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Cars24 Eyes April 2027 Reverse Flip Ahead Of IPO Filing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 08:24:21 +0000

Used-car marketplace Cars24 expects to complete its reverse flip from Singapore to India by April 2027, following which it plans to file its DRHP for an IPO.

Cars24 CFO Shivanshu Makkar told PTI that the startup has received approval from Singapore to redomicile and is filing the required papers in India. He expects the process to take six to nine months.

“After the day we become an Indian entity is when we can file the DRHP. So, by April, we would be eligible to file a DRHP,” Makkar told PTI.

Once the DRHP is filed, the IPO process could take another three to four months, including SEBI approvals, pricing and book-building, he added.

The latest timeline extends beyond the window outlined by cofounder and CEO Vikram Chopra in January, when he said Cars24 was looking to go public within six to twelve months.

Makkar said Cars24 has not raised fresh capital since it raised $400 Mn in its Series G round at a $3.3 Bn valuation as it has sufficient cash on its balance sheet and does not need cash to burn. He added that there is no valuation target at present and that he did not view an IPO as an end goal or valuation exercise.

The CFO said the listing would provide liquidity to existing shareholders and employees, while giving the company an opportunity to strengthen its corporate governance as a listed entity.

Primary capital raised from the IPO would allow the company to create a war chest to go deeper into the Indian market, which has sufficient headroom for expansion owing to low car ownership figures in the country.

“The tailwind and headroom both are insane. So, to go into newer cities, I’m right now in 25 cities in retail. Maybe I go to 200 cities and about 50,000 cars. So, for that, the primary capital would be used,” Makkar said.

The startup is also looking to expand further in the Gulf countries and Australia. Makkar said Cars24 has around a 7% share of the UAE’s used-car market and is growing at nearly 30% there. In Australia, it has expanded to three cities.

Cars24’s Profitability Push

Founded in 2015 by Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid, and Ruchit Agarwal, Cars24 operates an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars. It also offers financing, insurance support, warranties and other related services. It also entered the market for buying new cars last year.

It has raised over $1.3 Bn to date from investors such as SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global, and Peak XV Partners.

Cars24’s India entity reported an 18.3% YoY decline in operating revenue to ₹5,091.7 Cr in FY26 from ₹6,233.2 Cr in FY25. Its net loss, however, narrowed 18.7% YoY to ₹441.1 Cr during the year from ₹542.7 Cr in FY25.

Cars24 had earlier said it turned adjusted EBITDA profitable in Q4 FY26, reporting adjusted EBITDA of ₹20 Cr for the quarter.

Cars24 moved from an inventory-based model to a commission-based one in its wholesale business in mid-FY26. As a result, it now recognises the commission earned on transactions rather than the entire value of vehicles sold.

Cars24’s proposed listing comes as other major players in India’s used-car and online auto marketplace space prepare to tap the public markets.

Gurugram-based Spinny confidentially filed its IPO papers with SEBI earlier this month to raise ₹2,500 Cr to ₹3,000 Cr through a combination of a fresh issue and an offer for sale (OFS), with a potential listing targeted for 2027.

CarDekho’s parent Girnar Software is also preparing for an IPO of up to ₹3,500 Cr.

The post Cars24 Eyes April 2027 Reverse Flip Ahead Of IPO Filing appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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The Bharat Taxi Row, Weekly Funding Rebounds & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 03:24:40 +0000

Allegations Hit Bharat Taxi

The arrival of Bharat Taxi promised zero commissions and empowered drivers. But its rollout has triggered allegations of vigilantism, passenger intimidation, forced app deletions and thefts across Gujarat. So, why is the state-backed ride-hailing service in the middle of a full-blown storm?

Alleged Coercion & Intimidation: Drivers describe groups threatening violence and stealing money after stopping cabs mid-ride. Passengers, meanwhile, report being forced to cancel app bookings and delete Uber and Rapido apps. Fear of retaliation keeps many from approaching police, while passengers worry about safety and ride availability during trips.

The Economic Reality: Launched earlier this year, Bharat Taxi’s zero-commission model promised driver ownership and profit-sharing. But drivers allege that bookings are too sparse to sustain incomes. Many report being pressured to quit Uber and Rapido despite insufficient Bharat Taxi demand, risking EMI defaults and livelihood loss. Without adequate ride volume, the platform’s economic viability remains unproven.

Conflicting Police Signals: Social media videos show individuals in police uniforms both promoting Bharat Taxi and warning against coercion, deepening public confusion. The key concern for drivers remains that harassment could persist in the absence of clear enforcement on the streets. For now, questions remain over passenger safety and platform choice.

The Looming Questions: The allegations underscore the tension between the cooperative model and private platforms in India’s urban mobility landscape. While Bharat Taxi’s zero-commission structure may appeal to many, coercive tactics could undermine its legitimacy and passenger trust. Resolution requires clear police action, transparent communication and protection of driver and passenger choice.

Without these, the alleged incidents could risk confidence in app-based ride-hailing across Gujarat and push users and drivers toward unregulated alternatives. So, what has really gone wrong with Bharat Taxi? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Rebounds

Indian startups cumulatively managed to raise $203.4 Mn last week, up 3.4X compared to $58.9 Mn in the preceding week. Deal count also zoomed 50% week-on-week to 21. Ultraviolette and Ema emerged as the most funded startups last week.
AI emerged as the most funded sector last week, with five AI startups bagging a combined $89.3 Mn. Ecommerce led in deal activity, with six startups collectively raising $3.8 Mn.
Early stage funding activity also remained strong as seed-stage startups raised $20.3 Mn across five deals last week. Peercheque and Sauce.VC were the most active investors of the week, backing two startups each.

InMobi Gets A New Backer

Private equity firm True North has acquired a minority stake in the IPO-bound adtech startup. The secondary deal saw the PE firm lapping up 2-3% stake in InMobi for $50 Mn to $60 Mn. There was also a small equity component to the transaction.
Founded in 2007, InMobi provides marketing and monetisation solutions to brands, advertisers and publishers. It also operates social commerce platform Roposo, and Glance, an AI-based Android lockscreen platform. It has raised $774 Mn to date.
The fundraise comes as InMobi is redomiciling back to India from Singapore, ahead of its potential $1 Bn IPO. Earlier this year, the startup also appointed bankers to helm its public issue, which will target a valuation of $6 Bn to $10 Bn.

Bearish Week For Startup Stocks

Of the 65 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 37 ended last week in the red and fell between 0.01% and 35%. The remaining 28 gained between 0.3% and 24.6%.
Capillary Technologies and Zelio were the biggest gainers last week, while PB Fintech and Turtlemint were the biggest losers. The combined market capitalisation of the 65 listed startups declined to $166.6 Bn from $170.2 Bn the previous week.
This week, investors will track developments involving the US and Iran, Brent crude prices, US bond yields, and the Rupee, alongside other domestic economic cues for market direction.

Aequs Eyes ₹650 Cr

The contract manufacturing company has received board nod to raise up to ₹650 Cr via a preferential issue of warrants to the promoter group, Mellwood Trustee Services. Aequs will issue 2.8 Cr warrants at ₹231.55 apiece.
While ₹325 Cr will be payable upfront upon allotment, the balance will have to be paid after the exercise of the warrants. Upon full conversion of the warrants, the aggregate holding of the promoter group will increase to 60.73% from 59.09% currently.
The fresh capital will be used to expand its manufacturing capacity, invest in subsidiaries and for other general corporate purposes. Founded in 2006, Aequs offers manufacturing services to enterprises. Its clients include Airbus, Boeing and others.

IIT Madras Bets On Deeptechs

IIT Madras and Unicorn India Ventures have marked the first close of their deeptech-focused IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I at ₹450 Cr. The fund claims to have already deployed nearly ₹55 Cr across four startups.
Launched in February this year, the fund has a base corpus of ₹600 Cr and an additional greenshoe option of ₹400 Cr. The ₹1,000 Cr fund is targeting the final close by December 2026. Its backers include IIT Madras alumni and family offices.
Managed by Unicorn India Ventures, the fund aims to build a portfolio of 25 startups across defence tech, spacetech, semiconductors, robotics and AI. The fund will dish out cheques in the range of ₹15 Cr to ₹25 Cr.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Neuromod Commoditise Sewage Treatment Plants?

Designing wastewater plants in India can be expensive, slow to install and difficult to maintain. Neuromod Aqua is addressing this bottleneck by turning wastewater treatment into a standardised, modular infrastructure product.

The Modular Approach: Founded in 2026, Neuromod Aqua builds modular treatment systems for sewage and industrial effluents. Its portfolio includes sewage treatment plants, effluent treatment plants, reverse-osmosis systems, zero-liquid-discharge units and demineralisation plants.

The Factory Model: Neuromod’s systems use technologies such as MBBR, MBR and SBR, with modules manufactured in a controlled environment and deployed according to site requirements. This approach reduces project timelines and simplifies maintenance. The startup also expects recurring revenue from monitoring and maintenance contracts, giving it a business model that extends beyond one-time sales.

The Road Ahead: Neuromod is targeting real-estate developers, hospitality firms and infrastructure projects, where water recycling and wastewater compliance are increasingly becoming operational necessities. Going forward, it plans to validate its sewage treatment plant, complete initial commercial deployments and expand service capabilities.

With India’s wastewater treatment market projected to become a $19.4 Bn opportunity by 2034, can Neuromod make bespoke water treatment plants for factories?

Infographic Of The Day

Spinny has confidentially filed its DRHP for up to ₹3,000 Cr IPO. A deeper dive into draft papers reveals that institutional investors hold 86.75% stake in the used-car marketplace. Here is who else owns Spinny…

The post The Bharat Taxi Row, Weekly Funding Rebounds & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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IIT Madras, Unicorn India Ventures Mark First Close Of Fund I At ₹450 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 13:24:35 +0000

IIT Madras, IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), and Unicorn India Ventures have announced the first close of their deeptech-focused IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I at ₹450 Cr (about $46.9 Mn).

The fund has already deployed nearly ₹55 Cr across four startups — Hathor, Quanastra, Triolt Energy, and Carbelim.

Launched in February, the fund has a base corpus of ₹600 Cr and a ₹400 Cr greenshoe option, allowing it to raise up to ₹1,000 Cr (about $104.4 Mn). It is targeting a final close by December 2026.

The fund’s backers include IIT Madras alumni and family offices, with institutional investors and banks expected to participate by the final close.

Managed by Unicorn India Ventures, the fund aims to build a portfolio of 25 startups, with cheque sizes ranging from ₹15 Cr to ₹25 Cr.

Most of its investments will target early-stage deeptech startups at technology readiness levels (TRLs) 3-4, covering proof-of-concept development and laboratory validation.

Its six focus areas are defence tech, spacetech, semiconductors, manufacturing technology, robotics, and automation, AI infrastructure and GenAI, and healthtech. The fund, in a statement, said it would assess potential investments for their export opportunities, ability to replace imports, and contribution to domestic technological capabilities.

IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund’s First Four Bets

Among its initial investments, Chennai-based Hathor is developing semi-cryogenic and cryogenic rocket engines for small and medium satellite launch vehicles.

Delhi-based Quanastra is building single-photon detection systems and quantum instrumentation for research and industrial applications.

Triolt Energy develops lithium-ion battery cells for drones and fast-charging electric mobility applications, while Carbelim uses microalgae technology in carbon capture and air purification systems.

Beyond investments from the fund, Unicorn India Ventures plans to mobilise additional capital through co-investments to support portfolio startups’ funding needs.

Deeptech Investments Gather Pace

The first close follows Unicorn India Ventures’ ₹1,200 Cr final close of its third fund in February, exceeding its ₹1,000 Cr target. The fund invests across areas including semiconductors, quantum sensing, defence tech, and spacetech.

Other investors have also announced dedicated funds for these sectors. On September 18, Asiana Fund and Taiwan-based JC Capital launched a ₹1,000 Cr fund targeting advanced manufacturing and robotics, semiconductors and computing, materials and sustainability, and aerospace and defence.

Meanwhile, IIT Madras Research Park has been a significant contributor to the country’s deeptech innovation space, having incubated over 480 deeptech startups, 190 of which are now commercially active. Of these, two startups have reached unicorn valuation — Ather Energy and Uniphore.

The post IIT Madras, Unicorn India Ventures Mark First Close Of Fund I At ₹450 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Aequs To Raise ₹650 Cr Via Preferential Issue To Bolster Manufacturing Capacity

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 09:24:21 +0000

Contract manufacturing company Aequs’ board has approved a fund raise of up to ₹650 Cr via a preferential issue of warrants to the promoter group, Mellwood Trustee Services Pvt Ltd.

In a filing with the exchanges yesterday (September 25), the company said that its board has approved the issuance of 2.8 Cr warrants at an issue price of ₹231.55 per warrant. Of the total issue size, ₹325 Cr will be payable upfront upon allotment of the warrants, representing 50% of the issue size, and twice the regulatory minimum. The balance will be payable upon exercise of the warrants.

The promoter issued an investment commitment letter dated September 25, 2026 to the company, confirming its intention to subscribe to the warrants for cash consideration. On full conversion of the warrants, the aggregate holding of the promoter and promoter group will increase to 60.73% from 59.09%.

The issue is subject to the shareholders and regulatory approval. The company will seek shareholder approval via an EGM on October 22 (Thursday).

