Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran were vacationing at a relative’s home in Bengaluru when the renegotiation came through. It had ruined their time-off. They sat, not talking to anyone, when Asokan pulled out two slips of paper. Hours earlier, in December 2023, they had been ready to sign a $50 million Series D fundraising round, which they had expected would finally give their Chennai-based ...