The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a notice to Apple Inc after receiving complaints regarding performance issues following its iOS 18+ software update.

Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a post on X that CCPA is seeking a response from Apple after reviewing the grievances made to the National Consumer Helpline. 

“After receiving complaints on the National Consumer Helpline regarding performance issues in #iPhones following the iOS 18+ software update, the department, after examining these grievances, has issued a notice to #Apple through the CCPA, seeking a response on the matter,” Joshi shared on X. 

Apple has declined to comment on Inc42’s queries pertaining to the development.

The development comes at a time when the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reportedly agreed last month to bring Apple inside a “confidentiality ring” ahead of the final hearing related to the antitrust case. The move enables the big tech company to access confidential information pertaining to the antitrust case. 

Earlier last year, CCI found the iPhone maker guilty of abusing its dominant position in the app store market. Notably, Apple has been under CCI’s lens since 2021.

Last week, with rising sales of its flagship iPhone devices, the company rolled out the Apple Store app in India as it looks to ramp up its retail presence in the country. 

It was also reported a few days ago that Apple surpassed INR 1 lakh Cr mark in iPhone exports from India in 2024, with total shipments reaching a record $12.8 Bn. This represents a 42% increase compared to the previous year. 

Domestic production has also seen a dramatic increase, rising nearly 46% year-on-year to reach $17.5 Bn.

In another recent development, the tech giant informed its investors that Kevan Parekh assumed office as the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) on January 1, 2025.

The post CCPA Notice To Apple Over iPhone Performance Issues Post Update appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Venture capital firm Eximius Ventures has launched its second fund with a target corpus of $30 Mn. 

With Fund II, the pre-seed focussed VC firm is looking to invest in 25-30 companies across fintech, artificial intelligence (AI)/software-as-a-service (SaaS), frontier tech and consumer tech. 

Eximius Ventures has kept the initial ticker size per investment worth $500K while reserving “half of the corpus for follow-on investments, to further support its high-potential portfolio companies,” the VC firm said in its statement. 

Its Fund II has invested in four companies so far across consumer tech and AI/Saas, the statement added. Eximius Ventures has either led or co-led these investments along with other investors. 

“…Eximius is doubling down on pre-seed startups, with an aim to drive momentum in India’s innovation ecosystem,” said Eximius Ventures founder Pearl Agarwal. 

The Fund II will raise capital from high net worth individuals (HNIs), founder-investors, family offices and global Japanese venture companies, as per the statement. 

With the second fund, Agarwal said, “We will be looking at companies led by seasoned operators and entrepreneurs, solving with a first principle mindset and exceptional execution capacity in a large market.” 

Eximius rolled out its $10 Mn first fund in 2021 and made investments in 23 companies. 

It claims that around 60% of these portfolio companies have secured multiple up-rounds from prominent global investors, delivering an IRR of greater than 40%. Jar, Vegapay and Stan are some of the companies Eximius backed with its Fund I.  

Founded in 2020, Eximius counts startups like skydo, Eka.Care, DevAssure, fleek and Fego.ai among others in its portfolio. 

Recently, venture capital fund SamVed also floated a $50 Mn fund to back tech-focused early-stage startups in India.

Last year, early-stage VC firm Capital A launched its Fund II with a target corpus of INR 400 Cr. 

The post Eximius Ventures Launches $30 Mn Fund For Pre-Seed Investments appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Modern technology is revolutionising industries, driving innovations in smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and advanced AI systems. As India strives for self-reliance in technological advancements, the country has seen a rapid rise in advanced technology startups.

At the core of this transformation lies the semiconductor industry and the government’s intention to give this space a much-needed push.

In 2021, the government launched the Semicon India programme, committing INR 76,000 Cr to incentivise silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors, and more. 

A year later, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was introduced to establish India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, part of the ‘Semicon India Future Design’ programme, is one of the many initiatives that offers financial and infrastructure support to boost semiconductor development. It focusses on areas like integrated circuits (ICs), chipsets, Systems on Chips (SoCs), and related designs.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative further reinforces efforts to reduce dependency on imports and strengthen the domestic tech ecosystem. Not to mention, partnerships with global semiconductor giants, including AMD, Micron, and Qualcomm, have complemented these initiatives.

In February 2022, the Tata Group, in collaboration with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC), secured approval to establish India’s first semiconductor fab. 

However, this is not India’s first stab at doing something notable in this sector. The country’s journey in the semiconductor space dates back to 1976, with the establishment of the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. 

Years later, new-age startups have formed a beeline to chase the country’s semiconductor dream that could potentially transform the world for good. 

Amid this and the rising demand for faster and more efficient chips, Indian startups are exploring diverse opportunities in this space. According to an Inc42 report, the Indian semiconductor market is projected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Investor interest in the sector surged in 2024, with funding for semiconductor startups exceeding to$28 Mn from $5 Mn in 2023. Chennai-based Mindgrove Technologies led the way with $8 Mn in funding, followed by FermionIC with $6 Mn.

While much is yet to be achieved, here is the list of startups which are poised to shape India’s semiconductor future.

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian semiconductor startups in alphabetical order. We will be updating this list periodically. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com)

AGNIT Semiconductors

Established in 2019, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company focusses on designing and producing GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency applications.

AGNIT’s GaN components find extensive applications in the defence and telecommunication sectors.

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence inked a contract with AGNIT for the design and development of advanced GaN semiconductors, slated for integration into the next generation of wireless transmitters for defence applications, including radars and electronic warfare jammers.

The founding team comprises Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan.

According to the company’s website, AGNIT’s proprietary technology stems from over 15 years of research and development conducted at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

In October 2024, the startup secured $3.5 Mn (INR 29.4 Cr) in a seed funding round co-led by 3one4 Capital and Zephyr Peacock. The company counts the likes of Infineon Technologies and Innoscience as its competitors. 

Aura Semiconductor

Founded in 2011 by Srinath Sridharan, Aura Semiconductor or Aurasemi is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies the industry with mixed-signal IC solutions for various applications. 

The startup specialises in high-performance products for markets, including IoT radios, enterprise timing, and portable audio. 

It makes products in categories such as timing, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power, RF, IoT and sensors. Recently, Nasdaq-listed precision timing company SiTime Corporation acquired all time-related products from Aurasemi.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Aurasemi also has its offices in China, the UK, and the US. Celesta Capital is one of the VC investors in the startup.

Blueberry Semiconductors

Bengaluru-based Blueberry Semiconductors is one of the leading very large-scale integration (VLSI) startups in India. It provides solutions and services in niche areas of ASIC/SoC, embedded product engineering supported by ML, industrial IoT and AI.

