Simplismart in Talks to Raise $40–50 Million — Startup Funding India, October 2026

Simplismart is in talks to raise $40–50 million at a valuation of $300–400 million, potentially more than tripling its valuation from the $100–120 million range it was valued at a few months ago, ET reported on 21 October 2026 citing people aware of the development. Peak XV Partners and Damac Digital — the data-centre arm of Dubai-based real estate group Damac — are in discussions to invest. The round is not closed yet, but the talks themselves say a lot about where startup funding in India is flowing right now.

AI infrastructure bets

Simplismart, founded by ex-Oracle and Google engineers Devansh Ghatak and Amritanshu Jain, is one of India's few startups focused on AI infrastructure rather than applications. Investors are stepping up bets on a limited pool of AI businesses in India, and infrastructure plays sit at the top of that list: models need compute, and compute needs orchestration.

The interest from Damac Digital is notable — it suggests the round is about more than capital. A data-centre arm brings deployment muscle, and for an AI infra startup, access to compute capacity is as strategic as the cheque itself.

What the jump signals

A valuation moving from $100–120 million to $300–400 million in a matter of months would be one of the sharpest repricings in India's AI funding cycle this year. Whether the round closes at these terms is still open — talks do not always become term sheets.