Traveltech major EaseMyTrip has acquired a non-controlling stake of about 13% in Eco Hotels and Resorts Limited in a share swap deal to enter the hotel and hospitality industry.

“…the company’s investment in equity shares of Eco Hotels India Private Limited is swapped with equity shares of Eco Hotels and Resorts Limited in the ratio of 1:1 and the company has acquired 40,00,000 equity shares of INR 10 each of Eco Hotels and Resorts Limited, issued on preferential basis,” said EaseMyTrip in a statement.

The startup said that the primary objective of the strategic investment in Eco Hotels is to acquire a minority interest and promote environmentally friendly practices within the hospitality sector. 

All the hotels operated by Eco Hotels will be carbon net zero hotels, claimed EaseMyTrip.

Eco Hotels and Resorts Limited is a BSE-listed company promoted by Eco Hotels UK PLC. Eco Hotels aims to become a leading owner, developer and asset manager of three-star premium and economy brands in the BRICS and N11 (Next 11) economies, with India being the primary focus.

The hospitality company currently claims to have completed the development of two brands, with one prototype Ecolodge operating in Kochi at Kerala.

Commenting on the acquisition, Nishant Pitti, cofounder and CEO of EaseMyTrip, said that the strategic decision reflects the online travel aggregator’s commitment to sustainable and responsible business practices. 

“Our choice to invest in stakes aligns with our vision to contribute positively to the growth of eco-friendly and green hotels. This investment marks another milestone in our journey to diversify our portfolio and enhance the travel experiences we offer to our customers,” said Pitti.

It is pertinent to mention that EaseMyTrip has acquired multiple companies over the last two years as it looks to expand its offerings and diversify its portfolio.

Shares of EaseMyTrip were trading marginally higher at INR 38.32 on the BSE by 2.45 PM IST.

Meanwhile, V K Tripathi, executive chairman of Eco Hotels and Resorts, said on the stake acquisition, “This is not just a business decision; it’s a calculative move towards expanding our horizons and presenting guests with an elevated, ecoconscious, and luxurious experience that aligns seamlessly with our commitment to a greener and more sustainable future.”

EaseMyTrip reported a 66% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated net profit to INR 47 Cr in Q2 FY24 on an operating revenue of INR 142 Cr, which jumped 31% YoY.

The post EaseMyTrip Forays Into Hospitality Space With 13% Stake Acquisition In Eco Hotels and Resorts appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Coworking space provider Awfis, which counts Peak XV Partners (erstwhile Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia) as among marquee investors, has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). 

Its IPO comprises a fresh issue of INR 160 Cr and an offer-for-sale component of up to 1 Cr shares. 

The OFS component includes comprising the offer for sale of up to 5.01 Mn equity shares by Peak XV, up to 4.94 equity shares by Bisque Limited, and up to 75,174 equity shares by Link Investment Trust.

The startup will utilise INR 52.5 Cr from the net proceeds towards setting up new coworking setups. The startup will open 15 new centers under the ‘Awfis’ format in Fiscal 2025, in Mumbai, Bengaluru, the National Capital Region of Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur. The startup has estimated that it will spend INR 3.5 Cr to open a centre. 

The rest of the net proceeds which amounts to INR 68 Cr will be utilised as a working capital.

Founded in 2015 by Amit Ramani, Awfis has evolved from just being a coworking network to a tech-enabled workspace solutions platform, catering to freelancers, startups, SMEs, large corporates, and MNCs. To date, the startup has raised nearly $90 Mn across multiple rounds. It directly competes against the likes of WeWork, 91Springboard, OYO’s Innov8, BHive, among others. 

As of June 30, 2023, the startup had 121 operational centres across 16 Indian cities, with a total of 70,242 operational seats. It also claims to have had 2,139 clients by the same time. 

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, IIFL Securities and Emkay Global Financial Services are the book runners to the issue.

Awfis reported revenue of INR 545.28 Cr in FY23, compared to Rs 257.05 Cr a year ago. Its net loss declined slightly to INR 46.64 Cr in FY23. In the first three months of FY24, the coworking services provider reported an operating revenue of INR 187.7 Cr, while its loss stood at INR 8.56 Cr.

The post Peak XV-Backed Awfis Files DRHP, Plans To Raise INR 160 Cr Via Fresh Share Issue appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | December 21, 11:00 PM

Foodtech major has denied reports of making an offer of $2 Bn to acquire logistics startup Shiprocket.

In a filing with the bourses, the company ‘cautioned’ the investors against the incorrect reports floating in the market about any such move, adding that it has no plans for any acquisitions currently.

“We have noticed that there are certain news articles circulating in the mainstream media with the subject “Zomato offers to acquire Shiprocket for $2 billion”. We deny this statement and would like to caution investors against such incorrect news floating in the market. We remain focused on our existing businesses with no plans for any acquisition at this moment,” said Zomato in a filing with the BSE.

The company attributed the clarification to ‘abundant caution’ citing uncertainty that the reports may create in the market.

Original Story| December 21, 05:31 PM

Listed foodtech major Zomato has reportedly made an offer to acquire ecommerce logistics unicorn Shiprocket.

As per a Bloomberg report, Zomato’s offer values the SaaS logistics platform at about $2 Bn. Sources aware of the development told the publication that a final decision has not been made. Besides, Zomato could also opt against proceeding with a deal for the company, the report said.

Zomato and Shiprocket were not immediately available to comment on the development.

Shiprocket is an aggregator of third-party logistics companies and works with several courier partners, including Delhivery, FedEx, Aramex, Xpressbees, DTDC, and Shadowfax. Founded in 2017 by Vishesh Khurana, Akshay Gulati, Saahil Goel, and Gautam Kapoor, the startup had raised $185 Mn in its Series E round co-led by Zomato, Temasek, and Lightrock India. 

Later, in August 2022, the startup raised $33.5 Mn in a Series E2 funding round led by Lightrock India with participation from Temasek, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, PayPal, and others, which valued the company at $1.2 Bn.

In October this year, Inc42 exclusively reported that Shiprocket was in advanced talks to raise $10 Mn-$12 Mn from McKinsey & Company in a strategic funding round for business expansion.

Shiprocket reported a 3.6X widened net loss of INR 341 Cr in FY23, hurt by its multiple acquisitions. In fact, the startup blamed its two acquisitions – Omuni for INR 200 Cr and one of its rivals Pickrr for $200 Mn in FY23 – for the threefold increase in loss. 

Meanwhile, its operating revenue increased 78% year-on-year to INR 1,089 Cr in FY23.

On the other hand, after struggling for a year, Zomato has started witnessing a revival in its business. The foodtech major also attained profitability in Q1 FY24, which helped the company’s share performance breach the INR 125 level for the first time in almost two years. The company also posted a profit in the second quarter of FY24.

Shares of Zomato are currently trading at INR 127.55 on the BSE and have gained over 100% year to date.

The post [Update] Zomato Denies Report Of Shiprocket Acquisiton Bid appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Walmart-backed ecommerce major Flipkart is reportedly looking to raise a fresh funding of $1 Bn, with the US retail giant committing $600 Mn.

This fresh infusion will likely value Flipkart at about 5-10% premium to its last valuation of $33 Bn, ET reported, citing sources.

Besides Walmart and other existing shareholders, the Bengaluru-based ecommerce major’s round will also see new investors joining the cap table, the report said.

Flipkart confirmed Walmart’s infusion of $600 Mn in the company but said that the rest is speculative. Walmart also informed about its fresh infusion in a regulatory filing.

Walmart acquired 77% stake in Flipkart in 2018 for $16 Bn, valuing the company at $22 Bn. After the separation of PhonePe from the group last year, Flipkart’s valuation stood at $33 Bn.

Recently, during the six months ended July 31, 2023, Walmart spent $3.5 Bn to acquire Flipkart shares from non-controlling stakeholders, including Tiger Global and Accel.

Flipkart also plays a major role in the US-based ecommerce giant’s earnings performance each quarter. Walmart said in its recent Q3 2023 earnings statement that its India operations were impacted due to the late arrival of the festive season, and as the Flipkart Big Billion Days sales shifted from Q3 last year to Q4 this year.

“The timing of Flipkart’s Big Billion Days pressured International sales growth, as the event moved from Q3 last year to Q4 last year. So we expect the timing to be a benefit to Q4’s growth rate for the segment,” Walmart had said.

Meanwhile, Flipkart continues to incur losses. Flipkart India, the B2B arm of the company, saw its standalone net loss widen over 42% year-on-year to INR 4,845.7 Cr in FY23 while its operating revenue increased 9.7% to INR 55,923.9 Cr.

In FY22, Flipkart Internet, the ecommerce giant’s marketplace arm, also reported widened losses.