The 2017-founded startup delivers to clients on their latest and technically advanced projects in industries like aerospace, automotive, defence, AI, 5G, and RAM, among others. Its partners range from Intel and Mahindra to Microsemi and SanDisk.

CalligoTech

Calligo Technologies is a Bengaluru-based fabless semiconductor and systems startup serving segments like high-performance computing, Big Data and AI/ML segments globally. 

CalligoTech has developed a co-processor capable of doing computations using a new number system called Posit, which was invented in 2017. In June 2024, the startup unveiled an 8-core Posit-enabled RISC-V CPU named TUNGA. It claims to be the world’s first in doing so.

The company claims that TUNGA’s energy-efficient design results in lower power consumption and is scalable across a range of applications for HPC and AI. 

The startup is also a beneficiary of the central government’s DLI scheme.

Chipspirit

Founded in 2018, Chipspirit is a Bengaluru-based services and solutions provider in the semiconductor space.

Its application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design services has a special focus on design and turnkey projects. On the other hand, it also claims to provide fully customisable hardware security solutions.

Chipspirit’s Abhed-1 is a dedicated secure hardware-based offline and online encryption device for transacting classified data over public or open Data networks.

The semiconductor company won the iDEX challenge in March 2019. It is now co-developing its hardware security solutions with Indian Defence under the Centre’s Make-In-India initiative.

As per MeitY’s website, Chipspirit is also one of the beneficiaries of its DLI scheme.

Cientra

Founded in 2015 by Uday Joshi and Sandip Kadtane, Cientra is a semiconductor solutions company, specialising in VLSI, ASIC, FPGA, SoCs, catering to telecom (4G, 5G, IoT), automotive (SDV, ADAS, connectivity, EV) and embedded software.

The semiconductor design solutions of the company include register-transfer level (RTL) design, design verification, physical design, and analogue design and layout offering.

Cientra is a multinational company with offices in India, the USA, and Germany. The company launched a vendor-agnostic 5G IoT aggregator solution in partnership with Amantya Technologies, which they claimed to be the ‘world’s first’.

In 2024, IT giant Accenture acquired Cientra to expand its silicon design and engineering capabilities.

FermionIC Design

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based FermionIC Design is a fabless semiconductor startup developing ICs for high-speed wireline and RF communication market. Its current product portfolio includes a highly integrated beamformer core chip in the silicon-germanium (SiGe) process that enables the X-band millimetre-wave communications for active electronically scanned array (AESA), sat-comm applications, and others. 

The startup’s mixed signal product family includes ultra-low-noise low dropout (LDO)-ICs, low-phase noise crystal oscillators and Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes) products. 

Founded by Gautam Kumar Singh, Prasun Bhattacharyya, Abhra Bagchi, and Shabaaz Syed,  FermionIC Design has remained bootstrapped so far. It claims to have multiple global and Indian OEM customers who are building their SoCs and systems using FermionIC products. 

In 2023, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced FermionIC Design as one of the first set of startups selected under the government’s Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme. 

In 2024, FermionIC raised $6 Mn in a funding round led by Lucky Investment Managers’ Ashish Kacholia and his associates.

Incore Semiconductors

Founded in 2018, InCore Semiconductor is building 5th generation RISC/RISC-V processor cores in India. RISC or reduced instruction set computer is a microprocessor architecture that utilises a reduced number of computer instruction types, hence enabling systems to operate at higher speeds. 

InCore, founded by Arjun Menon, Gautam Doshi, GS Madhusudan, and Neel Gala, is headquartered at the IIT Madras Research Park. In 2023, the startup raised $3 Mn from Peak XV Partners.

The startup aims to make India a powerhouse in the RISC-V solution space. Its processor cores power high-performance application-class processors, area/power-optimised embedded processors, and more.

The startup claims to bring a high degree of automation to the processor and SoC design process.

InCore counts the likes of ARM, Andes Technology, and SiFive among its competitors. 

Mindgrove Technologies

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-based semiconductor startup founded in 2021. It works in the space of design and production of SoCs. 

Incubated at IIT Madras, Mindgrove uses the indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips. 

The startup is currently working on its inaugural chip, Secure IoT, which is designed for a range of consumer electronics devices, including TVs, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Its multi-processor chip comes with security accelerators, a true random number generator, and one-time programmable memory.

Founded by Shashwath T R and Sharan Srinivas J, the startup secured $2.32 Mn in seed funding in 2023 led by Peak XV Partners. Its other investors include names like Speciale Invest and Whiteboard Capital. 

In December 2024, Mindgrove Technologies raised $8 Mn (INR 68.04 Cr) in its Series A funding round co-led by Rocketship.vc and Speciale Invest. 

Last month, the startup secured approval under the Government of India’s Semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, receiving INR 15 Cr to develop its new chip.

Morphing Machines

Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor startup building IP products and solutions. Its patented product ‘REDEFINE’ is a many-core SoC platform, in which domain-specific architectures (DSAs) for mixed critical application tasks are instantiated on demand of any event. DSAs are specialised and optimised hardware designs tailored to specific application domains or industries. 

Its technology serves various industries, including avionics, automobile, and telecom. Besides, ‘REDEFINE’ helps accelerate a host of applications for Big Data Analytics, Genome Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Large Scale Scientific Simulations, and immersive gaming and visualisations.

Morphing Machines has also received projects under the DLI and Chips2Startup (C2S) schemes from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Launched through the Technology Entrepreneurship initiative of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in 2005, Morphing Machines is a bootstrapped startup. Its founders are Dr S.K. Nandy, Dr Ranjani Narayan, and Deepak Shapeti. In June 2024, Morphing Machines secured $2.76 Mn in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest.

Morphing Machine counts Intel, NVIDIA and AMD as its competitors. 

Netrasemi

Founded in 2020, Netrasemi is a Kerala-based Edge AI semiconductor technology company building SOCs to enable the new-age need for optimal computing for smart IoT products. Netrasemi has a power-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and a rich portfolio of silicon IPs to enable this. 

Its key target segments are surveillance, smart sensors, smart infrastructure, machine vision and industry 4.0, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, among others.

The company’s domain-specific architecture (DSA), IP-rich SOCs, AI development tools,  flexible SDKs, and platform reference designs help IoT product and solution makers to go to market with cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets catering to their specific domains.

Its A2000 SOC has smart vision capability with advanced real-time video analytics and vision processing capabilities. On the other hand, NETRA-R1000 is a RISC-V-based SOC for smart sensor applications.

Netrasemi is also a beneficiary of the Central government’s DLI scheme.

In December 2024, Netrasemi raised INR 10 Cr (around $1.2 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round from Unicorn India Ventures.

