Startup initial public offerings (IPOs) were a rage in India in 2024. As many as 13 new-age tech companies listed on the bourses last year and cumulatively raised INR 29,070 Cr via their public listing.

From sector giants Swiggy and FirstCry to SME maverick TAC Infosec, 2024 was abuzz with healthy activity on the IPO front. Not just this, public listings also proved to be money makers for the early backers of these companies, with some VCs and PEs minting returns of over 30X. 

While 2024 was a blockbuster year for Indian startup listings, will the momentum seep into 2025 too? It definitely seems so. As per Inc42 data, 23 startups were in various stages of undertaking their IPO preparations at the start of 2025. While some of them have already received SEBI’s nod to go ahead with their public issue, others are lining up bankers to helm their respective IPOs. 

As many as 11 startups have already filed their draft red herring prospectuses (DRHPs) with SEBI, including Ather Energy, Ecom Express, ArisInfra, Avanse Financial Services, BlueStone, among others. Of these, six have received the regulatory nod to go ahead with their listings. 

Then, there are sectoral giants such as CarDekho, InCred, OfBusiness and Ola Consumer that too are pushing the pedal on listing on the bourses later this year. 

So, what is powering this startup IPO frenzy? One of the key factors that is likely to contribute to the public listing mania in 2025 is India’s strong position in the equities market. While the last few months have seen a major correction, there is bullishness in the medium to long-term. Besides, more rationalised valuations sought by startups in 2024 is expected to further create healthy momentum for new-age tech IPOs this year too. 

“The successful public listings of a sizable number of PE/VC-backed companies and, importantly, the improved performance of many of these companies post their listing is an incentive for investors to further explore the IPO route for liquidity. Also, post-downturn, valuations are more realistic and attractive for long-term investors,” said Lightbox Ventures founder and managing director (MD) Sandeep Murthy.

While the overall outlook for startup IPOs is positive in 2025, challenges remain. The focus of investors continues to remain on profitable and sustainable ventures. Additionally, investors also want potential listees to differentiate themselves on aspects such as scalability, market penetration, advanced technology integration, premium offerings, sustainable features and products tailored to specific industries.

“Startups also need to be cognizant about the valuations at which they want to list. Unrealistic, high valuations come with the risk of poor subscription and underperformance of the stock post listing, both bad for investor confidence in new-age businesses,” added Murthy.

Nevertheless, for now, the Indian startup ecosystem continues to revel in IPO spring. Forging ahead with innovation and grit at its heart, the homegrown new-age tech landscape appears to be headed for a “record-breaking” year on the IPO front.

With much remains to be said and done, we, at Inc42, have compiled a list of Indian new-age tech companies that plan to list on the exchanges this year and next. But, before we dive into the list, here are the latest developments from the Indian IPO landscape: 

Latest Updates:

• Consumer services startup Urban Company’s board approved a proposal to raise up to INR 528 Cr via fresh issue as part of its proposed IPO
• Wakefit has selected Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services and Nomura as bankers for its upcoming INR 1,500 Cr to INR 2,000 Cr IPO
• EV maker Ather Energy is mulling trimming its IPO size by at least $50 Mn amid the ongoing volatility in the Indian and the global stock markets

The companies have been listed in an alphabetical order | Data has been sourced from Inc42, respective DRHPs, MCA filings and other media reports | Asterisk (*) specifies reported numbers.

Now, let’s take a detailed look at the list: 

Startups That Have Filed DRHP

ArisInfra

Founded in 2021 by Ronak Morbia and Bhavik Khara, ArisInfra is a B2B ecommerce platform that utilises artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify procurement of construction materials. It links real estate developers with vendors for sourcing building materials, and also offers project management services.

Backed by Think Partners, Logx Venture Partners, PharmEasy cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) Siddharth Shah, and Karbonite Ventures, the startup has bagged more than $25 Mn in funding to date. 

In August 2024, the startup kicked off its IPO proceedings by filing its DRHP with SEBI to raise INR 600 Cr via its IPO. Its public issue will comprise solely a fresh issue of shares, and there will be no offer for sale (OFS) component. 

Later on, the company, in an addendum to its DRHP, informed the markets regulator that it has trimmed the size of the fresh issue in the IPO to INR 579.6 Cr from INR 600 Cr earlier. It received approval from the market regulator for its public listing in November 2024.

In January 2025, the B2B ecommerce platform undertook a pre-IPO placement to raise INR 80 Cr by issuing 36.03 Lakh equity shares for INR 222 per share. 

The startup plans to use the IPO proceeds to repay outstanding credit, support working capital requirements, potential acquisitions and investments in its subsidiary. 

ArisInfra’s consolidated net loss jumped 11.95% YoY to INR 17.33 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), while revenue from operations fell more than 6% YoY to INR 696.84 Cr during the fiscal under review.

Ather Energy

Founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Ather Energy is one of the biggest players in the Indian electric two-wheeler segment. The startup manufactures and services electric scooters and operates its own charging infrastructure.

The EV major has raised more than $431 Mn in funding to date from the likes of Hero MotoCorp, GIC, Tiger Global, among others. 

The Bengaluru-based startup commenced its proceedings in June 2024 as its board passed a resolution to convert the startup into a public company, considered the first towards an IPO. A couple of months later in September, the startup filed its DRHP with SEBI for its IPO. 

As per the draft IPO papers, Ather’s public issue comprises a fresh issuance of shares worth INR 3,100 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 2.2 Cr equity shares. Last heard, the company was eyeing a valuation of $2.4 Bn for its upcoming IPO, a premium of over 80% from over its last fundraise.

In December 2024, the company received SEBI’s approval to go ahead with its IPO plans. 

The proceeds from the IPO will be utilised for kickstarting the construction of its upcoming manufacturing facility in Maharashtra, R&D, marketing initiatives, and other general corporate purposes.

In March 2025, reports surfaced that the EV maker was eyeing a valuation of $1.6 Bn for its much-awaited IPO, which could happen by April 2025. However, amid the global market turmoil, Ather Energy, in April 2025, was said to be looking to trim the size of its public issue by at least INR 430 Cr. A report claimed that company’s shareholders were mulling offering a lower number of shares under the OFS component.

Ather Energy’s net loss zoomed 22.5% to INR 1,059.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 864 Cr in the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, operating revenue rose a mere 0.4% to INR 1,789.10 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,783 Cr in FY23.

Avanse Financial Services

Founded in 2013, Avanse is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that offers education financing for students and educational institutions in India. Its products also cater to students looking to study abroad and in India. 

The company filed its DRHP in June 2024 for an INR 3,500 Cr IPO. The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of INR 1,000 Cr and an OFS component of shares worth up to INR 2,500 Cr.

In July 2024, SEBI returned the non-bank lender’s DRHP on “technical grounds”. A month later, the company refiled its draft IPO papers with the market regulator. Subsequently, SEBI gave its nod to the NBFC for the IPO in October 2024.

Backed by the likes of Warburg Pincus, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mubadala Investment Company and Kedaara Capital, the startup has reportedly raised more than $299 Mn in funding to date. 

As per the DRHP, Avanse clocked a net profit of INR 342.4 Cr in FY24, more than doubling from INR 157.71 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue also grew sharply to INR 1,726.9 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 989.5 Cr in FY23.

Aye Finance

A brainchild of Sanjay Sharma and Vikram Jetley, Aye Finance was founded in 2014. The NBFC’s unique selling proposition (USP) lies in its AI-powered credit assessment algorithms that it leverages to offer loans to small businesses across the country. 

The NBFC has secured $500 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Google, ABC Impact, Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, among others, as investors. In the run up to its IPO in January 2025, it secured INR 110 Cr in debt from a clutch of investors, including Northern Arc, ASK Financial Holdings, MAS Financial Services and CredAvenue.

Prior to that in early December 2024, the NBFC’s board approved a proposal to raise up to INR 1,450 Cr through an IPO. Consequently in mid-December, the company filed its draft red herring prospectus with the SEBI for a public listing. 

The markets regulator greenlit the NBFC’s IPO plans on April 3, 2025. 

As per the DRHP, Aye Finance’s IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 885 Cr and an OFS component of INR 565 Cr. The OFS will see the likes of investors such as LGT Capital, CapitalG, A91 Fund, MAJ Invest and Alpha Wave offload their stake in the company. 

The NBFC plans to use the fresh proceeds to meet future capital requirements and for undertaking existing business activities.

Aye Finance’s net profit declined marginally to 107.8 Cr in the first half (H1) of FY25 as against INR 113.89 Cr in the year-ago period. Alongside, operating revenue soared to INR 692.24 Cr during the period from INR 472 Cr in H1 FY24.

BlueStone

Founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj, BlueStone is an omnichannel jewellery brand that sells rings, pendants, earrings and other products. Backed by Prosus, Steadview Capital and Think Investments, the startup has raised more than $184 Mn in funding till date. 

Kicking off its IPO proceedings in August 2024, the jewellery startup raised INR 900 Cr as part of a pre-IPO funding round that catapulted its valuation to $970 Mn. Just four months later in December, the omnichannel jewellery brand filed its DRHP for an INR 1,000+ Cr IPO.

SEBI issued its observation letter to BlueStone to go ahead with the IPO on April 1, 2025.

The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 1,000 Cr and an offer-for-sale component of up to 2.40 Cr equity shares. Existing investors Accel, Kalaari Capital, Saama Capital and IvyCap Ventures will offload their stake in the company via OFS.

It plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund its working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes. 

On the financial front, BlueStone reported a net loss of INR 59.2 Cr against an operating revenue of INR 348 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25). 

DevX

Founded in 2017 by Parth Shah, Rushit Shah and Umesh Uttamchandani, DevX offers coworking space solutions, managed office spaces, among others.

The startup, backed by Kalpesh Gala, Unmaj Corporation, and Bidiwala Family Office, last raised $7 Mn in a mix of debt and equity in February 2024. DevX currently operates over 25 coworking spaces in more than 10 Indian cities, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bengaluru, Delhi, Surat, among others. 

The coworking startup initially filed its DRHP with SEBI in September 2024 for a listing on the NSE and the BSE. At the time, DevX’s IPO consisted solely of a fresh issue of 2.47 Cr shares and no OFS component. 

However, in February 2025, SEBI returned the DRHP of the managed office space provider for unspecified reasons. Subsequently, the company refiled its DRHP with the markets regulator in April 2025. 

As per the updated DRHP, the company has increased the size of its fresh issue to up to 2.75 Cr shares from 2.47 Cr shares earlier. 

It plans to deploy the fresh proceeds for the repayment of debt, expanding its footprint and for general corporate purposes. 

As per the DRHP, DevX reported a net profit of INR 43.7 Lakh in FY24 compared to a loss of INR 12.8 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue also jumped more than 54% to INR 108.08 Cr in the financial year under review compared to INR 69.91 Cr in FY23. 

It clocked a net profit of INR 38.4 Lakh in the first half (H1) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) on an operating revenue of INR 59.4 Cr. 

Ecom Express 

Founded in 2012 by the late TA Krishnan, Manju Dhawan, K Satyanarayana and Sanjeev Saxena, Ecom Express is a logistics startup that caters to ecommerce platforms, D2C brands and quick commerce players. 

The startup claims to have 3,000 delivery centres spanning 9.6 Mn sq. ft. of space and delivers orders to 27,000 pin codes in 2,700 cities and towns across the country. In April 2025, listed logistics unicorn Delhivery said that it will pick up a 99.4% stake in Ecom Express for INR 1,407 Cr ($164.5 Mn) in a fire sale. 

While Ecom Express’ IPO plans seem to be hanging in balance now, the company, in August 2024, had filed its DRHP with the market regulator SEBI for an INR 2,600 Cr IPO. The logistics startup received SEBI’s approval for its IPO in December 2024. 

As per the draft papers, the proposed public issue comprised a fresh issue of shares worth INR 1,284.5 Cr and an OFS component of up to INR 1,315.5 Cr. 

Backed by the likes of Warburg Pincus, PG Esmeralda and BII, Ecom Express has raised more than $275.79 Mn in funding to date. 

The logistics major trimmed its net loss by 67% to INR 255.8 Cr in FY24 compared to INR 428.1 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, its operating revenue saw a marginal 2.15% YoY increase to INR 2,609 Cr in the fiscal ended March 2024.

IndiQube

Founded in 2015 by Rishi Das and Meghna Agarwal, IndiQube is a coworking space provider that offers workspace design, interior build out and other B2B and B2C-focussed services. 

Backed by WestBridge Capital, Aravali Investment Holdings, and Konark Trust, IndiQube has raised more than $45 Mn in funding to date across multiple rounds. 

Kicking off its IPO proceedings, the Bengaluru-based company turned into a public limited company in December 2024. In the same month, the managed office space provider filed its DRHP with markets regulator SEBI for an INR 850 Cr IPO. In March 2025, SEBI greenlit the coworking space startup’s IPO. 

The company’s IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 750 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to INR 100 Cr. Promoters and cofounders, Das and Agarwal, plan to offload a part of their stake via OFS.

The company’s shares will be listed on the BSE and the NSE. IndiQube plans to utilise the fresh proceeds to establish new centres, repay certain borrowings, and for general corporate purposes.

IndiQube’s net loss widened 72% to INR 341.51 Cr in FY24 from INR 198.10 Cr in the previous fiscal. However, revenue from operations surged 44% to INR 867.66 Cr during the year under review from INR 601.28 Cr in FY23. 

Smartworks

Founded in 2016 by Neetish Sarda and Harsh Binani, Smartworks is a shared workspace provider that offers customisable coworking solutions for enterprises. 

The startup has raised $41 Mn in funding till date and is backed by the likes of Ananta Capital, Keppel Land and Plutus Capital. 

Taking the first step towards its IPO, the startup turned into a public company in July 2024 and changed its name to Smartworks Coworking Spaces Ltd from Smartworks Coworking Spaces Private Ltd previously.

In August 2024, it filed its DRHP with SEBI for an INR 550 Cr initial public offering and received approval from the markets regulator for its listing in December 2024. 

As per its DRHP, the company’s IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth INR 550 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 67.49 Lakh equity.  In December 2024, the company received approval from the SEBI to go-ahead with its IPO.

Smartworks trimmed its net loss to INR 49.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 101.4 Cr in FY23. Operating revenue jumped 46% YoY to INR 1,039.3 Cr during the year under review.

Ullu

Founded by the husband-wife duo of Vibhu Agarwal and Megha Agarwal, Ullu Digital is a Mumbai-based OTT platform that deals with the distribution, promotion, exhibition, marketing and delivery of video content on its streaming platform Ullu. 

It filed its DRHP with the BSE SME for an IPO in February 2024. As per the draft papers, the company’s IPO would comprise a fresh issue of 62.63 Lakh shares and would not have OFS component. Ullu Digital plans to raise INR 135-INR 150 Cr via the IPO. 

The platform plans to use the net proceeds raised via the IPO to meet its expenses for production of new content, purchase of international shows, tech investment, and to meet the working capital requirements.

While Vibhu Agarwal holds a 61.75% stake in Ullu Digital, Megha Aggarwal owns 33.25% of the company. 

In March 2024, the OTT streaming platform came under the scanner of multiple government authorities including SEBI, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for allegedly selling “pornographic” content using school children.

Later on in December 2024, cofounder and CEO Vibhu Agarwal told a publication that Ullu’s IPO was delayed due to certain “obstacles”, adding that the company now plans to hit the bourses by March 2025. However, there have been no further updates on the public listing plans.

Ullu Digital’s net profit declined 16% to INR 12.68 Cr in FY24 from INR 15.14 Cr in the previous fiscal. The streaming major’s revenue from operations rose 7% to INR 99.67 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 93.15 Cr in FY23. 

