-tradable units. Gurugram-based KorinMi raised ₹3 crore ($360,000) in pre-seed funding to bring Korean skincare solutions tailored for Indian skin.
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