The post Walmart To Inject $600 Mn Into Flipkart During A Billion Dollar Funding Round appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Delhivery surged 6.8% to INR 389.35 during the intraday trading on Thursday (December 21), a day after the company launched its largest mega-gateway in Bhiwandi, one of India’s largest trucking terminals.

However, the shares shed some of the gains and were trading at INR 388.15 on the BSE at 2.30 PM IST. 

The logistics unicorn said in an exchange filing on Wednesday that its newly launched Bhiwandi trucking terminal is built over a land area of 12,00,000  sq ft. It combines automated hub, sortation, returns, and freight operations with the capability to handle Delhivery’s parcel and part truckload freight volume simultaneously.

The facility’s automation system, developed and deployed by Falcon Autotech, comprises 1.8 km of integrated double-deck cross-belt sorters with over 5 kms of material conveyance systems. It is equipped to process over 32,000 shipments and 17,000 freight units per hour, said Delhivery in its statement.

“Our expanded Bhiwandi gateway will enable us to increase capacity for Mumbai and the West Zone’s large and SME freight shippers while maintaining world-class service reliability and efficiency,” said Sahil Barua, MD and CEO of Delhivery.

Delhivery claims to currently have a nationwide network covering over 18,600 pin codes. Its logistics services include express parcel transportation, PTL freight, TL freight, cross-border, supply chain, and technology services. 

The logistics startup posted a net loss of INR 102.9 Cr in Q2 FY24, which declined 59.5% year-on-year (YoY). Adjusted EBITDA loss reduced 90% YoY to INR 13 Cr during the quarter.

ICICI Securities said in a recent research report that from Q3 FY24, Delhivery is expected to see a reversion to adjusted EBITDA profitability on a sustainable basis given ecommerce shipment volumes are trending upwards again after a lull of a year. 

Currently, Delhivery’s shares are trading over 10% higher year to date.

The post Delhivery Surges Almost 7% Intraday After Launch Of New Trucking Terminal In Bhiwandi appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fintech major Paytm is aiming to generate an operating profit in under a year by bolstering its online wealth management services and onboarding more merchants on its network, coupled with cost savings from AI automation.

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma made the projection in an interview with Bloomberg, highlighting the company’s plans to hire over 50,000 salespeople to onboard more merchants and revamp its online wealth management services.

“We have learned and we will amplify our ability to serve India, its small merchants and businesses,” Sharma was quoted as saying. “We should be crossing about 50 Mn merchant-base signed up on the Paytm platform in the year.”

Sharma’s interaction with the publication came days after Paytm faced a major setback in its growth trajectory due to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightening regulations around unsecured loans. 

Earlier this month, Paytm said that it would scale down its small-ticket loans of less than INR 50K, which predominantly comprise its postpaid loan business. However, to compensate for this major change, the company said it would increase its focus on the merchant and personal loan business.

Multiple brokerages cut their estimates on Paytm’s various metrics such as revenue and EBITDA in the medium to long term following the changes in its loan disbursal business.

Besides, Paytm’s share price also took a hit, falling to more than a seven-month low. While the shares were trading over 80% year to date till October, they nosedived due to the company’s decision to scale down postpaid loans. Shares of Paytm are currently trading a little over 15% higher.

Besides the loan disbursement business, which comprises a relatively smaller part of the company’s total revenue, Paytm also has a payments business. It had around 38 Mn merchants as of September, of which nearly 10 Mn paid for offerings such as QR codes, Paytm soundboxes, and card machines.

Paytm also operates wealth management platform Paytm Money. Speaking to Bloomberg, the Paytm boss said that the company now wants to double down on this business, layering it with AI, as India’s middle class is increasingly going online to invest in the capital markets.

Meanwhile, by using automation, Paytm also plans to bring down its employee costs.

“We will be able to save the targeted 10% to 15% that we had planned in employee costs, all because AI has actually delivered more than what we expected it to,” Sharma said. 

The statements also come at a time Paytm is seeing a rise in competition. Most recently, Jio Financial Services’ marked its full-fledged foray into the fintech space, while PhonePe is also looking to diversify its offerings and launched stock broking platform Share.Market earlier this year.

The post Paytm Betting On Paytm Money, Merchants & AI To Turn Operationally Profitable In A Year appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaming unicorn Nazara Technologies has announced its partnerships with four Indian game studios to publish five casual and mid-core games in India.

In an exchange filing on Wednesday (December 20), Nazara said that this initiative is part of its new publishing division, focusing on promoting the ‘Make in India’ vision in the gaming sector.

The company is planning to publish ‘Gravity Shooter’ by Smash Head Studios, ‘World Cricket League’ from Wandermind Labs’, ‘Hacked: Password Puzzle’ by Pixcell Play and ATG Studios’ ‘Laser Tanks’ and ‘Paperly’.

Since its inception a month ago, Nazara Publishing has received a remarkable response from both Indian and international game developers, the company said in its statement. The Indian gaming major offers financial investment as well as comprehensive support, including mentorship, user acquisition, and live operations expertise. 

Nazara has allocated a substantial fund for the publishing division and aims to publish 20 games within the next 12 to 18 months by investing in a range of INR 1 Cr-INR 3 Cr per game.

Speaking on the new partnerships, Nitish Mittersain, joint managing director and chief executive of Nazara Technologies said that the Nazara Publishing division, enriched with innovative AI-led tools from the new Nazara SDK, is set to foster the growth and development of game creators.

As a gaming and sports media platform, the company has a footprint in India and other emerging and global markets such as Africa and North America. Over the last few years, Nazara Technologies has bolstered its offerings by making multiple strategic acquisitions in companies including NODWIN, SportsKeeda and others. 

Earlier this year, the company also increased its majority stake in mobile gaming studio Nextwave.

Nazara Technologies’ consolidated profit after tax (PAT) jumped 53% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 24.2 Cr in Q2 FY24 on an operating revenue of INR 297.2 Cr, which grew 13% YoY.

Recently, the company also raised a fresh capital of INR 510 Cr from investors including Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath and SBI Mutual Fund. Speaking to Inc42, Mittersain had said that the company would invest the fresh funds in gaming studios capable of producing top-tier games tailored for both the Indian and global markets.

The post Nazara’s Publishing Division Partners With Four Indian Gaming Studios appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The year 2023 turned out to be much better for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Indian equities market on the back of the bullish sentiment in the broader market. Despite macroeconomic headwinds and global geopolitical tensions, the domestic IPO market saw a revival this year after the lull of 2022. The public issues of new-age tech startups also saw a sharp improvement in demand in 2023 compared to a listless 2022. 

But before we delve deeper into the IPOs of new-age tech stocks, let’s take a quick look at the overall IPO landscape. 

As per the BSE data, 92 companies took the IPO route in 2023 till mid-November as against 90 companies doing so in the entire 2022. The number of IPOs further crossed the 100 mark by the beginning of December this year. Interestingly, the number of SME IPOs in 2023 was more than the mainboard public listings.

While the sluggishness of the previous year continued in the first half of 2023, the situation turned on its head in the second half of 2023.

• Data collated by IIFL Securities suggest that out of the 48 mainboard listings in the first 11 months, 39 took place between July and November. 
• Against the intended fundraising of INR 44,159 Cr across the 48 companies, the total subscription interest received across categories – qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and retail investors – was to the tune of INR 14.29 Lakh Cr, as per the report by IIFL Securities.
• Tata Technologies’ public issue, the first IPO by the Tata Group in two decades, saw very high demand, receiving 70X subscriptions and bids worth INR 1.56 Lakh Cr. The other superstar IPOs of the season included Mankind Pharma, Gandhar Oil, and JSW Infrastructure. 

In the startup ecosystem, a total of five new-age tech companies – ideaForge, Mamaearth, Yatra, Zaggle, and Yudiz – went public in 2023, with one listing on the SME platform and the rest on the mainboard. 

Overall, the cumulative size of these five startups’ IPOs stood at over INR 3,600 Cr as against a little over INR 5,500 Cr in 2022 and around INR 50,000 Cr in 2021.

It is pertinent to note that the year 2021 saw 11 new-age tech startups going for IPOs amid the funding boom and buoyancy in global stock markets post the pandemic, while only three such companies went public in 2022 – Delhivery and Tracxn Technologies on the mainboard and DroneAcharya on SME platform.

Despite at least 10 startups either filing DRHPs or announcing IPO plans, they didn’t make any progress last year as the market remained tumultuous. Even this year, many of them continued to defer their IPO plans. However, experts suggest that the number of new-age tech IPOs will rise in 2024 despite the startups continuing to be cautious about the timing of going public.

8 Startup IPO Predictions For 2024

According to a recently published EY report on Q3 2023 IPO data, the surge in activity in the Indian IPO landscape is driven by strong economic activity and positive domestic and foreign investor sentiments. This momentum is expected to continue well into the 2024 second half. 