WeWork India 

Karan Virwani brought WeWork to India in 2017 through a partnership with his family’s Embassy Group. The coworking major operates over 54 centres spanning across eight cities in India including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, among others. These centres include over 1 Lakh desks and 8 Mn square feet of space. 

The company has been planning its IPO for some time now. In November 2024, WeWork India rejigged its board and followed it up by raising INR 500 Cr via a rights issue in January 2025. 

Subsequently, in February 2025, the company filed its DRHP with SEBI to raise funds through an IPO. However, the market regulator, in March 2025, said that it has kept the approval for the coworking giant’s IPO in “abeyance”, without specifying any reason. 

WeWork India’s public issue consists solely of an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 4.3 Cr (43,753,952) equity shares 

Of these, promoter group Embassy Buildcon LLP will sell 3.34 Cr shares, while Ariel Way Tenant will offload 1.02 Cr shares. 

As per its DRHP, WeWork India reported a net loss of INR 174.5 Cr in the first half (H1) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) against an operating revenue of INR 918.1 Cr.

Zappfresh

Founded in 2015 by Deepanshu Manchanda and Shruti Gochhwal, Zappfresh is a D2C meat startup that supplies meat from farms to customers within 90 minutes. 

Taking its first step towards IPO,the startup converted into a public entity in April 2024 after dropping “private” from its name. As per its RoC filings, the company changed its name to DSM Fresh Foods Limited from DSM Fresh Foods Private Limited previously. 

The startup’s parent filed its DRHP for listing on BSE SME in August 2024. Zappfresh’s IPO will comprise a fresh issue of 59.06 Lakh equity shares, with no offer for sale component. 

While there has been clarity on the public issue since then, Zappfresh cofounder and CEO Deepanshu Manchanda, in February 2025, told Inc42 attributed the delays in the company’s public listing to SEBI tightening IPO rules for SMEs in December 2024. Manchanda said that the company is following up with SEBI on the matter and expects Zappfresh to become a listed entity in 2025 itself. 

The D2C meat delivery startup is looking to raise fresh capital in the range of INR 60 Cr to INR 70 Cr via the public issue. 

As per its DRHP, Zappfresh plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to fuel acquisitions, meeting marketing and capital expenditure requirements and for general corporate purposes.

Zappfresh reported a net profit of INR 4.7 Cr in the fiscal 2023-24 (FY24), up 70% from INR 2.7 Cr in the previous year. Meanwhile, operating revenue surged more than 60% to INR 90.4 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 56.3 Cr in FY23.

Startups Lining Up IPO Plans In 2025

Bira 91

Founded by Ankur Jain in 2015, Bira 91 sells craft, lager and strong beers as well as non-alcoholic beverages. Backed by Sofina, DS Group and Peak XV Partners, Bira 91 has bagged $449 Mn in funding to date across multiple rounds. 

The beer marker’s IPO has been in works for some time now. Although Bira converted into a public company and renamed itself as B9 Beverages Limited back in 2022, it is yet to file its00 DRHP with the SEBI.

However, the company resuscitated its IPO plans in July 2024 amid a spree of new-age tech public listings. At the time, reports said that the alco-beverage brand was looking to list on the bourses in 2026 and had roped in investment banking firm Morgan Stanley to helm its pre-IPO process.

The Delhi NCR-based brand’s operating revenue rose 15% to INR 824.3 Cr in the year ended March 2023 as against INR 718.8 Cr in FY22. Meanwhile, net loss jumped 12% YoY to INR 445.4 Cr in FY23.

boAt

Founded in 2016 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt is a D2C brand that sells products such as headphones, smart watches and speakers. 

The startup has raised more than $171 Mn across multiple rounds from marquee names such as Warburg Pincus,Qualcomm Ventures, Malabar Investments, Innoven Capital, Fireside Ventures, among others. 

boAt has been planning its IPO for some years now. In 2022, it filed its DRHP with SEBI in 2022 for an INR 2,000 Cr public issue but later shelved the plan amid adverse macroeconomic conditions. 

Subsequently, in June 2024, cofounder and CEO Sameer Mehta hinted at an impending IPO and said that boAt would be looking to raise INR 2,000 Cr via the IPO in the next 12-18 months. He also said that the company was looking to turn net profitable yet again in FY25 before moving ahead with IPO plans.

A few months later in September, cofounder and chief marketing officer Aman Gupta echoed the sentiment and said that the startup was eyeing a listing on the Indian stock exchanges in 2025. 

Kicking off its IPO plans in November 2024, boAt reportedly finalised ICICI Securities, Goldman Sachs and Nomura as the bankers to helm its IPO in 2025 at a valuation north of $1.5 Bn. In February 2025, reports claimed that the company was planning to file its DRHP with SEBI via confidential pre-filing route for an INR 2,000 Cr IPO by FY26.

The D2C brand’s board, in late-February 2025, greenlit plans to amend the company’s articles of association (AoA) and raise up to INR 500 Cr via fresh issue of shares during the IPO. Subsequently, the company’s parent Imagine Marketing filed its DRHP via the confidential pre-filing route. 

Meanwhile, on the financial footing, boAt continued to be in the red for the second consecutive fiscal year in FY24. It posted a net loss of INR 79.7 Cr in FY24, down 38% from INR 129.4 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue also fell 7% to INR 3,117.7 Cr during the year under review from INR 3,376.8 Cr in FY23.

Capillary Technologies

Founded in 2008 by Aneesh Reddy, Capillary Technologies is a SaaS startup that offers omnichannel engagement and commerce solutions. 

With presence spanning India, Southeast Asia, MENA, and the US, the startup has raised more than $239 Mn in funding to date. It is backed by the likes of marquee names such as Avataar Ventures, Filter Capital, Peak XV Partners, among others. 

In January 2025, Inc42 exclusively reported that the company has restarted its IPO preparations and will likely file its DRHP with SEBI for a $200 Mn public offering by June 2025. The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares in the range of $12 Mn to $24 Mn while the remaining will be part of the OFS component. 

The promoter group and investors who joined the startup’s cap table over the last couple of years are expected to offload their stakes via the OFS. Capillary is eyeing a valuation in the range of $500 Mn to $1 Bn during the potential public listing. 

This will be the SaaS startup’s second stab at a public listing. In 2021, the company filed its DRHP to raise $114 Mn via its market debut. 

As per Tofler, the company’s India entity closed FY24 with a revenue of INR 150.1 Cr, up marginally from INR 142.6 Cr in the previous fiscal. Its net loss declined to INR 52.3 Cr in the fiscal under review compared to INR 90.1 Cr in FY23.

Captain Fresh

Founded in 2019 by Utham Gowda, Captain Fresh is a B2B startup that exports and sells fish and seafood. Besides operating a marketplace for fisherfolk to sell their catch, it also offers an end-to-end operations management tool for retail outlets and supermarket chains for sale of seafood.

Backed by the likes of Tiger Global, Prosus and British International Investment (BII), the B2B startup has raised more than $172 Mn in funding to date. 

In May 2024, the company appointed Mathew George as its group chief financial officer (CFO) ahead of its potential IPO. Subsequently, in October, it was reported that Captain Fresh had roped in Axis Capital and Bank of America (BofA) as bankers to helm its planned IPO in the second half of 2025. 

In December 2024, reports surfaced that the B2B seafood chain was in discussions with investors to raise $50 Mn to $100 Mn in its pre-IPO round at a valuation of $600 Mn to $650 Mn. The fundraise is expected to include both primary and secondary components, with existing backers such as Accel and Prosus likely to participate.

The B2B seafood startup is looking to raise $350 Mn to $400 Mn as part of its public issue. Of this, half will be part of the fresh issue while the remaining will be the offer for sale (OFS) component. The startup is said to be eyeing a valuation of $1.3 B to $1.5 Bn for the IPO. 

In February 2025, the B2B seafood startup secured INR 250 Cr as part of its ongoing pre-IPO round led by existing investors Prosus Ventures, Accel and Tiger Global.  

CarDekho

Founded in 2008 by siblings Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, CarDekho operates an online car listing platform, insurance platform InsuranceDekho, and lending platform Rupyy. 

CarDekho has so far raised more than $692 Mn in funding and competes with the likes of CarTrade, Spinny and Cars24. During its last fundraise in 2021, the company was valued at $1.2 Bn. 

As per reports, the auto marketplace is in advanced talks to appoint merchant bankers to helm its IPO, and is eyeing a public listing in 2025. The company is looking to raise nearly $500 Mn at a valuation of $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn.

Its early backers, including Peak XV, Google Capital, and Hillhouse Capital, are expected to offload a part of their stakes via OFS. 

CarDekho plans to utilise the proceeds from the IPO to fuel CarDekho’s geographical and category expansion as well as for future acquisitions. 

However, this is not the first time that CarDekho is planning to list on the bourses. While the company internally was looking to list on the bourses in 2021, the plans did not materialise then.

As per MCA filings, CarDekho Group reported a consolidated operating revenue of INR 2,250.43 Cr in FY24, down 3.49% from INR 2,331.88 Cr in the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, the company trimmed losses by nearly 40% to INR 340.08 Cr during the period under review from INR 566.13 Cr in FY23.

Cult.fit

Founded in 2016 by former Myntra cofounder Mukesh Bansal and ex-Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori (left in 2020), Cult.fit operates a chain of gyms, health-focussed cloud kitchen brand Eat.fit, mental wellbeing platform Mind.fit, primary healthcare vertical Care.fit, among others. 

Backed by the likes of names such as Zomato, Accel, Tata Digital, Temasek, Kalaari Capital, and Chiratae Ventures, Cult.fit has raised more than $650 Mn to date. 

Jumping on the IPO bandwagon, the fitness startup, in March 2025, kicked off plans for a public listing. As per a report, the company has shortlisted Axis Capital, Jefferies, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JM Financial as bankers to helm its INR 2,500 Cr public offering.

Cult.fit is reportedly eyeing a valuation of $2 Bn, a steep 27% jump from its last known valuation of $1.56 Bn in 2021 when Zomato invested $100 Mn in the company to acquire a 6.4% stake.

The startup saw its operating revenue zoom 33.6% to INR 926.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 693.7 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, its consolidated net loss widened 42% to INR 888.5 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 625.5 Cr in FY23.

Curefoods

Founded in 2020 by Ankit Nagori, Curefoods is a cloud kitchen unicorn that operates a diverse portfolio of brands including EatFit, CakeZone, Nomad Pizza, Sharief Bhai Biryani, and Frozen Bottle. 

It claims to manage more than 200 cloud kitchens and offline outlets across 15 cities in India, offering over 10 cuisines. The startup has raised more than $175 Mn in funding to date and is backed by names such as Iron Pillar, Accel, Three State Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, ASK Finance, among others. 

In January 2025, it was reported that the Bengaluru-based cloud kitchen startup was looking to float a $300 Mn to $400 Mn IPO in the latter part of FY26. The company, which has already initiated talks with bankers for the public issue, will finalise the bankers in the coming days.

On the financial front, the company trimmed its net loss by 49.64% to INR 172.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 342.7 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, operating revenue zoomed 53.17% to INR 585.1 Cr in FY24 from INR 382 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Droom

Founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal, Droom operates an ecommerce platform that connects used car dealers with customers. In addition, the company also offers car rental services, and owns a car financing arm, a SaaS vertical, and advertising business. 

The startup has raised nearly $300 Mn in funding to date and is backed by names such as Lightbox, 57 Stars and Seven Train Ventures, among others.

The used car marketplace plans to file its DRHP for an INR 1,000 Cr IPO by June 2025 and is targeting a listing on the exchanges by November 2025. Its public issue will consist of a fresh issue as well as an offer for sale, with the fresh issue likely to be over 50% of the offer. 

Droom is aiming for a valuation of $1.2 Bn to $1.5 Bn for the IPO and has already finalised two middle market banks for the public issue. 

If the plan fructifies, this will be Droom’s second attempt at a public listing. In late 2021, the company filed its IPO papers with markets regulator SEBI to raise INR 3,000 Cr but later deferred the plan due to market volatility.

Meanwhile, the startup also plans to raise nearly INR 200 Cr as part of a pre-IPO round from existing investors and new investors including Indian family offices and high net worth individuals (HNIs). 

In March 2025, the auto tech platform secured $3 Mn in a round co-led by India Accelerator and Finvolve. As per the startup, the proceeds will “expedite” its plans for refiling its draft IPO papers in 2025 itself.

On the financial front, Droom reported a net loss of INR 40.4 Cr in FY24, down 35% from INR 62.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Lightbox-backed company’s operating revenue also tanked 66% to INR 85.4 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 253.3 Cr in FY23.

Flipkart

Flipkart was founded in 2017 by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal. Later, the duo sold a majority stake in the ecommerce juggernaut to Walmart in 2018 for $16 Bn. Since then, the ecommerce major has become India’s biggest online marketplace and has diversified into a host of new areas, including fintech, travel aggregation, and quick commerce. 

Flipkart, which is also backed by Google, was last valued at $35 Bn during a $1 Bn fundraise. 

Arguably the biggest startup in the country by valuation, the ecommerce major is aiming to list on the Indian bourses soon. Flipkart, which has already received internal approvals to shift its domicile to India from Singapore, may launch an IPO by 2025-end or early-2026. 

In February 2025, Inc42 reported that the company has sped up plans for a public listing and has been rejigging its top brass and strengthening its board. In addition, the top brass has issued directions internally to employees to stick to stricter profit targets, pitch plans for new verticals, and scale up revenues.

The ecommerce major’s B2C arm, Flipkart Internet Private Ltd, reported an operating revenue of INR 17,907.3 Cr in FY24, up from INR 14,825 Cr in the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, loss declined 41% to INR 2,358 Cr from INR 4,028 Cr in FY23.

Fractal

Founded in 2000 by Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal and Ashwath Bhat, Fractal is a SaaS startup that offers artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics solutions to enterprises globally. 

Backed by TPG Capital, Khazanah Nasional and Apax Partners, the enterprise tech startup has raised $685 Mn in funding till date. It turned unicorn in 2022 and was last valued at over $2 Bn. 

As per Fractal’s annual report for FY24, the startup converted into a public company from a private company in May 2024.

Last reported, the company was looking to raise $500 Mn to $600 Mn via its IPO at a valuation of around $3.5 Bn. As per reports, Fractal’s public issue will likely have a “large share” of secondary share sale by existing investors, the quantum of which is still yet to be decided. 

Fractal slipped into the red in FY24 as it reported a net loss of INR 54.7 Cr in the fiscal under review as against a profit of INR 194.4 Cr in the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, revenue from operations jumped 11% to INR 2,196.3 Cr in the fiscal ended March 2024 from INR 1,985.4 Cr in FY23.

Groww

Founded in 2017 by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal, Groww is an online discount broking platform that allows users to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other financial instruments.

The investment tech major has been looking to list on Indian bourses for some time now. Groww shifted its domicile back to India in March 2024 with an eye on an IPO. It also paid a hefty INR 1,340 Cr in taxes to US authorities to reverse flip back to India. 

In January 2025, reports surfaced that Groww’s parent Billionbrains Garage Ventures plans to file its DRHP by April-May 2025 for an IPO worth over $1 Bn. It is eyeing a public listing by the end of FY26. Previous reports noted that the company was targeting a valuation of $7-8 Bn for the IPO.

The company has also finalised five investment banks, Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Axis Capital, Citi and Motilal Oswal, to helm its public listing. The public issue is expected to largely comprise an offer for sale (OFS) component. 

Meanwhile, in March 2025, the IPO-bound invest tech unicorn’s parent, issued bonus compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) to existing investors Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital and Y Combinator, as per a CCI notice. The deal also resulted in the collapse of the differential voting rights (DVR) held by Groww cofounders Harsh Jain, Lalit Keshre, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal.