The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand capacity across its aerospace and consumer businesses, including the development of its Hosur facility, investments in subsidiaries and joint ventures, and other general corporate purposes.

“The equity will also provide the base against which the Company raises its term borrowings for the expansion. The board has assessed the Company’s current equity requirement through FY28 and has decided to meet it through this issue. A broader capital raise will be considered as and when required by the company’s growth plans,” the company said.

Founded in 2006 by Aravind Melligeri, Aequs provides manufacturing services to enterprises. It initially started with catering to the aerospace industry and later diversified its offerings to other sectors such as toys and consumer durable goods and products.

It counts the likes of Airbus, Boeing and Collins Aerospace among its clients.

Aequs is investing in building an aerospace engine component ecosystem in India. Its Hosur facility is expected to be operational next year, with shipments likely to begin by 2028.

Brokerage Nuvama Institutional Equities initiated coverage on the aerospace contract manufacturer with a ‘Buy’ rating and a 12-month target price of ₹444, implying an upside of over 90% from July 6 closing price.

The brokerage said Aequs’ $889 Mn order book provides strong revenue visibility, and projected a 42% revenue CAGR and an 84% EBITDA CAGR between FY26 and FY29.

On the financial front, Aequs reported a net loss of ₹53.2 Cr in Q1 FY27, against a net profit of ₹3.6 Cr in the last year quarter. Operating revenue for the June quarter jumped 55% YoY to ₹395.6 Cr.

The fresh fundraise comes almost a year after Aequs raised fresh capital via its initial public offering (IPO) in December 2025. The company’s public offering comprised a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹670 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.03 Cr shares.

Amicus Capital, the Dempo family trusts, and individual shareholders Ravindra Mariwala and Raman Subramanian, alongside promoter entities Aequs Manufacturing Investments and Melligeri Private Family Foundation, offloaded shares via the OFS.

Since listing, the company’s shares have more than doubled from the IPO price of ₹124. Shares of Aequs ended Friday’s trading session 1.38% higher at ₹246.20.

The post Aequs To Raise ₹650 Cr Via Preferential Issue To Bolster Manufacturing Capacity appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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From Ultraviolette Automotive To GalaxEye — Indian Startups Raised Over $203 Mn This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 04:24:37 +0000

Funding activity remained strong as Indian startups raised a combined $203.4 Mn across 21 deals between September 21 and September 25. This was 3.4X higher than $58.9 Mn raised by 14 startups in the preceding week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Sep 21 – Sep 25 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
23 Sep 2026	Ultraviolette Automotive	Clean Tech	Electric Vehicles	B2C	$85 Mn	Series E	Yali Capital, TDK Ventures, Lip-Bu Tan (Intel CEO)	Yali Capital, TDK Ventures
24 Sep 2026	Ema	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$77 Mn	Series B	Creaegis, Accel, S32, Prosus	Creaegis
25 Sep 2026	Rivet	Media & Entertainment	Social Networking Platform	B2C	$10.5 Mn	Seed	Peak XV Partners, Shine Capital, Blume Ventures	PeakXV Partners
25 Sep 2026	Dextr AI	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$6.7 Mn	Seed	Elevation Capital, Foundation Capital	Elevation Capital
25 Sep 2026	GalaxEye	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Spacetech	B2B	$6.7 Mn	–	RDI Fund	RDI Fund
24 Sep 2026	Rio Health	Consumer Services	Quick Commerce	B2C	$4.5 Mn	Pre-Series A	Version One Ventures, Xeed Ventures, Good Capital, Amplify	Version One Ventures
22 Sep 2026	Sol Foundry	AI	Application Layer	B2C	$4 Mn	–	General Catalyst, Nexus Venture Partners, DeVC, Peercheque, Kunal Shah (Meta)	–
22 Sep 2026	Definedge	Fintech	Investment Tech	B2C	$2.3 Mn	Pre-Series A	Nitin Agarwal (Angel), D. Prasad, Anant Jain (Angel), Sachin Kasera (Angel)	–
24 Sep 2026	ONYA	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.3 Mn	Pre-Series A	Divisa Family Office, Zeropearl VC	Divisa Family Office
23 Sep 2026	betterhood	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$1.2 Mn	Seed	Sauce.VC, Kairon Capital	Sauce.VC
24 Sep 2026	ByteAsk	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$1 Mn	Pre-Seed	Y Combinator, Entrepreneur First	–
25 Sep 2026	1312 Interactive	Media & Entertainment	Gaming	B2B2C	$1 Mn	Seed	Chimera VC, T-Accelerate Capital, Ventana Ventures, Rahul Reddy (Angel), Rohan Murukutla (Angel), Dasari Srinivas (Angel)	Chimera VC, T-Accelerate Capital
22 Sep 2026	Protein Pantry	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$939K	Seed	Sharrp Ventures, Peercheque, Consumer Collective by Atrium, Indian Silicon Valley Capital, Varun Alagh (Honasa), Rishubh Satiya (Plix), Avnish Anand (CaratLane), Arush Chopra (Just Herbs), Saurabh Munjal (Lahori Zeera), Signal Ventures	Sharrp Ventures
22 Sep 2026	Demoverse	AI	Application Layer	B2B	$600K	Pre-Seed	Lumikai, Marlan Space	Lumikai
24 Sep 2026	Nuvah	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$417K	Pre-Seed	Amit Jain, Shantanu Deshpande, Ishendra Agarwal	–
24 Sep 2026	YNOS	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	$221K	–	Gyan Circle Ventures	Gyan Circle Ventures
23 Sep 2026	Indian Walker	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	Pre-Seed	Palette Wealth Management	Palette Wealth Management
24 Sep 2026	MyRx	Health Tech	Telemedicine	B2B2C	–	Seed	SteerX VC	SteerX VC
23 Sep 2026	TimBuckDo	Consumer Services	Job Portals	B2B2C	–	–	Srinath Setty (Trasa Ventures), Adarsh Narahari	Srinath Setty (Trasa Ventures) Adarsh Narahari
24 Sep 2026	Unniyarcha	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Sauce.VC, Atrium.VC
23 Sep 2026	Space Philic	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Space Tech	B2B	–	–	–
	Source: Inc42

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

AI emerged as the most funded sector this week. Five AI startups bagged a cumulative $89.3 Mn, with Ema’s $77 Mn round alone contributing 86% to the sector’s total haul. Following suit was cleantech, which bagged $85 Mn across just one deal.
Ecommerce led in deal activity, with six startups collectively raising $3.8 Mn.
Early stage funding activity remained strong this week as seed-stage startups raised $20.3 Mn across five deals. Rivet’s $10.5 Mn round accounting for more than half of the total.
Peercheque and Sauce.VC were the most active investors of the week, backing two startups each.

Startup Fund Updates Of The Week

The Centre is considering an anchor investment of ₹15,000 Cr to ₹20,000 Cr in the proposed National Frontier AI & Compute Fund (NFAICF) to build compute infrastructure and support frontier AI startups.
Nykaa and L’Oréal’s corporate venture fund BOLD have banded together to invest in Indian beauty and personal care brands. The partnership will offer capital and industry expertise while allowing founders to retain operational and creative control.

Startup IPO Updates Of The Week

Moneyview’s IPO was subscribed 6.01X at the end of the second day of bidding, receiving bids for 139.8 Cr shares against 23.25 Cr shares on offer. The IPO will now close on September 28, with a tentative listing scheduled for October 1.
Snapdeal parent AceVector’s ₹420 Cr IPO was subscribed 23% at the end of the first day of bidding, with investors placing bids for 1.72 Cr shares against 7.42 Cr shares on offer.
Furniture and appliance rental startup Furlenco is gearing up for an FY28 IPO, with an eye on a potential ₹1,000 Cr to ₹1,200 Cr public issue. The startup is targeting a valuation of around ₹7,000 Cr.
Used-car marketplace Spinny has confidentially filed its DRHP with SEBI. The Gurugram-based startup is looking to raise ₹2,500 Cr to ₹3,000 Cr via a mix of fresh shares and an offer for sale (OFS), with a potential listing targeted for 2027.

Other Developments Of The Week

Enterprise tech startup CodeKarma is in talks to raise $5 Mn to $6 Mn in a fresh funding round expected to be led by existing investors Prosus and Accel.

The post From Ultraviolette Automotive To GalaxEye — Indian Startups Raised Over $203 Mn This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Govt Mulls ₹20,000 Cr Fund To Power Frontier AI, Compute Ecosystem: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:24:39 +0000

The Centre is considering an anchor investment of ₹15,000 Cr to ₹20,000 Cr in a proposed fund aimed at supporting frontier AI companies and expanding the country’s compute infrastructure.

The proposed National Frontier AI & Compute Fund (NFAICF) could provide long-term risk capital to AI companies and finance GPU clusters, specialised data centres, and other infrastructure required to develop and deploy advanced AI models, ET reported, citing sources.

The proposal is currently under consultation, and the fund’s final corpus, structure, governance framework, and the role of government capital are yet to be decided. It is also unclear whether the government would invest directly in companies and infrastructure projects or route the capital through an intermediary structure.

The government is considering a model under which it and private investors would contribute capital in a 50:50 ratio, the report said.

The proposed fund was discussed at a closed-door meeting on “Financing India’s Frontier AI & Compute Ecosystem” in Delhi yesterday. The meeting was attended by Sarvam cofounder Vivek Raghavan, Peak XV Partners MD Rajan Anandan, E2E Networks CEO Tarun Dua, MeitY secretary S Krishnan, and officials from the IndiaAI Mission.

The government sought views from VC firms, infrastructure providers, and other stakeholders on its role in attracting private capital to the frontier AI ecosystem.

The NFAICF could be structured as a SEBI-regulated Category I AIF, with investment decisions taken by a committee comprising experts from the technology, investment, infrastructure, and finance sectors.

The fund could invest through venture and growth equity, convertible instruments, infrastructure equity, fund-of-funds commitments, and direct co-investments, depending on the requirements of a company or infrastructure project.
Its proposed objectives include providing long-term capital to foundation-model builders, specialised AI systems and other strategically important AI technologies, while also financing GPU clusters, specialised data-centre capacity and other compute infrastructure.

The government is also examining whether international institutions such as the International Finance Corporation could participate in the proposed fund.

Centre Exploring Demand-Linked Compute Financing

A key focus of the discussions yesterday was financing GPU infrastructure without creating excess or underutilised capacity.

The government is considering linking compute investments to demand from AI companies and research institutions through capacity commitments, utilisation arrangements or pre-agreed commercial terms. The objective is to reduce the risk of stranded or underutilised infrastructure.

It is additionally considering a follow-on and co-investment capability, allowing the proposed fund to participate in later funding rounds alongside private investors when strategically important companies require additional capital.

The final design of the NFAICF will depend on stakeholder feedback and further assessment.

This comes as the demand for advanced GPUs continues to outpace supply, with infrastructure providers facing longer delivery timelines and rising pressure to secure capacity. The capital required to build GPU infrastructure is also challenges for Indian cloud and neocloud providers, particularly as they look to expand their capacity for AI workloads.

The NFAICF is being considered in addition to the existing ₹10,372 Cr IndiaAI Mission, which provides subsidised compute access and funding for indigenous foundation models. The government has also been expanding the country’s AI compute capacity through the IndiaAI Mission.

The Mission initially targeted access to more than 10,000 GPUs through a public-private partnership to make high-end computing resources available to Indian AI companies and researchers. The government has since onboarded more than 38,000 GPUs through empanelled cloud service providers and plans to expand the compute pool further.

IndiaAI has also been supporting multiple companies and research teams to develop Indian foundation models across large multimodal models and smaller language models.

The post Govt Mulls ₹20,000 Cr Fund To Power Frontier AI, Compute Ecosystem: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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The Insurance Shuffle, Moneyview IPO Day 1 & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:24:31 +0000

IRDAI Resets Insurtech’s Economics

The IRDAI has proposed a radical overhaul of the insurance tech sector. The draft norms threaten to dismantle lucrative payout structures, impose commission caps and introduce tighter expense limits for insurance distributors. Can the sector adapt to this new regime?

The Commission Reset: IRDAI’s consultation paper seeks to re-introduce product-level commission ceilings. Under the proposed framework, mandatory or near-mandatory products will attract nil or low commissions for IDEs (such as PB Fintech and Turtlemint’s insurtech arm), while products requiring greater selling and servicing efforts will have 15% cap.

The IRDAI Eclipse: The regulator has also proposed lowering EoM limits for life and general insurers, while mandating cost audits for all IDEs above ₹100 Cr revenue. The draft norms also ban compulsory loan-insurance bundling, restrict employee incentives and introduce a three-tier distribution structure, with clawback provisions, to curb misselling.

Insurtechs On The Edge: For starters, the proposed caps could threaten the high upfront commissions of aggregators, which in turn could take a toll on their user acquisition strategies. Unbundling insurance from loans could also potentially lead to revenue compression across various categories, while pushing competition toward service, technology and product discovery.

Markets React Sharply: The draft norms resulted in a major sell-off. PB Fintech shares crashed 36% to ₹1,210, while Turtlemint stock tanked 20% to hit an all-time low of ₹109.1. Brokerages flagged severe margin compression. While Jefferies projected a 10-12% earnings cuts for distributors, Citi warned of 70–90% economics compression in high-margin categories like credit-linked insurance.

