US-India Tech News Update for December 16, 2025

This is a fully AI generated summary and audio briefing of news in the US and India tech and startup industries.

In tech news, Indian enterprises have moved from AI curiosity to a full‑blown business imperative. Nearly half of the large firms now run multiple GenAI copilots, and they’re prioritising locally trained multilingual models to handle connectivity constraints and data‑residency rules. At the same time, the push for agentic AI is gaining traction among agile startups, even as larger players tread carefully around end‑to‑end autonomous agents. Over in the United States, Microsoft India’s president reminded us that AI will unbundle jobs, urging workers to upskill or risk being left behind, while Satya Nadella highlighted data as the real strategic asset.

Meanwhile, Tesla has started driver‑less robotaxi trials in Austin, marking a bold step toward fully autonomous ride‑hailing, and Zoom is now offering its AI assistant to free‑tier web users, hoping to convert them to paid plans.

On the funding front, OpenAI‑backed biotech firm Chai Discovery closed a $130 million Series B, valuing it at $1.3 billion as investors chase AI‑driven drug discovery.

Direct‑to‑consumer haircare brand Moxie raised $15 million from Bessemer to double down on proprietary formulations and expand distribution.

Flam, the mixed‑reality ad startup, secured $22.5 million including a $14 million Series A led by RTP Global, fueling its 5× revenue jump.

Scapia, the travel fintech, landed a $40 million Series B from Peak XV Partners to scale its AI‑enhanced credit‑card offering.

And Lightspeed Venture Partners announced a record $9 billion fund, earmarked primarily for fast‑burning AI startups.

In hires and departures, Flipkart’s rapid expansion into quick commerce saw the appointment of ex‑Dunzo CEO Kabeer Biswas, later succeeded by SVP Kunal Gupta, as the company scales to 1,000 dark‑store hubs.

Freshworks announced that co‑founder Girish Mathrubootham will move to executive chairman, focusing on a new VC fund, while Dennis Woodside will steer the company through its upcoming acquisition of FireHydrant. These leadership moves signal a sharpening of focus ahead of major strategic milestones.

Mergers and acquisitions made headlines today. Freshworks is set to acquire AI‑powered incident‑management platform FireHydrant, integrating its automation into Freshservice’s suite. Wingify bought AI‑driven user‑insights startup Blitzllama to supercharge its VWO experimentation platform. Nvidia expanded its open‑source portfolio by acquiring SchedMD, the team behind the Slurm workload manager, and launched the Nemotron 3 family of open‑source AI models to lower entry barriers for developers.

New technologies are reshaping industries. Azimuth AI introduced power‑efficient ASICs for edge intelligence in energy and utilities, while Ford announced a $2 billion battery‑storage venture aimed at powering data centers and stabilising the grid. The automaker also revealed a new Lightning variant with an optional gasoline generator, blending electric range with traditional fuel to ease range anxiety. On the consumer side, Threads is testing interest‑based communities and badge rewards to deepen engagement, and Snapchat rolled out year‑end Recap videos that auto‑compile user highlights using AI.

Finally, in crypto and Web3, Bitcoin is currently at 87228.54 dollars.