thumpN, an AI-native discovery and ticketing platform, has raised over USD 3.75 million in a pre-seed funding. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm CFO Madhur Deora, Capitalmind co-founder Shray Chandra, Hyperlink Brand Solutions founder VG Jairam and music icons Arijit Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan and Badshah have invested in the startup. Founded by Varun Khare, Shreyas and Alaap, thumpN offers a conversational AI agent called Shadow designed to help fans find highly contextual live experiences through natural conversation rather than traditional search. The company says that with over 40,000 live events across 319 cities each year, people are overwhelmed by choices whereas organisers struggle to cut through. Discovery is also a big challenge as it is fragmented across social media, algorithms and group chats. Under the hood, the platform has a network of contributing curators whose on-the-ground signals continuously sharpen Shadow’s taste.