What’s Next? With stakeholder comments due by October 25, final rules may differ from current proposals. Yet the market’s reaction underscores the stakes. Platforms will have to cut acquisition spends and diversify into new areas. They will also have to rethink products and insurer partnerships. So, will lower commissions drive transparency or squeeze margins? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Moneyview IPO Day 1

The fintech unicorn’s public issue was subscribed 1.44X at the end of the first day of bidding, with investors placing bids for 33.49 Cr shares against 23.25 Cr shares on offer.
NIIs led the demand and oversubscribed their portion 2.43X, while the retail quota was subscribed 1.79X. However, the QIBs remained on the sidelines and undersubscribed their portion 0.05X.
Moneyview’s ₹1,092 Cr IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹750 Cr and an OFS of up to 10.05 Cr shares. At the upper end of its ₹32-₹34 price band, the public issue values the company at around ₹5,985 Cr.

Ema Bags $77 Mn

The agentic AI startup has raised ₹738 Cr in its Series B round led by Creaegis to scale its GTM strategy and expand into new geographies. It has not disclosed the valuation at which it raised the latest fund.
Founded in 2023, Ema is building agentic AI systems that can plan and execute enterprise workflows. With 200 employees on its rolls, the startup focuses on automating functions like HR, IT and finance. It has raised $140 Mn to date.
The fundraise comes as enterprises increasingly deploy agentic AI systems to automate tasks and bring down company costs. At the heart of all this is the Indian enterprise AI economy, which is projected to become a $71 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Navi’s FY26 Loss Widens

The IPO-bound fintech startup’s net loss zoomed 269% YoY to ₹465.99 in FY26. This came despite revenue from operations jumping 16.2% YoY to ₹2,981.7 Cr in the fiscal under review.
The bottom line took a hit largely on the back of total expenses surging 29% YoY to ₹3,514 Cr in FY26. On the operational front, Navi’s loan book grew 57% YoY to ₹13,138 Cr, while monthly transacting users more than doubled YoY to 2.9 Cr.
Founded in 2018, Navi offers financial products across lending, insurance, mutual funds and UPI payments. The startup is also gearing for its ₹3,000 Cr IPO and plans to file its DRHP by December this year.

VCs Dump SEDEMAC Shares

Shortly after the expiry of its IPO lock-in period, the B2B manufacturing startup’s early backers A91 Partners, Xponentia, NJRN Family Trust and Mace Pvt Ltd cumulatively offloaded shares worth ₹1,456.38 Cr via multiple bulk deals.
While A91 Partners sold shares worth ₹484.9 Cr, Xponentia sold 16.85 Lakh shares for a sum of ₹507.4 Cr. Mace sold another 7.28 Lakh shares worth ₹219 Cr and NJRN Family Trust dumped 4.5 Lakh shares worth ₹135 Cr.
Separately, Accel and 360 ONE together sold 61.98 Lakh shares of jewellery brand Bluestone via multiple open-market transactions for ₹513 Cr. The shares that flooded the market were lapped up by domestic mutual funds and insurance companies.

AceVector All Set For IPO

Ahead of the commencement of the bidding for its public issue later today, the Snapdeal parent raised ₹189 Cr from anchor investors. It allocated 5.91 Cr shares to anchor investors at ₹32 apiece, the upper end of its IPO price band.
Only two domestic mutual funds took part in the round, picking up 15.87% of the total allocation. Negen Capital, Singularity Capital and TIMF Holdings also participated in the anchor round.
AceVector’s ₹420 Cr public issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹287 Cr and an OFS component of 4.16 Cr shares. At the upper end of its ₹30-₹32 price band, the IPO values AceVector at around ₹1,741.4 Cr.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How CNN Foods Is Serving Nostalgic Beverages With A Twist

India’s beverage shelves are crowded with global giants selling colas and energy drinks, while many familiar local flavours remain trapped in regional formats. CNN Foods is modernising these tastes for younger consumers, combining nostalgia with zero-sugar formulations.

Remixing Familiar Flavours: Founded in 2024, CNN Foods is building a portfolio of culture-led beverage brands. Its flagship Phirki Zero is positioned as a zero-sugar and zero-caffeine take on jeera masala soda, made with lemon. Its second product, Papa Nata, pairs fruit juice with coconut jelly, turning a conventional drink into a drink-and-snack experience.

The Q-Comm Launchpad: Phirki Zero launched in March 2026 and sold roughly 2.5 Lakh cans in its first two months, with nearly 80% of sales coming through the quick commerce channel. The brand has since expanded to modern trade and kirana outlets and other online channels.

A Desi Take: CNN Foods claims that its products are designed to be consumed for their flavour, texture and “talkability” as much as for refreshment. The startup’s packaging and affordable pricing are built for phone-first discovery, designed to make experimentation accessible beyond premium urban consumers.

A Competitive Market: Competing with the likes of new-age brands such as Paper Boat, Lahori and Raw Pressery, CNN Foods’ early challenge is to turn early quick commerce traction into repeat consumption and profitable distribution. But the startup is banking on lower-sugar products and affordable formats to carve a niche.

With India’s non-alcoholic beverages market projected to cross $69 Bn by 2034, can CNN Foods make unconventional Indian flavours mainstream?

Infographic Of The Day

AI has been the buzzword for years now. But what if we told you a bunch of India’s AI startups have something else in common. Their founders once worked at Google. So, which Indian founders are taking their experience from Google to the startup world…

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Amazon India To Invest $3 Bn In Quick Commerce Arm By 2030: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 21:24:28 +0000

Ecommerce giant Amazon India reportedly plans to invest $3 Bn (₹28,790 Cr) to expand its quick commerce business, Amazon Now, over the course of next four years.

Sources told Reuters that the ecommerce giant will invest $1 Bn in the vertical by the 2027-end, and an additional $2 Bn by 2030.

According to the report, Amazon plans to utilise the fresh proceeds to add new dark stores, strengthen inventory management software at stores, deploy AI tools for demand prediction and expand product mix. The focus will be on stocking daily essentials rather than iPhones, added a source.

Another source reportedly added that the ecommerce major is looking to expand its dark store network to around 1,300 stores by April 2027 from 750 currently.

Amazon India first launched ‘Now’ in Bengaluru in June 2025 and later expanded the service to parts of Delhi in July 2025 and subsequently to Mumbai. While the platform has been comparatively late in entering the quick commerce market, it is picking up momentum.

In April this year, Amazon India’s vice president of operations Abhinav Singh, in a blog post, said that the company would invest ₹2,800 Cr (around $300 Mn) to expand its quick commerce vertical and strengthen its logistics network.

Notably, this is not the first time that the ecommerce giant has poured in capital into the country in the past year. Last year, Amazon India had announced a ₹2,000 Cr investment to add 17 new fulfilment centres, six sortation centres, and 75 last-mile delivery stations across India.

Prior to this, it had also committed an investment of $35 Bn across its India businesses till 2030 to help boost its cumulative exports from the country to $80 Bn by 2030

The investment comes amid rising competition in the quick commerce segment. While the likes of Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto continue to dominate the segment, the entry of new players has intensified the fight.

From Walmart-backed Flipkart’s Minutes to Reliance’s JioMart, deep-pocketed giants are aggressively attempting to capture a larger piece of the pie. The new entrants are spending heavily to expand their dark store networks to compete with early movers.

For instance, Flipkart Minutes has scaled to 1,000 dark stores across 130 cities, with brokerage UBS estimating that the platform could add another 1,000 dark stores by mid-2027 ahead of the Big Billion Days sale of 2027.

Meanwhile, the biggest incumbent Blinkit continues to lead the category with over 2,600 dark stores across 300 cities. Zepto and Instamart, on the other hand, operate over 1,100 fulfilment centres each.

At the heart of all this is the homegrown quick commerce ecosystem, which as per Inc42 data, is projected to become a $40 Bn market opportunity by 2030.

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TPG Exits FirstCry With ₹202 Cr Bulk Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:24:32 +0000

Private equity (PE) giant TPG has exited omnichannel kids wear giant FirstCry through a ₹202 Cr bulk deal.

As per NSE data, the PE major, via its entity NewQuest Asia Investments III Ltd, sold its entire 2.21% shareholding, or 1.2 Cr shares, in the listed company at ₹175.15 each to rake in the amount.

Of the shares that flooded the market, Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius lapped up 68 Lakh shares at ₹175 apiece for a sum of ₹119 Cr. There was no clarity on who picked up the rest of the shares.

TPG sold the shares at a discount of 2.4% to the stock’s last closing price on Thursday.

Notably, TPG held a 2.21% stake in FirstCry at the end of the June 2026 quarter. The PE giant first invested in the omnichannel kidswear giant in 2021, and has been gradually diluting its shareholding in the company since FirstCry’s IPO in 2024.

The bulk deal comes at a time when FirstCry continues to be under selling pressure. The stock has jumped 6.13% in the past week, but is down 37.4% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. TPG is likely to have capitalised on the stock surge in the past week to book gains.

The sell-off comes as FirstCry continues to be a loss-making company. On top of this, it continues to spend heavily to stave off competition in core categories, while supply chain issues are also piling on the costs. Nevertheless, it continues to improve unit economics.

The startup managed to trim its net losses by 35% to ₹44 Cr in Q1 FY27 as against ₹66.5 Cr in the year-ago quarter. However, operating revenue rose 13% YoY to ₹2,106.2 Cr in the quarter under review.

In addition, its subsidiary and contract manufacturer Swara Baby Products, which specialises in disposable hygiene products, has filed its DRHP with SEBI for a ₹1,000 Cr IPO, which will comprise a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to ₹500 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to ₹500 Cr.

Shares of FirstCry closed Thursday’s trading session 0.66% lower at ₹179.40 on the BSE.

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OpenAI, Anthropic Leaders Warn UN Of AI Risks As Systems Grow More Powerful

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 08:24:32 +0000

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned the United Nations Security Council that increasingly powerful AI systems could pose risks to humanity if their development and deployment are not managed properly.

Altman and Amodei, along with Hugging Face cofounder and CEO Clement Delangue, briefed the 15-member council yesterday during the annual UN General Assembly in New York.

Amodei said poorly managed AI “could be a risk to humanity as a whole” and urged governments to cooperate on managing the technology. “No leader, no company and no nation can manage this alone,” he said.

Altman also called for international cooperation, common safety standards, incident-reporting protocols, and greater government involvement in decisions concerning advanced AI systems.

He warned that as AI systems become more capable and autonomous, they could move faster than institutions, concentrate power in a few hands, or make decisions that humans no longer understand or control.

“We should not train models that we cannot make an extremely strong case that we will be able to keep under human control,” Altman said in his address.

Delangue, meanwhile, highlighted the cybersecurity risks posed by autonomous AI agents. He cited the July incident in which OpenAI’s AI agents escaped their testing environment and breached Hugging Face’s infrastructure.

He revealed that Hugging Face relied on a Chinese AI model to help defend against the attack by OpenAI’s AI agents because it faced fewer restrictions than comparable US tools.

AI Industry Divided Over Regulation

The warnings come as AI systems move beyond generating text and images towards independently executing tasks, using tools, writing and running code, and coordinating with other AI agents.

This has led to an intensifying debate within the AI industry over whether frontier AI development needs to be slowed or “paced” to ensure safety mechanisms keep up with capabilities.

OpenAI and Anthropic have backed measures including independent evaluations, common safety standards and greater coordination between governments and AI companies.

However, the industry remains divided over how far such measures should go. While Amodei has pushed for greater oversight and common standards, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has argued that AI development should continue at full speed, with companies ensuring unsafe products are not released.

The debate is also playing out against the intensifying race between the US and China for AI leadership.

US President Donald Trump has opposed the creation of a global AI regulatory framework. Addressing the UN General Assembly this week, Trump said he rejects attempts to construct a “globalist scheme” to control AI.

And despite calls to face the frontier, AI leaders have stressed that it can’t be done at the risk of letting the US fall behind in the race, and all regulations must be made by the democratic world as a whole.

“If AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone. They must be shaped through democratic processes and by governments accountable to the ‌people they serve,” ⁠Altman told the UN council.

The warnings came on the same day that OpenAI and Anthropic continued to roll out more capable AI models.

Anthropic launched Claude Opus 5.5 for agentic coding, computer use, and knowledge work, while OpenAI expanded its GPT-6 lineup with the lower-cost GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna models.

OpenAI Agent Breached Australian Government Portal

As the Security Council meeting was under way, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that an OpenAI agent breached a government health data portal in June and gained unauthorised access to public and non-public files.

The agent accessed Medicare’s medical statistics portal while researching Australian public spending on medicines.

Albanese said the incident could be the first known instance of an AI agent hacking a government website. However, OpenAI said its review found no evidence that patient records were accessed.

OpenAI said its models took unintended actions while attempting to find information across several Australian government websites and services.

Albanese described the incident as unacceptable and expressed disappointment that OpenAI did not notify the Australian government until September 10, nearly three months after the breach. Australia is investigating if other systems were affected.

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PB Fintech Crashes 26%, Turtlemint Hits Lower Circuit On IRDAI Commission Cap Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:24:39 +0000

Shares of Policybazaar parent PB Fintech and insurtech company Turtlemint crashed after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) proposed a sweeping overhaul of insurance distribution, including hard commission caps and lower expenses of management (EoM) limits.