In the same month, the investment tech unicorn was said to be in talks with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and existing backer Tiger Global to raise $200 Mn ahead of its listing, for which is is likely to seek a valuation of $6.5 Bn.

The company reported a profit of INR 535 Cr in FY24 on an operating revenue of INR 3,145 Cr.

InCred

Founded in 2016 by Bhupinder Singh, InCred Group operates three separate verticals. While InCred Finance is the lending vertical, InCred Capital is the company’s wealth and asset management arm. Finally, InCred Money deals in retail bonds and alternative investments. 

InCred is backed by marquee names such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), OAKS, Investcorp, Moore Capital, Elevar Equity, among others. 

In December 2024, reports claimed that the fintech unicorn InCred Financial Services was looking to raise INR 4,000 Cr to INR 5,000 Cr via an IPO in late-2025. The company is said to be eyeing a valuation in the range of INR 15,000 Cr to INR 22,500 Cr. 

InCred’s net profit surged 162% to INR 316.3 Cr in FY24 as against INR 120.9 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue also soared 47% to INR 1,270 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 864.6 Cr in FY23.

Infra.Market

Founded in 2016 by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda, Infra.Market operates a B2B marketplace that sells construction products and other range of building materials such as concrete, steel, pipes, fittings, and chemicals. 

The startup has raised over $415 Mn in funding to date and is backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Accel, and Nexus Ventures.

Infra.Market has set the ball rolling for its IPO and has shortlisted eight investment bankers, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, IIFL Capital, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, among others, as advisors for the IPO. 

While the company is eyeing raising $500 Mn -$700 Mn via its IPO, it may also increase it further depending on “market conditions”. Its public issue will comprise a fresh issue of shares as well as secondary share sale. 

While the talks are still in early stages, the proceeds from Infra.Market’s potential IPO will be utilised to repay the debt incurred for the startup’s organic and inorganic growth initiatives.

In the run up to the IPO, the company, in January 2025, raised INR 1,050 Cr as part of its pre-IPO round at a valuation of about $2.8 Bn, up over 10% from $2.5 Bn at which it was last pegged. 

The B2B ecommerce major’s net profit narrowed 17% YoY to INR 155.2 Cr in FY23 while operating revenue soared 90% YoY to INR 11,846.5 Cr during the fiscal under review.

InMobi

Founded in 2007 by Naveen Tewari, Piyush Shah, Mohit Saxena and Abhay Singhal, InMobi is an adtech platform that offers a suite of product discovery and monetisation solutions. 

Headquartered in Singapore, the SaaS startup also has offices in Bengaluru, New York, Beijing, London, Dubai, and several other locations. Backed by the likes of Sherpalo Ventures, SoftBank and Kleiner Perkins, InMobi has raised more than $320 Mn in funding till date and was one of the first Indian new-age tech companies to enter the unicorn club in 2011. 

The SaaS startup is eyeing a public listing in India by October 2025 at a valuation of about $8 Bn to $10 Bn. The adtech major is looking to file its DRHP with SEBI for a $1 Bn IPO.

The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares as well as an OFS component. However, the IPO size is yet to be finalised, given discussions with bankers are still on. 

However, this will not be InMobi’s first stab at an IPO. In 2021, it was reportedly planning for an IPO but shelved the plans due to adverse market conditions and funding winter.

Innoviti

Founded in 2002 by Rajeev Agrawal, Innoviti is a digital payments solutions provider that allows businesses to accept payments and integrate real-time sales data into critical business processes. 

Backed by the likes of Random Walk Solutions, Bessemer Venture Partners, Patni Family Office India and Alumni Ventures, the startup has raised more than $87 Mn in funding to date.

In August 2024, the company said it was eyeing a public market debut within the next 12 months. But, later on in January 2025, the company yet again extended its IPO deadline and said that it was looking to list on the bourses by 2025-end. 

Innoviti saw its revenue from operations decline marginally to INR 105.6 Cr in FY24, down from INR 110.2 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, loss also fell to INR 70.5 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 86.6 Cr in FY23.

Kissht

Founded in 2015 by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, Kissht is a digital lending platform which offers personal and business loans of up to INR 5 Lakh. It leverages AI and machine learning algorithms to assess creditworthiness of customers. 

In addition, it also offers health-related insurance products and loans against property. 

In April 2025, reports surfaced that the digital lending startup has shortlisted ICICI Securities, UBS Securities, and Motilal Oswal as the investment bankers for its proposed $225 Mn IPO. The public issue will primarily comprise a fresh issue, and the proceeds will be utilised to fund growth and “new business lines”.

The fintech startup plans to file its DRHP by June 2025 and is eyeing a valuation of $900 Mn to $1.1 Bn for the public listing. 

The startup was valued at $344 Mn during its last fundraise of $80 Mn in 2022. Kissht has raised more than $140 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Vertex Growth, Brunei Investment Agency, Endiya Partners, and Ventureast among its backers. 

On the financial front, Kissht’s net profit zoomed 234% to INR 82.46 Cr in FY24 from INR 24.67 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue surged 60% to INR 412 Cr from INR 258 Cr in FY23.

Lenskart

Founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhury, and Sumeet Kapahi, Lenskart is an omnichannel eyewear retailer that caters to customers in India, the UAE, Singapore, Japan, among others.

The company claims to have over 2,500 stores and a customer base of 2 Cr.

Jumping on the IPO bandwagon, the startup, in January 2025, initiated talks with bankers for a $750 Mn to $1 Bn IPO. The company is reportedly eyeing a valuation of $7-8 Bn through its IPO and plans to list on Indian bourses toward the end of FY26. If reports are to be believed, the eyewear major is planning to file its draft papers by May 2025 for an IPO at a valuation of $10 Bn. 

By late-January 2025, the company was said to have roped in Kotak Mahindra Bank and Morgan Stanley to helm the IPO. It was said to be looking to raise a pre-IPO round of about $1 Bn.

The eyewear startup narrowed its net loss by 84% to INR 10 Cr in FY24 from INR 64 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, operating revenue jumped 43% to INR 5,427.7 Cr during the year under review from INR 3,788 Cr in FY23. 

Licious

Founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious is a D2C brand that sells meat products. Operating on a farm-to-fork business model, the startup is focused on cold-chain food deliveries, including meat and chicken. 

The startup has raised nearly $555 Mn in funding to date and is backed by the likes of Temasek, 3one4 Capital, among others. 

The Bengaluru-based startup has been lining up plans to list on the bourses and is targeting a 2026 listing. As per the reports, Licious is eyeing a public listing at a valuation of more than $2 Bn. The D2C unicorn was last valued at $1.5 Bn in March 2023.

Licious claims to have trimmed its loss by 44% to INR 293.77 Cr in FY24 from INR 528.5 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, revenue declined 8.4% to INR 685.05 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 748 Cr in FY23.

Meesho

Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho initially started off as a social ecommerce platform. But, in 2022, it pivoted to the marketplace model, taking on the giants like Flipkart and Amazon.

The ecommerce platform has raised close to $1.36 Bn in funding so far and was last valued at around $5 Bn. 

Meesho’s IPO plans came to light after investor Prosus Ventures, in its half-yearly report for H1 FY25, said that it sees the online marketplace listing on the Indian bourses in the next 18 months.

In contrast, Meesho’s chief financial officer (CFO), in August 2023, said that the company was eyeing a stock market listing in the next 12-18 months.The 18-month deadline ends in February 2025. However, the company is far away from listing as it is yet to reverse flip to the country. However, preparations appear to be underway. 

In August 2024, Meesho announced the appointment of four independent directors, with an eye on shoring up its board ahead of its IPO. Subsequently, in March 2025, reports surfaced that the company had shortlisted Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Citi as advisers for its IPO. 

The ecommerce giant is said to be looking to raise $1 Bn at a likely valuation of $10 Bn. It plans to file its DRHP with markets regulator SEBI by April 2025 as it eyes a late-2025 listing. 

In the run up to its IPO, the company’s board, in late March 2025, passed a resolution to allot 20.65 Lakh equity shares to Aatrey and 6.59 Lakh shares to Barnwal on exercise of their ESOPs. 

On the financial front, Meesho narrowed its net loss by 81.8% to INR 304.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 1,675 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue jumped 32.8% to INR 7,614.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 5,734.5 Cr in FY23. 

Navi 

Founded in 2018 by Flipkart cofounder Bansal and Ankit Agarwal, Navi is a financial services company that offers a range of products, including personal, vehicle, and home loans. Besides digital payments, the company now also offers insurance, and mutual fund investments.

In February 2025, reports emerged that the fintech unicorn had kicked off discussions with merchant bankers to restart its IPO proceedings. While the valuation and other details have not been finalised, Navi is eyeing a public listing in the second half of FY26.

Navi cofounder and executive chairman Sachin Bansal, in April 2025, said that the unicorn is looking to get listed on the bourses in FY26 itself. 

Notably, this is not the first time that Navi has lined up plans to list on the exchanges. In 2022, the company filed its DRHP with SEBI for an INR 3,350 Cr IPO but later shelved the plan amid raging market volatility. 

As per ratings agency Care Ratings, Navi Technologies reported a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 130 Cr in the first half (H1) of FY25 against a total income of INR 2,614 Cr. 

NoPaperForms

A brainchild of Naveen Goyal and Suraj Sapra, NoPaperForms, which was founded in 2017, helps educational institutions and edtech businesses automate student enrollment and fee collection processes. 

Serving 1,200 educational institutions including Manipal University, Shiv Nadar University, and PhysicsWallah, the startup also caters to customers in the UAE and Malaysia.

In March 2025, the Info Edge-backed startup, which operates under the brand Meritto, received a go-ahead from its board to undertake a public listing. 

If reports are to be believed, the SaaS startup has appointed two investment bankers, IIFL Capital and SBI Capital, for its IPO. The startup is eyeing an IPO in a range of INR 500 Cr to INR 600 Cr by the end of this year. 

NoPaperForms, which may file DRHP by Q2 FY26, is likely to seek a valuation of INR 2,000 Cr for the public listing. While Info Edge is yet to take a call on whether it will participate in the startup’s IPO, reports claim that the VC firm is unlikely to sell its stake in the company.

On the financial front, NoPaperForms turned profitable in FY24 and clocked a standalone net profit of INR 4 Lakh in the fiscal under review against a loss of INR 15 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, operating revenues jumped 45.4% to INR 70.03 Cr in FY24 from INR 48.18 Cr in FY23.

OfBusiness

Founded in 2015 by Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, Bhuvan Gupta, Chandranshu Sinha, Nitin Jain, Srinath Ramakkrushnan and Vasant Sridhar, OfBusiness operates a B2B ecommerce platform that sells construction materials and offers financing solutions to merchants.

In November, the startup reportedly appointed five investment banks, including Axis Capital, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America to oversee its up to $1 Bn IPO.

The startup is said to be in the process of merging and integrating internal businesses ahead of the public listing. It plans to seek approval from SEBI between March and June 2025 and is eyeing a late-2025 listing. 

As per OfBusiness CFO Bhavesh Keswani, the company is targeting a $750 Mn to $1 Bn IPO, which will include a fresh issuance of shares worth $200 Mn. The remaining amount will be earmarked for OFS. 

The B2B marketplace is looking to debut on the bourses at a valuation of $6 Bn to $9 Bn. 

In January 2025, the B2B unicorn converted itself into a public company. Following its board’s approval, OfBusiness rechristened itself as OFB Tech Limited from OFB Tech Private Limited previously.

OfBusiness saw its consolidated operating revenue surge over 25% YoY to INR 19,296.3 Cr in FY24, while net profit soared to INR 603 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 463.2 Cr in FY23.

Ola Consumer

Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Consumer operates a mobility platform that offers ride-hailing, food delivery and financial services. Backed by SoftBank, Ola has raised more than $3.84 Bn in funding till date and is one of the biggest players in the Indian ride-hailing segment. 

In October 2024, it was reported that the startup had sought approval from its investors to turn into a public entity, the first step towards IPO. Subsequently, the company’s shareholders gave their approval to turn Ola Consumer into a public limited company.

Additionally, the company is also said to be finalising the bankers to handle the public issue. 

Previous reports said that the company had held talks with investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi, Kotak, and Axis to helm its $500 Mn IPO at a nearly $5 Bn valuation. 

Ola parent ANI Technologies narrowed its loss by nearly half to INR 772.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 1,522.3 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue rose 42% YoY to INR 2,799.3 Cr .

OYO

Founded in 2012, OYO is a travel tech startup that offers vacation homes, casino hotels, coworking spaces, budget hotels, corporate stays and more. 

The company has revived its IPO plans yet again and is looking to refile its DRHP by the end of Q1 FY26. As per reports, the latest attempt at an IPO comes after a reshuffle in the startup’s ownership structure, with OYO targeting a valuation of up to $5 Bn for its public listing. 

This comes a year after the Delhi NCR-based hospitality major, in May 2024, officially withdrew its IPO documents. Interestingly, this was OYO’s second attempt at a public listing and it was looking to raise $400 Bn to $600 Bn. 

Notably, this was lower than INR 8,430 Cr ($1.2 Bn) that the company was looking to raise during its earlier attempt at an IPO in 2021. 

The hospitality giant has now expedited its IPO plans amid increasing pressure from its creditors to clear a looming debt repayment. The lenders, including Mizuho Financial Group, have reportedly directed founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal to cough up the $383 Mn he owes as part of a $2.1 Bn loan package or list by October 2025. 

OYO turned profitable in FY24 with a net profit of INR 229.5 Cr against a net loss of INR 1,286.5 Cr in the previous financial year. However, operating revenue declined 1.3% to INR 5,388.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 5,463.9 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

PayU India

Delaying its IPO plans, the Prosus-backed payments solutions startup now plans to go public “sometime after the first quarter” of FY26. As per reports, PayU India has finalised Goldman Sachs as one of the lead bankers to helm the public issue and will likely file its DRHP by early-2025. 

Confirming this, Prosus’ chief investment officer (CIO) Ervin Tu said that it is eyeing a listing for PayU in India in 2025. This is in line with what investor Prosus said in December 2024. At the time, the Dutch investment firm said that it expected the fintech startup to list on the Indian bourses in the next 12-18 months.

Previously, in November 2023, Tu said that PayU could be ready for a public listing in India by the second half of calendar year 2024. At the time, the company was eyeing a $500 Mn IPO but the fintech major later postponed the plans. 

As per the Dutch investor’s annual report, PayU India’s revenue jumped 11% YoY to $444 Mn in FY24. However, this was lower than the 31% revenue growth reported in FY23 and over 40% jump it clocked in FY22.

PhonePe

Founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe is India’s biggest online payments platform. It regularly accounts for nearly half of all Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions processed in the country. 

From offering merely digital payments at the outset, the fintech giant has morphed into a full-fledged financial services platform, offering a host of offerings including insurance products, and broking services to customers. 

The fintech major was acquired by ecommerce juggernaut Flipkart in 2016. Six years later, parent Walmart hived off PhonePe as a separate entity from Flipkart and redomicile the fintech company back to India. In late-2022, PhonePe flipped back to the country, with an eye on listing on Indian bourses. 

However, in June 2024, a senior Walmart executive said that PhonePe’s IPO could take a couple of years, effectively indicating a 2026 IPO. Subsequently in February 2025, the company publicly confirmed that it has commenced preparatory steps in connection with its potential IPO.

The fintech major has picked up four investment bankers, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley, to helm its IPO. PhonePe is reportedly eyeing a valuation of up to $15 Bn for its FY26 IPO, which will likely comprise both primary and secondary issuance of shares. 

The fintech major saw its consolidated net loss narrow 28% YoY to INR 1,996 Cr in FY24 while revenue soared 74% YoY to INR 5,064 Cr. 