Now let’s take a deeper look at the key trends expected in the Indian new-age tech IPO market next year. 

Bull Market Effect: Rising Number Of Tech Startups To Head For IPOs In 2024

Indian markets have been touching new all-time highs post the victory of the BJP in the recently-held Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The dovish commentary of the US Fed this month further aided the rally. All these factors are expected to result in an increase in the number of new-age tech startups opting for IPOs in the coming year.

Deepak Shenoy, founder and CEO of Capitalmind, said that the current market is a bull market. This will result in the success of IPOs and lead to more such public issues in the next year. According to him, the chances of a big fall in the markets in the near term seem very low, despite the ongoing geopolitical tensions, high-interest rates in the US, and other macroeconomic uncertainties. This will encourage companies to take the IPO route.

Coming to new-age tech IPOs in 2024, they can be divided into three distinct categories: 

• IPOs of companies which have already filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI;
• Companies which earlier filed their DRHPs but either withdrew or did not get listed due to uncertain market situation;
• Companies which began working aggressively on their IPO plans this year.

Navi Technologies, GoDigit, PayMate, Portea, EbixCash, and OYO, which has pre-filed its IPO papers with SEBI confidentially, are in the first category. These startups’ IPO size is cumulatively around INR 20,250 Cr. 

It is pertinent to note that following the bankruptcy filing by Nasdaq-listed Ebix, the IPO of EbixCash now seems unlikely.

There are also not-so-prominent names like Travel Boutique Online, or TBO Tek, and agri-drone company AITMC Ventures which filed their DRHPs in 2023.

Mobikwik, Capillary Technologies, ixigo, and Snapdeal fall in the second bucket. Among these tech startups, fintech unicorn Mobikwik has reportedly restarted its IPO plans. Though there is no update on the IPO timelines for the rest, these companies were looking for the market condition to improve before their listings, hence 2024 could be a potential target for them to go public.

In the third category would be Zomato’s rival Swiggy, which has started its IPO preparations and recently hired investment bankers. Prosus-owned PayU and Peak XV Partners-backed Awfis are also said to be looking to soon file their draft IPO papers, while drone startup Garuda Aerospace is eyeing a mid-2024 listing.

Besides, emobility startup Ola Electric is also working on a 2024 IPO.

Swiggy, Ola Electric To Be The Most Awaited IPOs 

Overall, at least 10 tech startups are expected to get listed next year. However, the IPOs of Swiggy and Ola Electric have already started creating buzz and would be the most watched out IPOs among the startups.

After picking a substantial share in the domestic two-wheeler EV market, Bhavish Aggarwal has decided to take Ola Electric public. 

It is pertinent to note that the IPO plans for Aggarwal’s ride-hailing business Ola Cabs have been put on hold since 2022.

Coming back to Ola Electric, while the startup has made a name for itself in the two-wheeler EV market, it continues to burn cash and is loss making. Despite this, the startup is said to be looking at a market capitalisation of $10 Bn for the IPO.

On the other hand, Swiggy’s listing will make Zomato’s biggest competitor trade on the public bourses and give another option to investors looking to bet on the food delivery and quick commerce space.

Swiggy’s IPO is being deemed the biggest IPO by an internet company next year, with an issue size of $1 Bn (INR 8,300 Cr). 

Mid-sized IPOs To Be The Theme Of The Year

Amid the slowdown in the global markets, the last two years saw an increase in the number of SME IPOs in India. While the mainboard IPOs did see a rise, the companies opted to go for smaller size for their public issues. 

Highlighting this trend, Capitalmind’s Shenoy said that while the IPO market looks brilliant right now, the demand is not high when compared to what the market witnessed in 2021.

“Technically, while we are eloquent about the current IPO situation, this is a dip in the ocean in comparison to what was earlier,” he said, adding that the size of Paytm’s IPO was much higher than many other recent IPOs combined together. 

It must be noted that Paytm’s IPO in 2021 was for over 18,000 Cr, while last year insurance company Life Insurance Company (LIC) went public with an IPO of over INR 21,000 Cr. However, both these companies saw muted listings and their share prices have remained under pressure after listing. This is also one of the reasons why companies don’t want to go for big IPOs.

Market experts believe that there is not enough investor appetite for big public issues. Hence, 2024 will mostly see companies going for more mid- and small-sized IPOs. 

Elections To Decide The Timelines Of IPOs

With India going for general elections in 2024, experts believe that a lot of companies would wait for the election results before firming up timelines of their IPOs.

According to Lightspeed MD Anuj Bhargava, while Mamaearth’s public listing and its performance after that on the bourses will encourage a lot of other companies to take the IPO route, the general elections will play a major role in deciding the timeline of these IPOs.

The likes of OYO, Swiggy, and also FirstCry are said to be looking to list on the bourses after the results of the general elections are out. 

It is also pertinent to note that Lightspeed is a major backer of IPO-bound OYO.

“Generally, people are a little bit cautious and wait for big political events to take shape. When you have something this substantial coming up, I think people normally like to wait and see the outcome before they make big decisions and IPOs are normally very big decisions… Investors also wait on the sidelines,” Bhargava said while explaining the rationale of the companies.

If the current government continues, as is the expectation and has been priced in right now, the current policies and regulations will continue. However, if a new government is to come, investors would want to see the new policies before they start investing in India, he added.

Fundamentals To Decide The Success Of IPOs

The slump in the share prices of the 11 new-age tech startups, which went public in 2021 despite most of them being loss-making, in 2022 shifted the focus on the fundamentals of companies.

For instance, Paytm, which made a muted debut on the bourses and listed at INR 1,955 on the BSE, saw its valuation nosedive nearly 68% in 2022. Similarly, Zomato, which had a market cap of over INR 1 Lakh Cr after its listing in July 2021, lost over 60% of its market value by the end of 2022.

This rout made other new-age tech companies looking to go public put their IPOs plans on hold and focus on improving their bottom lines first.

The rally in Zomato shares in 2023 on the back of it reporting back-to-back profitable quarters further highlighted how investors are looking for profitability. Like Zomato, Paytm and PB Fintech also saw a change in investor sentiment with the improvements in their bottom lines. 

“Businesses today need to have strong growth, profitability or at least a clear path to profitability… it doesn’t matter which sectors they belong to… Profitability today is the biggest ask from the public market investors,” Lightspeed’s Bhargava said.

Startups, even those not mulling to go public anytime soon, have realised what the markets want, and the last few quarters have seen them chasing profitability. Consequently, many startups also reported their first profitable months and quarters recently, although it came at the expense of mass layoffs and other restructuring efforts in many cases.

• OYO claimed to have achieved its first-ever profitable quarter in Q2 FY24, with a projected profit of INR 16 Cr. But in pursuit of turning profitable, OYO carried out multiple restructuring exercises in the last one year, and laid off around 600 employees, as per Inc42’s layoff tracker.
• ixigo also turned profitable in FY23 after a loss-making FY22. 
• Fintech unicorns MobiKwik and PayMate narrowed their net losses in FY23. Meanwhile, MobiKwik claimed to have been profitable in the first two quarters of FY24.

Speaking to Inc42 right after Mamaearth’s listing, Prashanth Tapse, research analyst, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities, said there was no chance of more new-age, loss-making businesses entering the Indian market anytime soon.

Companies To Seek Reasonable Valuations

The listing of Nykaa, Paytm, Zomato, and a few others at staggering valuations and the subsequent wealth erosion last year has resulted in investors closely scrutinising the valuations of companies going for public listing. As a result, new-age tech companies are expected to go for reasonable valuations while pricing their shares during the IPO.

Speaking on the issue after Mamaearth’s listing, Tapse said that this is a market where companies should create value for shareholders and not for themselves.

Interestingly, there were speculations in 2022 that Mamaearth would seek a valuation of around $3 Bn for its IPO. However, the D2C unicorn put its IPO on hold amid subdued market conditions. Subsequently, it listed at a much lower valuation of $1.2 Bn in 2023. However, many experts termed even this valuation higher considering the market condition.

As such, experts believe that companies aiming to get lofty valuations will struggle in the IPO market.

Startups To Shun Overseas Listing Plans

One trend which has emerged clearly over the last few years is Indian startups looking to list on the exchanges in the country rather than going for overseas listing. 

In 2021, Freshworks listed on Nasdaq, while Yatra listed on the exchange in 2016. MakeMyTrip too made its debut on Nasdaq in 2010. 

However, this trend has seen a clear reversal. Recently, Yatra got its second listing in the Indian stock exchanges after Nasdaq. During its listing process on the Indian exchanges this year, Yatra hinted that it might take the decision to delist from the US stock market depending on several factors. 