PB Fintech shares plunged 26% to ₹1,398.60 on the BSE, hitting the dynamically revised lower price band. The stock opened 10.1% lower at ₹1,700 and continued to slide during intraday trading.

At ₹1,398.60, PB Fintech’s market capitalisation stood at ₹64,720.6 Cr (about $6.7 Bn).

Meanwhile, Turtlemint shares hit their 20% lower circuit of ₹109.10, which was also the stock’s all-time low. The company’s market cap fell to ₹3,212.8 Cr (about $333 Mn).

The sell-off followed the release of IRDAI’s consultation paper yesterday, which proposed recalibrating the economics of insurance distribution by lowering commissions and insurer expenses, increasing transparency, and tightening accountability for distributors.

Among the most significant changes, IRDAI has proposed nil commission for insurance distribution entities on third-party insurance for new vehicles and a 5% cap on new-vehicle own-damage, personal accident, and legal liability covers.

For individual health insurance, the regulator has proposed capping commissions for distribution entities at 15% of the premium on first-time sales and 5% on renewals and portability.

The proposed caps are significant as IRDAI’s paper said average motor insurance commissions currently stand at 24%, with rates ranging from 13% to 50%.

IRDAI has also proposed restricting the EoM of life insurers to 15% of premiums within two years and 12.5% within five years. For general insurers, the regulator has proposed lowering the limit to 25% within two years and 20% within five years.

The regulator has sought stakeholder comments on the proposals by October 25.

The proposed restrictions have long been an overhang for PB Fintech. Chairman Yashish Dahiya warned earlier that hard commission caps could pose an existential threat to insurance distributors such as Policybazaar, adding that the company could evaluate securing an insurance manufacturing licence to design and underwrite policies directly.

Brokerages Flag Pressure On Insurance Distribution Economics

Brokerages warned that the proposed changes could significantly compress insurance distribution economics, with PB Fintech emerging as one of the most exposed companies.

Bernstein said the proposed commission cuts are much steeper than anticipated and could unravel PB Fintech’s unit economics under the proposed take-rate caps, particularly in health and motor insurance. It also flagged the possibility of commission deferrals in term insurance.

For insurers, the brokerage expects some drag on health and term insurance growth. While lower distribution costs could eventually translate into cheaper policies and higher volumes, Bernstein believes this may not be enough to structurally offset commission-driven sales volumes in a push-product category such as insurance.

The brokerage also expects strong industry pushback against the proposals, with near-term market action likely to reflect the potential impact on PB Fintech.

Macquarie flagged the proposed tightening of EoM limits and said the proposals favour tied agents over bancassurance and broker channels, potentially rewarding selling effort over distribution leverage.

It identified PB Fintech as the most exposed company, while saying LIC and SBI Life could be relatively insulated.

HSBC described the proposed EoM limits as stringent and said they could have wide-ranging implications for insurers, brokers, and lenders. It expects SBI Life to be relatively less affected, while HDFC Life, Max Financial Services, and PB Fintech could face a greater impact.

Jefferies estimates that the proposed commission caps could result in cuts of one-half to one-third in health, term and motor insurance commissions. A 10% reduction in new business commission rates, it said, could translate into a 10-12% decline in earnings for PB Fintech and Turtlemint.

The brokerage further noted that any correction in SBI Life, Star Health and ICICI General Insurance could offer buying opportunities, given the relatively limited risks from the consultation paper and potential market share gains.

Citi, too, warned that the proposed commission caps could significantly tighten distribution economics, particularly in high-margin categories. It estimates that distribution economics could compress 70-90% across several such categories if the proposals are implemented as drafted.

The brokerage highlighted credit-linked insurance as a particularly vulnerable category, saying existing commissions are often several times higher than the proposed caps. It said payouts for group credit life insurance have risen to nearly 45%, while commissions in NBFC-led channels average around 42%.

The proposed ban on mandatory insurance bundling with loans and credit could further disrupt existing distribution models. The draft also proposes restrictions on incentives, rewards, gifts, trips and related-party payment.

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Gupshup’s AI Rebuild, Moneyview’s IPO & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:24:37 +0000

Gupshup Enters The AI Era

Gupshup is betting on AI for its next growth phase. Leveraging its massive enterprise footprint, the SaaS giant is deploying voice AI agents and model-agnostic integrations to reshape its tech stack to build an AI-first conversational platform. But can it outpace its nimble, AI-native rivals?

Gupshup’s AI Deck: The SaaS platform’s AI stack spans self-serve voice agents for support and operations and Super Agent, an orchestration layer unifying messaging, campaigns, CRM and analytics via natural-language commands. The platform is model-agnostic, while Superclaw enables on-device deployment. These AI and advanced orchestration products now contribute roughly 25% of revenue, growing faster than the legacy messaging vertical.

The Enterprise Moat: Gupshup serves over 50,000 businesses across 130 countries, processing 120 Bn messages annually. The startup leverages these existing relationships and transaction volumes as a competitive edge that AI-native rivals lack. Combined with voice infrastructure and enterprise integrations, this deep integration also allows the platform to drive higher revenue per user as more and more clients adopt custom AI agents.

Gupshup’s IPO Test: The SaaS giant is also evaluating redomiciling to India and is eyeing a potential local listing in the next 12-24 months. Against this backdrop, Gupshup must prove that AI is driving higher revenue per customer, better margins and stronger retention – not just adding products. Investors will scrutinise whether its incumbency translates into a defensible, scalable AI moat.

The Many Pitfalls: Yet, Gupshup continues to douse fires on multiple fronts. Meta’s Business Agent and Jio’s RCS push (with Apple) threaten to commoditise infrastructure and encroach on its application layer. Gupshup bets that its model-agnostic orchestration will remain relevant as enterprises avoid lock-in. But this is not all. The SaaS platform is also facing valuation markdowns, a decline in India revenue and job cuts as it pivots to AI.

With a new CFO onboard and IPO plans, can Gupshup convert its enterprise user base into a durable AI moat before model owners encroach on its turf? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Moneyview’s ₹328 Cr Anchor Round

Ahead of the commencement of the bidding for its IPO later today, the fintech unicorn has raised ₹327.5 Cr from anchor investors. It allocated 9.63 Cr shares to the backers at an issue price of ₹34 per equity share, the upper end of its IPO’s price band.
Seven domestic mutual funds via a total of fourteen schemes cornered 72% of the anchor round. The fundraise also saw participation from Motilal Oswal, 360 ONE, Goldman Sachs and ICICI Prudential.
Moneyview’s ₹1,092 Cr IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹750 Cr and an OFS of up to 10.05 Cr shares. It has set a price band of ₹32-34 for the issue, pegging the company at a valuation of around ₹5,985 Cr at the upper end of the spectrum.

BYJU’S-Aakash Settle Dispute

The troubled edtech platform has reached a settlement with the coaching chain in the dispute involving the latter’s rights issue. The counsel for BYJU’S has informed the NCLT of the settlement.
The trouble started last year, when Aakash began undertaking a ₹500 Cr rights issue. The proposed fundraise could have diluted BYJU’S stake in the chain from 26% to 5%. This prompted BYJU’S to move the NCLT, alleging oppression and mismanagement.
All of this plays out against BYJU’S dramatic collapse. The startup is undergoing insolvency after years of debt-fuelled acquisitions, opaque accounting, delayed filings and mounting losses.

The FSSAI Crackdown Continues

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has initiated penal action against five major quick commerce and ecommerce platforms for food safety violations and regulatory non-compliances.
The platforms under FSSAI’s radar include Amazon, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket, Flipkart and Zepto. The regulator claims that the platforms engaged in misbranding and misleading claims linked to sale and display of certain food products.
This comes close on the heels of FSSAI also issuing notices to 20 legacy and D2C brands over health and purity claims. The regulator has also proposed a new red hexagon warning for packaged foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat.

Zelio Eyes ₹168 Cr

The EV maker’s board has approved a proposal to raise up to ₹168 Cr via a preferential issue of equity shares and convertible warrants to fund its growth initiatives.
Under this, the BSE SME listed company will issue up to 9.73 Lakh equity shares at an issue price of ₹853 per share to four non-promoter institutional and private investors. It will also allot 9.96 Lakh convertible warrants at the same issue price to three promoters.
Founded in 2021, Zelio makes low-speed electric scooters at its four manufacturing plants. It operates in over 25 states and has a network of more than 300 dealers. The EV maker reported a standalone profit of ₹28 Cr in FY26.

Zype Turns Profitable In FY26

The digital lending startup’s parent, Easy Platform Services, turned profitable in FY26 and reported a consolidated profit after tax of ₹5.3 Cr against a loss of ₹12.9 Cr in FY25. This came as its consolidated total income zoomed 66.6% YoY to ₹176.6 Cr.
On the operational front, Easy Platform managed assets worth ₹621.2 Cr in the fiscal under review. Meanwhile, capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio improved to 33.3% in FY26 from 24.7% in FY25.
Founded in 2019, Easy Platform operates digital lending platform Zype, which offers unsecured personal loans to salaried individuals. It also operates NBFC Respo, which offers unsecured personal loans and distributes insurance products.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Coremantle Fix AI’s Indic Data Problem?

AI models often struggle with Indian speech because training data rarely captures the country’s languages, dialects and accents. Coremantle is tackling this gap with consented, Indic-native datasets designed to help AI understand how Indians actually speak and communicate.

Indic Data Infrastructure: Founded in 2024, Coremantle is building an AI data-intelligence layer, which focuses on building the raw material needed to train, evaluate and improve models. It works with speech data and regional-language content. The startup is also exploring partnerships with podcast creators and content producers to license material for AI training.

The startup claims that its sourcing is consent-first, traceable and designed to comply with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection framework.

Building AI-Ready Datasets: The startup’s platform filters, verifies and benchmarks data before delivery. It aims to provide datasets that reflect India’s linguistic complexity, including dialect variation, regional accents, native and Romanised scripts. This could support voice models, translation systems, search tools and sovereign AI projects.

The In-House Edge: The founders’ long experience in Indic language technology gives Coremantle domain expertise, but the startup must still build reliable supply, quality-control systems and commercial demand across a fragmented market. With the homegrown AI training dataset market projected to become a $1.3 Bn opportunity by 2030, can Coremantle make the local linguistic diversity an AI advantage rather than a data bottleneck?

Infographic Of The Day

Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh’s portfolio goes way beyond Mamaearth. From ecommerce and fintech to enterprise tech, healthtech and edtech, their portfolio spans 50+ companies across categories. Here is all about it…

The post Gupshup’s AI Rebuild, Moneyview’s IPO & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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[Update] Ola Electric To Seek Board Nod For Proposed Rights Issue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:24:38 +0000

Update | September 24, 00:19 IST

Days after Ola Electric received board nod to raise up to ₹1,500 Cr via an undisclosed route, the electric vehicle (EV) maker has now said that it plans to seek the approval of the board for a proposed rights issue of equity shares.

“Ola Electric today informed the stock exchanges that it is seeking Board approval for a proposed rights issue of equity shares. The rights issue route is being considered to enable participation by all eligible shareholders including retail, institutional and (the) promoter group, subject to applicable laws,” Ola Electric said in a filing with the exchanges.

The listed EV maker will now seek the approval at the upcoming meeting of its board of directors on September 28.

With this, Ola Electric has chosen the rights issue as the route for its capital raise. The board will also decide how much of the proposed fundraise will be raised via rights issue.

Original | September 5, 20:22 IST

Listed EV maker Ola Electric’s board has approved a fresh fundraise of up to ₹1,500 Cr, three months after the company raised ₹780 Cr through a QIP.

In an exchange filing, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company said it plans to raise the capital by issuing equity shares and/or securities convertible into or exchangeable for equity shares.

The fundraise may be undertaken through one or more routes, including a further public offer, rights issue, QIP, private placement, or the issuance of instruments such as convertible debentures, warrants, American Depository Receipts, and Global Depository Receipts.

The proposal is subject to approval from shareholders and other regulatory or statutory authorities. The filing did not disclose the proposed use of the proceeds.

The latest proposal follows Ola Electric’s ₹780.24 Cr QIP in June. The QIP formed part of an earlier approval to raise up to ₹1,500 Cr, which Ola Electric’s board cleared in October 2025 and shareholders approved the following month.

Of the net QIP proceeds of ₹744.87 Cr, the company earmarked ₹225 Cr for repaying or prepaying borrowings and ₹335 Cr for organic growth initiatives. Another ₹184.87 Cr was set aside for general corporate purposes.

According to its QIP placement document, Ola Electric and its subsidiaries had outstanding borrowings of ₹1,637.61 Cr as of May 20, 2026.

The fresh fundraise proposal comes as Ola Electric invests in its EV, battery cell manufacturing, and battery energy storage system businesses, while trying to revive sales and narrow its losses.

Last month, the company launched the S1Z escooter range, powered by its locally developed 46-series LFP Bharat Cell. It also expanded its energy storage portfolio with the second-generation residential Ola Shakti, the industry-focused Shakti Rack, and the utility-scale Mahashakti.

Ola Electric is also overhauling the sales model it has followed since launching its first escooter five years ago. The company opened its first dealer-operated stores across seven states yesterday and plans to build a network of more than 500 dealerships over the next two quarters.