Physics Wallah

Founded in 2020 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, Physics Wallah (PW) operates online and offline coaching centres for K-12 students and test preparation platforms for various exams. It also has a skilling arm and a study abroad vertical.

In 2024, PW finalised Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan as the bankers for its proposed $400 Mn to $500 Mn public listing in 2025. As per reports, the public issue will likely be a mix of fresh issuance of shares and offer for sale.

Previous reports noted that the edtech unicorn was eyeing a flat valuation of over $2.8 Bn, the number at which it was last pegged. If the plan fructifies, PW will become India’s first edtech startup to list on the stock exchanges.

Ahead of the public listing, the edtech unicorn, in March 2025, appointed three independent directors to its board – former Zomato deputy CFO and Moonstone Ventures founder Nitin Savara, former RBI regional director Rachna Dikshit, and ex-bureaucrat Deepak Amitabh.

The company also changed the designation of Prateek Boob from executive director to wholetime director of the company for a period of five years, effective February 2025. Not just this, the company also issued bonus equity shares worth INR 212.3 Cr to all its stakeholders in the run up to the IPO in March 2025. 

Subsequently in March 2025, the edtech unicorn finally filed its DRHP via confidential route with the SEBI for an INR 4,600 Cr IPO. As per reports, a big chunk of the public issue will comprise the OFS component.

PW reported a net loss of INR 1,131.2 Cr in FY24 compared to INR 84.06 Cr in FY23. The startup’s operating revenue jumped 2.6X to INR 1,940.4 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 744.3 Cr in FY23.

Pine Labs

Founded in 1998 by Lokvir Kapoor, Rajul Garg, and Tarun Upadhyay, Pine Labs is a payment solutions provider that sells point of sales (PoS) devices and other payment systems to businesses. It also helps businesses deploy rewards and cashback solutions.

Pine Labs kickstarted its IPO proceedings in June 2024 as it began moving its domicile back to India for a $1 Bn public listing at a valuation of over $6 Bn.

Subsequently, in November 2024, reports surfaced that the fintech major has shortlisted five investment banks – Axis Capital, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Jefferies – to helm its IPO, which is expected to be launched in the first half of FY26.

In March 2025, the fintech major’s CEO Amrish Rau said that the company is looking to launch its IPO in the second half of 2025. As per a report, Pine Labs is targeting a $1 Bn public issue, which will comprise a fresh issue of shares as well as an offer for sale component.

Pine Labs has raised nearly $1.6 Bn in funding to date and is backed by the likes of Peak XV Partners, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal, Mastercard, among others. 

As per data available on Tofler, Pine Labs reported a 233% jump in its net loss to INR 187.2 Cr in FY24 from INR 56.1 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue grew 2.2% to INR 1,309.6 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 1,280.5 Cr in FY23. 

Pure EV

A brainchild of Nishanth Dongari and Rohit Vadera, the startup manufactures electric bikes and scooters namely eePluto 7G MAX, ETRANCE Neo+, ePluto 7G, ecoDryft 350 and 3TrystX.

It has raised more than $14 Mn in funding till date and counts the likes of Bennett Coleman and Company, Hindustan Times Media Ventures, Ushodaya Enterprises, among others, as backers. 

Setting its plans to become India’s second listed EV player in motion, the startup, in August 2024, said it plans to list on the bourses in 2025. 

In March 2025, Inc42 reported that the Hyderabad-based Pure EV’s board passed a special resolution, in September 2024, to change the status of its parent, PuR Energy, from private to public.

However, it continues to be a loss-making entity and reported a net loss of INR 9.3 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, revenue from operations also declined 42% to INR 131.28 Cr from INR 225.98 Cr in FY22. 

Razorpay

Founded in 2014 by IIT-Roorkee graduates Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Razorpay is an omnichannel payments and banking platform. Starting off as a payment gateway, the fintech major has grown to a multi-product platform offering SME payroll management, banking, lending, payments, insurance, and other fintech solutions.

Razorpay claims to clock an annualized total payment volume (TPV) exceeding $180 Bn and caters to a majority of India’s unicorns. 

Looking to capitalise on the ongoing startup IPO spring, the fintech major too has accelerated plans to list on the Indian bourses. In February 2025, cofounder and CEO Mathur told Inc42 that the company has pushed the pedal on redomiciling back to India. 

“When we started thinking about our future, especially in terms of an IPO, we had to decide not just when we wanted to go public but also where. It became quite clear to us that India is our home market. This is where people know us, use our services daily — directly or indirectly — so it made logical sense to list here,” Mathur told Inc42.

To date, Razorpay has raised nearly $740 Mn in funding and is backed by the likes of marquee names such as Y Combinator, Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital Management, GIC, among others. 

The fintech major saw its net profit soar over 365% to INR 33.5 Cr in FY24 from INR 7.2 Cr in the year ago fiscal. On similar lines, operating revenues jumped 9% to INR 2,475 Cr in the fiscal under review compared to INR 2,283 Cr in FY23.

Rebel Foods

Founded by Kallol Banerjee and Jaydeep Barman in 2011, Rebel Foods is a cloud kitchen startup that operates multiple quick service restaurant (QSR) brands such as Behrouz Biryani, Ovenstory Pizza, The Good Bowl, SLAY Coffee and Wendy’s, among others. 

The startup has raised more than $563 Mn in funding across multiple rounds so far and is backed by names such as Coatue Management, Lightbox and Peak XV Partners. Besides, Singapore sovereign investment fund Temasek is also said to be looking to acquire a significant shareholding in the startup.

In October 2024, reports surfaced that the cloud kitchen unicorn was looking to list on the Indian bourses in the next 12-18 months. Ahead of the IPO, the company’s early investors such as Coatue Management, Lightbox and Peak XV plan to offload partial stakes in the startup to Temasek. 

Servify

Founded in 2015 by Sreevathsa Prabhakar, Servify is a B2B device management startup that offers services such as device protection, product buyback, and device exchange. The startup earns a majority of its revenue from sale of services such as device protection plans and platform licences.

Besides India, the startup also operates in countries such as the US, Canada, China, the Middle East, among others. Servify has raised nearly $130 Mn in funding to date and counts names such as BEENext, Blume Ventures, DMI Sparkle Fund, Iron Pillars, among others, as its backers. 

In January 2025, Inc42 exclusively reported that the Mumbai-based startup kicked off preparations for its IPO by roping in three investment bankers. Servify plans to raise $400 Mn to $500 Mn through the public issue at a valuation of $1.5 Bn.

The company’s public issue will primarily comprise the OFS component (about 55-60%), while the remaining 40-45% will be a fresh issue of equity shares. It plans to file its DRHP with SEBI by August 2025 and is eyeing a listing in late-2025 or in the first quarter of 2026. 

The company is also in advanced talks with existing as well as new investors to raise $100 Mn in a pre-IPO round before filing its draft papers at a unicorn valuation. 

On the financial front, Servify saw its operating revenue jump 23% to INR 754 Cr in FY24 from INR 611 Cr in FY23. Meanwhile, net losses declined 59% YoY to INR 93.81 Cr in FY24.

Shadowfax

Founded in 2015 by Vaibhav Khandelwal and Abhishek Bansal, Shadowfax is a logistics startup that offers hyperlocal and on-demand deliveries to businesses. 

The Flipkart-backed startup competes with the likes of Delhivery, Ecom Express, XpressBees, LoadShare, Ripple and Pickrr. It is also backed by the likes of Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), IFC, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm and Trifecta Capital.

Kicking off its IPO proceedings, the logistics startup turned into a public entity in March 2025 by dropping the word ‘private’ from its erstwhile name “Shadowfax Private Technologies Limited”.

While it is yet to make a formal announcement, the logistics services platform is reportedly looking to raise INR 2,500 Cr to INR 3,000 Cr via its public market debut at a valuation of INR 5,000 Cr to INR 8,000 Cr. There is no clarity on the timeline for the IPO, but its promoters and investors have kicked off discussions with merchant bankers for the IPO.

In February 2025, Shadowfax raised INR 34.24 Cr in its Series F funding round from existing investors Mirae Asset and Nokia Growth Partners. In the run up to its IPO, the company also roped in Bijou Kurien, Ruchira Shukla and Pirojshaw Sarkari as independent directors to its board.

Subsequently in March 2025, the IPO-bound logistics major raised INR 65.4 Cr from its cofounders Vaibhav Khandelwal and Abhishek Bansal at a post-money valuation of $750 Mn. While Bansal infused INR 37.3 Cr, Khandelwal invested INR 28.1 Cr. The fundraise was part of the startup’s larger ongoing funding round of about $50 Mn. 

Shadowfax trimmed its net loss by nearly 92% to INR 11.8 Cr in FY24 from INR 142.6 Cr in the previous year. Revenue from operations jumped 33% to INR 1,884.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,415.1 Cr in FY23.

Shiprocket

Founded in 2017 by Saahil Goel, Vishesh Khurana, Akshay Gulati, and Gautam Kapoor, Shiprocket aggregates third-party logistics companies. It partners with 17 courier partners, including Delhivery, FedEx, Aramex, Xpressbees, DTDC, and Shadowfax, and caters to customers across 24,000+ pin codes in India. 

Backed by names such as Temasek, Bertelsmann, Tribe Capital, Lightrock, among others, Shiprocket has raised more than $260 Mn in funding to date. 

Kicking off its IPO proceedings, the logistics unicorn’s board, in January 2025, passed a resolution to convert the startup into a public company from a private one. This comes as the company is said to be eyeing a listing on the bourses by FY26. 

On the financial front, the startup reported a net loss of INR 595 Cr in FY24, up 74.4% from INR 341 Cr in the year-ago fiscal. Its operating revenue jumped 20.8% to INR 1,316 Cr in the year under review from INR 1,089 Cr in FY23. 

Turtlemint

Founded in 2015 by Dhirendra Mahyavanshi and Anand Prabhudesai, Turtlemint operates an insurtech platform that helps financial advisors distribute insurance to their community of customers. The startup claims to have so far catered to more than 3 Lakh advisors across offerings such as car, bike, health, and term life insurance. 

Backed by the likes of Amansa Capital, Jungle Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Vitruvian Partners and Nexus Venture Partners, the insurtech startup has raised more than $197 Mn in funding to date. 

In April 2025, it was reported that Turtlemint was in talks with four bankers – Motilal Oswal, JM Financials, ICICI Securities and Jefferies – to launch its $200 Mn to $250 Mn IPO in late-2025. As per the report, the company plans to file its DRHP with SEBI by June 2025 and hit the bourses by October 2025. 

Turtlemint’s total income surged 3X to INR 507 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2024 (FY24) from INR 157 Cr in the previous year. However, net profit remained flat at INR 6 Cr during the fiscal under review. 

Urban Company

Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bahl, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan, Urban Company is a hyperlocal services startup that offers a range of services such as home cleaning, appliance salon and massage, repair services, painting, among others.

Backed by Tiger Global, Prosus and Steadview Capital, the Delhi NCR-based startup has raised more than $646 Mn in funding to date. 

In January 2025, reports surfaced that the hyperlocal services startup was looking to file draft papers for its INR 3,000 Cr IPO before the end of March. The company’s public issue will largely comprise fresh issue of shares. 

It has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to helm the IPO. 

Subsequently, in February 2025, the Gurugram-based home services marketplace’s board approved a resolution to turn the company into a public entity, renaming it from “Urbanclap Technologies India Private Limited” to “Urbanclap Technologies India Limited”. 

In April 2025, Urban Company’s board approved a proposal to raise up to INR 528 Cr via a fresh issue of shares as part of its IPO and an undisclosed amount of offer-for-sale component.

Urban Company reported a loss before tax of INR 93 Cr in FY24, down 70% from INR 312 Cr a fiscal ago. The Gurugram-based startup’s net revenue rose 30% YoY to INR 827 Cr.

Wakefit

A brainchild of Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Wakefit was founded in 2016. The D2C startup sells a range of products such as mattresses, pillows, bed frames, mattress protectors, home decor and furniture. 

Backed by Peak XV Partners, Investcorp, Verlinvest, SIG, among others, Wakefit has raised more than $100 Mn since its inception. It competes with the likes of The Sleep Company, Duroflex, Kurlon and Sleepwell in the burgeoning Indian mattress and home decor market. 

Kicking off its IPO proceedings in April 2025, the D2C startup reportedly shortlisted Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services and Nomura as bankers for its IPO. The startup is looking to raise around INR 1,500 Cr to INR 2,000 Cr as part of the public listing. However, there was no clarity on the company’s timeline to list on the bourses. 

Meanwhile, on the financial front, Wakefit managed to trim its net loss by 90% to INR 15.05 Cr in FY24 from INR 145.68 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue rose 21% to INR 986.35 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 812.62 Cr in FY23.

Zepto

Founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto is a quick commerce startup that claims to offer 10-minute deliveries of groceries and other items. 

Backed by Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Motilal Oswal AMC, the quick commerce startup has raised nearly $2 Bn in funding to date.

In preparation for its IPO, the quick commerce major shifted its domicile back to India from Singapore in January 2025. As part of its public listing plans, the company also set up a new entity, Zepto Marketplace Private Limited to pivot to a marketplace model from its current B2B2C structure. 

In September 2024, it was reported that the quick commerce major commenced active discussions with domestic and global merchant bankers, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, for a potential IPO by August 2025. 

Zepto was initially targeting a $450 Mn public issue but later internally increased the size to $800 Mn to $1 Bn, including a $300-400 Mn OFS component. 

It is also looking to shore up domestic shareholding in the company to 50% from 33% currently ahead of the IPO. In March 2025, a report noted that Zepto is pushing existing investors and employees to offload stakes worth $250 Mn at $5 Bn valuation. The private equity arms of Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Edelweiss Financial Services are said to be in talks to lap up the shares.

Zepto’s net loss declined 2% to INR 1,248.64 Cr in FY24 from INR 1,271.84 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, revenue from operations more than doubled to INR 4,454.52 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2024 from INR 2,025.70 Cr in FY23.

Zetwerk

Founded in 2018 by Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma and Vishal Chaudhary, Zetwerk connects manufacturers with vendors and suppliers of industrial machine components.

Backed by Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mars Growth Capital, Peak XV Partners, among others, the B2B manufacturing unicorn has raised more than $793 Mn in funding till date.

In February 2025, it was reported that the Peak XV-backed B2B marketplace had finalised Axis Capital, Goldman Sachs Group and Kotak Mahindra Bank as bankers to helm its potential IPO later in the year.

The company is looking to raise at least $400 Mn to $500 Mn during the IPO and is eyeing a valuation of nearly $5 Bn. The public issue will also reportedly include a “small” secondary component.

In March 2025, Inc42 exclusively reported that the B2B manufacturing unicorn has secured INR 43 Cr in a funding round co-led by Arc Investments and Oriental Biotech Limited.

The contract manufacturing startup saw its loss zoom 82% to INR 108.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 59.76 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue jumped nearly 130% to INR 11,448.6 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 4,960.5 Cr in FY22.

Last Updated: April 13, 09:00 AM IST

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Messaging platform WhatsApp faced a massive outage today which left users from India and other countries unable to send messages. 

As per DownDetector, users started reporting issues with accessing WhatsApp around 4:30 PM but the issue was resolved around 6 PM. However, the platform became unresponsive again around 7 PM. By 8:16 PM, the outage peaked as many as 2,815 users reported issues with the messaging app on the tracking website. 

87% of the users reported issues with “sending messages”, while 10% flagged issues with the app itself. 

The company has so far not issued any clarification on the matter. However, as per Meta’s dashboard for business products, WhatsApp Business API did face “low disruptions” on April 12, which impacted sending of messages for users of the B2B offering. 