Meanwhile, PhonePe, which has also been mulling an IPO (likely in 2025), shifted its domicile to India from Singapore. As per reports, Groww and Razorpay are also likely to shift their base to India. While the decision of the fintech companies to move to India could be guided by regulatory concerns, several other factors like lower corporate tax rate, zero taxes on capital gains, and the Indian government’s efforts to ease compliances are also said to be promoting reverse flipping and encouraging startups to list in the home country.

Besides, the Centre is also looking to make it easier for startups to list in India. Efforts are on to create a framework to offer exemptions to startups to list on the exchanges at GIFT IFSC so that they can tap global investors from India. 

Commenting on this, Bhargava said, “We would want all leading Indian companies to list in India and give domestic investors the ability to be part of their growth and value creation journey… the valuations and the investor following the tech companies will get in India are far superior to their prospects in other listing locations.”

As a result, no major Indian startups, except Zoomcar, which is eyeing a US listing through SPAC deal, are expected to go for overseas listing next year.

HNIs, Retail Investors To Drive Up IPO Subscriptions 

Data suggests that there is increasing demand for Indian IPOs from HNIs and QIBs.

As per experts, SEBI’s decision to divide the non-institutional investor (NII) category into two – INR 2-10 Lakh and INR 10 Lakh and above – has given a big boost to IPO subscriptions. 

In 2021, SEBI proposed that one-third of the HNI portion in all IPOs be reserved for investors belonging to the sub-category of INR 2-INR 10 Lakh, while the remaining part within the HNI category will be for applications of above INR 10 Lakh. The new rules came into effect from April 1, 2022.

As a result, to increase their gains, HNIs have started increasing the number of applications in both categories and are even applying in the name of their family members for IPOs, as per market watchers. 

Speaking on the matter, Mukesh Kochar, national head of wealth at AUM Capital, said that the listing of a number of recent IPOs at a steep premium to their issue price has made public issues attractive for investors looking for short-term capital gains. This trend is expected to continue next year and push up IPO subscriptions.

Here’s a table depicting the subscriptions for the new-age tech companies that went for IPOs in 2023:

Speaking on HNIs increasing their exposure in the Indian stock market, Bhargava highlighted that HNIs tend to diversify their holdings across geographies given various political and regulatory uncertainties and said that some of them are coming to India by choice and some by default.

“You see an Indian market that offers many growth opportunities. You see a very deep and liquid market, you see a stable government. You see high-quality entrepreneurs and businesses being formed… That’s when the HNIs think this is where I should put my money in next,” he added. 

On the other hand, retail investors have also started increasing their exposure to the Indian stock market. From the comfort of trading online, even on mobile phones, to an increase in the number of household brands going public (like Zomato, Paytm, Mamaearth), a number of factors have played a role in increasing the participation of retail investors in the market. 

Some experts also opined that a lot of time, retail investors get carried away by the buzz and end up applying for all IPOs rather than doing a quality or valuation check. Nonetheless, the increasing appetite of retail investors has provided a major boost to the new-age tech IPOs.

Besides direct investments, retail investors are also increasing their investments in mutual funds, which has led to higher IPO subscriptions.

“In the past, a majority of IPOs would be subscribed by foreign investors. Today, it’s the domestic institutions that subscribe to a large part of the offerings. And behind the domestic institutions are the domestic retailer investors that are putting in money via SIPs into mutual funds,” said Bhargava.

Considering the factors mentioned above, it seems that 2024 will be the year of IPOs of new-age tech startups. It will be interesting to see if 2024 turns out to be another 2021 or even better in terms of startup IPOs.

The post 8 Startup IPO Predictions For 2024 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Amid the ongoing boom in the IPO market, SoftBank-backed ecommerce unicorn FirstCry is reportedly looking to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in a few days. It is aiming to raise $500 Mn-$600 Mn from the IPO.

People in the know of the matter told the Economic Times that while the valuation has not yet been finalised, the startup could be pegged at around $4 Bn during the IPO.

“The draft red herring prospectus is likely to be filed with the markets regulator SEBI before December 29. The listing is expected to be post the general elections,” a source was quoted as saying.

Founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry is an omnichannel baby and kids marketplace. It converted into a public company last year. 

A report around April last year said that the startup was planning to file its IPO papers within a month to raise $700 Mn, seeking a valuation of at least $6 Bn. However, the startup most likely deferred its IPO plans amid uncertain market conditions and a slump in the share prices of listed new-age tech companies.

If the IPO takes place, FirstCry would become the second new-age vertical ecommerce major to go public after Nykaa.

A few months back, three family investment offices – Manipal Group’s Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office, Marico’s Harsh Mariwala’s investment office Sharrp Ventures, and the DSP family office of Hemendra Kothari – picked up stakes in the startup for about INR 435 Cr from SoftBank.

SoftBank has been looking to dilute its stake further to bring it under 26% so that it does not get classified as a promoter of FirstCry.

At least 10 startups are expected to go for an IPO in 2024, which also includes SoftBank-backed Ola Electric and Swiggy.

Meanwhile, after reporting a profit in FY21, FirstCry slipped into the red with a net loss of INR 78.7 Cr in FY22.

The post SoftBank-Backed FirstCry To File IPO Papers By December-End appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery recycling startup BatX Energies has raised $5 Mn (around INR 41 Cr) in its Pre-Series A funding round from Zephyr Peacock, with participation from LetsVenture and existing investors including JITO Angel Network, family offices of Mankind Pharma, Excel Industries and BluSmart.

BatX Energies will deploy the fresh capital to scale up production of its recycled battery-grade lithium, nickel, and cobalt and establish a nationwide reverse logistics network for sourcing.

Founded in 2020 by Utkarsh Singh and Vikrant Singh, BatX Energies claims to be able to extract 99.95% pure lithium, nickel, and cobalt from the black mass of Li-ion cells using its proprietary zero-waste, zero-emission hydro-electro process. The cleantech startup claims to have recycled 220 Mn batteries. It also aims to further bolster its research and development (R&D) initiatives in battery recycling.

“At BatX, we envision a transformative approach to the extraction of Li-ion battery materials, addressing the environmental complexities it entails. While these batteries are vital for clean and technological advancements, their current extraction methods present daunting environmental challenges—high carbon emissions, land degradation, excessive water usage, and contamination risks,” said Utkarsh Singh.

“India is witnessing rapid adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and personal electronics. This rapid growth has led to an increase in demand for raw materials, most of which are imported. BatX solves this issue by converting used batteries into critical materials for new batteries,” said Pankaj Raina, managing director at Zephyr Peacock.

“The company is poised to become a crucial stakeholder in the battery supply chain in India as recyclers will be a significant source of critical materials for Li-ion battery manufacturing,” Raina added.

The company has raised a total funding of $1.96 Mn till date.

BatX Energies competes with the likes of Lohum, Attero, and Peak XV-backed Metastable Materials, among others.

With a growing focus towards sustainability and achieving net zero goals, waste management, recycling and circular economy are receiving increasing attention from investors and entrepreneurs alike. As per Inc42’s analysis, waste management has grabbed more than one-fourth of the total funding in climate tech in the country this year.

The post BatX Energies Bags $5 Mn Funding To Fortify Its R&D In Battery Recycling appeared first on Inc42 Media.

House of brands unicorn Mensa Brands’ consolidated net loss more than doubled to INR 227 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 96.6 Cr in the prior fiscal year due to higher cash burn,  as per the filings of its Indian entity with the Registrar of Companies.

As a startup that owns and operates several consumer brands such as Pebble, MyFitness, Dennis Lingo, and others, Mensa Brands earns a majority of its revenue from sale of products. 

Its total operating revenue surged over 137% to INR 499.6 Cr in FY23 from INR 210.4 Cr in the previous year, with INR 386.2 Cr coming from sale of products. 

Mensa Brands also earned INR 17.4 Cr from sale of services in the reported fiscal while its other operating revenue, in the form of shared service income, stood at INR 96 Cr.

Overall, total revenue, including non-operating income, increased to INR 534.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 217.9 Cr in the year before.

Founded in 2021 by former Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, Mensa Brands has raised over $200 Mn in equity so far from marquee investors like Accel Partners, Prosus, and Tiger Global. Its debt investors include Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, and Stride Ventures. 

As per Mensa Brands’ consolidated statement filed in Singapore, its net loss surged over 300% in FY23 to $65.93 Mn (about INR 540 Cr) from $16.41 Mn (about INR 132 Cr) in the previous year. Excluding fair value changes for shares for an acquired entity, which was a one-time cost in FY23, the company’s net loss stood at $40.14 Mn (about INR 332 Cr).