The changes come as the company looks to regain ground in India’s electric two-wheeler market. Ola Electric’s registrations declined 7.7% MoM to 13,132 units in August from 14,226 units in July, according to Vahan data. However, its market share improved to 7.6% from 6.8% during the period as overall electric two-wheeler registrations fell more sharply.

On the financial front, Ola Electric’s consolidated net loss narrowed 22% YoY to ₹336 Cr in Q1 FY27 from ₹428 Cr. However, its operating revenue plunged 45% to ₹455 Cr from ₹828 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, revenue rose 72% from ₹265 Cr, while loss narrowed from ₹500 Cr.

The company’s board also approved an increase in its authorised share capital to ₹8,721.87 Cr from ₹8,318.50 Cr today, subject to shareholders’ approval.

Meanwhile, in another senior management change, Ola Electric’s COO Hyun Shik Park resigned due to personal reasons, effective from the close of business today.

The company’s board also approved the reappointment of Manoj Kumar Kohli and YourStory founder Shradha Sharma as independent directors for a second five-year term beginning December 6, subject to shareholders’ approval.

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Fintech Startup Zype’s Owner Easy Platform Turns Profitable In FY26, Posts ₹5.3 Cr PAT

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:24:26 +0000

Mumbai-based fintech Easy Platform Services, which owns and operates digital lending startup Zype, turned profitable in FY26, posting a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of ₹5.3 Cr against a loss of ₹12.9 Cr in FY25.

The startup’s consolidated total income jumped 66.6% to ₹176.6 Cr during the year from ₹106 Cr in FY25, according to ratings agency ICRA.

Easy Platform continued to remain profitable in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. It provisionally posted a PAT of ₹6.1 Cr on a total income of ₹66 Cr in Q1 FY27.

The financial figures were disclosed in ICRA’s rationale for assigning a provisional A-(SO) rating to pass-through certificates (PTCs) worth ₹8.07 Cr issued by Nebula Trust 2026, a special-purpose trust set up for the securitisation transaction. The instruments are backed by a pool of personal loan receivables originated by Easy Platform’s NBFC subsidiary, Respo Financial Capital.

Easy Platform’s total managed assets increased 63.5% to ₹621.2 Cr in FY26 from ₹379.9 Cr in the previous fiscal year. They rose another 28.5% to a provisional ₹798.4 Cr in Q1 FY27.

Easy Platform also witnessed an improvement in asset quality. Its gross stage 3 ratio declined to 2.2% in FY26 from 3% in FY25 and fell further to 1.7% in Q1 FY27. Stage 3 assets largely comprise credit-impaired loans that are overdue for more than 90 days.

Meanwhile, capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) increased to 33.3% in FY26 from 24.7% in FY25. The ratio moderated to 23.6% in Q1 FY27 but remained above the regulatory requirement of 15%.

Founded in 2019 by Yogi Sardana and the late Ajay Relan, Easy Platform operates digital lending platform Zype, which offers unsecured personal loans to salaried individuals across Tier I, II, and III cities.

Easy Platform is also the parent company of Respo, in which it owns a 100% stake. The RBI-registered NBFC primarily offers unsecured personal loans through Zype, which supports customer acquisition, underwriting, loan servicing, and collections.

Respo received its NBFC licence from the RBI in June 2023. It also operates as an IRDAI-registered corporate agent and earns commission income from the distribution of insurance products.

Zype raised ₹90 Cr (about $10.3 Mn) in its Series B funding in August 2025 in a round led by Japanese VC firm UNLEASH Capital Partners, with existing investor Xponentia Capital also participating. The fundraise took Zype’s total equity capital raised since inception to about $28 Mn.

As of June 30, 2026, Xponentia Opportunities Fund I and Xponentia Opportunities Fund II cumulatively held an 85.5% stake in Easy Platform. UNLEASH Capital held a 4.7% stake, while Sadana owned 3.7%.

Zype competes with consumer lending platforms such as Fibe, KreditBee, and Navi.

The post Fintech Startup Zype’s Owner Easy Platform Turns Profitable In FY26, Posts ₹5.3 Cr PAT appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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[Update] Ultraviolette Raises $85 Mn To Scale EV Production

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:24:36 +0000

Update | September 23, 13:10 IST

Electric two-wheeler startup Ultraviolette Automotive has raised $85 Mn (about ₹813 Cr) in a Series E round co-led by Yali Capital and TDK Ventures. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and other investors also participated in the round.

Cofounder and CEO Narayan Subramaniam told Inc42 that the startup would use the capital to expand its manufacturing capacity and product portfolio, as well as strengthen its distribution network in India and overseas.

“We are looking to enter new markets, including the US, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The idea behind the fundraise is to cover all these different areas. To begin with, it is going into facility expansion, where Tesseract will now see a rapid ramp-up as well,” he said.

Subramaniam said Ultraviolette expects to begin production of its Tesseract electric scooter and Shockwave electric motorcycle over the next few months.

Both products have missed their original delivery schedule. When Ultraviolette unveiled them in March 2025, it said deliveries would begin in Q1 FY26. Neither has entered customer deliveries yet.

Ultraviolette’s website now says the Tesseract’s final variants and configurations will be unveiled in Q1 2027, with deliveries commencing shortly thereafter. The startup has not disclosed a revised delivery timeline for the Shockwave.

While India’s E2W market is dominated by relatively affordable scooters, Ultraviolette is positioning the Tesseract as a performance-focused offering.

The startup claims that the Tesseract is India’s first scooter built on a 100-volt architecture, compared with the 48-volt systems commonly used in the segment. According to the startup, the architecture offers greater power and efficiency, as well as faster charging.

Meanwhile, cofounder and CTO Niraj Rajmohan said Ultraviolette’s revenue grew around fourfold to about ₹130 Cr in FY26 from approximately ₹30 Cr in FY25.

The startup is yet to file its audited FY26 financial statements. In FY25, its operating revenue jumped 114% YoY to ₹32.3 Cr, while its net loss widened 89% to ₹116.3 Cr.

Original | September 11, 14:16 IST

Electric two-wheeler (E2W) maker Ultraviolette Automotive is set to raise an additional ₹373.04 Cr as part of its ongoing Series E funding round from investors Yali Capital, TDK Ventures, among others.

As per an MCA filings accessed by Inc42, Ultraviolette’s shareholders consented to allot on preferential basis through private placement 8.15 Lakh Series E3 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) worth ₹2,435 each, aggregating to ₹197.5 Cr. The startup also allotted 7.24 Lakh Series E4 CCPS, netting ₹175.5 Cr.

“The investments are part of a currently ongoing fundraise; we have nothing further to add at the moment,” the startup said in response to Inc42’s questions pertaining to the round.

Of this, Ultraviolette has raised ₹249.2 Cr from Yali Capital’s Yali Deeptech Fund I as well as TDK Ventures. TDK Ventures first backed the startup in August 2025 when it led its $21 Mn funding round while Yali Capital will be new to Ultraviolette’s cap table.

There are a host of angel investors participating in this round including, Adi Hirji Jehangir, Anshumi Desai, Janak Desai, Mahak Khabia, Zafar Ahmadullah, among others.

The investment comes almost a year after the startup raised $45 Mn as part of the Series E round from Zoho and Lingotto. Overall, the startup has raised more than $135 Mn till date from other investors like TVS Motors, Qualcomm Ventures, Breathe Capital and Mudhal Partners.

The new investment comes as the E2W manufacturer is building its manufacturing facility, the BIGGA factory.

Ultraviolette To Invest ₹1,000 Cr In Manufacturing

The E2W maker is investing more than ₹1,000 Cr over the next five years to expand its manufacturing footprint, with its upcoming BIGGA Factory set to take its annual production capacity to as much as 2.5 Lakh vehicles in the initial phase.

The startup intends to invest approximately ₹800 Cr in the new facility, while another ₹200 Cr is being deployed to expand its existing Bengaluru plant. The new facility will initially have an annual capacity of 2.5 Lakh vehicles, which can eventually be scaled to 5 Lakh vehicles, cofounders Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan told Inc42.

The capacity expansion comes as Ultraviolette looks to move beyond its initial premium, performance-led positioning and target larger segments of the E2W market with new products such as the Shockwave and Tesseract.

However, the startup said the strategy itself has not changed.

“Ultraviolette was conceived from the outset as an electric-vehicle platform company,” the founders said, highlighting that the F77 was the first expression of this approach, followed by the X-47 crossover. The upcoming products, they said, will allow the company to address “significantly larger customer segments” while retaining its focus on technology, safety, performance and range.

The cofounders claim that demand across its existing portfolio already exceeds 10,000 units a month, while it has received tens of thousands of bookings for upcoming products. It plans to commission capacity progressively in line with demand.

Ultraviolette currently has an installed capacity of around 30,000 vehicles annually at its Bengaluru facility, which is being expanded to 50,000-60,000 units. The plant will continue to serve as a manufacturing, engineering and technology hub after the BIGGA Factory comes online.

It is also targeting international markets, with exports expected to account for around 25% of revenue over the next five years.

“BIGGA Factory converts that technology foundation into industrial scale,” the founders said, positioning the facility as a key step towards building a global electric-mobility business.

To note, the startup launched its F77 motorcycles in the United Kingdom, in November last year, and claimed to be present in 12 countries across Europe, as of its last fundraise.

For the month of August, overall E2W registrations fell by 16.2% to 1.72 Lakh units from 2.05 Lakh units in July, based on Vahan data. Ultraviolette sold 583 E2Ws, down 17% from 702 vehicles in July. It holds 0.3% market share in the domestic market.

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Anthropic Launches Claude Opus 5.5, Touts 40% Lower Running Costs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:24:31 +0000

Anthropic has launched Claude Opus 5.5, its latest flagship AI model, touting stronger performance, lower running costs, faster output, and enhanced safeguards.

Anthropic said Claude Opus 5.5 performs at the level of its more powerful Claude Fable 5.1 model on most tasks while costing 40% less to run on typical workloads than its predecessor, Claude Opus 5. The new model also generates output over 30% faster.

Claude Opus 5.5 is priced at $4 per Mn input tokens and $20 per Mn output tokens, 20% lower than Opus 5. However, Anthropic estimates that typical workloads will cost about 40% less because the new model also uses fewer tokens to complete tasks.

Cache reads, which Anthropic said constitute a majority of the costs associated with agentic and coding workloads, are priced 60% lower at $0.20 per Mn tokens.

Anthropic is positioning Opus 5.5 for agentic coding, computer use, and knowledge work. On the CursorBench 4.0 coding benchmark, the model scored 52.5% at its default effort setting, compared with GPT-5.6 Sol’s top score of 41.7%, while costing about one-third as much per task, according to the company.

The company also said Opus 5.5 communicates more naturally than previous models, puts important information upfront, avoids jargon, and follows users’ writing instructions more consistently.

The model is available to Claude Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise subscribers. Developers can access it through the Claude Platform, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

The launch comes less than three weeks after OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, positioning the model as a major step towards more autonomous AI systems. Astra can navigate websites, interact with software, work with documents and spreadsheets, write and test code, and execute multi-step workflows.

The launch will be followed by Claude Sonnet 5.5 ⁠and Claude Haiku 5.5, which will be released in the coming weeks, bringing many of the same performance, ⁠speed and safety improvements.

AI Safeguards In Focus For Anthropic

Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to “pace the frontier”, arguing that safety practices and public policy need to keep up with rapidly advancing model capabilities. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also expressed support for slowing AI development under certain circumstances.

Anthropic said Opus 5.5 is its first model release since it called for pacing frontier AI development.

The model underwent predeployment evaluations by external organisations, including Frontier Design and nonprofit research organisation METR. The latter said its preliminary evaluation focused on the model’s potential impact on AI R&D and did not assess its alignment properties.

Separately, Anthropic said Opus 5.5 scored better than previous systems in internal safety tests and was about 85% less ⁠likely than Opus 5 or Mythos 5.1 to attempt to bypass containment boundaries in a dedicated evaluation.

The debate over frontier AI regulation and safeguards has gained urgency following incidents involving AI agents operating beyond their intended restrictions, alongside growing concerns over AI being used for cyberattacks, fraud and other malicious activities.

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Indian Startup IPO Sprint, Zetwerk-Ayr Settle Dispute & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:24:30 +0000

Indian Startup IPOs In Full Swing

Indian startup IPO spring is in full bloom. Snapdeal parent AceVector is all set to list on the bourses next month, Spinny has filed its draft IPO papers, and Furlenco is pushing the needle on its D-Street debut.

Snapdeal’s IPO Deck: In its second attempt at a listing, the Snapdeal parent’s ₹420 Cr issue blends a ₹287 Cr fresh raise and a trimmed OFS of 4.16 Cr shares. It has also set the IPO price band at ₹30-₹32, valuing the company at ₹1,741 Cr at the upper end of the spectrum. The IPO will open next week.

What works in AceVector’s favour is its healthy top line, improving unit economics, non-metro focus, value ecommerce play and a stake in Unicommerce.

Spinny Files DRHP: The used car marketplace has confidentially filed its DRHP for a ₹2,500-₹3,000 Cr IPO, targeting a 2027 listing. With revenue nearing ₹6,000 Cr in FY26 and losses narrowing, Spinny is betting on its full-stack retail, financing and ancillary services to sustain growth and woo investors.