However, the social media giant said that a fix was deployed and the issue was mitigated around 8:40 PM IST. 

Meanwhile, many users took to social media platform X to raise their concerns over service issues while using the messaging platform. One user cited issues with uploading status, while  another flagged “getting a red exclamation mark on sending messages”. Complaints with the messaging app also included chat freezing and glitching on iOS and persistent problems with transferring and restoring backups. 

The interruption at WhatsApp came barely hours after the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), too, was hit by a massive outage. While UPI was restored around 3:39 PM, there seems to be no clarity on what caused the outage. 

This also comes close on the heels of a global outage at social media platform X in March and at workplace communication platform Slack in February this year. 

Notably, this is not the first time that Meta has witnessed technical issues in recent months. In December 2024, Meta-owned social media platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – faced a widespread outage across India. 

Prior to that in November and March last year, WhatsApp went down for several users across the country. 

The post WhatsApp Hit By Outage, Users Unable To Send Messages appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Domestic Institutional investors ramped up their shareholding in fintech major Paytm in the fourth quarter (Q4) of financial year 2024-2025 (FY25). 

As per quarterly shareholding pattern filed by Paytm with the stock exchanges, domestic mutual funds increased their stake in the fintech major to 13.11% in the quarter under review from 11.2% in the Q3 FY25. 

This uptick was primarily led by Nippon India Mutual Fund and Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund. While Nippon India increased its shareholding in the company by 0.4% to 2.8%, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund accounted for a 2.3% stake in the fintech major in Q4 FY25, up 0.2% sequentially. 

On similar lines, homegrown alternate investment funds (AIFs) and insurance companies, too, ramped up their stakes in the listed fintech juggernaut. In Q4 FY25, AIFs accounted for 0.45% stake in the company, up 25% QoQ. 

The participation of homegrown insurance companies also saw a steep jump, soaring 200% QoQ to 0.45% in the recently concluded quarter. 

Overall institutional ownership, comprising both domestic and foreign investors, rose 1% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to 69% in the quarter ended March 2024. 

Meanwhile, foreign institutional participation declined to 11.45 Cr shares in the quarter under review from 11.93 Cr shares in Q3 FY25. 

This is largely in line with the broader market volatility which has seen foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) on a selling spree due to a slew of factors such as US tariffs, elevated valuations of Indian equities, concerns about corporate earnings growth, among others. 

However, the push from domestic institutional investors comes despite mixed signals from brokerage firms. Last week, JM Financial reiterated “BUY” rating on the stock but trimmed its price target to INR 1,010 from INR 1,250 earlier. In February, Bernstein maintained its “outperform” rating on the stock with a price target of INR 1,100. 

In March, Motilal Oswal cut Paytm’s target price to INR 870 from INR 950 earlier, while maintaining a “neutral” rating. In the same month, Jefferies, too, maintained its ‘hold’ call on Paytm stock while giving it PT of INR 850. 

While the stock is still down more than 28% year-to-date (YTD), the bullishness of domestic institutional investors comes largely on the back of the fintech major launching a host of new offerings in the past few months to turn profitable. These include a partnership with RBL Bank to offer sound box and card machines to its merchant partners, UPI-enabled trading facilities for retail investors, UPI statement downloads, and integration of Perplexity-enabled AI engine for Paytm users. 

Meanwhile, on the financial front, Paytm reported a net loss of INR 208.5 Cr in Q3 FY25, down 6% from INR 221.7 Cr in the same quarter last year. However, revenue from operations suffered a steep 36% year-on-year (YoY) decline to INR 1,827 Cr in the quarter under review. 

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Now, It’s Byju Vs BYJU’S Alpha

Lenders are amping up the heat on BYJU’S. The creditors, via the edtech’s US-based special purpose vehicle (SPV) BYJU’S Alpha, have sued cofounders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath and advisor Anita Kishore for allegedly ‘misappropriating’ $533 Mn in funds.

Allegations Run Amok: In its lawsuit, the lenders allege that the three orchestrated a lawless scheme to conceal and steal $533 Mn of loan proceeds and deliberately hid the assets of BYJU’s Alpha. 

In retort, cofounders have termed the charges “baseless and untrue”, and accused the creditors of conspiring to take control of BYJU’S through ‘nefarious means’, including filing lawsuits and using media narratives. 

The Deeper Rot: The US-based SPV was established by the company in 2022 to manage the proceeds of the $1.2 Bn term loan B (TLB). The aftermath, in the words of creditors, saw BYJU’S Alpha (then under Raveendran) move $533 Mn to a hedge fund Camshaft Capital Fund and other offshore entities. 

Inside The Complex Insolvency Puzzle: The fresh tussle between the founders and creditors comes as the insolvency proceedings against BYJU’S have turned increasingly complex. Earlier, Raveendran accused EY India, lenders, and recently fired IRP Pankaj Srivastava of “criminal collusion” in the insolvency process. 

The insolvency proceedings are emblematic of the many fires the company has been trying to douse for more than two years now – mounting losses, layoffs, an impending shutdown, regulatory scrutiny, legal cases, and the list is far from over. 

While there is no telling if there is light at the end of the tunnel for BYJU’S, here is the latest flashpoint between promoters and lenders of once the posterchild India’s edtech sector. Continue reading… 

From The Editor’s Desk

Urban Company’s INR 528 Cr IPO: The consumer services startup has bagged the board’s approval to raise up to INR 528 Cr via a fresh issue as part of its proposed IPO. The startup’s public issue will also comprise an undisclosed amount of offer-for-sale component.

Wakefit Eyes $200 Mn+ IPO: The D2C furniture and mattress startup has roped in Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services and Nomura as bankers to helm its planned IPO. The company is said to be looking to raise around INR 1,500-2,000 Cr via the public listing.

Why Are VCs Reinventing? In 2024, AI became the core of India’s SaaS evolution. Building on the momentum, startups are now being built by AI, not just with it, prompting a shift in investor focus toward AI-native models, proprietary data, and deep domain-specific apps.

Salary Delays At BluSmart: Grappling with a financial crisis, the EV ride-hailing major is said to have delayed salaries for March. In an email to the employees, cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi assured that all the pending dues will be cleared by the April-end.

Flipkart To Double Down On Q-Commerce: CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has said that the ecommerce major will expand its dark store count to 800 by the end of 2025. Flipkart currently operates 300 stores under its quick commerce brand, Flipkart Minutes.

ONDC Chief T Koshy Steps Down: Koshy has stepped down as MD and CEO of the state-backed network after a three-year-long stint. The CEO’s exit comes close to the recent exit of ONDC’s chief business officer Shireesh Joshi.

How Aisle’s Revenue Soared 146%: Founded in 2014, dating app Aisle has faced several challenges over the years, including revenue fluctuations and a tough pandemic period that tested its resilience. But, its fortunes turned after it was acquired by Info Edge in 2022.

Zomato Shuts Down Netherlands Unit: Zomato’s parent has announced that its step-down subsidiary in the Netherlands has initiated its liquidation process. The company said the dissolution will not impact the company’s top line.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Observe.AI Is Redefining The Future Of Contact Centres

While AI-powered chatbots have improved customer service, challenges still persist, and most user queries still require human intervention due to limitations in current GenAI systems.

Human-AI Collaboration: To solve this, Swapnil Jain, Akash Singh and Sharath Keshava Narayana founded Observe.AI to equip human agents with AI tools to enhance efficiency and accuracy in contact centres. 

Its tech stack — including speech-to-text, in-house LLMs, and now text-to-speech via the Dubdub.ai acquisition — enables quality assurance, coaching, summarisation, and real-time agent assistance.

Strides So Far: Observe.AI serves 350+ enterprises across healthcare, BFSI, and home care, and claims to deliver up to 60% efficiency gains. With the growing enterprise adoption of AI and the rising need for reliable customer support automation, Observe.AI sits at the convergence of voice, GenAI, and human-AI collaboration.

While competition is intensifying, its tech-first approach and focus on enterprise-grade reliability could give it an edge as it scales both in the US and eventually in India. For now, the question is — Can Observe.AI redefine the future of contact centres?

The post Byju Vs BYJU’S Alpha, Urban Company’s INR 528 Cr IPO & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Flipkart-owned fashion ecommerce platform Myntra’s chief product and technology officer (CPTO) Raghu Krishnananda has stepped down from the company after a five-year stint. 

As per an internal memo seen by Inc42, Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha said that Krishnananda stepped down to “explore the next chapter of life outside of Myntra”. As the company scouts for a new CPTO, all reportees of the outgoing executive will answer Sinha. 

“After a stint of over 5 years, Raghu has decided to explore the next chapter of life outside of Myntra. As we seek the right talent to take on his responsibilities, Raghu’s direct reports will report to me in the interim. I thank him for his contributions and wish him success in the journey ahead,” said Sinha in the internal memo.

The development was first reported by Moneycontrol.

Notably, this is the second top-level exit at the Flipkart Group in the last two months. In February, Jeyandran Venugopal resigned from the post of CPTO at Flipkart after a six-year long tenure.

Founded in 2007 by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena, Myntra operates a marketplace which sells apparels and fashion products to customers. Flipkart acquired the fashion ecommerce platform for $240 Mn in 2014.

Myntra’s Quick Commerce Plans 

The departure comes at a time when Myntra is aggressively scaling up its quick commerce offerings. The company launched a pilot in November last year, under the “M-Now” offering, to offer 30-minutes to 2-hours deliveries in select parts of Bengaluru. 

To fuel its quick commerce expansion, Flipkart infused $81 Mn in the fashion platform in November 2024. Prior to that, the ecommerce major pumped $339 Mn into Myntra in March last year.

The Nandita Sinha-led company is experimenting with fast deliveries at a time when quick commerce has taken the country by storm. While incumbents with deep pockets like Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart continue to maintain their stranglehold over segments like groceries, they are also expanding their SKUs and turning their attention to apparels. 

Notably, the departure at Myntra also comes at a time when parent Flipkart is gearing up for a public listing. In December 2024, Flipkart received internal approvals to shift its domicile from Singapore to India for a likely IPO by 2025-end or early-2026. 

On the financial front, Myntra turned profitable in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24). It reported a consolidated net profit of INR 30.9 Cr during the year as against a loss of INR 782.4 Cr in the previous year. The fashion ecommerce platform’s revenue from operations also rose 15% to INR 5,121.8 Cr in the fiscal under review from INR 4,465 Cr in FY23.

The post Myntra CTPO Raghu Krishnananda Steps Down appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | April 10, 1:51 PM

A couple of days after it was reported that EloElo is raising a fresh capital, the social entertainment platform has announced the raise of $13.5 Mn (INR 114.3 Cr) in its Series B funding round.

The round was led by Play Ventures, along with participation from Kalaari Capital, MIXI Investments, Gameskraft Technologies, Griffin Gaming Partners, Waterbridge Ventures, Courtside Ventures & Rocket Capital.

The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to explore deeper GenAI use cases for its social media platform, expand internationally in Indian diaspora markets and scale its revenue.

“We switched on monetisation in May 2024 after 2-3 years of building the platform capabilities and scaling rapidly to hit PMF. In less than a year of launch, we are now hitting a INR 200 Cr annual revenue run rate ($23M ARR) with 1.5 Mn paying users and are one of the fastest growing platforms in India at this scale,” EloElo cofounder Saurabh Pandey said.

To date, Eloelo claims to have raised over $50 Mn in funding from investors such as Courtside Ventures, Higher Capital Consulting and others

Original | April 8, 9:45 AM

Live social entertainment platform Eloelo is raising INR 114.3 Cr ($13.2 Mn) as part of its Series B funding round led by gaming-focussed venture capital firm Play Ventures Investments. 

The round also saw participation from Kalaari Capital, WaterBridge Capital, Gameskraft Technologies, MIXI, Courtside Ventures, Rocket Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners and a couple of angel investors. 

As per regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Eloelo’s board on April 4 passed a special resolution to issue 1,696 Series B compulsory convertible preferred shares (CCPS) at an issue price of INR 6.73 Lakh each. 

While Singapore-based Play Ventures Investments pumped INR 34.71 Cr, Gameskraft and Kalaari infused INR 21.7 Cr and INR 13 Cr, respectively. While WaterBridge, Courtside Ventures and Japan’s MIXI Global Investments each invested INR 8.69 Cr, Rocket Capital pumped INR 9.57 Cr in the startup.  

Following the infusion, Kalaari Capital will own 6.35% in the company while Play Ventures and Countryside Ventures will hold 3.38% and 4.46% shareholding in Eloelo, respectively.

The development was first reported by Entrackr.

Founded in 2020 by Saurabh Pandey and Akshay Dubey, Eloelo is a social gaming and live streaming platform that allows users to play interactive online games. Creators can also host games on the platform for their community across games such as tambola, antakshari, and musical chairs. 

The startup last raised $22 Mn in its pre-Series B round led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners in September 2023. To date, the startup has raised more than $50 Mn in funding. 

As per Tofler, the pre-revenue startup saw its net losses zoom more than 128% to INR 99.06 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to INR 43.35 Cr in FY23. 

The fundraise comes at a time when the larger homegrown social media landscape has been witnessing a churn for the last few years. While the likes of Chingari and ShareChat raised millions of dollars during the capital mania of 2021, falling user engagement and no clear path to monetisation forced them on the path of course correction. 

However, many local players in the social media space have expanded into the live and casual gaming space to deepen engagement and create alternate streams of revenue. 

The post [Update] EloElo Raises $13.5 Mn For Overseas Expansion appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fuelling Bharat’s AI Ambitions

As India races to catch up with global AI advancements, Inc42’s GenAI Summit 2025, held yesterday in Bengaluru, set the stage for a crucial inflexion point in the country’s AI journey. The invite-only event brought together 350+ leaders to discuss the next frontier of AI, from conversational and agentic AI to vertical GenAI solutions.

Everyone had but one thing on their minds — What would it take for India to stand on par with China and the US in terms of deeptech innovations? Understandably, the question takes birth from Union minister Piyush Goyal’s concerns about deeptech innovations that are taking place in India compared to the world.

With this, while some industry stalwarts took the liberty to call a spade a spade, others talked about how AI has helped them take a giant leap in their endeavour to build great businesses from India. 

Here are the key takeaways:

Sovereign AI Is The Need Of The Hour: According to SarvamAI cofounder Vivek Raghavan, India must focus on building a sovereign AI ecosystem to ensure autonomy over its data. 

Deeptech Startups Sob For Risk Capital: Reliance Jio’s chief AI scientist, Gaurav Aggarwal, believes that the paucity of “risk capital” and effectively leveraging swathes of unstructured data are hindering AI development in the country. 

Data Privacy Concerns Among MSMEs: Tally Solutions’ Tejas Goenka said that MSMEs continue to be wary of GenAI-led automation due to data privacy concerns and issues related to inaccuracies and outdated computing infrastructure. 

Greenshoots Of Innovation: While an AI-powered food recognition system has doubled food tracking engagement for health and fitness app operator Healthify, InMobi-owned Glance is working on an AI-led commerce offering that will transform devices like phones or TVs into a hyper-personalised styling and shopping discovery space.

More Is Less In The “Deep” Tech World: It is just the dawn of AI, and Indian companies are already leveraging this emerging tech to the best of their advantage. Here, names like IPO-bound OfBusiness are seen taking charge, exploiting GenAI to automate processes and bring sweeping efficiencies in their operations. 

But, what’s more impressive is that AI bots are today capable of handling more than 70% of travel requests for companies like TBO Tek, showcasing the growing prowess of India in AI adoption.

From The Editor’s Desk

Ather Looks To Trim IPO Size: Amid the ongoing volatility in the Indian stock markets, the EV maker is planning to slash the size of its public issue by at least $50 Mn to $350 Mn. Ather has already received the SEBI nod for its IPO plans. 

