Brands
Hykr bets on builders as venture studio flips the startup playbook
MUMBAI: If ideas are cheap, execution is the real currency and Hykr wants skin in that game. Hykr has announced the launch of its venture studio, set to go live in March 2026, with an ambition to rethink how early-stage startups are built in India. Steering away from the familiar roles of investor or accelerator, the firm is positioning itself as an institutional co-founder, embedding deeply with founders from day one and pairing capital with hands-on execution.
Backed by an initial commitment of Rs 100 crore, the studio plans to co-build up to 20 high-growth ventures across two cohorts by FY27. Its focus areas Deep Tech, Health and Bio, and Construction and PropTech reflect sectors where India’s talent base is strong but execution gaps often stall scale.
The timing is deliberate. While India’s startup ecosystem has grown rapidly in funding and founder participation, many young companies continue to falter after the idea stage. Capital and advice are abundant; operational depth is not. Hykr is attempting to plug that gap by acting as a long-term operating partner, helping founders move faster and build with greater discipline in the early, fragile stages.
At the heart of the model is co-creation. Rather than writing a cheque and stepping back, HyKr embeds itself in the build process, working closely with pre-seed and seed-stage teams. Founders gain access to shared capabilities across product, engineering, operations, finance and go-to-market. Capital deployment typically ranges between Rs 2 crore and Rs 4 crore per company, allowing entrepreneurs to stay focused on customers and problem-solving while the studio supports the fundamentals of company-building.
The first six months are designed to be intense. Within that window, founders are expected to move from a promising idea to an investor-ready business complete with a working product, early user validation, core legal and financial systems, and an initial operating team.
HyKr is led by Krishna Dunthoori, founder and CEO of Apty, and is backed by a leadership and advisory network of seasoned operators. Strategic partnerships with global technology platforms including AWS, Google Cloud and Nvidia are intended to strengthen support for technically complex ventures from inception.
Explaining the rationale, Krishna Dunthoori said India is entering a phase where ambition is widespread, but consistent execution separates enduring companies from short-lived ones. He noted that many founders are forced to tackle product, organisation and scale simultaneously, often without the operating depth required at that stage. HyKr, he said, is built to bring structure and shared accountability into the early journey, helping convert strong ideas into resilient companies built to global standards.
Unlike a traditional fund, the studio follows an evergreen model and typically takes a co-founder-level equity stake. While the mandate is India-first, HyKr aims to support founders with global ambitions as their businesses mature.
Alongside the studio launch, Hykr has also announced the Hykr Build Challenge, a national initiative aimed at identifying founders with execution capability rather than presentation polish. Teams will be required to build real, working products. The first edition targets over 1,000 team registrations and offers Rs 35 lakh in total prize money, with winners eligible for direct consideration into the venture studio.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