Oakter

Oakter is an Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), which designs and manufactures electronic smart devices, including fintech giant Paytm’s revolutionary soundboxes.

Launched in 2015 by a founding team from IIT Delhi, the Noida-based Oakter soon became a leading name in the smart plugs market. In 2017, the startup became the launch partner for Amazon Alexa in India. 

In 2019, the startup pivoted to contract manufacturing. Over the years, Oakter fulfilled multiple B2B contract manufacturing orders from the likes of Sony (for its BRAVIA TV), Saregama (for Carvaan), and Syska, among others.

In 2020, Oakter collaborated with DRDO to manufacture Covid safety products.

With the emergence of new-age technologies, the startup has also collaborated with EV charging aggregation platform, ElectricPe, to develop its charge points.

Its early backers include IndiaQuotient and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised over $500K in total funding over the years.

RRP Electronics 

Founded in 2024 by Rajendra Chodankar, RRP Electronics assembles and tests semiconductor components to cater to the needs of automobile and telecom players. 

In September 2024, the company announced the launch of Maharashtra’s first semiconductor manufacturing OSAT/ATMP (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) facility. 

The first phase of the packaging facility setup started generating revenue in August 2024. The second phase, which is a pilot fab facility, began generating revenue in December 2024. Currently, it is developing existing facilities and expanding further. 

RRP Electronics a few days ago entered into a strategic alliance with US-based Deca Technologies to push its semiconductor capabilities, as per multiple reports. 

Saankhya Labs

The 2007-founded Saankhya Labs claims to be the country’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company. Based in Bengaluru, the startup manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other components for various satellite and broadcast applications, including 5G New Radio, direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast, rural broadband connectivity, and satellite communication modems for IoT applications.

The startup also claims to have developed the world’s first production Software Defined Radios (SDR) chipsets, which enable converting radio signals into electronic signals and vice versa for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Founded by Parag Naik, Vishwakumara Kayargadde, and Hemant Mallapur, Saankhya Labs is a subsidiary of listed broadband and wireless networking company Tejas Networks. Its former backers included the likes of Intel and General Motors, who exited the company a few years ago.

Recently, in February 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved Saankhya Labs’ application to the Centre’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for the development of a System-on-Chip (SoC) for 5G telecom infrastructure equipment. 

As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised around $18 Mn in total funding. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify the exact amount of funds raised so far.

Sensesemi

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Muktamath, Sensesemi builds the next-generation secured connected AI Edge chip for varied applications in the field of Industrial IoT such as smart appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Its flagship product is named SenseSoC.

By embedding AI capabilities directly onto the chip, it claims to enable edge inferencing, bringing real-time decision-making to the devices.

Sensesemi also won financial support under the Centre’s DLI Scheme earlier this year. 

On winning the government support, company founder Muktamath said, “As part of the DLI Scheme, Sensesemi will be developing the SoC for IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and IoT devices, that shall have MCU and wireless IP integrated with ultra-low power analogue front end with AI inferencing IP.”

SignOff Semiconductors

Founded in 2015, Signoff Semiconductors is one of the pioneering Indian startups in semiconductor design services. 

Involved in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) services, the company has developed in-house capabilities to help customers with the designs of ICs — both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) — that function in the areas of AI, ML, Edge IoT, as well as general-purpose processors.

Signoff claims to serve its clients with a range of services, including physical design, full custom analogue and digital custom layout and verification, register-transfer level (RTL) design, verification, embedded, and firmware.

The semiconductor company has served domains such as automotive, medical, connected edge, and consumer electronics.

Signoff currently has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Toronto, and the US.

Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing 

Founded in 2024, Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing is a Zoho semiconductor venture specialising in manufacturing silicon carbide and compound semiconductors. 

The company is looking to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit near Mysuru at a cost of INR 3,425.6 Cr. 

Silectric plans to establish a silicon carbide-based fabrication facility and an assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) unit. 

Silizium Circuits

Hyderabad-based Silizium Circuits is an analog radio frequency (RF) IP focussed company. It develops indigenous IPs for a range of wireless applications, including 5G, IoT, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), smart mobility, AI, and ML.

Founded in 2020, the startup aims to replace analogue RF IP imports in India with indigenous Silizium Circuits’ IPs by 2025 and become the largest analogue, RF, mixed signal IP exporter from India by 2030.

In 2021, Silizium Circuits became one of the eight NXP FabCI 2021 cohort qualifiers, which is a two-year incubation and acceleration programme.

Founded by Rijin John and Dr Arun Ashok, Silizium Circuits also provides a faculty upskilling programme to guide, train, and upskill the electronics/electrical faculty community in the country. 

Terminus Circuits 

Founded in 2010 by Dr Sankar Reddy, Terminus Circuits designs and develops high-speed serial links, which are a type of communication protocol that transmits data in a single differential signal, enabling data and clocking information to be sent simultaneously.

The startup claims to offer a one-stop solution for all Serialiser/De-Serialiser (SerDes) designing. Besides, ethernet SerDes, it is also a leading provider of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) to OEMs for big data, AI, ML, server chips, and 5G applications.

Terminus Circuits has a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip producers in the world. 

VASBEAM

VASBEAM is an advanced electronically steered antenna (ESA) design and semiconductor design company. It offers turnkey solutions to defence, aerospace, civil, and maritime industries.

As a beneficiary of the Centre’s DLI scheme, VASBEAM has successfully completed a tape-out of its core beamforming IC product line, which operates within the 800 MHz to 18 GHz frequency range. This product line supports various applications, including radars, satellite systems, 5G communication systems, and more.

The startup has developed an antenna testing device (VASATD1) to enable accurate measurements of the antenna array, among other products.

Vervesemi

Incorporated in 2017, Vervesemi is a fabless semiconductor company developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for sensors and wireless devices.

The company has two business verticals – Analog-RF ASIC-Data converters and Analog IPs. It develops products and analogue IP solutions for various semiconductor application markets, including energy, 4G/5G market, medical, consumer, and smart power.

Noida-based Vervesemi currently has two design centres in India. Earlier this year, it announced the launch of India-made semiconductor ASIC.

MeitY in 2023 announced Vervesemi among the first set of startups selected under the Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme.

The startup claims to have over 25 patents in its kitty.

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com.

Last updated on January 23, 2025

The post Meet 21 Semiconductor Startups Powering India’s Technological Prowess appeared first on Inc42 Media.

FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) has signed an agreement to acquire D2C brand Minimalist for a cash consideration of INR 2,670 Cr. 

