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
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