On the other hand, total revenue jumped to $169.65 Mn (about INR 1,404 Cr) in FY23 from $42.80 Mn (about INR 349 Cr) in FY22. 

In a statement, Mensa Brands said, “We are very pleased with our overall operating performance. Our FY23 revenue is up almost 4X to over INR 1,200 Cr making us one of the largest DTC companies in India. Seven of our brands are now over 100 Cr ARR and many of these have grown 5-6X since Mensa taking over; 90% of the brands are profitable at the EBITDA level and we are at break-even at the corporate level.”

Zooming Into Expenses

In line with the rise in operating revenue, the Indian entity of Mensa Brands saw its total expenses jump 142% to INR 763.2 Cr during the year under review from INR 315.4 Cr in FY22.

On a unit economics basis, the unicorn spent around INR 1.5 to earn every rupee from operations.

Purchases Of Stock-in-Trade: Mensa Brands spent INR 165.1 Cr towards the purchase of its finished goods for the business, which was a sharp 120% jump from INR 74.9 Cr In FY23.

Employee Cost: The company’s employee benefit expenses surged 200% to INR 91.5 Cr in FY23 from INR 30.5 Cr a year ago.

In that, Mensa Brands spent INR 66.2 Cr towards salaries and wages, registering a 230% year-on-year (YoY) surge. The sharp rise indicates that the startup may have increased its headcount during the year under review.

It also spent INR 19.6 Cr towards employee share-based payments, which also more than doubled YoY.

Depreciation, Depletion and Amortisation Expenses: Mensa Brands spent INR 58.6 Cr in this bucket, which jumped 160% YoY.

Advertising Promotional Expenses: The startup spent INR 29.8 Cr towards advertising expenses in FY23, which jumped from only INR 9 Cr in FY22.

Miscellaneous Expenses: With a total spending of INR 239.2 Cr, miscellaneous expenses accounted for the biggest chunk of total expenses in FY23. However, the startup didn’t give a break up of these expenses. Mensa Brands had spent INR 101 Cr on miscellaneous expenses in FY22.

It is pertinent to note that Mensa Brands acquired MensXP, iDiva, and Hypp from Times Internet and also partnered with these brands’ parent entity India Lifestyle Network (ILN) in FY23. However, amid the ongoing funding winter and startups focusing on improving bottom lines, Mensa Brands laid off around 30 employees from ILN in May.

Meanwhile, expanding its footprint, Mensa Brands entered the UAE market this year. The company also raised $40 Mn in debt from EvolutionX Debt Capital in October.

The post Mensa Brands’ FY23 Loss More Than Doubles To INR 227 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gurugram-based audio products and wearable startup Noise has bagged a strategic investment from global consumer electronics and audio giant Bose as part of its Series A round.

With this, the startup, which was bootstrapped so far, has raised its first ever funding.

Founded by Amit Khatri and Gaurav Khatri in 2014, Noise initially started by selling smartphone cases and accessories. Later, it pivoted to selling smart wearables and wireless headphones. The startup competes with Aman Gupta’s boAt and several others.

Noise, in a statement, said that the strategic collaboration will increase innovation in the audio space and strengthen its research and design.

“It’s about the right partnership at the right time, and we firmly believe that our strategic alliance with Bose will be a pivotal juncture in our journey towards revolutionizing the future of smart wearables realm,” said Amit Khatri, cofounder of Noise.

In September this year, Noise also entered a joint venture with Il Jin Electronics, a subsidiary of Amber Enterprises India, to boost its manufacturing of smart wearables in India. 

The startup sells its products on its website and other online marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.

“As we looked at the opportunity to reach more people with the benefits of our technology in India, investing in Noise became an obvious choice,” said Nicholas Smith, senior vice president, strategy and business development at Bose. 

“Their leadership in the wearables category and understanding of their customers will allow us to collaborate and bring new, differentiated products to a growing market,” Smith added.

In FY23, Noise reported a 39.4X year-on-year decline in its net profit to INR 88 Lakh. However, its sales revenue jumped 1.8X to INR 1,426.5 Cr in FY23. 

The post Audio D2C Brand Noise Sheds Its Bootstrapped Title, Bags Strategic Funding From Bose appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Nasdaq-listed Ebix Inc., a software and ecommerce solutions provider to the insurance industry, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, after defaulting on a $617 Mn loan.

The court filing was done on Sunday (December 17). As per a Bloomberg report, several subsidiaries of Ebix have also filed for bankruptcy and each subsidiary and advisors will “conduct a fulsome marketing and sale process” for the assets of the company. 

The Texas court will reportedly hear the case on December 19.

Ebix has been struggling to repay the $617 Mn loan for months now. Last month, the company failed to meet another deadline and was given time till December 17 to raise the money for the repayment.

In September, its creditors had declared the company in default after earlier repayment delays and were pushing Raina’s firm to sell off its assets, a Bloomberg report said. 

The India-American entrepreneur Robin Raina-led company was aggressively looking to tap the public market to raise funds. Its India entity EbixCash filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator SEBI in early 2022 for an INR 6,000 Cr IPO.

In April this year, the IPO also received SEBI’s nod and there were reports doing rounds about EbixCash launching its public offering sometime in mid-2023. However, the company also hadn’t disclosed a case hearing in Singapore in the IPO filing, which was expected to cost the company INR 100 Cr-INR 200 Cr.

Some of the major shareholders in Ebix Inc. include Blackrock, Vanguard Group, State Street Corp, and Invesco. Meanwhile, the company president and CEO Raina himself is the largest shareholder.

In Q3 2023, Ebix’s GAAP operating income declined 32.4% year-over-year to $20.5 Mn, which the company attributed primarily to certain one-time increased expenses related to credit agreement and EbixCash IPO marketing costs.

“These are difficult times for the Company. In spite of that, the company’s operating results after excluding the one-time items are consistent with our expectations,” Raina had said in a statement.

In India, EbixCash is profitable. Its net profit increased to INR 751.3 Cr in FY23 from INR 482 Cr last year.

Amid the legal fiasco, shares of Ebix Inc. have nosedived over 80% since the end of July this year. On Monday, the stock was also dropped from S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index.

The post Robin Raina’s Ebix Inc. Files For Bankruptcy In Northern Texas appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian new-age tech stocks witnessed a revival this week, helped by the bull run in the broader market.

Thirteen out of the 19 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained in a range of 1% to 15% this week. Tracxn Technologies emerged as the biggest gainer, with its shares rising 14.8% during the week.

Yudiz, Yatra, Nazara Technologies, RateGain, Zaggle, and Zomato were among the other stocks which witnessed a northbound movement. Meanwhile, RateGain has now almost touched $1 Bn in market capitalisation following this week’s surge of almost 7%.

On the other hand, Paytm continued its slump, falling over 7% this week. Delhivery also declined a little over 7%, while PB Fintech and Fino Payments Bank fell over 3% each this week.

ideaForge and MapmyIndia declined 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

In the broader market, benchmark indices Sensex gained 2.4% to end the week at 71,483.75 while Nifty50 rose 2.3% to 21,456.65.

Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities, said, “There is a lot of enthusiasm amongst the investors, especially foreign investors, who are pumping in funds into domestic equities over the past few weeks post the state election results. Political stability and hopes of continuation of reforms going ahead, coupled with the US Fed’s dovish stance on rates, falling bond yields and sliding crude oil prices, has improved the sentiment.” 

However, Tapse believes that the benchmark indices could consolidate in the near term as they are in the overbought zone on the technical charts. 

Dr. Joseph Thomas, head of research at Emkay Wealth Management, also said that some consolidation around the current levels is expected in the near term. 

Now, let’s take a look at the performance of some of the major new-age tech stocks this week.

The total market capitalisation of the 19 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage stood at $38.48 Bn at the end of this week as against $38.35 Bn last week.

SoftBank Dumps PB Fintech Shares

After selling stakes in Zomato last week and Delhivery last month, SoftBank offloaded a significant portion of its remaining stake in the fintech major PB Fintech.

SoftBank’s SVF Python II (Cayman) Limited offloaded 2.53% of its stake, involving 1.14 Cr shares, in PB Fintech in multiple block deals worth a cumulative INR 913.7 Cr.

While many institutional investors, including Societe Generale, HDFC Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, lapped up the offloaded shares, shares of PB Fintech fell 2.3% on Friday to end the session at INR 789.45 on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the company on Thursday informed the exchanges that Income Tax (IT) officials ‘visited’ the offices of its subsidiary Paisabazaar earlier this week. PB Fintech noted that the business operations of Paisabazaar continue as usual and have not been impacted due to the survey proceedings.

Overall, PB Fintech fell 3.6% this week.

Largely helped by its improving bottom line, shares of the Policybazaar and Paisabazaar parent have gained over 22% in the last six months.