In an exchange filing, the company said that its board has signed and executed share purchase and subscription agreement for acquiring 90.5% stake in Uprising Science Private Limited, the parent of Minimalist, comprising secondary buyout for a cash consideration of INR 2,670 Cr at a pre-money enterprise valuation of INR 2,955 Cr. 

HUL will also make a primary infusion of INR 45 Cr in the brand and acquire the remaining 9.5% stake later in about two years from the completion date. 

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of the financial year 2025-2026 (Q1 FY26) 

HUL will acquire the shares from Minimalist founders Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav, Peak XV Partners, the VC firm’s seed investment platform Surge, and Twenty Nine Capital Partners.

Founded in 2020, Minimalist develops and sells clinically tested skincare, haircare and body care products using ‘active’ ingredients. It has raised about $15 Mn to date.

Peak XV was among the earliest investors in the startup and holds over 27% stake in it.

In a statement, HUL said that the acquisition is a step towards transforming its beauty and wellbeing portfolio. 

“We are excited to partner with the Minimalist team to unlock value through synergies and together, scale the brand to greater heights by leveraging our complementary capabilities,” HUL CEO and MD Rohit Jawa said.

Minimalist’s founders Mohit and Rahul will continue to run the business operations for a period of two years. 

“Now, with HUL’s robust offline distribution network, we look forward to making our products even more accessible across the country. This partnership also paves the way for our expansion into international markets, helping us realise our dream of taking Minimalist to the world,” the cofounders said in the statement. 

On the financial front, Minimalist’s net profit zoomed 110% to INR 10.9 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 5.2 Cr in FY23 on the back of a strong growth in its top line. Operating revenue rose 89% to INR 347.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 183.8 Cr in FY23

HUL said that Minimalist currently has an annual revenue runrate of over INR 500 Cr. 

The post HUL To Acquire D2C Brand Minimalist At A Valuation Of INR 2,955 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Caller identification application Truecaller has rolled out a new update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iPhone users.

The feature which was available earlier only for Android users will now offer spam and scam blocking abilities to iPhone users by identifying all types of calls, the company said in its statement. 

“The new update offers the entire might Truecaller’s spam and scam blocking abilities to iPhone users everywhere! It now has the ability to identify all types of calls making it at par with its Android counterpart,” the statement said. 

The update will help iPhone users in identifying spams and will serve as a safety net against scams. “This is made possible by Apple’s live caller ID lookup framework, developed especially for apps like Truecaller to provide live caller ID in a privacy-preserving way,” the statement added. 

The company will use its latest AI capabilities and global database to identify calls in this update. Besides caller identification, the latest update also offers iOS users automatic blocking of spam calls. 

“We are excited to bring the full power of Truecaller to iPhone. We see tremendous potential and growth in our iPhone user base and parity with Truecaller’s Android experience has been top of their wishlist. This update does that and more while preserving privacy for all calling activity,” said Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala. 

The statement said that all the new features in the latest update will be made available for Truecaller premium users. Free users on iOS will have ad-supported number search and caller ID of verified business, it added. 

The development comes after the Department of Telecommunications last week asked telecom operators to introduce caller ID feature on mobile phones to keep spams in check. As directed by DoT, the telecom operators need to implement calling name presentation (CNAP) service on mobile phones soon. 

In an effort towards curbing spam calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is also looking to launch an updated version of its do not disturb (DND) app to provide some relief to smartphone users.

The post Truecaller Rolls Out Real-Time Caller ID For iPhone Users appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Chennai-based Hatsun Agro has acquired Milk Mantra for INR 233 Cr (around $26 Mn) to expand its footprint in the dairy market. 

HAP in a BSE filing said that the company’s board has “approved the acquisition of 100% of the issued and paid-up share capital of the Milk Mantra Dairy Private Limited…”

Post acquisition, Bhubaneswar-based Milk Mantra will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of HAP, the filing added.

With this deal, HAP aims to expand its geographical footprint in Odisha and the eastern dairy market. It is also looking to explore its existing north Andhra Pradesh market and potential markets like West Bengal and adjoining states, the filing added. 

Besides HAP’s existing brands Arun, IBACO, Hatsun and Arokya, Milky Moo will be a new addition after acquisition. 

Founded in 2009 by Srikumar Misra and Rashima Misra, Milk Mantra began its operations in 2012. The startup sells products under two brands – Milky Moo and Moo Shake. It sells packaged milk, curd, paneer, lassi, mishti dahi, and flavoured milkshakes. 

After eight consecutive years of profitability, the startup slipped into loss in FY23 on an operating revenue of INR 272.9 Cr, a growth of only 2% year-on-year (YoY).

In FY24, the company again returned to profitability with a net profit of INR 9.8 Cr as against a net loss of INR 12.3 Cr in the previous fiscal, as it managed to control its expenses.

Milk Mantra’s operating revenue grew a mere 1.3% YoY to INR 276.4 Cr in FY24, with only pasteurised milk and curd categories seeing increase in sales. 

Hatsun Agro has been operational for five decades and expanded to more than 3700 retail outlets and over 20 processing plants.

The post Hatsun Agro Buys Milk Mantra For INR 233 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL’s) digital arm Jio Platforms has rolled out a reward-based crypto token ‘JioCoin’ for JioSphere web browser users.

This marks the company’s foray into the cryptocurrency market.

JioCoin is a blockchain-based reward token built atop Ethereum Layer 2 and is currently listed on crypto platform Polygon Labs.

“Excited to share that our first integration with Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) is now live on JioSphere – Safe, Fast and Powerful Web Browser,” said Polygon Labs global payments head Aishwary Gupta in a LinkedIn post. 

While Reliance is yet to make an official announcement, both Android and iOS users have begun noticing the addition of JioCoins on the JioSphere browser. These Web3 coins will be available to desktop users soon.

The browser “now features native wallet integration powered by Polygon Labs PoS, where JioCoins will reside,” said Gupta. 

Users can earn JioCoins for free by surfing the internet on the JioSphere web browser. These Web3 coins will be deposited into their Polygon Labs wallet. The company is likely to dole out JioCoins to the users of JioCinema and MyJio in the coming days, according to reports.

Polygon Labs in an official statement last week announced a strategic partnership with Jio Platforms (JPL) for the latter’s Web3 and blockchain debut in India. 

“The partnership would aim to add Web3 capabilities to some of the existing applications and services owned and operated by JPL by leveraging Polygon’s cutting edge blockchain solutions to create innovative Web3 services for Jio’s existing 450+ million customers,” the company said in the statement. 

“Joining forces with Polygon Labs marks a significant milestone in Jio’s journey towards digital excellence. We are excited to explore the boundless possibilities of Web3 and bring unparalleled digital experiences to our users,” said Kiran Thomas, CEO at Jio Platforms.