Noise Bags $20 Mn: Audio products and wearable startup Noise has raised $20 Mn from its existing investor Bose. The global audio giant first invested $10 Mn in Noise in December 2023 at a valuation of about $426 Mn.

Zepto Nears $4 Bn Annualised GOV: The quick commerce giant’s cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha claimed that the company has reduced EBITDA (excluding ESOPs) and operating cash flow burn by 50% while clocking nearly 300% YoY growth. 

BharatPe Bags RBI Nod For PA Biz: The fintech unicorn’s subsidiary Resilient Payments has secured final approval from the RBI to operate as an online payment aggregator. This strengthens its position as a full-stack fintech company.

JM Financial Trims Info Edge’s PT: The brokerage has slashed the price target of Naukri.com’s parent company to INR 7,800 from INR 8,750 earlier. JM Financial cited the recent correction in the stock price of portfolio companies Zomato and PB Fintech for the cut. 

RBI To Revise UPI Limits: The central bank has allowed the NPCI to revise transaction limits for P2M payments on UPI to accommodate higher-value transactions in select merchant categories. Currently, UPI payments for both P2P and P2M are largely capped at INR 1 lakh. 

Ola Electric Ropes In EY India: The EV juggernaut is said to have roped in the consulting firm to help it “achieve regional compliance” as Ola Electric looks to push the pedal on same-day deliveries.

Family Office Tracker: With foreign capital drying up, the spotlight is now on Indian family offices to step up and invest more in the private sector. Let’s take some time out to learn more about them.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can NeoSapien’s AI Wearables Help Indians Skip Data Fatigue?

A recent Accenture report found that 76% of consumers in India felt inundated by “too much choice” online. When siblings Aryan and Dhananjay Yadav faced a similar predicament, they sat down to build NeoSapien. 

The Personalised AI Filter: NeoSapien is a deeptech startup developing AI-powered wearables that can integrate seamlessly into daily life. The startup’s flagship product, Neo 1, is designed to function as a “second brain” to augment human cognition, offering real-time insights to help users manage information, improve focus, and make better decisions.

Offering Real-Time Insights With AI: Neo 1 tracks conversations and analyses emotions, offering users the ability to store unlimited memory and enhance their mental capabilities. The product aims to help users unlock their full potential by providing real-time analysis and insights.

Piggybacking On Shark Tank Fame: With Batch 1 selling fast, the company has now rolled out Batch 2 in early access mode at INR 9,999, with no subscription fees for the first year. 

While the official launch is still ahead, can NeoSapien’s personal AI assistant mitigate the information overload of Indians?

The post Fuelling Bharat’s AI Ambitions, Ather To Trim IPO Size & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Claypond Capital, the family investment office of Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai, has appointed former Microsoft executive Sekhar Garisa as its new managing director. 

Commenting on Garisa’s appointment, Pai said, “I am happy that Sekhar is coming on board and with his experience and skill sets, he will add tremendous value to our portfolio companies and founders”.

An alumni of NIT Warangal and IIM Lucknow, Garisa has nearly two decades of experience under his belt, spanning sectors like FMCG, consumer internet, and consulting. Prior to joining Claypond, he served as the president of product businesses at Quess Corp. He also served in leadership roles at companies like Microsoft, McKinsey and P&G in the past. 

“… We are building Claypond Capital to be the partner of choice of India’s entrepreneurs through a strong ‘Entrepreneur First approach’ – Confidence capital coupled with long term commitment to the vision of the founders. I am very excited to work closely with founders as they build transformative businesses,” Garisa said on this appointment. 

This is the second major appointment by the family office in the past four months. In January, Claypond Capital roped in former MD of Wipro-GE Healthcare, Shravan Subramanyam, as the head of the family office’s medical technology platform. 

Founded in 2023, Claypond Capital is led by veteran investment banker Shyam Powar. It has invested in startups like quick commerce major Zepto, healthtech platform HealthifyMe, digital pharmacy PharmEasy, among others.

In January, the Bengaluru-based family office participated in fintech startup GrayQuest’s INR 80 Cr Series B round. Claypond also co-led lending tech startup Easy Home Finance’s $35 Mn Series B funding round. 

While family offices traditionally focussed on managing real estate, equity and fixed-income portfolios, they have lately broadened their horizons to include startup investments. The growing maturity of the Indian startup ecosystem and a wave of startup IPOs has made the new-age tech ecosystem an attractive bet for family offices. 

On the other hand, startups see family offices as an attractive bet due to their deep understanding of the Indian market, consumer behaviour, and regulatory landscape. Family offices also have the bandwidth to offer “patient capital”, which is pivotal for fuelling sectors with long gestation periods such as deeptech and cleantech. 

The post Ranjan Pai’s Claypond Capital Appoints Sekhar Garisa As New MD appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Aviation giant IndiGo’s parent InterGlobe Aviation and French hospitality major Accor have announced a partnership to jointly invest in Treebo Hotels. 

In a statement, Accor, which is an existing investor of Treebo, said that the two companies will “jointly invest” in and become the largest shareholder in the hospitality startup. However, it didn’t provide the financial contours of the deal. 

This will be a follow-on investment by Accor, which first acquired a stake in Treebo in 2021.

The French company claimed in the statement that the combined strength of Accor and Treebo will create India’s third-largest hospitality player with over 30,000 rooms.

As part of the pact, Treebo will also take the “lead” to develop Accor’s two hotel brands – Ibis and Mercure – in India through a master licence agreement. 

“Accor’s brands will leverage Treebo’s state of the art technology to tap into India’s vast unbranded hotel market and accelerate growth. The combined Accor and Treebo portfolio will create India’s third-largest hospitality player, with over 30,000 rooms,” the statement said. 

As part of the partnership, Accor said that Treebo has reached an agreement with various property owners to sign 10 new Mercure properties in the country to scale up the company’s expansion in India.

Meanwhile, Accor said that it will aim to set up 300 hotels in the country under its various brands as part of its partnership with InterGlobe. The “strategic collaboration” between Accor and InterGlobe will look to cater to customers across “all segments” and bring together all their assets and development and management businesses in the country to form “one autonomous, integrated platform”.

“… By aligning with our long-term successful and trusted partner InterGlobe and bringing together the best of hospitality, tech and entrepreneurship in India, we are unlocking unprecedented growth potential in one of the world’s most exciting travel markets,” said Accor CEO and chairman Sébastien Bazin. 

Founded in 2015 by Sidharth Gupta, Kadam Jeet Jain and Rahul Chaudhary, Treebo is a budget hotel chain that claims to operate more than 1,000 hotels across 120+ cities. 

The startup has raised $85 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Z47, Elevation Capital, Ward Ferry and Bertelsmann as investors. It competes with the likes of OYO, FabHotels, among others.

The announcement comes two years after cofounder Jain stepped down from the active operations of the startup in 2023. Prior to that, another cofounder Chaudhary also stepped down from his role at the startup in 2021. 

As per filings accessed from Tofler, Treebo’s consolidated net loss surged nearly 15% to INR 28.1 Cr in FY24 from INR 24.5 Cr in the previous year. Revenue jumped 23% to INR 109 Cr during the fiscal under review from INR 88.6 Cr in FY23. 

Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to say that Accor and InterGlobe will together become the largest shareholder in Treebo. The earlier version said that the two would acquire a majority stake in the hotel chain. 

The post IndiGo Parent & Accor To Invest in Treebo, Become Largest Shareholder appeared first on Inc42 Media.

EV major Ola Electric has reportedly roped in consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) to overhaul its distribution network. 

Citing sources, NDTV Profit reported that EY will help Ola Electric “achieve regional compliance” as the EV manufacturer looks to push the pedal on same-day deliveries with its recently announced “HyperDelivery” offering. 

Inc42 has reached out to Ola Electric for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

This is the second time that the listed company has hired the consulting firm in the past six months. In October 2024, Ola Electric roped in EY India to fix its service-related issues. However, the EV maker terminated its partnership with the consulting firm two months later over disagreements with founder and chairman and managing director Bhavish Aggarwal. 

Meanwhile, the EV maker has now reportedly informed the Maharashtra transport department that it is in the process of applying for trade certificates for all of its stores in the state. 

“We’re committed to ensure that we are fully compliant with the law and have either already applied for or are in the process of applying for relevant licences and approvals, including trade certificates for our stores,” Ola Electric told Maharashtra’s joint transport commissioner Ravi Gaikwad in a letter, dated April 5, as per a separate NDTV Profit report. 

This comes nearly a week after Maharashtra’s transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said that more than 300 Ola Electric stores in the state were operating on a single trade certificate, adding that the government would take penal action against the company “if the situation demands so”. 

Ola Electric’s Many Troubles

The partnership with EY comes at a time when Ola Electric has come under regulatory scrutiny as well as faced the ire of customers for below-par after-sales services, late deliveries, among other reasons. Not just this, the company is also facing investigations for reportedly operating 95% of its outlets without necessary trade certificates. 

With EY India’s help, Ola Electric could be looking to plug the compliance gaps and address regulatory bottlenecks. 

As part of its efforts to cut losses to improve its bottom line, the company began restructuring its operations earlier this year. Under this exercise, it began renegotiating its contracts with registration agencies to bring down expenses. However, this led to a delay in registrations of its EVs in February. 

Following this, one of the company’s vendors, Rosmerta Digital Services, also filed an insolvency petition against a subsidiary of Ola Electric. While the insolvency filing was later withdrawn, the EV manufacturer found itself under the scrutiny for mismatch in registration and sales data. 

Ola Electric’s vehicle registrations on Vahan portal stood at 8,600 units in February, but the company publicly claimed that it sold over 25,000 vehicles that month. Following this, the roads, transport and highways ministry (MoRTH) and heavy industries ministry (MHI) sent inquiries to the company for the data mismatch. 

As if this was not enough, a media report recently also alleged that Ola Electric counted bookings of its “unlaunched” electric bike and new electric scooters in its February sales data. However, the EV maker clarified that the sales number was based on paid and confirmed orders, not “preliminary bookings”.

Nevertheless, the EV giant has hired EY India as it looks to shore up its retail expansion. In February, Ola Electric shut all its regional warehouses across India and moved to an in-house model. Under this, the company plans to utilise its network of 4,400 retail stores to maintain vehicle inventory, spare parts, accessories, and last-mile deliveries.

That said, the overhaul of the distribution model and moving registration and other processes in-house is part of the company’s bid to trim costs amid rising competition from legacy players and dwindling stock prices. 

On the financial front, Ola Electric’s net loss zoomed 50% to INR 564 Cr in the third quarter (Q3) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24. 

Shares of the company closed today’s trading session 1.53% lower at INR 50.12 on the BSE. 

The post Ola Electric Ropes In EY India To Overhaul Distribution Network appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The union government reportedly plans to launch an incentive scheme later this year for the recycling of 24 critical minerals including lithium and cobalt.

Sources told Reuters that the sops could take the form of “subsidies on capital expenditure” or production-linked-incentives (PLI). As per the report, the scheme will likely span a period of four to five years and would look to scale up India’s capacity to recycle lithium-ion batteries.

It is pertinent to note that the Union Cabinet, in January this year, approved the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) with a total outlay of INR 16,300 Cr. Under this, the government has identified 24 minerals as “critical” for meeting the country’s net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets by 2070.

The Mission also includes a provision of INR 1,500 Cr for providing incentives for setting up recycling facilities.

Meanwhile, secretary in the ministry of mines, VL Kantha Rao yesterday pitched for an exploration licence regime to unlock India’s critical mineral reserves. 

Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Rao said that such a policy shift would move the focus from passive ownership to active exploration, adding that the regime will “empower” private entities to undertake large-scale early-stage exploration for minerals like Lithium, platinum group elements (PGEs), among others. 

Additional secretary in the ministry, Sanjay Lohiya, also asserted that the government was dedicated towards enabling a competitive, technology-driven, and investment-friendly exploration ecosystem.

The comments come in the backdrop of the Centre pulling all stops to secure critical minerals necessary for green energy transition. These metals are the building blocks of our modern technology, and are used in mobile phones, semiconductors, solar panels, and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. 

As part of this, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 allowed private companies to participate in reconnaissance and prospecting for 29 critical and deep-seated minerals. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2025-26 speech, also proposed to scrap basic custom duty on waste and scrap of lithium-ion batteries, lead, zinc and other critical minerals. 

The post Govt To Launch Incentive Scheme For Critical Minerals This Year appeared first on Inc42 Media.

BlueStone, Aye Finance’s IPOs Get SEBI Nod 

Amid a global stock market churn, including in India, markets regulator SEBI has approved the IPO plans of omnichannel jewellery brand BlueStone and MSME-focussed NBFC Aye Finance. 

IPO Details At A Glance: BlueStone’s IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 1,000 Cr and an OFS component of 2.4 Cr equity shares. Meanwhile, Aye Finance’s offer includes a fresh issue of INR 885 Cr and an OFS of INR 565 Cr. The NBFC plans to use the fresh proceeds to fuel loan book growth.

Crunching The Numbers: In FY24, BlueStone’s revenue rose 64% YoY to INR 1,265.8 Cr, while its losses narrowed to INR 142.2 Cr. On the other side, Aye Finance’s net profit jumped 37% YoY to INR 107.8 Cr in the first six months of FY25, while revenue from operations rose 47% YoY to INR 692.24 Cr. Its AUM stood at INR 4,979.76 Cr as of September 2024.

While Accel-backed BlueStone is said to be seeking a valuation of at least INR 12K Cr, there is little clarity on Aye Finance’s valuation. 

Bad Timing? The companies have bagged the SEBI approval at a time when the Indian stock markets are jittery due to global trade tensions and tariff announcements by the US. Indian benchmark indices have declined about 10% since December.

These macro headwinds could make both companies hesitant to file their respective RHPs. Notably, we have seen Ather Energy do the same. The EV maker, which got the SEBI nod in December last year, has yet to file its RHP.

Amid current market headwinds, the bigger question is — Will the companies defer their plans or take a risky bet? For now, SEBI has done its bit, and the IPO ball is now in BlueStone and Aye Finance’s courts.   

From The Editor’s Desk

Ola Electric On Feb Sales Data: A day after a report claimed that the EV maker’s February data included sales of yet-to-be-delivered electric scooters and motorcycles, Ola Electric has claimed that the data was based on paid and confirmed orders, not “preliminary bookings”. 

RMG Apps To Come Under PMLA? The Centre is said to be finalising new rules to bring online real money gaming platforms under the purview of anti-money laundering laws, which would enforce stricter KYC requirements on these apps.

Neo Group Marks First Close Of Fund II: The fintech group’s asset management arm, Neo Asset Management, has marked the first close of its second private credit fund at INR 2,000 Cr. The fund is targeting a corpus of INR 5,000 Cr from HNIs and family offices.

Scripbox Eyes $20 Mn Fundraise: The Bengaluru-based wealthtech startup is looking to raise the capital at a valuation of $200 Mn. Scripbox, which allows users to invest with the help of its AI-powered tech stack, is looking to get listed in the next 18-24 months.

Jio Finance’s Latest Bet: The NBFC arm of Jio Financial Services has diversified its loan offerings by introducing loans against securities. The new offering will allow customers to offer their shares and mutual funds as collateral to avail loans of up to INR 1 Cr.

Q-Comm Players Under CCI Scanner: The competition watchdog has asked the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation for details on the relevant market share of each of the quick commerce players in the FMCG sector.

Eloelo To Raise INR 114.3 Cr: The live social entertainment platform has received the board’s approval to issue 1,696 Series B CCPS at an issue price of INR 6.73 Lakh each. To be led by Play Ventures, the round will also see participation from Kalaari and WaterBridge Capital.