Furlenco Gears Up For IPO, Too: Following rival RentoMojo’s suit, Furlenco has also kicked off its IPO proceedings. The startup plans to soon appoint ICICI Securities as an advisor for its up to ₹1,200 Cr public issue, which will target a valuation of around ₹7,000 Cr. Furlenco is looking to launch the IPO in FY28.

The Broader IPO Wave: New-age tech companies continue to make a beeline for the public markets. As per Inc42 data, 24 startups have already filed their DRHPs, while over 25 are in various stages of finalising their IPO plans. Unicorns like OYO, Razorpay and Zetwerk alone could raise over ₹34,000 Cr in 2026, making it one of the biggest years for startup IPOs.

Startups now see IPOs as a credible exit and growth capital source. Recent strong debuts, policy support and investor appetite for niche businesses are further encouraging founders. With much on the anvil, here is all about who is debuting on the bourses next…

From The Editor’s Desk

Zetwerk-Ayr Settle Dispute

The two companies have reached a settlement by agreeing to dismiss all claims asserted in lawsuits, pending before a US business court and a Bengaluru court. The financial and other terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Zetwerk had alleged that Ayr founder Anirudh Reddy downloaded hundreds of files and used the data to pursue Zetwerk’s clients. Ayr denied the allegations and filed counter claims accusing Zetwerk of trade-secret theft and trademark infringement.
The resolution removes a major legal overhang as Zetwerk prepares for its IPO. The B2B manufacturing startup last month filed its DRHP with SEBI for a public issue, which comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹2,600 Cr and an OFS of up to 9.6 Cr shares.

Sol Foundry Bags $4 Mn

Emerging out of stealth mode, the AI startup has raised ₹38 Cr in a funding round from General Catalyst, Nexus Venture Partners and others to fuel R&D, AI model development and hiring.
Founded in 2025, Sol Foundry’s AI assistant can research a topic, assemble a document, find calendar slots and draft replies using context drawn from scattered email conversations. The model-agnostic platform initially plans to target professionals.
The startup is pre-revenue and has not yet finalised pricing. It plans to explore usage- or outcome-based billing plus a fixed component. It is also pursuing a prosumer-first model, allowing individuals to sign up before expanding into enterprise sales.

Captain Fresh’s FY26 Show

The B2B seafood brand claims to have retained profitability in FY26. This came on the back of consolidated net revenue zooming 52% YoY to ₹5,169 Cr in the fiscal under review and adjusted EBITDA nearly tripling YoY to ₹371 Cr.
Meanwhile, Captain Fresh was saddled with a debt of ₹2,300 Cr at the end of FY26, which the startup attributed to higher working capital requirements during the fiscal. The company now claims to be on track to achieve ₹10,000 Cr in revenue in FY27.
Founded in 2020, Captain Fresh operates a global packaged seafood business. It sources seafood from more than 30 countries and serves nearly 2,500 customers. The IPO-bound startup has raised nearly $250 Mn to date.

PhonePe Sets Eyes On The UAE

The Walmart-backed fintech giant has received in-principle nod from the Central Bank of the UAE for two payment licences. The approvals will enable the startup to offer retail payment services and issue stored-value products such as digital wallets.
This takes PhonePe another step closer to launching its payments operation outside India. However, the fintech major will still have to fulfil the remaining regulatory requirements to begin commercial operations in the Middle Eastern nation.
The development comes days after PhonePe’s monetisation prospects in India received a boost from the reintroduction of MDR on certain UPI transactions. On the back of this, the startup has revived its IPO plans and is now targeting a public listing by March 2027.

ED Chargesheets EMT Cofounder

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against EaseMyTrip cofounder and chairman Nishant Pitti in the Mahadev online betting app money laundering case. Pitti said he was not aware of any chargesheet and would contest any such charges.
The agency also provisionally attached demat shares belonging to Pitti worth ₹59.6 Cr under the PMLA. The ED has also sought a special PMLA court’s permission to confiscate the shares, alleging that they constitute proceeds of crime.
The agency has accused him of facilitating the entry of alleged illegal betting proceeds into the Indian stock market through FPIs. Even last year, ED had alleged that Pitti was connected to a network that used betting proceeds to manipulate several stocks.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Agriculture Fund Vaimanika’s Defence Ambitions?

India’s drone industry is growing. But farmers still lack access to affordable drone spraying, while defence forces need mission-ready UAVs for high-risk operations. Vaimanika Aerospace is addressing both needs through drone services and a vertically-integrated stack.

A Full-Stack Operator: Founded in 2022, Vaimanika operates an agriculture-focused drone-as-a-service network. Farmers and institutional customers can access precision spraying on a pay-per-acre basis. The startup also earns through drone sales, pilot training, maintenance and franchise-led services. Its agriculture network includes around 210 drones and has generated nearly ₹35 Cr in spraying revenue.

The Defence Portfolio: Vaimanika’s second growth engine is defence. Its portfolio spans heavy-payload UAVs, ISR platforms, FPVs and counter-UAS systems. Its systems have undergone field validation with Indian Army formations, including high-altitude trials and a 105 kg payload test.

Integrating Vertically: The startup is developing its own airframes, avionics, ground-control stations, communications hardware, battery systems and autonomous-flight software. Greater control over these mission-critical components could help Vaimanika customise systems for difficult terrain and reduce reliance on external suppliers.

Eye On The Prize: Vaimanika claims to have clocked ₹52.6 Cr in revenue in FY26 against a profit after tax of ₹9.47 Cr. The startup is now converting the cash and engineering base from its agri-focused drone business to fund its defence UAV pitch. So, can Vaimanika disrupt the status quo and build a scalable drone tech business?

Infographic Of The Day

As many as 13 startups have already listed on the bourses so far this year, 24 have filed their DRHPs, while 25+ are in various stages of planning their IPOs. Here is all about who is going public in the Indian startup realm in 2026….

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Snapdeal Parent AceVector Sets ₹30-₹32 Price Band For ₹420 Cr IPO

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 07:24:15 +0000

Snapdeal parent AceVector has set a price band of ₹30-₹32 per equity share for its IPO, valuing the company at up to ₹1,741.4 Cr ($181.7 Mn) at the upper end.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹287 Cr and an offer for sale of up to 4.16 Cr shares. At ₹32 per share, the size of the IPO is ₹420 Cr.

The IPO will open for public subscription on Friday (September 25), following anchor bidding on Thursday (September 24). It will close on September 29. AceVector’s shares are expected to list on the BSE and NSE on October 5.

AceVector reduced the fresh issue by ₹13 Cr from the ₹300 Cr proposed in its UDRHP after raising the same amount through a pre-IPO placement. It also cut the OFS component by 34.9% from the earlier proposed 6.39 Cr shares.

SoftBank’s Starfish I Pte Ltd, AceVector’s largest shareholder and part of its promoter group, will sell up to 2.76 Cr shares through the OFS. At the upper end of the price band, the stake sale will fetch Starfish up to ₹88.3 Cr.

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Nothing Bets On India, Moneyview’s IPO & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 03:24:38 +0000

Nothing’s CMF Crosses Over To India

Nothing is spinning off its sub-brand CMF into an independent, majority Indian-owned company. With this, the smartphone maker aims to capitalise on domestic manufacturing incentives and local R&D to manufacture 100 Mn units annually in the country in the long run.

The Standalone Pivot: Launched in 2023, CMF is Nothing’s affordable and design-led sub-brand. Under the proposed plan, CMF will operate as a standalone entity, headquartered in India and with its own local team and R&D operations. Nothing will retain a stake and continue as a partner. However, the precise ownership structure, Indian shareholders and timing of the corporate transition are yet to be disclosed.

Engineered In India: Nothing founder and CEO Carl Pei argues that 99% of smartphones sold in India are now manufactured locally, but most product development and IP remain overseas. CMF’s spin-off is designed to plug this gap by localising industrial design, software, camera processing and supplier co-engineering, rather than relying solely on imported parts. In addition, the Nothing off-shoot will bring its engineering DNA, operating system, supplier relationships and brand engine into India.

What’s In It For Nothing? The spin-off lets the OEM retain a strategic stake and technology licensing relationship, while outsourcing the heavy capital demands of manufacturing to Indian partners. Having an Indian entity will also enable Nothing to leverage local manufacturing and policy incentives to scale exports, without diluting its core premium brand identity.

The Ambition Test: Scaling CMF to 100 Mn annual shipments will require surviving a low-margin smartphone segment dominated by established global giants. On top of this, the success of the India hive-off will hinge on creating proprietary IPs, supply chain execution and sustained R&D investment.

CMF’s ultimate test lies in achieving unit economics and localisation before rivals catch up. So, what does Nothing and CMF’s India pivot look like? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Moneyview Sets IPO Price Band

The Accel-backed fintech platform’s public issue is all set to open on September 24. The startup has fixed a price band of ₹32-₹34 per equity share for its upcoming IPO, which will value Moneyview at ₹5,985 Cr at the upper end of the spectrum.
The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹750 Cr and an OFS component of up to 10.05 Cr equity shares. At the upper end of the price band, the total issue size works out to around ₹1,092 Cr.
Founded in 2014, Moneyview offers loans, payments, investments and insurance. As of June 2026, it claimed to have 14 Cr registered users and managed AUM worth ₹22,520 Cr. The startup reported a top line of ₹1,041 Cr in Q1 FY27 against a profit of ₹173.8 Cr.

WROGN’s FY26 Loss Widens

The D2C fashion brand’s net loss rose 17% YoY to ₹88.4 Cr in FY26. This came even as operating revenue jumped 9% YoY to ₹243.9 Cr and EBITDA loss improved 34% YoY to ₹38 Cr in the fiscal under review.
Expenses continued to bite and increased 9.5% YoY to ₹342.4 Cr in FY26. Meanwhile, the D2C brand is targeting ₹600 Cr in GMV in the ongoing fiscal year and is looking to expand its footprint to 100+ EBOs by March 2027.
Founded in 2014, WROGN is a D2C fashion brand that sells a wide range of casual wear, footwear and accessories. Over the past couple of years, Aditya Birla Group’s roll-up arm TMRW has increased its stake in WROGN to 32.84%.

Thyrocare To Exit Radiology

The PharmEasy-owned diagnostic chain plans to sell its radiology business, Nueclear Healthcare, to Trovera Healthcare for about ₹141.4 Cr in a cash-and-stock deal. The transaction is expected to be completed by November.
Trovera will pay ₹81.9 Cr in cash and allot an additional 42,500 CCPS worth ₹59.5 Cr to Thyrocare. The CCPS, priced at ₹14,000 apiece, will represent nearly 4.5% of Trovera’s share capital and will be convertible into equity shares in a 1:1 ratio.
If the plan materialises, the divestment will enable Thyrocare to exit the radiology business. The vertical’s underperformance and continued investment requirements have been key factors behind the proposed exit.

Snapdeal All Set For IPO

The ecommerce platform’s parent AceVector Ltd has filed its RHP with SEBI for an IPO, which will now comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹287 Cr and an offer for sale component of 4.16 Cr shares.
The OFS component will see participation from SoftBank, Nexus Venture Partners, Rupen Investment and Industries, Centaurus Trading and Investments and others. The IPO will open for subscription on September 25 and close on September 29.
Apart from Snapdeal, AceVector is also the parent of listed ecommerce enablement platform Unicommerce and house of brands platform Stellaro Brands. The three entities were consolidated and brought under one roof in 2022.

ADIA Dumps Lenskart Shares

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority yesterday offloaded 3.5 Cr shares of the omnichannel eyewear giant in a block deal worth ₹2,390.6 Cr. This comes barely three months after the sovereign wealth fund sold 4 Cr shares of Lenskart for ₹1,960 Cr.
The stake sale comes as Lenskart shares have rallied 51.3% on YTD basis, providing a fertile ground for early backers to register gains. Investors like SoftBank, Temasek and Alpha Wave have offloaded stake in droves in the company in the past few months.
The bullish run follows positive outlooks from multiple brokerages, which have increased their price target price for the eyewear giant. Cushioning this is its financial performance as the company reported a 273% YoY jump in profits to ₹228.4 Cr in Q1 FY27.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can CubeAPM Build A Budget-Friendly Watchtower For Software?

As software systems scale, monitoring them can become a financial liability. Unpredictable bills, data-residency concerns and slow dashboards are pushing enterprises to reconsider incumbent observability platforms. CubeAPM is trying to plug this gap with an AI-assisted alternative.

Observability At Fingertips: Founded in 2023, CubeAPM claims to reduce enterprise monitoring costs by as much as 60-80%, while keeping customer data within their own cloud environments. This helps enterprises reduce transfer costs, improve dashboard latency, and simplifies compliance and data-residency requirements.

A Simpler Cost Model: The startup prices its products on the basis of data ingestion volume, bundling unlimited users, hosts and support into the price. CubeAPM claims that its proprietary compression can reduce 100 GB of incoming telemetry to roughly 4 GB of stored data. It also supports integrations with Datadog, New Relic and Elastic, allowing customers to migrate easily.

AI For Troubleshooting: The platform is also building AI workflows that let coding assistants, such as Cursor, Claude Code and Codex, to query telemetry data for conversational root-cause analysis. CubeAPM also expects AI-powered troubleshooting to become its primary product priorities over the next two years.