This development comes at a time when Jio Platforms has scaled up its digital play in the past year by launching a clutch of new offerings, including AI cloud services, 4G feature phones and Bluetooth tracker JioTag Go.

To note, earlier this week, telecom giant Reliance Jio also rolled out its 4G and 5G services at the Siachen glacier. 

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Shares of insurtech major Policybazaar’s parent PB Fintech declined 4.81% to INR 1665.95 during intraday trading session on BSE today (January 21). 

With a dip in the share price, its market capitalisation dropped to INR 77,022 Cr with more than 4 Lakh shares changing hands at the time of writing this story. 

However, the stock recouped some of its losses and was trading at INR 1677.25 apiece at 11:18 AM. 

PB Fintech’s shares ended in the red in eight out of the last 11 trading sessions on BSE. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has plunged over 20%. 

Notably, the company’s stock has been on a downward trajectory in recent times, giving a negative return of around 20% in the last month at the current market price. 

Last week, brokerage firm Morgan Stanley gave ‘underweight’ rating to PB Fintech, citing lower-than-expected profit emergence and high stock valuations. 

A week ago, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department conducted a raid on the PB Fintech office in Gurugram. The raid was in relation to PB Partners, the fintech major’s platform for insurance agents, Inc42 learnt from sources. 

The company is being investigated for alleged tax evasion of about INR 80 Cr to INR 90 Cr, and the GST officials reviewed the financial records and GST filings during the raid.

Earlier this month, the company forayed into the healthcare segment by setting up a new subsidiary to offer healthcare services. In an exchange filing, the company said it has set up a new wholly-owned subsidiary by the name of PB Healthcare Services Private Limited. 

Last year, the company incorporated a subsidiary PB Pay as part of its plan to venture into the payment aggregator business.

PB Fintech reported a consolidated net profit of INR 50.98 Cr in the second quarter (Q2) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) against a loss of INR 21.11 Cr in the year-ago period. Notably, this was the fourth consecutive profitable quarter for the company.

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Shares of Zomato plunged 8.02% to INR 228.80 on BSE after the listed foodtech major announced its financial results for the December 2024 quarter (Q3 FY25).

With a drop in share prices, its market capitalisation declined to INR 2,21,909 Cr at the time of writing this story (3:27 PM) with nearly 10 Cr shares of the company trading hands by then. 

In Q3 FY25, Zomato’s consolidated net profit slumped 57.2% to INR 59 Cr from INR 138 Cr in the year-ago quarter. On a quarter on quarter basis, profit slumped 66% from INR 176 Cr.

However, operating revenue surged over 64% to INR 5,405 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 3,288 Cr in the December quarter last year. Sequentially, the company’s operating revenue rose 12.6% from INR 4,799 Cr.

On a year-to-date basis, the stock has plunged over 16.56% and 18.22% on a monthly basis. 

However, the company’s shares recouped some of its losses and closed the trading session today 3.14% lower at INR 240.95. 

A few days ago, Zomato infused around INR 500 Cr in its quick commerce arm Blinkit. As per Blinkit’s regulatory filings, it allotted 2,537 equity shares at an issue price of INR 19.7 Lakh (19,70,181) each to raise INR 499.83 Cr from Zomato. 

While brokerage firm JM Financial reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on the foodtech major, Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA reaffirmed its ‘outperform’ rating for the foodtech major, last week.

Earlier this month, after Swiggy’s Bolt, Zomato also launched a 15-minute food delivery service. The service is currently operational in parts of Delhi NCR. Zomato’s app shows an option for quick deliveries in a radius of about 2 km. 

It is pertinent to note that Zomato was also included in BSE Sensex in November last year. 

The post Zomato Shares Tank Over 8% After Q3 Profit Declines appeared first on Inc42 Media.

AI driven B2B procurement startup ProcureYard has secured $1.72 Mn (around 14.87 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Powerhouse Ventures. 

The round also saw participation from Java Capital and 2am VC, along with angel investors – Tracxn cofounder Abhishek Goyal and GSF founder Rajesh Sawhney.

Founded in 2023 by Anshu Kandhari, Pankaj Bisht, Somdutt Parashar, and Tushar Agarwal, ProcureYard is a raw material procurement platform for construction, manufacturing and infrastructure supplies. 

The Gurugram based startup is planning to utilise fresh funds in product development and working capital management. It further plans to leverage its custom-built conversational AI platform. 

ProcureYard also claimed to have turned profitable within 18 months of operation and reached INR 300 Cr in ARR (annualised revenue run rate). The statement also mentioned that the startup aims to clock INR 3,000 Cr in ARR in the next 12-18 months. 

It is now looking to increase the scope of its custom-built conversational AI by replicating it to other raw materials in addition to metals, the statement added. Besides, it also has a multi-lingual voice agent that understands customer enquiries to match them with suppliers.

“Our AI agents, designed with deep expertise, deliver unparalleled solutions—helping SMEs find the right suppliers, negotiate deals, forecast finances, and extract actionable insights, all without complex tools,” said Kandhari. 

“As we prepare for Series A, we’re doubling down on scaling our reach, advancing AI solutions for underwriting, lending and risk mitigation, and continuing to redefine possibilities in this sector,” he added. 

ProcureYard is operating in more than 20 states with a network of over 200 suppliers. It claims to serve nearly 200 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

The development comes at a time when many startups are integrating AI into their operations. Earlier this month, India got its first unicorn of 2025, NetraDyne, a logistics AI solutions provider. The startup became a unicorn after raising $90 Mn in its Series D funding round led by existing backer Point72 Private Investments. 

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Honasa Consumer Ltd, which owns new-age FMCG brands like Mamaearth and The Derma Co, has approved the allotment of 45,663 stock options under employee stock option plan (ESOP). 

The company’s nomination and remuneration committee has approved “a total grant of 45,663 stock options under Honasa Consumer Limited Employee Stock Options Plan – 2018 (“ESOP – 2018”) to the eligible employees,” as per its BSE filing. 

Based on the stock’s closing price on Friday, the value of the new stock options translated to INR 1.12 Cr.

The equity shares have face value of INR 10 each and its exercise price is also set at INR 10 per share. 

Honasa’s filing mentioned that the vested options can be exercised by the employee during the employee’s tenure or within 90 days from the date of last working day of the eligible employee.

The company in September approved the allotment of 5,46,601 stock options under the same ESOP plan. 

The recent ESOP expansion comes after Honasa roped in Lokesh Chhaparwal as senior vice president – technology and engineering earlier this month. 

Further, Honasa’s chief business officer (CBO) Zairus Master also resigned from his role a few weeks ago.

