Top 5 tech and startup stories of the day

H-1B visa applications for FY26 dropped 25% as higher visa fees and a weak US economy dampened demand. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ Nazara’s latest acquisition
■ Mobikwik’s Q4 financials
■ Microsoft’s deal with Elon Musk
US H-1B visa registrations hit lowest level since FY22 amid Trump policies, fee hike

The number of H-1B visa applications for FY26 fell 25% to 358,737 compared to the previous year, according to data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Numberwise:

• Shortlisted applications dropped 27% to 120,141, from which 85,000 H-1B visas will be issued.
• In FY25, 479,953 applications were filed, with 135,137 shortlisted.
• The year before, 780,884 applications were submitted, with 188,400 shortlisted.

Tell me more:

• The sharp rise in the H1-B registration fee—from $10 to $215—has been the biggest deterrent, said Poorvi Chothani, founder and managing partner at US immigration firm LawQuest.
• India remains one of the top recipients of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually.
• These visas are widely used by US and Indian IT firms to deploy skilled workers.

Also Read: US bill threatens work visa route for 3,00,000 Indian students, triggers panic
ED probes EaseMyTrip CEO in Mahadev app betting scam
Nishant Pitti, CEO, EaseMyTrip

Nishant Pitti, CEO of travel booking platform EaseMyTrip, is under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the Mahadev betting app scam.

Under fire: Pitti stands accused of colluding with a network of operators who allegedly channelled funds from the illegal betting operation to manipulate stock prices of 25 listed companies, purportedly in coordination with their promoters.

Allegations: In its submission to the adjudicating authority (AA), the ED has made the following claims:

• Pitti was aware of the operations of Sky Exchange, an illegal betting platform linked to the Mahadev app.
• His firm made payments to two shell companies associated with the app.
• Rs 7 lakh, recovered from Pitti’s residence during ED raids in April, is believed to be potential proceeds of crime.
• Pitti was allegedly in contact with an operator who was involved in colluding with promoters of the aforementioned listed entities.

The other side: Pitti has denied all allegations. He said, “There have been no remittances or payments to these companies since 2017…With eight earning members at home and over Rs 1,000 crore in IT returns, our declared cash is more than Rs 70 lakh. The Rs 7 lakh recovered is insignificant compared to our income.”

Hitting turbulence:

• In April, the ED searched premises linked to Pitti as part of multi-state raids across 55 locations in the money laundering case.
• Pitti stepped down as CEO of Easy Trip Planners on January 1, citing personal reasons.

Nazara Technologies acquires UK’s console gaming publisher Curve Games for Rs 247 crore
Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies

Online gaming company Nazara Technologies has acquired UK-based PC and console game publisher Curve Games in a deal worth Rs 247 crore (approximately $28.8 million) to strengthen its presence in the global market.

The details:

• This is Nazara’s biggest overseas acquisition so far.
• The deal gives the Nitish Mittersain-led company full ownership of Curve Games.
• Curve boasts a strong portfolio of indie games, including Human: Fall Flat and For the King.
• Its games have collectively garnered over 100 million downloads worldwide.

Rationale: This acquisition supports Nazara’s strategic move to diversify beyond mobile gaming into the more lucrative PC and console gaming market, which is valued at over $100 billion globally.

Mittersain told us that this is a big opportunity for India, where more game developers are building for PC platforms.“Much of our capital allocation will now happen on core gaming businesses in terms of gaming studios, gaming IPs, and publishing,” he added.

Deal streak: ET reported in April that Nazara has earmarked Rs 800-1,000 crore this year for inorganic growth with a clear focus on acquiring global gaming companies.

• It acquired UK-based Fusebox Games in August 2024 for Rs 228 crore.
• A month later, it picked up a 47.7% stake in PokerBaazi's parent company for Rs 832 crore.
• Other acquisitions include Comic Con India, marketing firm Publishme, and Paper Boat Apps.

Mobikwik’s net loss widens to Rs 55 crore as revenue growth remains flat
(L-R) Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, cofounders, Mobikwik

Fintech firm One Mobikwik Systems, which operates the Mobikwik payments app, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 55 crore for the March quarter, up from Rs 52.3 crore in December.

Financials:

• Operating revenue stood at Rs 265 crore in the March quarter, nearly unchanged from Rs 268 crore in December.
• Lending-related expenses rose sharply to Rs 41 crore from Rs 27 crore.
• For FY25, the company posted a net loss of Rs 122 crore, a reversal from the Rs 9.3 crore profit reported in FY24.
• However, operating revenue for FY25 grew 31% to Rs 1,164 crore, up from Rs 884 crore the previous year.

Also Read: One MobiKwik shares jump 4% after subsidiary gets RBI nod to operate as an online payment aggregator

Future outlook: Mobikwik expects its lending business to rebound only after the second quarter of FY26. The company noted that its revenue take rate for financial services improved to 7.5% from 6% through better negotiations with its lending partners.

Also Read: Mobikwik incorporates wholly owned NBFC subsidiary
Microsoft strikes deal with Elon Musk to host Grok AI
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft and Elon Musk, CEO, xAI

Elon Musk, currently embroiled in a legal dispute with Microsoft, made a surprisingly cordial virtual appearance at the tech giant’s annual technology showcase to announce that his AI chatbot Grok will be hosted on Microsoft’s data centres.

What this means: Under this agreement, xAI’s Grok models will run on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, joining a roster that already includes models from OpenAI, Meta, DeepSeek, and French AI startup Mistral.

The move also highlights the evolving dynamics between Microsoft and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, which Microsoft has heavily backed. Just last week, Microsoft unveiled its own directly competing AI product.

Other announcements: GitHub, the developer platform backed by Microsoft, launched its own AI agent designed to help developers fix bugs and write cleaner code. OpenAI teased a similar agent, Codex, while Google DeepMind introduced its own entrant in the space, an AI coding agent named AlphaEvolve.