Eat Better Nets INR 17 Cr: The D2C snacking brand has raised the capital as part of its Pre-Series A round co-led by Prath Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital. Eat Better sells healthy snacks such as dry fruit ladoos, namkeens, and nuts and seeds, among other things.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Inside Hypergro’s AI Play To Win India’s INR 60K Cr Video Ad Market

In today’s video-first world, brands struggle to deliver highly personalised, scalable video ads that truly resonate with diverse consumer segments. Static ads and generic messaging no longer hold attention, especially in India’s billion-strong smartphone market where personalisation is key but difficult and expensive to get right.

Filling The Market Gap: Hypergro uses GenAI to automate video ad creation — from script to final edit — offering hyper-personalised, multi-language content at scale. Its full-stack platform features deep targeting, creator-style AI avatars and real-time optimisation powered by its proprietary GrowthAI.

Eye On The Market Pie: Online video ads are booming in India and are expected to become an INR 60K Cr market by 2025. Hypergro is already working with over 150 brands, helping them create high-quality video campaigns frugally. From beauty and healthcare to gaming and even medical services, its AI-powered tools are being put to work across a wide range of sectors.

The Way Forward For Hypergro: With fresh funding of INR 7 Cr and plans to go global next quarter, Hypergro is betting big on AI’s rapid evolution to drive scale. The startup is targeting $3 Mn in revenue by FY26 and seems adept at its play. Can it make a global mark in the hyper-personalised video ads space? 

The post SEBI👍BlueStone & Aye Finance IPOs, Ola Electric Answers Back & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bhavish Aggarwal-led artificial intelligence (AI) unicorn Krutrim has said that it has started hosting Meta’s Llama 4 models on its cloud platform. 

In a statement, Krutrim said that Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick will be available for developers to test, build, and deploy applications in the price range of INR 7 to INR 17 per Mn tokens.

While Llama 4 Scout Model is a 17 Bn active parameter model with 16 experts and 10 Mn token context, Llama 4 Maverick boasts 17 Bn active parameters with 128 experts and 1 Mn token context window.

For context, tokens are a fundamental unit of text that LLMs generate. 

With this, the unicorn claims to have become the first Indian AI company to deploy Meta’s Llama 4 models on Indian servers. 

“Excited to share that @Krutrim is among the world’s first to host Meta’s Llama 4 models running entirely on it’s India-hosted cloud. Powering our developers with world-class AI, at industry-disrupting prices, with complete data sovereignty,” said Aggarwal in a post on X.

In a statement, the startup reiterated that the second version of Krutrim Assistant is well on track to be rolled out later this month. It also said that the Assistant, V2, will feature “DeepSearch”, a tool designed to make data searches more precise and efficient.

The AI startup also reiterated plans to scale up its data centre capacity to 1 GW by 2028. 

The development comes a few months after the Bhavish Aggarwal-led AI unicorn, in January 2025, began hosting open source AI models of Chinese GenAI company DeepSeek on its cloud platform. A month later in February, it also deployed DeepSeek’s new R1 671B model on Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units in India.

Founded in 2023, Krutrim offers GPU-as-a-service, model-as-a-service, along with other multiple no-code platforms. It became a unicorn in January 2024 after raising $50 Mn in a round led by Z47 (erstwhile Matrix Partners India).

The startup has also submitted a proposal to the government to build indigenous AI foundational models under the INR 10,037 Cr IndiaAI Mission. Earlier this week, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the evaluation process of the proposals is in the “final leg”, adding that the first few of the selected startups will be offered funding by the Centre. 

The post Krutrim Starts Hosting Meta’s Llama 4 Models On Its Cloud In India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After a decade-long hiatus, French smartphone maker Alcatel is returning to the Indian shores with its “Make In India” pitch. 

The consumer technology brand plans to make its smartphones locally in the country and will also set up a pan-India after-sales network, Economic Times reported. 

As part of this, Alcatel announced a “retail” partnership with Flipkart to launch its range of smartphones on the ecommerce platform and its quick commerce vertical, Minutes. 

In a statement, Alcatel said that the collaboration will leverage Flipkart’s ecommerce network to shore up the sales of its phones across metros and tier II & III cities. 

“… This strategic partnership with Flipkart is instrumental in bringing that vision to life. Leveraging Flipkart’s expansive reach and deep market insights, we aim to offer high-quality products backed by a reliable, seamless after-sales service, ensuring an elevated consumer experience across the country,” said Alcatel chief business officer (CBO) Atul Vivek. 

Operated by China-based TCL Communication under a trademark licensing agreement from Nokia, Alcatel sells a range of smartphones across more than 160 countries. The company first entered India in 1996 to sell cordless mobile phones. However, it exited the local market in 2016 following the acquisition of erstwhile Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia. 

For Flipkart, the partnership with Alcatel comes at a time when it is under the radar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for exclusive product launches with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Samsung and Xiaomi. 

Last year, the watchdog internally found the ecommerce giant, along with rival Amazon, guilty of violating antitrust laws by giving preference to certain sellers on its platforms and indulging in predatory pricing tactics. 

However, following the order, multiple sellers of Amazon and the Walmart-owned company filed petitions in various high courts (HCs) across the country, challenging various aspects of the CCI’s probe.

In September, the Karnataka HC stayed further proceedings against both Flipkart and Amazon, prompting all other HCs to pass similar orders. Subsequently, in January this year, the Supreme Court (SC) also transferred a clutch of petitions filed against the CCI by these sellers to a single-bench of the Karnataka HC. 

However, this is not Flipkart’s only brush with the law. Last month, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) conducted a series of raids at Flipkart’s multiple warehouses for selling non-certified goods. 

The development also comes at a time when Flipkart is looking to aggressively scale up its quick commerce platform Minutes. 

Last week, the ecommerce juggernaut said that it has so far set up more than 200 dark stores across 14 cities. On top of this, the company plans to expand the network to 500-550 dark stores ahead of its ‘Big Billion Days’ sales later this year

To fuel its expansion plans and take on incumbents like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, Flipkart’s India marketplace arm also received an infusion of around $379 Mn from Singapore holding company earlier this month. 

The post Alcatel Partners Flipkart To Sell ‘Made In India’ Smartphones appeared first on Inc42 Media.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today unveiled a new Aadhaar app, which will enable users to verify their credentials digitally with face authentication. 

In a post on X, Vaishnaw said that the app, which is still in beta stage, will remove the need for physical cards and photocopies. 

In a statement, the IT ministry said that the “Aadhaar Face Authentication” is clocking over 15 Cr transactions per month.

The ministry added that the new app has so far been released for a “small group of users”. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) plans to make it available for all after incorporating feedback from users and other ecosystem partners. 

Touting the features of the app, Vaishnaw said that it will allow users to only share “necessary data”, strengthen privacy, prevent “misuse or leaks” of Aadhaar data, and ensure protection against forgery and editing. 

“… It (the new app) will give Aadhaar number holders complete control over their personal information. The app allows digital verification and exchange via a requesting application or by scanning a QR code, eliminating the need for physical photocopies while ensuring privacy,” the IT ministry said in the statement. 

Vaishnaw launched the new app at the third Aadhaar Samvaad in New Delhi, which saw more than 750 central and state government officials and industry experts in attendance. The ministry said that the day-long meet was organised to deliberate ways to further enhance service delivery using Aadhaar.

Blending AI With Digital Public Infra 

In his inaugural address, Vaishnaw termed AI as the “new industrial revolution”. He called on the attendees to share ideas on integrating AI with digital public infrastructure (DPI) to drive further growth while “preserving” privacy. 

The comments come at a time when the government is pushing the pedal on AI adoption and spurring innovation in the emerging sector. Just a day ago, Vaishnaw said that the evaluation of proposals for building indigenous large language models (LLMs) is in the final stages. 

He also said that the government will offer funding to the “first set” of selected applicants under the INR 10,037 Cr IndiaAI Mission.

Last week, MeitY additional secretary Abhishek Singh also reportedly said that the Centre plans to finalise the “first set” of proposals for building homegrown foundational AI models in the next two weeks.

The post Centre Unveils New Aadhaar App With Face ID Authentication appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Wikipedia parent Wikimedia Foundation has reportedly challenged a Delhi High Court order, which directed the online encyclopedia to take down alleged defamatory content against news agency ANI. 

Sources told Reuters that Wikimedia has sought an appeal before a larger bench of the Delhi HC. The case was listed for hearing on Monday (April 7) but the matter was postponed to a later undisclosed date. 

This comes barely a week after a single-judge bench of the Court, comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad issued the directions. The order reportedly read that “the impugned statements are…defamatory and tarnish the professional reputation” of ANI. 

ANI’s petition accused the online platform of allowing “defamatory edits” on ANI’s Wikipedia pages, including references that the news agency acted as a “propaganda tool” for the Centre. The news agency has sought an apology and INR 2 Cr in damages from the online encyclopaedia. 

Previously in July 2024, the single-judge bench of the HC also summoned Wikipedia to disclose information related to the three people that made the edits on ANI’s Wikipedia page. Following this, ANI complained to the Court that Wikipedia had not complied with the direction and the HC issued a notice for contempt of court. Subsequently, Wikipedia moved a divisional bench of the HC to challenge the order.

During the hearing, the divisional bench noted that Wikipedia was hosting a page called “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia“ about the case. The bench took strong objection to the page and ordered Wikipedia to take it down, citing the subjudice nature of the matter.

While the digital encyclopedia did take down the page, Wikipedia moved the Supreme Court against the HC’s order. During a hearing last week, the SC raised questions over how the HC could pass the directions without proving contempt.

It is pertinent to note that this is not the first time that foreign digital platforms have landed in the crosshairs of Indian authorities. In March, Maharashtra Cyber Cell registered a case against four Wikipedia editors over ‘objectionable’ content on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

Social media giant X has also filed a plea before the Karnataka HC, challenging the Centre’s use of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act to block content.

The post Wikipedia Challenges Delhi HC Order To Remove Content Against ANI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric’s February Math Goes Wrong

Ola Electric may be counting chickens before the hatching. In yet another brush that may go wrong with the Indian regulators, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV maker is allegedly counting bookings of the vehicles that haven’t even hit the roads in its sales figures. 

What’s The News? Ola Electric allegedly included “unlaunched” Gen3 escooters and Roadster X motorcycles (likely in the production stage) in its February 2025 sales to boost reported market share. These vehicles accounted for nearly half of Ola’s claimed 25,207 “confirmed orders” in February. 

Calling The Sales Bluff: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has asked Ola to revise its data and warned of “adverse action”. The Ministry of Heavy Industries, too, is currently probing discrepancies between Ola Electric’s sales figures and actual vehicle registrations. Notably, only 8,600 vehicles were registered on the Vahan portal in February, far less than the claimed sales.

Already In The Line Of Fire: The EV maker is already under scrutiny for running stores without valid trade certificates. It has also shut down all of its experience centres in Punjab to allegedly avoid inspection. Besides, the consumer protection body is also investigating complaints related to shoddy services.

Steep Fall On The Bourses: The Ola Electric stock fell more than 13% yesterday to a record low of INR 45.55 to finally close at INR 50.83. Since its flat IPO listing in August 2024, Ola’s stock is down nearly 45%. Its market cap currently stands at INR 21,613 Cr.

With regulators expected to further tighten their noose to keep the listed Ola Electric on track, it would be anybody’s guess how the EV giant’s stock will tide through the current unforgiving markets. For now, let’s take a look at Ola Electric’s sales math gone wrong… 

From The Editor’s Desk

New-Age Tech Stocks Cry Havoc: Ten of the 32 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage touched fresh lows after Indian stock markets spiralled amid a looming global trade war. Interestingly, Delhivery zoomed 5% on the news of its acquisition of Ecom Express.

boAt’s Another Stab At IPO: The parent of wearables and audio brand, Imagine Marketing, has filed its draft papers for its IPO via the confidential filing route. This is the company’s second attempt at going public.

Juspay Secures $60 Mn: The fintech startup has raised $60 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Kedaara Capital and existing investors SoftBank and Accel. This follows Paytm discontinuing all integrations with Juspay last month.

Bare Anatomy Bags INR 136 Cr: The parent company of the beauty and personal care brand, Innovist, has raised INR 136 Cr in its Series B round led by ICICI Venture. Founded in 2018, Innovist is a ‘house of brands’ startup with a focus on haircare and skincare categories.

Easebuzz Nets INR 257 Cr: The B2B fintech startup has secured INR 257 Cr in its Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2014, Easebuzz helps businesses digitise their payments collection processes. 

Nykaa’s Q4 Projections: The parent entity of the fashion and beauty giant has said it witnessed a continued growth momentum in the fourth quarter of FY25, with consolidated net revenue growth expected to be in the low to mid-20% YoY range.

Turtlemint Eyes $250 Mn IPO: The insurtech startup is in talks with bankers to undertake a $200-250 Mn public listing later this year. Turtlemint plans to file its DRHP with SEBI by October. The startup helps financial advisors offer insurance to their customers.

Swiggy Gets Tax Notice: Maharashtra authorities have directed the foodtech giant to pay INR 7.59 Cr in back taxes for alleged violation of provisions pertaining to the deduction of professional tax from employees’ salaries. Swiggy plans to challenge the order. 

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Phot.AI Is Helping Brands Create, Automate & Scale Visuals 

India is anticipated to have over 500 Mn online shoppers by 2030. While there is no dearth of brands looking to capitalise on this booming demand, ecommerce brands need constant updates for product listings and marketing to maintain visual consistency across platforms, which can become a complex and resource-intensive exercise. 

Phot.AI To The Rescue: It helps ecommerce brands create eye-catching product images, ad designs, and marketplace listings without the hassle of manual design. Using AI, brands can instantly generate visuals for platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and Meta Ads. This helps brands speed up content production and accelerate A/B testing and conversion rates while reducing customer acquisition costs.

The Eye-Catching Tech Stack: The startup claims to offer 25+ AI-powered photo editing tools and an integrated design studio to streamline content creation. Since its inception, Phot.AI has witnessed 3 Mn signups not just in India but globally. 

What’s On The Horizon? The startup plans to expand its team, invest in R&D and launch its AI-powered copilot. Buoyed by $2.7 Mn seed funding, can this Info Edge-backed startup help companies charge up brand recall?

The post Ola Electric’s Feb Math Goes Wrong, Tech Stocks Bleed & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has announced a new dedicated helpline for startups. 

Addressing the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 event, Goyal said that the helpline will help startups report “corrupt” government officials and register complaints of bribes. As per the minister, startups can also offer feedback for regulatory reforms on the helpline. 

“I am going to start a new desk within Startup India in my ministry, which will be a helpline for any startup anywhere in the country. If you face any problems with government officials, have a suggestion for regulatory reform, call that helpline. If somebody has developed a tool, which is not covered by current laws, that may need a rethinking of existing regulatory frameworks, reach out to us on the helpline,” the minister said. 

Goyal also said that the Centre plans to allocate a substantial portion of the INR 10,000 Cr fund of funds (FoF) for startups for the deeptech sector. He said that the allocation will mobilise “patient capital” for research-oriented startups in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and robotics. 

The comments came a day after Goyal kicked off a furore online after he said that Indian startups are merely building grocery delivery and ice cream companies, and not high-tech companies in areas like semiconductors, machine learning, robotics, and AI. 

Highlighting that the “numbers” in the Indian deeptech sector are “disturbing”, Goyal lashed out at Indian consumer internet startups for turning unemployed youth into cheap labour. 

“Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls… Is that the destiny of India?… this is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship… What the other side (China) is doing — robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories,” said Goyal.

While the comments were welcomed by a section of the startup ecosystem, others deemed the comparison unfair. While Zepto cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha said that his quick commerce startup contributes over INR 1,000 Cr in taxes annually and employs 1.5 Lakh people, Aarin Capital chairman TV Mohandas Pai said that comparisons of Indian startups with their Chinese peers are unfair. 

