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New Delhi/Gurugram - Influencer-driven commerce platform Wishlink has successfully raised $17.5 million in a Series B funding round spearheaded by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. The fresh capital will help the startup intensify its growth in the booming creator-to-commerce segment, strengthening tech capabilities and extending partnerships across creators and brands.Incepted in 2022 by founders Shaurya Gupta, Divyansh Ameta, and Chandan Yadav, the Gurugram-based company bridges creator recommendations with direct product discovery and purchasing across major e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Meesho and Shopsy. Wishlink’s platform empowers creators to monetize their content by connecting audiences with shoppable links and personalised storefronts, accelerating commerce driven by social influence.Funding Details - The Series B round was led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, with continued backing from existing investors Fundamentum Partnership and Elevation Capital. This investment follows Wishlink’s earlier $7 million Series A in February 2024 and a $3 million seed round in October 2022, taking the company’s total funding to about $27.5 million to date. The funds will be channelled to scale its creator and brand network, enhance technology that streamlines shopping experiences, and bolster analytics and monetisation tools for stakeholders across the platform.What This Means for the Market Wishlink currently supports over 40,000 monthly active creators generating content that drives more than 6 million orders per month, resulting in over ₹350 crore in monthly sales for partner brands and marketplaces. The company’s creator base spans micro-influencers to macro creators, pushing the frontier of influencer-led commerce in India and beyond.Executive Insight “Consumer buying behaviour is shifting meaningfully toward influencer-led discovery and purchase. Wishlink is uniquely positioned to capture this accelerating trend with its technology-enabled platform,” said Nikhil Marwaha, Partner, Investment at Vertex Ventures SEA & India.

At least a dozen direct investors in OpenAI were announced as backers in Anthropic’s $30 billion raise earlier this month, including Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.  https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/23/with-ai-investor-loyalty-is-almost-dead-at-least-a-dozen-openai-vcs-now-also-back-anthropic/

Finland-based IQM Quantum Computers, a leading developer of full-stack superconducting quantum computing systems, has agreed to go public in the United States through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (RAAQ) a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).The planned transaction will see IQM list American Depositary Shares on a major U.S. exchange and potentially pursue a dual listing on the Helsinki stock exchange. The deal values the company at approximately $1.8 billion pre-money as it aims to accelerate commercialisation of its quantum technology.The merger agreement outlines that IQM will receive significant funding as part of the business combination, expected to provide more than $450 million in cash at closing through a combination of trust proceeds, a concurrent private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing, warrant exercises, and existing cash reserves.The proceeds will support continued development toward fault-tolerant quantum computing and enable broader deployment of IQM’s vertically integrated quantum systems hardware and software that can be deployed on-premise or via the cloud.IQM has built a unique business model that spans its own chip design tools, quantum processor manufacturing, assembly, and data centre infrastructure positioning it as a key player in Europe’s quantum technology landscape.The company’s systems have been delivered to research institutions and enterprise customers, and it plans to use the SPAC merger capital to further strengthen its technology roadmap and commercial reach.Founded in 2018, IQM is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and is recognised for advancing quantum computing technologies with high-fidelity superconducting processors and integrated software toolchains.

The ePlane Company, a Chennai-based electric aircraft startup developing AI-enabled vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, is planning to raise between $40 million and $50 million in a Series C funding round to accelerate aircraft development, boost engineering capabilities, and support certification processes as it advances toward commercial operations.The funding round is expected to be co-led by Speciale Invest, a deeptech venture firm, and may include a mix of equity and convertible instruments that provide flexibility for both investors and the company.To date, The ePlane Company has already raised around $20 million from Speciale Invest and other backers, and the new capital infusion is intended to support continued development of its two-seater electric aircraft, enhance R&D with advanced digital simulation tools, strengthen the engineering team, and move closer to regulatory compliance and large-scale manufacturing.Founded in 2019 by Satya Chakravarthy, the firm is building AI-driven electric flying vehicles designed for both passenger and cargo services, including planned applications such as air taxis and air ambulances.The aircraft features vertical take-off and landing capability with a range of about 200 km, aiming to transform urban mobility and emergency services.The company recently signed a deal worth over $1 billion to supply 788 eVTOL air ambulances, further validating its technology and market potential as the electric aviation sector gains momentum globally.The ePlane Company is headquartered in Chennai, India, where it continues to lead development of electric aircraft solutions and position itself within the emerging urban air mobility landscape.

Pepper, the New York-based end-to-end technology platform for independent food distributors, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series C funding round aimed at accelerating product innovation, enhancing AI-enabled capabilities, expanding ERP integrations, and scaling go-to-market initiatives across the food distribution industry.The round was led by Lead Edge Capital, a growth equity investor, and included participation from existing backers such as ICONIQ Capital, Index Ventures, Greylock, Harmony Partners, and Interplay, underscoring continued confidence in Pepper’s unified platform for ordering, sales, marketing, accounts receivable, and embedded payments workflows.Pepper’s suite of solutions integrates with more than 70 ERP systems to help over 500 distributors representing around $30 billion in annual gross merchandise volume modernise legacy systems and automate critical operational workflows with AI-driven insights and productivity tools. The platform now supports more than 100,000 active operators nationwide.The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its product modules, deepen artificial intelligence and data innovation, strengthen ERP ecosystem integrations, and invest in customer success and market expansion efforts to bring next-generation distribution technology to more independent food businesses.Pepper is headquartered in New York City, United States, where it continues to build technology that bridges digital transformation and operational efficiency for one of the largest yet historically fragmented markets.

Stacks, the London-headquartered fintech and agentic AI platform for enterprise finance teams, has successfully raised $23 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate product development, expand its global footprint, and deepen integrations across financial workflows. The round highlights strong investor confidence in Stacks’ mission to automate manual and complex financial operations such as reconciliations, journal entries, and month-end close tasks for large enterprises.The Series A round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with continued support from EQT Ventures, General Catalyst, and S16VC, underscoring broad backing from top-tier investors in fintech and enterprise AI infrastructure.Stacks’ agentic AI platform unifies fragmented financial data from ERPs, spreadsheets, and data lakes into a consistent, AI-ready layer, enabling finance teams to significantly reduce cycle times and focus on strategic analysis rather than repetitive manual work. Built around predictive intelligence and automation, the platform is trusted by more than 30 enterprise customers across the US, UK, and Europe, helping teams automate core accounting workflows and generate actionable business insights.Stacks is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, where it continues to innovate at the intersection of AI, finance operations, and enterprise automation.