The Fall Of An Edtech Founder, Startup Funding Tanks & More

The Curious Case Of Ankit Maheshwari’s Arrest

Last week, Dataisgood cofounder Ankit Maheshwari was detained after disembarking an international flight in Delhi. He was then flown to Kolkata, where the Police charged him with fraud, criminal conspiracy, and data theft. So, how did a startup founder with marquee backers end up facing criminal charges?

From Promise To Peril: The saga begins in 2019, when Maheshwari and Shishir Singh founded Dataisgood, a startup that promised aspiring data scientists a 100% placement guarantee. By 2023, edtech platform Skill Arbitrage acquired the company for $3 Mn in a part-cash, part-stock deal. All was good until the cracks started appearing.

Allegations Galore: In April 2024, Skill Arbitrage received a complaint from the National Skill Development Corporation. A subsequent probe revealed shocking irregularities – employees posing as successful alumni at Microsoft and IBM to lure students, fabricated testimonials planted on Quora, mis-selling courses and fake job promises at global tech giants.

A Chequered History: Amid the controversy, Maheshwari stepped down from Dataisgood in mid-2024, but within months quietly launched 1to10X – another data and AI course platform, which made similar lucrative job promises. He even set up an email forwarder system to access critical Dataisgood data, allegedly without Skill Arbitrage’s permission. Not just this, several Dataisgood employees moonlighted for the new venture while still on their old payroll.

Plus, this isn’t Maheshwari’s first controversial exit. At his earlier venture Betaout, which raised nearly $3 Mn, he allegedly bypassed early backers during a 2018 acquisition by US-based BlueCore. Angel investors like Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma exited with an over 90% haircut while cofounders are alleged to have secured hefty payouts.

With three ventures, three exits, and mounting allegations of fraud spanning nearly a decade, is Ankit Maheshwari’s story a case of repeated entrepreneurial missteps, or evidence of systematic deception? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Decoding Aequs’ Shareholding Deck: Promoters hold a 65.06% stake in the IPO-bound contract manufacturing startup, while Amansa Investments and Amicus Capital own an 8% stake each. Aequs’ IPO comprises a fresh issue of INR 720 Cr and an OFS of up to 3.2 Cr shares.

New-Age Tech Stocks Revive: Thirty of the 39 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained in a range of 0.11% to over 12% last week. MobiKwik was the biggest gainer, surging 12.27%, while DroneAcharya fell 3% to emerge as the biggest loser.

Startup Funding Dries Up: Indian startups cumulatively raised $160.3 Mn across 14 deals last week, down 58% from $377.4 Mn in the preceding week. Kapiva and Recur Club topped the charts by raising $60 Mn and $50 Mn, respectively.

GreyLabs AI Nets INR 85 Cr: The agentic AI startup has raised the funding in a round led by Elevation Capital to expand its India footprint. The startup enables 50+ financial institutions to automate contact centre operations.

Fund Frenzy 2025: Indian investors have launched funds worth over $9 Bn so far this year, surpassing the $8.7 Bn figure in the entirety of 2024. Q3 alone accounted for over $2.5 Bn in new funds, spread across 25 investors, with 17 of these funds targeting early stage startups.

Govt’s Digital Payments Push: Starting November 15, all non-FASTag customers will be charged 2X the standard fee if the payment is made in cash. In contrast, UPI users will incur a 1.25X fee. The move has been envisaged to promote digital payments at toll plazas.

Goldman Sachs Sells Eternal Stake: The financial services giant sold another 1.08 Cr shares of the foodtech giant in a block deal worth INR 355.3 Cr. This is the third time in the past one month that the US-based investor has offloaded Eternal shares.

Startup FY25 Financial Tracker: In FY25, 76 startups collectively reported an operating revenue of INR 2.71 Lakh Cr, up 19% YoY. Of these, 31 startups reported a cumulative net loss of INR 18,831 Cr, while 45 generated a net profit of INR 8,046.3 Cr.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight Can BYTES Democratise Two-Wheeler Safety in India?

Two-wheelers account for over 70% of all vehicles in India. Yet, rider safety technology on motorcycles and scooters has critically failed to keep pace with the advanced systems now common in cars. BYTES is trying to solve this problem by developing an AI-powered system for Indian roads.

The Tech That Thinks Fast: Founded in 2024, BYTES is building an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) tailored for two-wheelers. It uses dual wide-angle cameras, proprietary AI models and an onboard inference device to continuously scan the road environment in real time.

This allows the BYTES system to send critical safety alerts to riders within just 33 milliseconds, a reaction time nearly ten times faster than the average human.

Gaining Early Traction: The company is currently running pilot programmes with six OEMs and is actively negotiating partnerships with fifteen more. Eyeing a commercial launch next year, BYTES plans to price its products between INR 7,000 and INR 15,000. For fleet users, it plans to offer flexible subscription models starting as low as INR 10–15 per day.

With over 200 Mn two-wheelers on Indian roads, can BYTES become the safety layer that finally brings smart riding to the masses?

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