On the financial front,Honasa posted a consolidated net loss of INR 18.6 Cr in the quarter ended September 2024 (Q2 2025) against a net profit of INR 29.4 Cr a year ago and INR 40.3 Cr in the preceding June quarter.

The D2C brands’ top line also took a hit as revenue from operations fell nearly 7% to INR 461.8 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 496.1 Cr in Q2 FY24. 

Founded in 2016 by the husband-wife duo Varun and Ghazal Alagh, Honasa’s product portfolio comprises six beauty and personal care brands which include Mamaearth, The Derma Co., Aqualogica, Ayuga, BBlunt and Dr. Sheth’s.

Shares of Honasa closed the trading session at INR 246.45 on the BSE on Friday.

The post Honasa Expands ESOP Pool With More Than 45K Stock Options appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Disney+Hotstar has partnered with Coldplay to stream live the British rock band’s upcoming concert in Ahmedabad. 

The ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour’ concert will be streamed live across India on Republic Day, along with behind-the-scenes scenes available for subscribers, as per Disney+Hotstar’s statement.

“Our partnership with Coldplay reflects our commitment to bringing iconic cultural experiences to audiences nationwide,” said Sanjog Gupta, CEO, JioStar – Sports.

Sharing the announcement on X, Coldplay said, “On January 26, Coldplay’s biggest ever show will stream LIVE from Ahmedabad across all of India on Disney+Hotstar.”

The tour is kicking off today with three shows in Mumbai and two at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25 and 26. 

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Company announced merger of their media business in November last year. It led to the media and JioCinema businesses of Viacom18 merger with Star India.

The transaction valued the joint venture (JV) at $8.5 Bn on a post money basis, “excluding synergies”. While Viacom18 held 46.82% stake in the JV, Disney had 36.84% stake. RIL will hold the remaining 16.34% stake in the JV. 

On the digital front, it will lead to a merger of RIL’s JioCinema and Disney’s Hotstar and on the television side of Star and Colors. The JV operates over 100 TV channels, producing over 30,000 hours of TV content annually. 

The companies also claimed that the JV will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with pro forma combined revenue of approximately INR $3.1 Bn for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24). 

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With nine years of the Centre’s flagship ‘Startup India’ initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this transformative programme has empowered countless youngsters, turning their innovative ideas into successful startups.

In an X post today (January 16), the PM said that Indian startups are solving global challenges while creating employment opportunities.     

“From tech-driven solutions to rural innovations, healthcare advancements to biotech breakthroughs, fintech to edtech, clean energy to sustainable technology, Indian startups are solving global challenges while at the same time creating employment opportunities and boosting our quest towards self-reliance,” he said. 

He further lauded the programme and called it a landmark initiative that has redefined innovation, entrepreneurship and growth. “Over the past nine years, this transformative program has empowered countless youngsters, turning their innovative ideas into successful startups,” he added.

In nine years, the Indian startup landscape has grown to boast more than 1.59 Lakh startups, 118 unicorns, $158 Bn+ funding, and more than 35 publicly listed new-age tech companies. 

Modi also said that the government’s policies are focused on ease of doing business and greater access to resources. “We are actively promoting innovation and incubation centres so that our youngsters become risk-takers,” the post added. 

Urging youth to join the startup ecosystem, he said, “It’s my assurance you won’t be disappointed.”

World’s third-largest startup ecosystem, India’s startups have created more than 17 Lakh jobs in the country, as per the government estimates. 

These startups cover more than 56 sectors, including IT services, healthcare and life sciences, education, agriculture, construction, among others. 

India is also third in the world in terms of the number of unicorns. As per the DPIIT, the number of billion-dollar valuation companies in India have soared 13X in the past decade to 118 in 2024 from mere eight in 2015. 

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The Department of Telecommunications has reportedly asked telecom operators to introduce caller ID feature on mobile phones to keep spams in check.

As directed by DoT, the telecom operators need to implement calling name presentation (CNAP) service on mobile phones soon, an ET report said. 

In a response, the telco industry has raised concerns over user’s privacy with the rollout of the service.

The industry further highlighted its probable effect on the existing caller ID applications, the report added. 

DoT is also planning to launch the second phase of a centralised system soon to block international spoofed calls, as reported in October last year. The system will be rolled out to keep an eye on curbing the growing number of incidents involving fake threats of mobile disconnection and arrests, and impersonation of government officials, said DoT. 

In an effort towards curbing spam calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is also looking to launch an updated version of its do not disturb (DND) app to provide some relief to smartphone users.

It was reported in October last year that TRAI will likely finalise tighter and updated regulations on curbing spam calls and messages by January, after it directed telecom operators to blacklist 50 entities for spamming end users.

To further combat these threats, the DoT has introduced several initiatives such as the Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) that is aimed at curbing the misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime and financial fraud. 

Additionally, the DoT has developed the Sanchar Saathi portal, which serves as a citizen-centric platform allowing users to report suspected fraudulent communications and unsolicited messages, report stolen or lost handsets, verify the genuineness of mobile devices before purchase, and report incoming international calls with Indian numbers.

Besides, a week ago, telecom operators urged DoT to adopt the TRAI new definition of international traffic, which could increase their SMS revenues by over INR 400 Cr annually. 

The request arose from a long-standing issue where MNCs were accused of misclassifying international messages as domestic to avoid higher charges associated with international SMS.

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Healthtech startup ErlySign has secured INR 16 Cr (around $1.8 Mn) in Pre-Series A funding round from Ashish Kacholia to further develop its cancer diagnostic solutions. 

The fresh proceeds will be deployed in clinical trials, securing CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) approvals, and bringing ErlySign’s oral cancer detection kit to market, the startup said in its statement. 

“It will support research and development, team expansion, and further patent filings,” it added. The investment was advised by private equity and venture capital advisory firm DerivativeSaint. 

Founded in 2019 by Shubhendra Singh Thakur and Deovrat Begde, ErlySign or CURO Biosciences develops solutions for early detection of oral cancer. 

The company also claims to offer India’s first salivary biomarker based test which can identify pre- cancerous conditions much before visible symptoms emerge. 

The biomarker-based test kit can detect oral precancerous conditions within 15 minutes with a saliva sample to enable timely intervention. 

“The product, now in the final stages of clinical trials across multiple HCG sites, promises to be a game-changer. Beyond early detection, it will serve as a critical screening tool to eliminate unnecessary biopsies and invasive procedures,” said Thakur. 

The development comes at a time when India’s healthcare space is gradually revamping with technological interventions, especially after Covid-19 pandemic. 