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Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government plans to allocate a substantial portion of the INR 10,000 Cr fund of funds (FoF) for startups for the deeptech sector. 

Speaking at the Startup Mahakumbh, Goyal said that the allocation will mobilise “patient capital” for research-oriented startups. This, the minister said, would foster the development of cutting-edge technologies in emerging areas such as AI, quantum computing and robotics. 

“We on our part, through the new fund of funds of INR 10,00 Cr, will give a substantial allocation for deeptech… This will mobilise patient capital for R&D focus on startups. Our aim will be to foster the development of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, robotics, quantum computing, machine learning, precision manufacturing, biotech and the likes,” said Goyal.

It is pertinent to note that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in this year’s Budget, proposed setting up a new FoF for startups with a corpus of INR 10,000 Cr. 

Meanwhile, Goyal also announced that a new dedicated helpline would be set up for startups. 

“I am going to start a new desk within Startup India in my ministry which will be a helpline for any startup anywhere in the country. If you face any problems with government officials, have a suggestion for regulatory reform, call that helpline. If somebody has developed a tool, which is not covered by current laws, that may need a rethinking of existing regulatory frameworks, reach out to us on the helpline,” the minister said. 

Goyal’s Comments Cook Up A Storm

The announcements come barely a day after Goyal’s comments on the first day of the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 stirred up a storm. At the event, the minister gave a “reality check” to Indian startups and urged the founders to shift their focus from grocery delivery and ice cream making to high-tech sectors like semiconductors, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence. 

Noting that the “numbers” in the Indian deeptech sector were “disturbing”, Goyal questioned if the founders were looking at merely dukaandari (shopkeeping, which may “create wealth in the short-term”) or trying to compete globally with our innovations. . 

He also lashed out at Indian foodtech startups for turning unemployed youth into cheap labour. 

“Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls… Is that the destiny of India…this is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship… What the other side is doing — robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories,” Goyal said, referring to China. 

While many welcomed the comments and offered suggestions, the remarks also received criticism from founders and investors. 

Defending Indian consumer startups, Zepto cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha said that his quick commerce startup provides livelihoods to nearly 1.5 Lakh people, contributes over INR 1,000 Cr in taxes annually, and has brought in over a billion dollars in FDI.

Palicha also attributed the lack of a large-scale indigenous foundational AI model to the “fact that India has not yet built great internet companies”. 

Meanwhile, former Infosys CFO and Aarin Capital chairman TV Mohandas Pai criticised Goyal’s comments and said that comparisons with Chinese startups are unfair. He added that India also has strong players in the deeptech sector, although their number is smaller compared to some other countries. 

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In the latest twist in news agency ANI’s suit against Wikipedia, the Supreme Court (SC) has questioned a Delhi High Court (HC) order, which directed Wikipedia to delete a page on the ongoing defamation proceedings. 

As per Live Law, a bench of the SC, comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, raised questions over how the HC could pass the directions without proving contempt. 

“We can understand if action for contempt is taken. But how can there be a direction to take down the offending pages and discussion unless the court comes to a conclusion that this is contempt?” Justice Oka reportedly observed. 

The comments came while the SC was hearing a petition moved by Wikipedia’s parent Wikimedia Foundation against a Delhi HC order. The HC bench had taken objection to certain comments on the page, which read that a judge had threatened to shut down the digital encyclopaedia in India. 

During the hearing, ANI’s counsel sought time to file a counter affidavit in the matter. However, Justice Oka continued to highlight that the issue in question is of principle of law.

“Can such (an) order be passed? See, every day in (the) media you will find very severe criticism of the court. Unless it is contempt, can we be so touchy about criticism of the courts? A simple question we are asking you. You better take instructions. We are only on principles,” Justice Oka reportedly remarked. 

Thereafter, the SC adjourned the case and posted the matter for next hearing on April 9. 

It is pertinent to note that the SC is just hearing an appeal filed by Wikipedia against the HC’s aforementioned order, while the main defamation lawsuit is being heard by the Delhi HC. 

The ANI Vs Wikipedia Lawsuit

At the heart of the matter is a defamation suit filed by ANI against Wikipedia. The news agency has accused the online encyclopedia of allowing defamatory “edits” on ANI’s Wikipedia pages, including references that the news agency acted as a “propaganda tool” for the Centre. 

ANI has sought damages to the tune of INR 2 Cr and the removal of the alleged defamatory content. Meanwhile, during previous proceedings, the Delhi HC directed Wikipedia to disclose the details of the users who made the “defamatory” edits to ANI’s page. 

However, Wikipedia moved a division bench of the HC to appeal against the order. During the hearing, the divisional bench also sided with ANI and ordered Wikipedia to take the page down, citing the subjudice nature of the matter. Subsequently, the online platform moved the SC against the HC’s order. 

Earlier yesterday, the Delhi HC, in the main suit, issued interim directions to Wikipedia to take down alleged “defamatory statements” made against ANI on the online encyclopedia.

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Electronics and information technology ministry (MeitY) additional secretary Abhishek Singh said that the Centre plans to finalise the “first set” of proposals for building indigenous foundational AI models in the next two weeks. 

As per Economic Times, Singh also said that the government has received more than 200 proposals from companies looking to build homegrown large language models (LLMs). This follows the Centre, in January, floating a proposal to build such an AI model. 

“There are a lot of expectations around models – (people say that) China has got DeepSeek, when will India have its own AI model?” he was quoted as saying at the Startup Mahakumbh in  New Delhi. Adding further, he said that India would need a voice-based LLM in order to reach the masses.

Singh, who is also the CEO of IndiaAI Mission, also batted for increasing funding for research projects. Noting that China and the US pump 3% of their GDP towards research and development, Singh rued that the corresponding number for India stands at just 0.5% of the GDP. 

The senior government official also noted that it is important to accelerate the pace of investments into Indian AI startups. Calling for building systems where decisions are easier to make and trust-based, Singh said, “I would actually want several Y Combinators to come up in India.”

The IndiaAI Mission CEO also emphasised the importance of strengthening partnerships between academic institutions and startups, adding that the government is working with accelerators and incubators to support AI startups. 

The Centre’s AI Push

The comments come at a time when the government has pulled all stops to spur the adoption of AI in the country and accelerate the development of AI-centric offerings. 

Last month, the government launched AIKosha, IndiaAI Compute Portal, an accelerator programme to incubate homegrown AI startups, and other offerings to foster innovation. Besides, the government is also working on acquiring 18,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) to offer AI computing to startups, researchers, students and academicians.

Meanwhile, the growing demand for business and customer-centric use cases has also spawned the rise of AI startups in the country. India is home to more than 200 GenAI startups that raised more than $1.2 Bn in funding between 2020 and 2024. 

Overall, the Indian AI ecosystem is projected to become a $17 Bn market opportunity by 2030.

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The Karnataka government has announced plans to establish a welfare board for gig workers in the state. 

In a post on X, Karnataka chief minister’s office (CMO) said that the state government will levy 5% cess on platform aggregators such as Amazon, Flipkart, Ola, Uber, among others for the “welfare” of gig workers. 

The CMO said that the proceeds from the concerned platforms will go towards the welfare board, adding that the state government will continue the remaining funds required to support welfare schemes for gig workers. 

“In the state, a decision was made today in a meeting held by Chief Minister @siddaramaiah with Lok Sabha opposition leader @RahulGandhi to form a welfare board for gig workers… A comprehensive bill covering all aspects of gig workers’ welfare will be prepared and presented before the state cabinet for approval,” the post said. 

As per news agency PTI, the announcement came following a meeting between Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. The meeting was also attended by state ministers Santosh Lad, Priyank Kharge, MB Patil as well as representatives of gig workers bodies — Rakshitha Dev, Sheikh Salahuddin and Nikhil Dev.

The development comes barely a week after reports surfaced that the union government was looking to mandate aggregators to contribute 2% of each gig worker’s income towards a potential pension scheme. 

This is in line with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2025-26 speech, announcing a comprehensive social security scheme for 1 Cr gig workers covering health insurance. 

Last week, a government panel reportedly noted that 70,000 gig workers have so far been registered with the e-Shram portal, making them eligible to avail Centre’s social security schemes.

The renewed regulatory push comes at a time when aggregator platforms continue to come  under fire for issues related to fair pay and working conditions. Last year, ride-hailing giants Ola and Uber as well as logistics startup Porter scored zero points on Fairwork India’s ratings on the working conditions of gig workers. 

The post Karnataka Mulls 5% Cess From Aggregators For Gig Workers’ Fund appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric Activates Hyper Delivery Mode

Ola Electric is piloting Hyper Delivery, a same-day registration and delivery service. Starting with Bengaluru, it plans a pan-India rollout in a phased manner this quarter. 

What’s The Strategy? The EV maker aims to achieve this by automating a majority of the registration process, which will help it remove middlemen and strengthen margins. Meanwhile, the company is also working on trimming its delivery times to 3-4 days in Q1 FY26 from 12 days in Q4 FY25. 

Over the past few months, the company has scaled up to 4,436 sales outlets. It is this network Aggarwal seems to be banking on for his Hyper Delivery ambition. 

Market Leader Despite Hiccups: Ola Electric’s FY25 registrations stood at 3.44 Lakh units, which helped it capture a 30% market share. However, in March, the EV maker trailed behind legacy players like Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor and could only register 23,430 units with an 18% market share.

The dip was not unexpected as it was in the process of renegotiating contracts with registration agencies. While this led to a delay in its EV registrations for February and March, the company expects to clear the backlog in April.

Many Crises At The EV Maker: The EV maker is also under the scanner of regulators for setting up showrooms and service centres without necessary trade certificates. Then, its mounting losses (INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25), and dwindling stock prices (down almost 37% YTD) are only dragging it down. 

Nevertheless, it is a step in the right direction, but the real test lies in whether Ola Electric can crack the model without burning more capital. As the company shifts gears, let’s take a look at what Ola Electric’s Hyper Delivery mode has on offer.

From The Editor’s Desk

Scapia Bags $40 Mn: The travel-focussed fintech startup has raised the capital as part of its Series B round led by Peak XV Partners. The startup offers co-branded credit cards with zero-forex markup and domestic lounge access to travellers. 

Samara’s $2 Bn Investment Thesis: With a sharp focus on high-growth sectors, Samara Capital acquires controlling stakes and works closely with management teams to accelerate growth and value creation. So, how exactly is this founder-friendly playbook working for Samara?

Kissht Eyes $225 Mn IPO: The digital lending startup has shortlisted ICICI Securities, UBS Securities, and Motilal Oswal as bankers for its $225 Mn IPO at a valuation of up to $1.1 Bn. The company is looking to file its draft IPO papers by June. 

ZeCa Capital’s INR 150 Cr Fund: The VC firm has received SEBI’s nod to float the fund, which will invest in cleantech startups. It has already received commitments from a few CXOs and expects to mark the first close of the fund at INR 40 Cr by April-end. 

DevX Refiles DRHP: As per its updated DRHP, the coworking major has increased the size of its fresh issue to 2.75 Cr equity shares from 2.47 Cr shares earlier. The startup clocked a net profit of INR 38.4 Lakh in H1 FY25 against an operating revenue of INR 59.4 Cr. 

Flipkart’s Marketplace Biz Nets $379 Mn: The ecommerce giant’s Singapore-based holding company has infused the funds in its India marketplace arm. As part of this, the company’s board approved a proposal to issue 4.7 Lakh shares at INR 69,014.17 each. 

Tonbo Imaging Nets INR 175 Cr: The defence tech startup has raised the capital as part of its Series D pre-IPO round from Florintee Advisors and EXIM Bank at a valuation of INR 1,500 Cr.  Tonbo Imaging builds AI-based seekers and coastal surveillance systems. 

Respite For Zomato: The NCLT has dismissed an insolvency petition filed by Nona Lifestyle against the foodtech giant for non-payment of dues worth INR 1.64 Cr. The tribunal dismissed the case after the petitioner failed to serve a proper notice under section 8 of the IBC. 

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Kiko Live Give Kiranas The Edge Over Quick Commerce Giants?

As India’s quick commerce giants sprint from fast to ultra-fast deliveries, cracks in the business model have begun showing up. As per Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, the quick delivery ecosystem is burning close to INR 5,000 Cr every quarter. 

At the centre of this pressure is the dark store model, which promised efficiency but is now weighed down by costs, operational complexity, and diminishing returns. To address this dark store fatigue, Alok Chawla, Neeta Chawla, and Virendra Kumar Chauhan founded Kiko Live in 2020. 

The Genesis & The ONDC Boost: The trio spotted an opportunity — not in rivalling q-commerce giants, but in digitising local retailers via ONDC, WhatsApp ordering, and B2B/D2C fulfilment tools. On the back of ONDC, Kiko Live today handles 3,000 orders every day. Today, it’s processing a monthly GMV of INR 1.5 Cr. 

Kiko’s Shot At The Q-Commerce Pie: The company has bigger plans on the anvil. It plans to cross the 10,000+ order milestone in the next two to three months and reach the INR 5 Cr GMV mark in the next six months. 

As quick commerce giants face downgrades, has the 10-minute race stretched the dark store model too thin and can Kiko help kiranas reclaim the edge?

The post Ola Electric In Hyper Delivery Mode, Scapia Bags $40 Mn & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Karnataka High Court (HC) reportedly refused to grant interim relief to social media platform X today in connection with a plea challenging the Centre’s use of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act to block content.

As per Bar and Bench, Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that there is no reason for X to be apprehensive of any coercive action by the government. Noting that the social media platform is free to approach the HC in case of any coercive action, Justice Nagaprasanna posted the matter for final hearing on April 24.

During the hearing, X’s counsel KG Raghavan argued that there are legal flaws to the blocking mechanism established by the Centre through the Sahyog portal. He contended that the takedown orders issued through the portal do not adhere to the safeguards mandated by Section 69A of the IT Act. 

Flagging that Sahyog portal‘s content blocking mechanism is rooted in Section 79(3)(b) of the Act, Raghavan questioned if the safeguard under Section 69A could be “given a go-by” while issuing blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b).

It is pertinent to note that X, in its petition, called the government’s Sahyog portal a “censorship” tool. 

Noting that the only reason Section 69A was upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) in the Shreya Singhal case was due to the provision’s inbuilt safeguards, X’s counsel emphasised that even ex-parte blocking orders have to be justified in post-decisional hearings under Section 69A. 

As such, the social media giant sought the HC’s intervention to stop the government from taking any coercive action against X for not complying with blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b).

“… The concern of the Union of India is legitimate – no one can say I won’t comply with the laws of this country. If you want to do business in this country, you have to comply. We are all on the same side, that nothing can be done which adversely affects the country… All we are saying is – the law is completely codified in Section 69A of the IT Act,” Raghavan reportedly argued. 

Noting that both Section 79(3) and Section 69A have to be read together, X’s counsel also contended that content blocking orders cannot be issued by the government by invoking Section 79(3)(b) as a standalone provision.

Under Section 79(3), a digital intermediary can lose its safe harbour protection if the platform fails to take action against unlawful content posted by its users, despite being informed of the same.

What Is The Govt’s Stand?

At the previous hearing last month, the Centre argued that X misinterpreted the provisions of the IT Act, particularly Sections 69A and 79(3)(b). 

The government said that while Section 69A “explicitly” allows authorities to issue blocking orders, Section 79(3)(b) only requires digital intermediaries to fulfill their obligations upon receiving notices from agencies.

The government also contended before the HC that while Section 69A entails legal consequences for non-compliance with blocking orders, Section 79(3)(b) determines the “conditions under which intermediaries can claim safe harbour protection”.

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