Paytm Continues To Fall

Paytm’s decision to scale down its loan disbursement business, largely affecting the BNPL or postpaid loan vertical, continues to weigh heavily on the fintech giant’s market performance.

After slumping a massive 25% last week, the stock fell almost 7.1% this week. 

Shares of Paytm ended the week at INR 605.85 on the BSE. The stock had last touched the INR 600 level or below towards the end of March this year. 

On the back of its improving outlook and bottom line, Paytm shares had gained a massive 86% this year till October. However, they are now trading only 14% higher year to date following the recent slide.

Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities, said that Paytm seems to have reached its support level at INR 590. 

“Now, if Paytm holds above INR 590, then there is a possibility of some recovery towards INR 650-INR 700,” he said, adding that the stock might fall towards INR 500 if it slips below the support level.

Delhivery Trading At A Six-Month Low

Shares of the logistics unicorn started witnessing a significant slump in early October, days after it announced the allotment of some ESOPs. Since then, the stock has been on a downtrend. 

The company’s Q2 FY24 financial results also failed to add any major boost to the falling share prices. SoftBank selling its 1.83 Cr shares in November further added to the woes.

After a little over 7% fall this week, Delhivery shares have touched their lowest level since June 9. The stock ended the week at INR 357.6 on the BSE. In September, shares of Delhivery were trading around INR 440.

LKP Securities’ De said that Delhivery looks very weak on technical charts. It has support at INR 345 and a reversal is only possible above INR 376, he said.

The post Broader Market Bull Run Lifts Up New-Age Tech Stocks This Week, RateGain Nears $1 Bn M-Cap appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Japanese investment major SoftBank offloaded 2.53% of its stake in PB Fintech in multiple block deals worth a cumulative INR 913.7 Cr.

SoftBank’s SVF Python II (Cayman) Limited held 1.97 Cr shares, or a 4.39% stake, in the parent entity of the insurtech platform Policybazaar in the quarter ended September 2023. 

Following the deal on Friday (December 16) involving 1.14 Cr shares, SoftBank is now expected to hold 83.23 Lakh shares in PB Fintech.

The offloaded shares were lapped up by Societe Generale, HDFC Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, Smallcap World Fund, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, and a few others.

While Societe Generale and HDFC Mutual Fund bought 15.5 Lakh PB Fintech shares each in block deals, Government Pension Fund Global bought 16.5 Lakh offloaded shares. New World Fund lapped up 16.4 Lakh shares from SVF Python II’s offloaded stake.

SoftBank’s stake sale in PB Fintech comes a year after the Japanese conglomerate sold over 5% stake in the company last year.

Following SoftBank’s stake sale, shares of PB Fintech fell 2.3%, ending Friday’s session at INR 789.45 on the BSE.

SoftBank’s stake sale in PB Fintech comes a week after it offloaded 9.35 Cr shares of foodtech giant Zomato in an INR 1,127 Cr block deal last Friday, likely exiting the company.

In November, SVF Doorbell (Cayman) had also offloaded 2.5% of its stake in logistics unicorn Delhivery for almost INR 740 Cr. 

The Japanese investment major has been cutting its shareholding in most Indian listed entities since last year amid its increasing losses.

Meanwhile, PB Fintech has been seeing an improvement in its bottom line for the last few quarters. Its net loss declined over 89% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 21 Cr in Q2 FY24. The fintech major also reported its third consecutive adjusted EBITDA-positive quarter in Q2.

On Friday, PB Fintech also informed the exchanges that Income Tax (IT) officials ‘visited’ the offices of its subsidiary Paisabazaar earlier this week.

The post SoftBank’s Stake Sale Continues, Offloads 1.14 Cr PB Fintech Shares Worth INR 914 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Community and security management platform MyGate hit zero cash burn in November, said cofounder Abhishek Kumar in a LinkedIn post on Friday (December 15).

“We finally hit Zero cash burn last month. Now the journey towards generating free cash flow starts…,” Kumar said.

Founded in 2016 by Vijay Arisetty, Vivaik Bharadwaj, Shreyans Daga, and Kumar, MyGate offers security solutions for apartment complexes at entry and exit gates, replacing security-related systems such as RFID cards and biometrics.

In FY23, the startup reported a net loss of INR 227.1 Cr, which widened more than 30% year-on-year (YoY). However, excluding ESOP costs and loss of financial liabilities, MyGate’s loss narrowed 35% to INR 76.43 Cr in FY23.

Its operating revenue during the year under review stood at INR 71.1 Cr against INR 40.1 Cr in FY22. As on March 31 2023, MyGate registered aggregate cash and bank balances of INR 100.4 Cr.

“The management has reviewed the cash flow forecast for the future period and taken various measures to contain costs and increase the revenue,” the startup said in its FY23 financial filing. 

With profitability now becoming a key focus for investors, most tech startups globally have started focussing on turning profitable. 

In November last year, MyGate bagged $12.2 Mn (INR 100 Cr) in a funding round led by Urban Company and Acko. This was three years after raising $56 Mn in a Series B funding from Tiger Global, JS Capital, and China’s Tencent Holdings.

Earlier this year, MyGate laid off 30% of its workforce after letting go of a similar percentage of employees in December 2022.

The startup competes with NoBroker’s apartment management platform NoBrokerHood, JioGate, and GateKeeper.

The post MyGate Cofounder Claims ‘No Burn November’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the Centre’s nodal agency dealing with cyber security, has issued a high-risk security alert for four versions of Samsung phones, saying that multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in the products with certain software.

The affected software includes Samsung mobile Android versions 11, 12, 13 and 14.

“Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Samsung products which could allow an attacker to bypass implemented security restrictions, access sensitive information and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system,” said CERT-In in its vulnerability note.

These vulnerabilities exist due to issues such as improper access control in Knox features, issues in the facial recognition software, improper authorisation verification vulnerability in AR emoji, improper input validation vulnerability in Smart Clip, and others, said the advisory. 

“Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to trigger heap overflow and stack-based buffer overflow, access device SIM PIN, send broadcast with elevated privilege, read sandbox data of AR emoji, bypass Knox guard lock via changing system time, access arbitrary files, gain access to sensitive information, execute arbitrary code and compromise the targeted system,” it added.

These vulnerabilities are likely to affect a range of Samsung devices, including the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy Flip 5, and Galaxy Fold 5. 

Meanwhile, Samsung is one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in India, along with companies including Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus and Apple. The company has also been bolstering its position as one of the top smartphone manufacturers in the country.

As per a Canalys report, Samsung maintained its top position with a market share of 18% and a shipment of 7.9 Mn units in Q3 2023.

The post CERT-In Issues High-Risk Security Alert On Certain Samsung Mobile Android Versions appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Friday (December 15) unveiled AI models of his new startup Krutrim AI and touted its solutions as “India’s first full-stack AI”.

During the launch event, Aggarwal also showcased an AI chatbot, powered by Krutrim, which functions in a way similar to other open source large language models (LLM) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s Llama 2, and Google’s Bard. 

“Today, all AI models, called LLM, are trained largely in English. But language is just not text but also the vehicle for cultural values, context, and ethos. Hence, the current AI models just can’t capture India’s culture, knowledge, and aspirations, given our multicultural, multilingual context. An India-first AI… needs to be trained on datasets specific to us,” said Aggarwal.

Ola Krutrim AI claims to have built its AI models from scratch, having trained them on 2 Tn tokens and unique datasets. The AI models can understand over 20 Indian languages and generate text in 10 Indian languages, including Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, and Marathi.

The word Krutrim is taken from the Sanskrit language and means “artificial”. 

The sign-ups for the base model ‘Krutrim’ will open today on the Krutrim website. Its next model called ‘Krutrim Pro’, with more sophisticated problem solving capabilities in text, speech, and vision, is expected to be launched in the next quarter.

With superior linguistic skills, Ola Krutrim expects to become a valuable tool for a wide range of purposes – from education to business communications. It also incorporates the latest techniques in safe AI to reduce inappropriate responses. 

Aggarwal incorporated the startup, Krutrim Si Designs Private Limited, in April this year with Ola’s parent ANI Technologies’ long-time board member Tenneti Venugopala Krishnamurthy as its director. Recently, the startup also raised $24 Mn in debt funding from Matrix Partners.

Aggarwal’s new AI entity comes at a time when he is also increasing his focus on bolstering his emobility business – Ola Electric. Both Ola and Ola Electric are already using Krutrim AI for sales, service, support, and several other processes.

Meanwhile, Krutrim is also working on AI infrastructure to develop indigenous data centres and eventually, server-computing, edge-computing, and super-computers. The startup is also working on silicon chips.

“For a well-run AI computing story and a business, you need to build AI models and you need to build the infrastructure and the silicon, and you need to integrate them very tightly. And that’s what our endeavour is,” said Aggarwal, speaking about the further upcoming developments.