According to Inc42’s ‘The State Of Indian Startup Ecosystem Report‘, healthtech startups raised a little over $7 Bn between 2014 and H1 2024 in 886 deals. However, the sector is making progress towards attracting investors’ interest lately and there’s an uptick in funding numbers.

The cumulative funding secured by healthtech startups jumped 2.8X to $460 Mn in the first half (H1) of 2024 from $120 Mn raised in H1 2023. 

Recently, healthtech unicorn Innovaccer raised $275 Mn in its Series F funding round to  transform healthcare with AI and cloud capabilities. 

Last month, healthtech startup Confido Health secured $3 Mn (around INR 25.5 Cr) in its seed funding round led by Together Fund.

The post ErlySign Bags INR 16 Cr To Develop Cancer Diagnostic Solutions appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Hyperlocal services startup Urban Company is reportedly looking to file draft papers for its INR 3,000 Cr initial public offering (IPO) before the end of March.

The company will issue both new and existing shares in its IPO, as per a Mint report, citing sources. However, it added that the company will largely raise primary capital. 

To oversee the process, the company has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Ahead of its IPO, its investor Prosus is also planning to double down on its investment in the company as reported in October last year.

Prosus is looking to inject $30 Mn (around INR 252 Cr) into the hyperlocal services startup Urban Company in a secondary deal, giving a partial exit to Bessemer Venture Partners.

Last year, Urban Company raised INR 400 Cr ($50 Mn) from Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Dharana Capital through a secondary deal, in July. The transaction saw its employees and other shareholders liquidate their shares in Urban Company. The fund raise coincided with Snapdeal cofounders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl’s venture capital (VC) firm Titan Capital’s complete exit from the startup.

The company also formed a joint venture (JV) with SMASCO (Saudi Manpower Solutions Company) to roll out a new home services platform in Saudi Arabia in October last year. 

On the financial front, the company trimmed its losses by 70% in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). 

Urban Company posted a loss before tax of INR 93 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), down 70% year-on-year from INR 312 Cr a year ago. The company saw its operating EBITDA decline to INR 116 Cr in FY24 as against INR 297 Cr a year ago.

In the first quarter (Q1) of the ongoing fiscal year (FY25), Urban Company clocked a revenue of INR 281 Cr. 

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Indichip Semiconductors, along with its venture partner Japan’s Yitoa Micro Technology (YMTL), has signed an MoU with the government of Andhra Pradesh.  

With an investment of INR 14,000 Cr, the semiconductor facility will focus on manufacturing Silicon Carbide (SiC) chips. 

Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh in a post on X said, “…this state-of -the-art facility will specialise in producing silicon carbide (SiC) chips, essential for energy-efficient technologies like electric vehicles and renewable energy.”

To establish the SiC fab facility, the Andhra Pradesh government would provide land at Orvakal mega industrial hub in Kurnool along with necessary infrastructure and ecosystem. 

The minister also said that the state’s government will provide full support to ensure the project’s success in order to strengthen India’s position in the global semiconductor ecosystem. 

The new facility will begin with a production capacity of 10,000 wafers per month that will go up to 50,000 wafers per month over two-three years. 

The development comes at a time when the Indian government in a boost to the semiconductor sector is facilitating land allocation and funding to Indian and international semiconductor players to set up their fabrication plants. 

Earlier last year, the Centre started the disbursement process for US-based chipmaking giant Micron under its $10 Bn PLI scheme to support the establishment of the company’s assembly, testing, monitoring, and packaging (ATMP) plant in Gujarat.

Further, the union cabinet approved Kaynes Semicon’s proposal to set up its outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) facility in Gujarat with an investment of INR 3,300 Cr. 

Besides, several new players are entering the semiconductor market in the country and grabbing investors’ attention. For instance, Fabless semiconductor design startup Mindgrove Technologies last month raised $8 Mn (INR 68.04 Cr) in its Series A funding round co-led by Rocketship.vc and Speciale Invest. 

In November last year, semiconductor startup Netrasemi raised INR 10 Cr (around $1.2 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round from Unicorn India Ventures.

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The shares of Reliance Retail-owned hyperlocal search engine Justdial nosedived 8.94% to INR 942.05 on BSE during intraday trading today (January 13). 

This comes close on the heels of Justdial’s net profit declining 14.3% to INR 131.50 Cr in the quarter ended December 31, 2024 (Q3 FY25) from INR 154 Cr in the last quarter (Q2 FY25). 

However, on a year-on-year(YoY) basis, the company reported a 42.7% increase in its net profit in the quarter under review. 

In its reasoning for the sequential decline, Justdial said that the dip was on expected lines due to “impact of festival weeks” during the quarter. 

Justdial’s shares recouped some of its losses and was trading at INR 948.40 apiece at the time of writing. The company’s market capitalisation stood at INR 8,065.22 Cr at the same time (1:09 PM). 

Justdial’s year-to-date (YTD) return declined over 5% and the five day return was down by 9.42%. 

The drop in Justdial’s share price coincided with a slowdown in benchmark indices with Nifty 50 trading 1.47% lower at 23,085.95 and BSE Sensex 1.36% down at 76,330.01 at the time of market’s closing today. 

In the third quarter of the current fiscal, Justdial’s net revenue from operations stood at INR 287.33 Cr, up 8.4% YoY and 0.9% QoQ. 

“Our focus remains on driving top line growth while maintaining operational efficiency, as reflected in our Q3 results, ” Justdial’s chief growth officer Shwetank Dixit said. 

Founded in 1993 by VSS Mani, Justdial forayed into the online search engine space in 2007 with the launch of its website. It operates a local search firm that provides both B2C and B2B listings of small and medium businesses across India. 

In 2021, Reliance Retail acquired a controlling stake of 65% in Justdial while the original promoter Mani still owns a 10% stake in the company.

Last month, Maharashtra goods and services tax (GST) department conducted searches at Justdial’s corporate office in Mumbai. The search operation was conducted under Section 67(1) and 67(2) of Maharashtra GST Act, 2017, the company said in a filing.

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Ecommerce major Flipkart is reportedly in talks to lead a $35-40 Mn funding in its fintech startup Super.money. 

The funding round may also see participation from external investors for the first time as per an ET report, citing sources. However, the e-commerce giant will retain the major ownership, the report said. 

It further added that Super.money is looking at nearly 30% dilution in the new funding. The details of the round will be finalised by the end of this month. 

Super.money last month surpassed Amazon Pay in terms of the number of UPI transactions processed, after five months of its launch. 

It emerged as the seventh largest player in the UPI ecosystem in November last year. Besides Amazon Pay, super.money overtook UPI players like WhatsApp and FamApp, and extended its lead over Groww, MobiKwik, BHIM and Jupiter Money. 

