India’s Longevity Leap, Lenskart Files RHP, and NCLT Refutes BYJU’S Bid

India’s tech story has finally made enough money to ask a bigger question: what’s all this speed for? Deepinder Goyal’s $25 million personal bet on an open-source longevity collective called Continue Research is the first high-profile answer from an Indian tech titan. It is not a corporate CSR detour or a stealth biotech startup; it’s a founder taking his own cash, ring-fencing it from the listed company, and pointing it at upstream biology where the payoff is knowledge first and commercialisation later, if at all.

The timing is deliberate. Government has just put real fuel behind deep science with a ₹1 lakh-crore Research, Development and Innovation corpus and a broader push to make private capital show up in risky, pre-commercial work. An open, grants-first longevity vehicle slots perfectly into that funnel: small “moonshot” cheques for 6-12 month ideas, larger “deep dives” for 1-3 year validation, all published into the commons so universities, public labs and startups can build on it without negotiating IP mazes.

The symbolism is bigger than the cheque. For a decade, our best founders have won by squeezing friction out of consumption - food orders, 10-minute delivery, payments - where value comes from speed and software. Longevity flips that script. It asks engineers and scientists to hunt “leverage points” in ageing biology, share the data, and accept that the scoreboard is papers, protocols and population health, not GMV. In a country that will see its 60+ population surge past 150 million and keep climbing, shifting even a fraction of elite attention from convenience to healthspan is not vanity; it’s insurance against a future fiscal burden our system can’t carry.

There are obvious objections, and they deserve clear answers. Won’t this distract a public-company CEO? The structure tries to de-risk that: personal capital, separate vehicle, explicit message to public investors that Zomato/Eternal’s P&L isn’t underwriting basic science. The harder critique is philosophical - wealth created by automating away human effort in quick commerce now chasing extra decades of life. That tension is real, but it’s also how most scientific patronage has worked for a century: build cash in the market, spend it on things markets won’t fund.

The global context is instructive. Silicon Valley did this first: Bezos bankrolled Unity/Altos, Page built Calico, Zuckerberg set up CZI. Most of those models are proprietary or institution-heavy; India’s late start lets it choose a lighter, more transparent path. An open protocol for ageing biology, run at India costs, plugged into ANRF and DST programs, can create a public knowledge base that lowers technical risk for later private drug, device or digital health companies. It’s a different kind of “sovereign capability”: not just fabs and labs, but playbooks anyone in the ecosystem can use.

But there are some real risks. $25 million sounds big until you price wet labs, cohorts and clinical work; one ambitious hypothesis can burn half the pool. Open science removes proprietary upside, which may dampen co-funding by classic biotech VCs. Talent is tight: India’s bioeconomy is booming, but frontier geroscience requires statisticians, wet-lab leads, ethical boards and trial operators who can move fast without breaking people.

The project's future rests on its execution: quickly funding research, sharing data, and openly reporting both successes and failures. If they do this, it'll set the standard for Indian deep science. If they don't, it will fail to get more funding and be seen as just a rich person's hobby.

The real bet here isn’t just that humans can live longer. It’s that Indian tech can think longer - about proofs, not PR; about protocols, not promos; about public good, not just private markets. If Continue Research delivers even a handful of reusable insights for ageing biology and proves that open, India-first science can move faster per dollar than the West, it will have paid for itself. The rest of us - investors, founders, policymakers - should treat this as a nudge to build the scaffolding around it: ANRF grants, procurement and clinical pathways for cheap, population-scale interventions, and a talent pipeline that sees bioscience as the next great Indian software story. If we get those pieces in place, one founder’s cheque becomes a country’s new habit.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Ab Hogi Kranti”: Lenskart Files RHP, IPO To Open On Oct 31

Lenskart is gearing up for its IPO on October 31 to November 4, right after anchor bids on October 30.

The fresh issue stays at INR 2,150 Cr while the OFS gets trimmed to 12.76 Cr shares. With profits swinging to INR 61.2 Cr and revenue up 25% YoY, the unicorn looks ready for a clear market debut.

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“Thakur Toh Gayo”: NCLT Refutes BYJU’S Bid To Halt Aakash’s EGM On Rights Issue

The NCLT Bengaluru bench has given BYJU’S a hard pass on stopping Aakash’s upcoming EGM for a INR 500 Cr rights issue.

If the plan goes through on October 29, BYJU’S stake in its prized asset could tumble from 25.75% to below 5%. Aakash is scrambling for cash to keep the lights on, while BYJU’S watches its empire shrink one equity dilution at a time.

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“Ye Kya Hua, Kaise Hua”: PharmEasy Sells 10% Stake In Thyrocare For INR 668 Cr

PharmEasy has just cashed in a healthy INR 667.7 Cr by selling a 10% stake in Thyrocare through a bulk deal at INR 1,252.03 per share.

The move trims its ownership in the diagnostics firm to 60.93% from nearly 71%. Looks like PharmEasy is administering a dose of liquidity, one block deal at a time.

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“Miya Bibi Ho Raazi”: Curefoods Gets SEBI Nod For Its D-Street Debut

Cloud-kitchen player Curefoods has secured SEBI’s green light to hit D-Street with an IPO featuring up to INR 800 Cr in fresh shares and a 4.85 Cr-share OFS.

The brand is coming in hot after a INR 160 Cr pre-IPO boost from Binny Bansal’s 3State Ventures. Time to see if the public markets are hungry for more cloud-cooked delights.

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“How You Doin’ Young Fellas”: Centre To Begin Piloting ‘Bharat Taxi’ Next Month

The Centre is rolling out ‘Bharat Taxi’ next month in Delhi with 650 cabs on day one and plans to expand to 20 cities by 2026.

The goal is to onboard 1 Lakh drivers by 2030, stretching deep into districts and rural roads. With drivers keeping full earnings and commuters getting a government-backed ride, the cab wars just got a desi challenger.

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1. Ola Electric has received the board’s green signal to raise up to INR 1,500 Cr through multiple options including a public offer and rights issue, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The fund infusion comes just as losses deepen and revenues nearly halve, signaling a crucial recharge moment for the EV maker.

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2. Lenskart has bagged INR 90 Cr from veteran investor Radhakishan Damani as it gears up for a likely November listing. With valuation expectations trimmed to around $8 Bn and a hefty INR 2,150 Cr fresh issue on the table, the eyewear unicorn is tightening its specs for the big market moment.
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3. Catalyx Space has raised $5.4 Mn in seed funding led by Outlander VC to build full-stack infrastructure for orbital logistics that handles both upmass and downmass. With $500K in FY24 revenue already in the bag, the startup aims to turn space delivery into a routine supply run.
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4. Deepinder Goyal has unveiled a $25 Mn personal seed fund for his longevity startup Continue Research, backing cutting-edge work in aging and systems biology. The Zomato chief now looks ready to serve not just food, but a longer life itself.
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