Production is scheduled for mid-2024 for prototypes and a roll-out production roadmap by the end of 2025, said the startup.

The post Bhavish Aggarwal’s Krutrim Unveils ‘AI Models For India’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Quantum-safe cybersecurity technology firm QNu Labs has raised $6.5 Mn in its pre-Series A1 funding round led by Ashish Kacholia of Lucky Investments.

The round also saw participation from investment fund Speciale Invest and a well-known family fund.

Founded and incubated in 2016 at IIT Madras Research Park, QNu Labs offers quantum and post-quantum cryptography solutions based on patented technology that claims to offer confidentiality and privacy against new-age attacks targeting critical information infrastructure, communication, and personally identifiable information. 

While quantum computers can solve problems that classical computers cannot, they also pose a threat to classical encryption methods and infrastructure security. Quantum-safe cryptography secures sensitive data, access, and communications in the age of quantum computing. 

QNu’s products and solutions claim to offer unconditional and forward security of data on the internet, cloud and edge. The startup claims to have developed technology that holds multiple patents and has demonstrated India’s first commercially ready quantum-safe security products and solutions. QNu has partnered with the likes of Airtel, Bharat Electronics, IN-SPACe, and several other marquee names in India and globally. 

The latest round of funding is primarily aimed at bolstering its growth phase, QNu said in a statement, hinting at global expansion plans and more leadership hirings.

“Having already established a robust presence in the Indian market and making inroads into several other countries, QNu Labs is on a mission to complete and refine its existing quantum technology solutions,” it said.

This capital infusion will also help QNu Labs strengthen its leadership team, with new hires in senior sales, marketing, and engineering roles, the startup said.

“Our goal is to solidify India’s position as a hub of quantum technological excellence and to emerge as a key player on the global stage, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in quantum-safe cybersecurity,” said Sunil Gupta, cofounder and CEO of QNu.

QNu said this strategic investment by a private investor in an Indian quantum technology startup is the largest so far.

“At Speciale Invest, we are deeply committed to nurturing technological advancements that have a profound impact, not just locally but globally. Our initial investment in QNu Labs back in 2021 was driven by our belief in their potential to revolutionize the quantum technology sector. Seeing them now, achieving the milestone of market entry only reinforces our conviction,” said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest.

Rajaram said that its additional investment in QNu comes with the intention to contribute to making India a major player in the global quantum tech landscape.

It must be noted that the Union Cabinet approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) in April this year at a total cost of INR 6,003.65 Cr from 2023-24 to 2030-31 with an aim to seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create an innovative ecosystem in quantum technology. 

QNu competes with a few other Indian startups working in the quantum-safe cybersecurity space including Qulabs, Scytale Alpha, and Qpi.

The post QNu Labs Bags $6.5 Mn To Provide Quantum Technology-Based Cybersecurity Solutions appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based Exponent Energy, an energy tech startup which provides rapid 15-minute charging for EVs, has secured INR 220 Cr ($26.4 Mn) in its Series B funding round led by Fidelity-backed Eight Roads Ventures.

The funding round also saw participation from TDK Ventures and Exponent Energy’s existing investors including Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, and the family office of Dr. Pawan Munjal, executive chairman at Hero MotoCorp.

Speaking to Inc42 about the fresh fundraise, Arun Vinayak, cofounder and CEO of Exponent Energy, said that after finding its product-market fit, the startup is now looking to strengthen its manufacturing and business operations.

“Until now we did only three-wheeler cargo. In the coming year, we are going to use the same fundamental battery tech, leverage the same network and enter the three-wheeler passenger category. And we also have an intercity bus market that we are now going to tap in 2024,” said Vinayak.

He said that Exponent Energy’s battery tech for three-wheelers has reached past the product development stage and it now aims to scale the operations on both the business and manufacturing fronts. Meanwhile, its battery tech for ebus is still in the R&D phase, but the startup aims to use the fresh fund infusion to accelerate the R&D and bring the product to the market.

Founded in 2020 by former Ather Energy executives Arun Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal, Exponent Energy aimed to build a tech enablement platform that can help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across segments make EVs by solving the problem associated with long charging hours.

Its charging station is called ‘e^pump’, which transfers refrigerated water through its charging connector called ‘e^plug’ to prevent overheating during the rapid charging of its battery packs, ‘e^packs’. The startup currently has 30 charging stations spread across Bengaluru.

Besides increasing its ‘e^pump’ installations in Bengaluru, Exponent Energy is also looking at entering five other cities – Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad – in 2024.

Including the fresh infusion, Exponent Energy has so far raised $44.4 Mn.

What Makes Investors Take A Bet On Exponent Energy?

The investment in Exponent Energy marks the first investment by TDK Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures in India’s EV sector.

Exponent Energy will also collaborate with TDK Ventures to further reduce the cost structure of rapid charging tech. 

“We share the vision of expanding rapid charging accessibility at a reasonable cost, making electric mobility an option for everyone. This collaboration represents an exciting stride toward a more sustainable and electrified future,” said Nicolas Sauvage, president at TDK Ventures, in a media statement.

Speaking to Inc42 about investing in Exponent Energy, Aditya Systla, partner at Eight Roads Ventures, said the fund infusion comes in the backdrop of booming EV adoption in India and new developments in the three-wheeler cargo space. 

“Our belief is that the entire commercial vehicle segment… we are going to see a lot of them go electric. Adoption is fundamentally growing because of reasons including improved product quality, lower total cost of ownerships, and a bunch of government’s push in the form of subsidies,” said Systla, adding that these macro reasons drove Eight Roads Ventures to invest in the player catering to the broader EV space.

“Also, we wanted to play this horizontally, so we chose a battery play rather than a specific OEM. And within battery and charging, our belief is that rapid charging is the key unlock which is going to drive large-scale EV penetration of commercial vehicles,” he said.

Besides, Exponent Energy has built a very strong differentiated two-sided solution that offers rapid charging in 15 minutes as well as a high battery life warranty of 3,000 cycles for its EV batteries, added Systla.

The VC firm invested $10.5 Mn in this funding round.

In the coming months, Exponent Energy also aims to expand its existing manufacturing facility in Bengaluru and increase its total number of charging stations in the city to 100 by March next year.

In August last year, the startup raised $13 Mn in its Series A funding round led by Lightspeed after partnering with three-wheeler EV OEM Altigreen Propulsion Labs. Recently, the startup also announced a partnership with Chennai-based Murugappa Group, while more such announcements are upcoming.

Exponent Energy continues to work towards its target of catering to 25,000 EVs and a revenue of around INR 600 Cr by 2025.

The post EV Rapid Charging Startup Exponent Energy Bags $26.4 Mn From Eight Roads Ventures, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

IPO-bound B2B payments solutions provider PayMate managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by a marginal 3.5% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 55.7 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23).

In FY22, the startup’s loss stood at INR 57.7 Cr on an operating revenue of INR 1,208.9 Cr.

PayMate’s operating revenue rose 11.7% YoY to INR 1,350.1 Cr in FY23.

As a payment solutions provider for enterprises and SMEs, PayMate earns a majority of revenue from sale of services. The PayMate platform provides an upgrade from traditional paper-based workflows to software-driven workloads with digital payment streams like digital invoicing and several complementary features.

It recognises revenue when it transfers control over a product or service to the customer. As per its regulatory filing, when PayMate acts as an agent for selling goods or services, only the commission income is included in the revenue. It also earns some revenue as service fee from merchants.

Speaking about the rise in sales in FY23, PayMate said in a recent statement that it saw a 84.53% surge in adoption among customers as compared to FY22, taking the total count of customers beyond 390,000. 

The company, with a large customer base in India and the UAE, is now also expanding to Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. 

It also claimed to have achieved a total payment volume of INR 84,519 Cr in FY23, registering a 21% YoY rise.

“During the last financial year, we focused on operational efficiency and driving growth. Throughout this period, we were able to maintain efficient operations and grow our gross profit year-over-year while expanding our customer base and enhancing collaboration opportunities within the fintech ecosystem,” said Ajay Adiseshan, founder and CEO of PayMate, in the statement.

Last year, PayMate had said in a statement to Inc42 that its gross profit was INR 1.4 Cr. As per our calculation, its gross profit in FY23 was over INR 11 Cr.

Following an increase in its non-operating income, such as interest on income tax refunds and others, PayMate’s total revenue stood at INR 1,351.6 Cr in FY23 as against INR 1,209.2 Cr in the prior year.

PayMate’s Expenses In FY23

The fintech startup’s total expenses increased 11% to INR 1,407.3 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,266.9 Cr in FY22. In that, the cost of materials accounted for a significant 95%.

