The Pant Project And Focus Prism Secure Funding While Fundamentum Closes Rs. 3000 Crore AI Fund

India’s startup funding scene has delivered three very different stories this week. A menswear brand is planning a bigger retail push, a food-services company is buying a regional catering operator, and a venture capital platform is preparing to back AI and deep-tech businesses.

The Pant Project, Focus Prism and Fundamentum Frontier Advisors are active in separate markets, but their plans share one theme: using capital to build scale instead of staying small.

The Pant Project plans a wider menswear push

Mumbai-based menswear brand The Pant Project has raised Rs. 109 crore in a Series B round led by Mirae Asset Venture Investments India. Existing investor Sorin Investments also participated. The company has separately secured venture debt from Alteria Capital, though the amount was not disclosed.

The Pant Project was founded in 2020 by brothers Dhruv Toshniwal and Udit Toshniwal. It began with a simple problem: many Indian men struggle to find trousers that fit well without needing alterations. The brand built its name around better-fit pants and now wants to become a broader menswear business.

According to Inc42, the fresh capital will be used to add more stores and widen the product range into areas such as jeans, athleisure and casualwear. The company reportedly plans to grow from 25 stores to 150 over the next two to three years.

That is a meaningful shift. Instead of relying mainly on online sales, the company is betting that customers will still want to touch fabric, try different fits and get help before buying clothes. It will compete for attention with established fashion retailers, direct-to-consumer brands and large marketplaces.

Focus Prism uses funding for FoodExo acquisition

Food-services platform Focus Prism has raised Rs. 145 crore from OAKS Asset Management and acquired Chennai-based catering company FoodExo. The deal highlights a growing trend in business catering, where smaller regional operators are joining larger platforms.

Focus Prism was founded in 2017 by Subramanian Suryanarayanan. The Coimbatore-based firm started with food-cost optimization and technology tools, but has since moved into direct food-service operations.

FoodExo was founded in 2011 by Ganesh Panchanathan. It serves corporate and industrial clients and, following the acquisition, Panchanathan has joined Focus Prism as head of operations for South India.

As reported by Mint, much of the new funding supported the cash-and-stock acquisition, while the balance is expected to help Focus Prism expand. The combined business wants to bring kitchens, procurement, quality checks and data systems onto a common platform.

For clients, this could mean more consistent meals across offices, factories and institutions in different cities. Focus Prism operates in more than 25 cities and manages over 65 kitchens. The company is targeting around Rs. 700 crore in revenue in the current financial year.

Fundamentum’s Rs. 3,000 crore AI and deep-tech fund

Fundamentum Frontier Advisors, also known as F2A, has completed the first close of its Rs. 3,000 crore growth-stage AI and deep-tech fund. The platform was launched in May 2026 and is led by Ashish Kumar, co-founder of Fundamentum.

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and Fundamentum, is the anchor investor. Debraj Banerjee and Vivek Singla are general partners at F2A.

The fund plans to invest in companies working across consumer AI, enterprise software, deep-tech infrastructure and engineered systems. Deep tech generally refers to businesses built around difficult science or engineering, such as advanced manufacturing, robotics, space technology or specialized AI tools.

F2A is expected to back around 12 to 15 companies with investments of roughly Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 150 crore each. The fund has also received approval to increase its size to Rs. 3,500 crore because of additional investor interest as per ET.