Healthy Enterprise Traction: CubeAPM claims to already serve around 50 enterprise customers, including Delhivery, RedBus, PolicyBazaar and Shadowfax. It claims nearly $1.5 Mn in ARR, strong renewal rates and profitability since inception. With the global observability market projected to become a $20 Bn opportunity by 2031, can CubeAPM build a trusted platform for enterprises to monitor complex software systems?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s spacetech boom is here. From satellites and propulsion to data and beyond, homegrown players in the sector are attracting investor interest, garnering policy support and achieving new technical milestones. Here is all about it…

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Snapdeal Parent AceVector’s FY26: Loss Declines 64% YoY To ₹46 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 23:24:35 +0000

Snapdeal parent AceVector Limited’s restated net loss declined nearly 64% to ₹45.5 Cr in the fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) from ₹126.3 Cr in the year ago period.

The company managed to reign in its losses on the back of operating revenue jumping 29.2% to ₹510.3 Cr in the fiscal under review as against ₹3,95 Cr in FY25.

Including other income of ₹27.3 Cr, AceVector’s total income stood at ₹537.7 Cr during the fiscal under review.

According to the company’s red herring prospectus (RHP), adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed 59.3% to ₹15.9 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2026 compared to ₹39.2 Cr in FY25.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Snapdeal once competed head-to-head with Flipkart and Amazon before losing significant market share. After the failed Flipkart merger in 2017, the company pivoted to a value-focused ecommerce model, stabilising operations in the following years.

Apart from Snapdeal, AceVector is also the parent entity of listed ecommerce enablement platform Unicommerce and house of brands platform Stellaro Brands. The three entities were consolidated and brought under one roof in 2022.

While the marketplace segment (Snapdeal) contributed ₹293.7 Cr, or 57.5%, to AceVector’s top line in FY26, the SaaS business contributed 40% (₹204.3 Cr) to its revenue tally. Consumer brands vertical, which includes Stellaro, accounted for the remaining 2.51%, or ₹12.8 Cr.

In the RHP, AceVector also noted that its marketplace business clocked a net merchandise value (NMV) of ₹1,093.1 Cr in FY26, while delivering 2.6 Cr units during the fiscal under review. Its annual transacting users stood at 1.2 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2026. The marketplace segment reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹50.2 Cr as against ₹48 Cr in FY25.

AceVector’s SaaS businesses reported an adjusted EBITDA profit of ₹41.3 Cr in FY26, improving from ₹25.3 Cr in the year ago fiscal. The SaaS vertical catered to 8,261 clients in the fiscal under review, up 17.9% from 7,008a year ago.

Meanwhile, Stellaro Brands operated 17 exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) at the end of March 2026.

The disclosures came to light as the company filed its RHP with SEBI for an IPO, which will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹287 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 4.16 Cr. Its IPO will now open for subscription on September 25 and close on September 29.

This comes more than a year after AceVector first filed its DRHP with SEBI via the confidential pre-filing route in July last year. It received the markets regulator’s nod to float its public issue in November last year.

Notably, this is the company’s second attempt at going public. AceVector had first filed for an IPO in 2021, aiming to raise INR 1,250 Cr, but shelved the plan a year later amid broader market volatility.

Although AceVector stepped back, its subsidiary Unicommerce went ahead and listed in 2024.

Breaking Down The Expenses

AceVector’s total expenses rose 26.8% to ₹575.2 Cr in FY26 from ₹453.8 Cr in the year ago period.

Logistics Expenses: This was the biggest cost centre for the company and amounted to ₹240.4 Cr in the fiscal under review, up 56.8% from last year’s ₹61.3 Cr.

Employee Benefits Expenses: AceVector spent ₹168.9 Cr towards employee benefit expenses in the fiscal under review. This was 13.2% higher than ₹149.1 Cr spent by the company under this header in FY25.

Marketing Expenses: AceVector’s marketing expenses rose 26.2% to ₹91.3 Cr in FY26 as against ₹72.4 Cr in the year ago fiscal.

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Virat Kohli-Backed WROGN’s FY26 Loss Swells 17% To ₹88 Cr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:24:42 +0000

Virat Kohli-backed D2C fashion brand WROGN’s net loss surged 17.1% to ₹88.4 Cr in FY26 from ₹75.5 Cr in FY25. The youth-focused fashion brand’s loss increased despite an uptick in its top line performance during the fiscal year.

The startup, which is a portfolio brand of Aditya Birla Group’s TMRW, recorded a 9% uptick in its FY26 operating revenue to ₹243.9 Cr from ₹223.2 Cr recorded in FY25.

Including other income of ₹10.2 Cr, the startup’s total income for the fiscal year stood at ₹254 Cr.

In a statement, the startup said that FY26 EBITDA loss for the fiscal year improved 34% to ₹38 Cr from ₹54 Cr, delivering an 8.5-point margin gain.

It claimed to have opened FY27 on a strong note. It is targeting ₹600 Cr gross merchandise value (GMV) in the ongoing fiscal year after recording a 40% YoY uptick in Q1 GMV to ₹125 Cr.

WROGN said its owned channels – D2C sales and exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) – grew 120% YoY in the June quarter. These channels will be a key focus for WROGN in FY27 as the brand is targeting 100+ EBOs by March 2027 to “strengthen owned-channel economics and customer experience”.

It attributed this growth to a revamp of its store identity and operations as well as its sourcing and supply chain.

“While denim and shirts remain strong anchor categories, WROGN has also expanded into new categories built on robust R&D, design, and sourcing capability – with WROGN Active and Footwear (₹60 Cr ARR) already seeing strong consumer traction and scaling up rapidly,” it said.

Founded in 2014 by siblings Anjana and Vikram Reddy, WROGN is a men’s fashion brand which sells a wide range of casual wear, footwear and accessories. It sells the products via its own website, ecommerce platforms like Myntra, Flipkart, and Meesho, as well as the aforementioned offline channel.

While cricketer Virat Kohli is cited as a key co-creator and stakeholder of WROGN, ABFRL, via its roll-up arm TMRW, invested ₹125 Cr in WROGN to acquire a 16% stake in the brand. TMRW later doubled down on the brand with further investment, taking its total stake in WROGN to 32.84%. Besides, VC firm Accel is also an early backer of the startup.

Where Did WROGN Spend?

WROGN’s total expenses for FY26 rose in proportion with its revenue, growing around 9.5% to ₹342.4 Cr from ₹312.6 Cr in the year-ago period. Here’s where the brand spent the most:

Purchase Of Stock-In-Trade: Stock purchases increased 14.4% YoY to ₹141.2 Cr from ₹123.4 Cr in FY25, comprising its biggest expense.

Changes In Inventories Of Stock-In-Trade: As this line item featured a negative amount, the brand earned ₹21.4 Cr due to inventory accumulation during the year under review, as compared to spending ₹2.3 Cr in FY25.

Employee Benefits Expense: Employee related costs grew 13.6% YoY to ₹44.2 Cr from ₹38.9 Cr in the prior year.

Finance Costs: Spending under this line item climbed 36.1% YoY to ₹16.8 Cr from ₹12.4 Cr in FY25.

Depreciation And Amortisation Expense: Depreciation expenses surged 73.8% YoY to ₹14.5 Cr from ₹8.3 Cr in the year-ago period.

Other Expenses: The company’s other expenses accounted for a significant portion of its total spending, rising 15.5% YoY to ₹147.2 Cr from ₹127.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The post Virat Kohli-Backed WROGN’s FY26 Loss Swells 17% To ₹88 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Moneyview Sets ₹32-₹34 Price Band For ₹1,092 Cr IPO

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:24:32 +0000

Accel-backed fintech company Moneyview has fixed the price band for its IPO at ₹32-₹34 per equity share, with the issue set to open for public subscription on September 24 (Thursday).

At the upper end of the price band, the company is seeking a valuation of around ₹5,985 Cr ($624 Mn).

The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹750 Cr and an OFS of up to 10.05 Cr equity shares. At the upper end of the price band, the total issue size works out to around ₹1,092 Cr. The fresh issue has been cut by half from the ₹1,500 Cr proposed in Moneyview’s draft IPO papers, while the OFS has been reduced from 13.6 Cr shares.

The company filed its DRHP in March this year and received SEBI’s nod for the public issue in July.

Cofounders Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal plan to offload up to 1.35 Cr shares worth ₹46.06 Cr each. Other investors participating in the OFS include Tiger Global’s Internet Fund III, Accel India IV, Accel Growth IV, Crimson Winter, Ribbit Capital, NLI Strategic Venture Investment, TI JPNIN India Holdco, and DI Investment.

Anchor investors will be able to place bids on September 23, while the public issue will remain open until September 28. Moneyview is targeting a listing on October 1. The company’s shares are expected to begin trading on the BSE and the NSE on October 1.

Moneyview’s IPO valuation marks a steep markdown from its last private valuation. It entered the unicorn club in 2024 after raising $4.6 Mn at a valuation of more than $1 Bn.

The company plans to use ₹325 Cr of the fresh issue proceeds to support loan disbursals under default loss guarantee arrangements. Another ₹250 Cr will be infused into its NBFC subsidiary Whizdm Finance to augment its capital base, while the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2014 by IIT Delhi graduates Puneet and Sanjay, Moneyview operates a digital-only financial services platform focused on what it calls “Middle India”. Its offerings span personal loans, payments, investments and insurance, with personal loans remaining its flagship product. The platform had 140.28 Mn registered users and 48 financial partners as of June 30, 2026.

Moneyview has raised more than $250 Mn from investors including Accel, Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital to date. Accel was its largest shareholder, with a 21.9% stake before the IPO.

(The story will be updated soon)

The post Moneyview Sets ₹32-₹34 Price Band For ₹1,092 Cr IPO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Spacetech’s Next Big Test, Weekly Funding Rundown & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 03:24:40 +0000

Spacetech At A Crossroads

The Indian spacetech ecosystem is facing its biggest test yet. Despite record funding, regulatory push and new technical milestones, the sector’s commercial viability remains uncertain. So, can Indian spacetech startups turn technical triumphs into long-term businesses?

Capital Meets Capability: The sector has already raised $253 Mn this year so far, nearly double of last year’s total. Skyroot recently turned unicorn, while Pixxel grabbed headlines when it raised $100 Mn, the largest round in Indian spacetech. This momentum has been bolstered by engineering and launch milestones as well particularly for Skyroot.

The Investor Thesis: VCs see opportunity across the space value chain: launch infrastructure, payloads, and the downstream applications layer. While some investors are betting that the downstream level offers the most attractive economics, others underline the nascent earth observation as a large market. But have potential and promise taken investors too far?

The Hype-Demand Gap: Rapid capital inflows are raising concerns about frothy valuations. Critics also warn of FOMO-driven pricing in a market where launch capacity, satellite longevity data and predictable revenues are still developing. On top of this, hardware risks remain significant. As many startups target similar problems, VCs expect consolidation as stronger players integrate vertically.

Who Will Win? Investors are now focusing on precise use cases, defensible differentiation and clear buyers. Backers now also want tangible metrics, and are repricing portfolio companies as startups move towards commercial deployment. That said, the funding pool remains limited for capex-heavy businesses. As a result, many see spacetech startups tapping into the public markets for liquidity once they achieve scale and recurring revenue.

So, after a decade of building capabilities, can Indian spacetech startups finally turn breakthroughs into bankable business models? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Takes A Hit

Indian startups managed to raise a cumulative $58.9 Mn across 11 deals last week, crashing 82% from $321.9 Mn raised in the preceding week. Flam and Dheya Tech were the most funded startups and took home $40 Mn and $5.1 Mn, respectively.
Enterprise services attracted the most capital this week, with three startups raising $42.5 Mn. Consumer services also clocked three transactions totalling $4.8 Mn.
Early-stage funding remained robust as five seed startups raised about $10.1 Mn. AJVC was the most active investor last week, backing three startups.

Innov8’s Profitable FY26 Show

The premium flexible workspace operator’s profits surged nearly 11.8X YoY to ₹13.8 Cr in FY26 on the back of operating revenues zooming 76% YoY to ₹201.3 Cr. Total expenses also jumped 86% YoY to ₹226.2 Cr in the fiscal year under review.
Innov8’s growth was driven by the expansion of its portfolio, higher occupancy and improved pricing. The profitability was also aided by a notable uptick in non-operating revenue and ancillary services becoming a larger part of its revenue mix.
The startup closed FY26 with 58 operational centres, and has set a target of reaching 101 centres in FY27. It also plans to expand to 22 cities in the ongoing fiscal year, with Kochi, Coimbatore, Kolkata and Jaipur among the cities identified for expansion.

Mixed Week For Startup Stocks

Investor sentiment towards new-age tech stocks remained divided last week. Of the 64 startup stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 30 gained between 0.18% and 7.69% last week. The remaining 34 declined by as much as 13.4%.
Zappfresh and ESDS emerged as the biggest losers last week, while BlackBuck and Kissht raked up the biggest gains. The combined m-cap of the 65 new-age tech stocks, including the recently-listed RentoMojo, stood at $170.2 Bn at the end of the week.
This week, investors will continue to track crude oil prices, US-Iran geopolitical developments, PMI data and FPI outflows for cues on the direction of the market.