Cost Of Materials Consumed: PayMate spent INR 1,339 Cr in this bucket, which increased almost 11% from INR 1,207.5 Cr in FY22.

Employee Cost: PayMate’s employee benefit expenses increased slightly by 1.6% to INR 50.5 Cr in FY23 from INR 49.7 Cr a year ago.

Of this, spending on salaries and wages stood at INR 32.7 Cr as against INR 24.2 Cr in FY22.

Advertising Promotional Expenses: PayMate’s ad expenses more than tripled to INR 1.3 Cr in the reported period from INR 44.7 Lakh in FY22.

Founded in 2006 by Adiseshan, PayMate is backed by Visa, Lightbox, Recruit Strategic Partners, and several other marquee names. The startup first filed its DRHP with the SEBI in 2022 but did not go for an IPO given tumultuous market conditions.

Earlier this year, the company told Inc42 it would likely refile its DRHP in the near future, subject to regulatory processes and market conditions. However, it is yet to refile the draft papers for IPO.

The post IPO-Bound PayMate’s FY23 Loss Narrows Marginally To INR 55.7 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Macquarie Capital, the principal investment arm of Australia’s Macquarie Group, has invested in EV charging startup ChargeZone to help the Indian startup further develop its cloud technology-enabled EV charging network. 

Without disclosing the investment amount, Macquarie Capital, in a statement, said it has acquired a minority stake in ChargeZone.

Speaking about the investment, Ivan Varughese, senior MD and head of infrastructure and energy capital, Asia Pacific at Macquarie Capital, said, “The energy transition continues to be a key area of focus, as we leverage our deep sector expertise to help clients develop sustainable and critical infrastructure assets that connect local communities and drive decarbonisation efforts in India.”

Macquarie Capital’s investment in ChargeZone comes at a time when the EV space in India is booming due to rising adoption of such vehicles and increasing investments across sub-sectors. 

Macquarie Capital said that India is now the world’s most populous country, with rising consumer demand and a growing manufacturing sector. This creates extra demand for energy and transportation, which will drive a significant rise in the country’s energy imports. The investment firm expects this to lead to more electrification of vehicles in the country.

Founded in 2018 by Kartikey Hariyani, ChargeZone is a tech-driven EV charging network startup that provides a high-speed charging network for ebuses, etrucks, and ecars. It specialises in B2B and B2C charging services on both dedicated and opportunity-based charging, using smart-grid networks.

As of March 2023, ChargeZone claimed to have had over 3,500 charging points across more than 1,500 EV charging stations in operations or construction across 37 Indian cities. 

The startup aims to reach 1 Mn charging points by 2030. It also aims to increasingly integrate solar and wind power generation for the charging stations.

In the statement, ChargeZone founder and CEO Hariyani said that the partnership with Macquarie Capital will accelerate the startup’s efforts to create a greener and more efficient future for urban transportation.

“Our ultimate goal has been to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and the deployment of EV charging infrastructure throughout India. This collaboration with Macquarie Capital marks a significant milestone in our relentless pursuit of that goal… supporting the nation’s objectives of reducing carbon emissions and promoting clean mobility,” he said.

In March this year, ChargeZone raised $54 Mn in its Series A1 funding round in a mix of equity and debt, led by global impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance, to immediately roll out over 250 charging stations.

The startup was also looking to raise $75 Mn-$100 Mn in equity as part of its Series A2 funding round between 2023 and 2024. However, it is not clear yet if Macquarie Capital’s investment is a part of this round.

ChargeZone competes with the likes of BOLT, Statiq, and Tata Power. 

The post Macquarie Capital Invests In EV Charging Startup ChargeZone appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Investment firm Omidyar Network, a backer of leading Indian startups such as 1mg, Bounce, Indifi, DealShare, HealthKart, and Pratilipi, is shutting down its India operations.

Omidyar Network India confirmed the development in a statement, saying it will “completely transition out of the market by the end of 2024”.

“After several months of deliberation, it has been decided that Omidyar Network India will stop making new investments and will completely transition out of the market by the end of 2024. Over the next two months, the board and leadership team will assess how best to manage the organisation’s portfolio while recognising the long and trusted partnerships that the Omidyar Network India team has built,” the statement said.

TechCrunch was the first to report the development.

A source told the publication that the impact investment firm’s India team wants to reunite and raise money externally to start a new fund but cautioned that it’s too early and the plans may change and deliberations may fail.

Backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, the social impact-focussed investment firm had about $673 Mn cumulative assets under management and its portfolio startups reached 735 Mn people cumulatively till July 2023, as per an investor presentation.

Most recently, Omidyar Network India led dairy fintech startup Digivriddhi Technologies’ (DGV) INR 50 Cr ($6 Mn) Series A funding round.

Last month, fintech startup Kiwi also raised $13 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India. 

The investment firm has backed businesses across areas including education and employability, emerging tech, financial inclusion and well being and property inclusivity. 

While India’s startup ecosystem is booming, concerns have been raised about the returns made by venture investors in the country, especially amidst the funding winter over the last two years.

Omidyar Network said in its statement that the decision to pull out of India was heavily informed by the significant change in context and the growth in the economic landscape that the India-based team has experienced since first making investments in 2010. 

“Today, there is more Indian-led philanthropic and venture capital than ever before, the country has a vibrant startup sector, and several funds now have a middle and lower-middle income focus as part of their investment strategy. From its outset, the Omidyar Network India team identified these system shifts as critical to impact and worked diligently to help catalyse this change,” the investment firm said.

It is also pertinent to note that 2023 hasn’t been very smooth for Omidyar Network as its portfolio startup ZestMoney, a major name in BNPL that was once valued at $450 Mn, had to shut shop. Its another portfolio startup Doubtnut, which had raised over $50 Mn, also got acquired by Allen Career Institute for $10 Mn.

The development also comes at a time when the venture capital ecosystem in India seems to be going through a churn. A number of partners and fund manages have quit venture capital firms in recent times to either launch their own funds or startups. 

On Monday, it was reported that Lightrock India partner and chief financial officer (CFO) Kushal Agrawal will be stepping down from this role at the end of the ongoing month.

The post DealShare, Indifi Backer Omidyar Network To Exit India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

US-and India-based CareStack, a cloud-based dental practice management platform, has acquired Kerala-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Waybeo to transform patient-practitioner communication into healthcare. 

However, the company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Founded in 2009 by Krishnan R V, Manu Dev and Bijoy B S, Waybeo specialises in deep AI-based analytics for cloud telephony. It claims to be one of the pioneers in offering comprehensive solutions, including call tracking and analytics, lead response automation, sales call automation and automated voice alerts.

Waybeo claims to have witnessed an average year-on-year growth rate of around 39.42% in the last seven financial years. With a clientele of 56 enterprise customers nationwide, the company’s call-tracking product today serves about 22,000 locations across India.

Waybeo, which counts Airtel among its global investors, has delivered its deep intelligence services and optimising strategies for industry giants such as Royal Enfield, Tata Motors and Honda Cars India. 

“Integrating Waybeo’s advanced analytics into our platform is a game-changer. It aligns with our commitment to redefine dental care,” said Abhilash Krishna, chief executive of CareStack. 

Krishna added that CareStack is expanding its capabilities and reshaping patient communication, which will also help in transforming dental operations.

Prior to this acquisition, Waybeo had unveiled CS Conversations for CareStack, offering AI-powered call analysis and real-time transcriptions, which had significantly enhanced patient-practitioner communications.

“This acquisition is a strategic move that combines Waybeo’s tech proficiency with CareStack’s market reach,” said Krishnan R V, cofounder and chief executive of Waybeo. “It’s a leap toward advancing patient care standards. We are not just streamlining communication but helping elevate patient care experiences in healthcare facilities.”

Meanwhile, following the acquisition, Waybeo is also looking to expand its footprint in India and international markets. So far, the Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered startup also has a presence in Mumbai.

Besides, It is also eyeing sectors beyond healthcare, such as automobile, consumer durables, insurance, broking and real estate.

The 2015-founded CareStack is a cloud-based dental practice management software dedicated to meeting the comprehensive needs of dental offices, regardless of size. It aims to help grow the dental community including the private practitioners, dental support organisations (DSOs), and dental startups, with its software offerings.

In July last year, CareStack closed a strategic equity investment round from the Swiss dental devices manufacturer Straumann Group. The company had then told Inc42 that it was looking to foray into Singapore and Australia by the end of 2022 and expand further to New Zealand and Spain in 2023.

As per a report, the global dental practice management software market size is estimated to reach $3,455.40 Mn by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 9.7% between 2023 and 2032.

The post CareStack Buys Airtel-Backed Waybeo To Augment Patient-Practitioner Communication appeared first on Inc42 Media.