Startup FY26 Financial Tracker

A growing number of Indian startups turned profitable in FY26 after years of cost rationalisation, funding winter and the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. However, the profitability picture remains uneven.
Of the 92 startups that have released their FY26 numbers, 63 reported profits in FY26. Together, these startups generated a net profit of ₹14,249.5 Cr, while the remaining 29 posted a cumulative loss of ₹20,827 Cr.
However, the scale of India’s startup ecosystem continues to expand. The 92 new-age tech companies under review generated ₹3.13 Lakh Cr in operating revenue in FY26, a sharp 44.2% jump from ₹2.17 Lakh Cr in FY25.

Pocket FM’s AI Content Push

The audio OTT platform is betting heavily on AI to improve its content economics and lift its EBITDA margin to 15%-20% from around 5% currently. However, the startup has not disclosed a timeline for achieving the margin target.
The startup is also looking to expand to new geographies, including Japan and South Korea, in the next eight months. Beyond audio, Pocket FM is evaluating interactive storytelling and gaming opportunities.
Founded in 2018, Pocket FM offers audio content across multiple languages and genres. Having raised $196 Mn to date, the startup hosts 7.7 Lakh titles and 5.5 Lakh creators. It also claims to have crossed $500 Mn in ARR recently.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How CUNIN Is Making Perfumes A Fashion Statement

Younger consumers increasingly treat fragrance as part of their identity, but India’s crowded perfume market often competes on price. CUNIN is taking a different route by turning fragrance into a carryable lifestyle accessory, built around storytelling, for Gen Z.

Fragrance As An Identity: Founded in 2025, CUNIN is building a lifestyle brand that begins with perfume. Its debut collection, The World of Antonyms, features multiple products that treat each fragrance as a personality or mood. CUNIN’s carryable perfume accessories are designed to be worn, clipped onto clothing or attached to bags.

Building A Culture: CUNIN’s positioning extends beyond fragrance notes. Its packaging, product names and storytelling are designed to create a visual and emotional language that younger consumers can adopt, remix and share. The brand currently sells its offerings through its own website.

The Next Phase: Going forward, the D2C brand plans to expand its team, fragrance range and offline distribution. It also plans to eventually foray into adjacent lifestyle categories. With the Indian fragrance market projected to become a $3.5 Bn opportunity by 2034, can CUNIN turn perfume into something that GenZ visibly identifies with?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s clean-label food boom is facing a regulatory reality check. FSSAI has served notices to at least 20 FMCG giants and new-age D2C food brands over “healthy” and “organic” claims. The crackdown could potentially reshape how food brands build and market their products…

The post Spacetech’s Next Big Test, Weekly Funding Rundown & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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Innov8’s FY26 Profit Zooms Multifold To ₹13.7 Cr, Revenue Crosses ₹200 Cr Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:24:33 +0000

Premium flexible workspace operator Innov8 Workspaces sharply improved its profitability in the fiscal year FY26 while rapidly expanding the network of centres it operates across the country.

Innov8’s net profit surged nearly 11.8X to ₹13.8 Cr in FY26 from ₹1.2 Cr in FY25, as per its annual report. Important to highlight that the startup’s profitability took a 97% hit in FY25 from ₹37.7 Cr in FY24.

Meanwhile, operating revenue rose 76% to ₹201.3 Cr from ₹114.5 Cr, while EBITDA net of lease increased 64.6% to ₹49.4 Cr from ₹30 Cr. The company had projected its FY26 I-GAAP EBITDA to double to ₹60 Cr back in September 2025.

The sharp improvement in the bottom line was also aided by a notable uptick in non-operating revenue. Innov8 reported ₹38.9 Cr in other income during FY26, more than 12X the ₹3.1 Cr recorded in the previous year. A substantial portion of this came from a ₹36.7 Cr gain on termination of lease contracts.

Including other income of ₹38.9 Cr, the total income stood at ₹240.2 Cr in FY26, a 104.4% increase from ₹117.5 Cr in the previous year.

Revenue Nearly Doubles In Two Years

Innov8’s growth has accelerated considerably over the past two years. Operating revenue increased from ₹52.7 Cr in FY24 to ₹114.5 Cr in FY25 and further to ₹201.3 Cr in FY26.

In this, rental income remained the company’s primary source of revenue, contributing ₹173.6 Cr, or around 86% of operating revenue, in FY26. This was up 59.3% from ₹108.9 Cr in FY25.

The company also generated ₹27.6 Cr from other operational income, while revenue from the sale of food and beverages stood at ₹15.5 Lakh. Other operational income rose sharply from ₹5.4 Cr in FY25, indicating that ancillary services are becoming a larger part of the company’s revenue mix.

The annual report says the growth was driven by expansion of the portfolio, higher occupancy, improved pricing and the scaling of its managed workspace business. Innov8 follows a landlord-led capex model in which landlords fund the fit-outs while Innov8 provides the brand, demand generation, design and operations.

This model allows the company to expand without taking on the entire fit-out burden for new centres. Innov8 said this asset-light structure has allowed it to open a new centre roughly every three weeks over the past 15 months.

Innov8 ended FY26 with 58 operational centres, adding 16 centres during the year. The expansion continued after the end of the fiscal year. The company added another 14 centres in the three months following March 31, 2026, taking its network to 72 centres as of July 2026. It has set a target of reaching 101 centres during FY27.

Importantly, the company plans to expand to 22 cities during FY27, with Kochi, Coimbatore, Kolkata and Jaipur among the cities identified for expansion. It continues to focus on business districts and commercial clusters in cities including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai. Its stated strategy is to prioritise high-density commercial locations rather than pursue suburban volume.

Vatika Acquisition Adds Enterprise Business

One of the biggest developments after the close of FY26 was Innov8’s acquisition of Vatika Business Centres Private Limited.

The company entered into a share purchase agreement on June 8, 2026, to acquire the entire share capital of Vatika Business Centres for ₹27 Cr. The transaction closed on June 18, with 80% of the consideration payable at closing and the remaining 20% due three months later. Innov8 paid ₹10.2 Cr at closing, according to the annual report.

The acquisition gives Innov8 an established managed-office platform and is expected to strengthen its enterprise workspace business. The company said Vatika brings marquee enterprise clients on long-term commitments and provides further room for expansion in the managed-office segment.

“Our ambition has always been to build premium workspaces that combine thoughtful design, vibrant community, enterprise-grade infrastructure and fully managed services, while giving businesses the flexibility to adapt as their needs evolve… A customer can begin with five seats and grow to five hundred without ever leaving the Innov8 network. Our expansion into managed workspaces, including through the acquisition of Vatika Business Centres Private Limited, completes that ladder,” said Rakesh Kumar, director and CFO, Innov8.

Breaking Down Innov8’s Expenses

The company’s total expenses increased to ₹226.2 Cr in FY26, an uptick of 86% from ₹121.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Here is a closer look at the areas where Innov8 spent the most:

Depreciation And Amortisation Expense: Constituting 42.7% of the overall expenditure, spending under this head rose 2.3X to ₹96.7 Cr in the year under review, from ₹42.4 Cr in FY25.
Finance Costs: Expenses towards interest on lease liabilities, interest on borrowing and bank charges came up to ₹70 Cr in FY26, marking 127.8% increase from ₹30.7 Cr in the previous fiscal. Finance costs contributed to 30.9% of the total expenses.
Employee Benefit Expenses: Employee costs, including salaries, wages, bonus, gratuity expense and contribution to PF and other funds rose 75.3% to ₹6.8 Cr in the reported year, from ₹3.9 Cr in FY25.

The post Innov8’s FY26 Profit Zooms Multifold To ₹13.7 Cr, Revenue Crosses ₹200 Cr Mark appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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From Flam To VerifAIX — Indian Startups Raised About $59 Mn This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 05:24:30 +0000

While the introduction of MDR on UPI dominated India’s new-age tech discourse this week, startup funding fell sharply.

Fourteen startups raised $58.9 Mn, down 82% from the $321.9 Mn raised last week.

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Sep 14 – Sep 18 ]

Date	Name	Sector	Subsector	Business Model	Funding Round Size	Funding Round Type	Investors	Lead Investor
15 Sep 2026	Flam	Enterprise Services	Advertising	B2B	$40 Mn*	Series B	QED Investors, RTP Global, Dovetail Shah Rukh Khan family office, Claypond Capital, Australian Gulf Capital, Martin Chavez (Angel), Olivier Pomel (Angel).	QED Investors
17 Sep 2026	DheyaTech	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Aerial Vehicles	B2B	$5.1 Mn	–	Avaana Capital, Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing	Avaana Capital
16 Sep 2026	VerifAIX	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Semiconductor	B2B	$5 Mn	Seed	Endiya Partners, Bluehill VC	Endiya Partners, Bluehill VC
16 Sep 2026	Firi	Consumer Services	Quick Commerce	B2C	$3 Mn	Seed	360 ONE Asset, Better Capital, Kunal Shah (WhatsApp)	360 ONE Asset
17 Sep 2026	Enlight Metals	Enterprise Services	Manufacturing Solutions	B2B	$1.5 Mn	–	Exar North Group	Exar North Group
17 Sep 2026	Kiddo	Consumer Services	Quick Commerce	B2C	$1.3 Mn	Pre-Seed	Campus Fund	Campus Fund
16 Sep 2026	TRUE ARTIS	Health Tech	In-Clinic Healthcare	B2C	$1.2 Mn	Seed	Zeropearl VC, Eleven, Sunil Sachdeva (Medanta)	Zeropearl VC
17 Sep 2026	Factrika	Enterprise Services	Manufacturing Solutions	B2B	$928K	Seed	Info Edge Ventures	Info Edge Ventures
17 Sep 2026	Ecosys	Consumer Services	Hyperlocal Services	B2C	$521K	Pre-Series A	GVFL Prarambh Fund, Proteus Partners, Puru Gupta (Angel), Sreejith Moolayil (Angel)	GVFL Prarambh Fund
18 Sep 2026	MoroMaa	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	$156K	–	AJVC	AJVC
16 Sep 2026	Slayd	Ecommerce	Ecommerce Enablers	B2C	$156K	–	AJVC	AJVC
18 Sep 2026	Beijan	Advanced Hardware & Technology	Defence Tech	B2B, B2G	$156K	–	AJVC	AJVC
15 Sep 2026	Darwinbox	Enterprise Tech	Horizontal SaaS	B2B	–	–	Teachers’ Venture Growth	Teachers’ Venture Growth
18 Sep 2026	Zinara	Ecommerce	D2C	B2C	–	–	Nikita Dutta	Nikita Dutta
	Source: Inc42 *Mix of primary and secondary transactions

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

Enterprise services attracted the most capital this week, with three startups raising $42.5 Mn. Advertising services startup Flam accounted for the bulk of this funding with the week’s largest round of $40 Mn.
Consumer services recorded three deals, with startups in the sector raising a total of $4.8 Mn.
AJVC was the most active investor this week, backing MoroMaa, Beijan and Slayd. The VC firm also saw PE firm Novastar Partners as a limited partner for its fund.
Five startups at the seed stage raised about $10.1 Mn, led by VerifAIX’s $5 Mn round.

Startup Fund Updates This Week

India Accelerator’s Finvolve announced the first close of its ₹250 Cr growth stage fund at ₹90 Cr. It intends to build a portfolio of 30-35 growth and late stage startups over the next three to four years.
AI focused VC firm Activate closed its maiden fund at $105 Mn within a year of its launch. It is targeting to back 25-30 startups operating across the AI sector.
Dani Family Office’s Asiana Fund and Taiwan-based VC firm JC Capital launched the ₹1,000 Cr Asiana-JCC Advanced Manufacturing & Innovation Fund, with a primary corpus of ₹600 Cr and a green shoe option of ₹400 Cr.

Startup IPO Updates Of The Week

SEBI cleared the IPOs of Kuku Technologies and Fibe this week.
Rentomojo made a strong listing this week after receiving an overwhelming investor interest, giving hefty returns to early backers like Accel.
After receiving SEBI approval for its IPO, Moneyview has now halved the fresh issue component to ₹750 Cr and trimmed the offer for sale (OFS) component to 10.04 Cr equity shares.
With greater clarity around the monetisation of UPI payments, PhonePe is set to revive its IPO plans. Inc42 learnt that the company would be looking to file its updated IPO papers for an IPO that could value it at about $10 Bn. The company is now targeting a listing between February-March 2027.

Other Developments Of The Week

Coursera-backed edtech startup Unstop acquired gaming startup PerspectAI for an undisclosed sum this week. The acquisition adds a combination of gaming and data science to Unstop’s engagement and hiring platform.
Over a month after Yulu’s $93 Mn Series C round, its early-backer 3one4 Capital announced that the round gave it a “successful, profitable” exit from the startup. The investor didn’t disclose who was the buyer of its stake in the secondary transaction.
Eyewear major Lenskart upped its stake in XR startup AjnaLens’ parent Dimension NXG with an ₹8 Cr investment to acquire an additional 1.8% stake in the startup.
PB Fintech’s board approved the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake in MyLoancare Ventures for ₹5 Cr to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. The board also approved capital infusions of up to ₹10 Cr into PB Wheels and ₹1 Cr into PB Financial Account Aggregator, both wholly owned subsidiaries.

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