Super.money was first launched in June last year on Google Play Store in beta phase before its full-fledged launch later in August. The Bengaluru-based startup offers various financial offerings such as SuperUPI, SuperCard, SuperDeposit and SuperCash. 

It claims to be a platform which gives “actual” rewards on UPI transactions and credit cards and also provides instant loans via lending partners.

The fintech startup has been launching products after its beta phase ended. Most recently, Super.money launched a new fixed deposit (FD) offering, superFD last month. Under this, users can book FDs for as low as INR 1,000 and gain interest rates of up to 9.5%. 

The super app last month also roped in tech veteran Kaushik Mukherjee as its chief technology officer (CTO).

Super.money also launched a cobranded credit card, superCard, last year which allows users to get credit cards for limits as low as INR 90 by initiating deposits between INR 100 all the way to INR 10 Lakh.

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SaaS unicorn BrowserStack has reportedly started the process of redomiciling its holding entity from Ireland to India.

As per The Arc’s report, citing sources, the company’s flipback process can take nearly eight months if the regulatory procedure runs smoothly. However, in case of any issues flagged by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or the antitrust body CCI, the process can take up to a year. 

To move back its domicile to India, BrowserStack would require to pay tax to Ireland’s Companies Registration Office. 

Notably, the Indian subsidiary BrowserStack Software Private Limited is based out of Mumbai. 

Founded in 2011 by Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, BrowserStack offers a platform for software testing across various devices and browsers. The company claims to be profitable since its inception and has more than 15 products in its portfolio, 10 of which have been launched in the past 18 months.

Last year, BrowserStack acquired Berlin-based enterprise tech platform Bird Eats Bug in a $20 Mn deal. 

The company entered the unicorn club in 2021. 

The development comes at a time when many new-age tech companies are joining the reverse flipping trend. The trend is driven by several factors such as tax benefits in India, easier regulatory compliance, and the potential for an IPO.

Last year in May, fintech company Groww completed its reverse flip, shifting its domicile to India from the US. Groww’s redomiciling came after fintech major PhonePe shifted its domicile to India from Singapore in 2022. 

It was also reported in October last year that Tiger Global-backed Mensa Brands is shifting its domicile from Singapore to India. 

Further, fintech startup Pine Labs also secured the initial set of approvals from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to merge its Singapore entity with its Indian subsidiary last year. 

The post BrowserStack Begins Process To Redomicile Its Holding Entity To India: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Brokerage firm InCred Equities has initiated coverage on beauty and fashion ecommerce major Nykaa’s parent company FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd with ‘reduce’ rating. 

The firm has set the target price at INR 103, 39.4% lower than the share’s closing price today. 

While Nykaa’s revenue growth trajectory plateaus, its EBITDA margin is projected to shrink to 5.1% by FY27, driven by rising COGS (cost of goods sold) and competitive pressure, according to the firm’s coverage.  

The company’s revenue growth projections as per the firm’s outlook are 26% in FY25 and 25% for FY26-FY27. However, its EBITDA margin may reduce with a rise in market expenditure and pressure due to competition.

Nykaa relies strongly on operating revenue expansion while struggling with complexities of achieving sustainable profits, the firm noted.

Services being critical for EBITDA margin and profitability in Nykaa’s high margin business contributed only 13.4% to its topline.

The company’s owned brands are showing progress but still have challenges in both beauty and personal care (BPC) and fashion segments. 

The gross merchandise value (GMV) in BPC increased to 13.1% in FY24 from 11.1% in FY22 with 47.7% YoY growth in Q2 FY25. Fashion contributed 12.7% to GMV in FY24 against 12.9% in FY23 with YoY growth stagnating at 1.7% in Q2 FY25.

This comes a few days after the company reported its substantial Q3 update for the financial year 2024-25. Nykaa projected a strong performance in Q3 FY25 with consolidated net revenue growth likely to be higher than mid-twenties.

“This is higher than the consolidated GMV (gross merchandise value) growth for the same period, indicating positive trend in GMV to net revenue translation,” Nykaa said in its filing. 

In the second quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q2 FY25), Nykaa’s consolidated net profit surged 66.3% to INR 12.97 Cr from INR 7.8 Cr in the year-ago period, as the beauty and personal care (BPC) vertical delivered strong growth. 

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Shares of Brainbees Solutions, the parent company of kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry, tumbled over 4.6% to INR 552 on BSE during the intraday trading today (January 9). 

The shares have been on a falling streak after it touched INR 653.9 on January 2. The stock has ended in the red in four out of the last seven trading sessions.

Recovering some of the losses, the stock ended today’s trading session 4.2% lower at INR 554 on BSE. 

Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities highlighted that the stock has fallen below the crucial 50 EMA (Exponential Moving Average).

“While the sentiment appears weak, a minor pullback cannot be ruled out following the sharp decline. Resistance levels are seen at INR 580-INR 600, while a drop below INR 540 could trigger further correction,” said De. 

With a dip in FirstCry’s share price, its market capitalisation fell to INR 28,763 Cr at the time of market closing today. 

Brokerage firm JM Financial a few weeks ago initiated coverage on Brainbees with a ‘buy’ rating and a target price of INR 692 per share. The stock’s closing today was almost 20% lower than the PT set by the brokerage firm. 

The company in the second quarter (Q2) of the ongoing fiscal year (FY25) managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by 47.4% to INR 62.85 Cr from INR 119.41 Cr in the year-ago quarter, on the back of a strong growth in its top line.

Revenue from operations jumped 26.7% to INR 1,935.85 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,527.68 Cr in Q2 FY24.

FirstCry’s shares closing price today was also 11.36% lower than its listing price at INR 625. The company made its stock market debut on bourses in August last year.

The post FirstCry Shares Drop Over 4.5% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Ola Electric tumbled nearly 5% to INR 75.81 apiece on the NSE during the intraday trading today (January 9), slipping below its listing price of INR 76 apiece amid heavy selling of the stock.

More than 34 lakh Ola Electric shares were sold on the NSE today. 

However, the stock recouped some of its losses and was trading at INR 76.17 apiece on NSE at 2:53 PM.

Amid a decline in its share price, Ola Electric’s market capitalisation fell to INR 33,597 Cr (almost 3.91 Mn). 

The downward movement in the stock coincided with the decline in the broader market. While Nifty fell 0.78% to hit an intraday low of 23,503.05, BSE Sensex fell 0.77% to reach the day’s low of 77,542.92. 

When Ola Electric listed on bourses last year, it was seen as a watershed moment given it was the first electric vehicle (EV) maker to go public in India. However, the stock has lost its sheen amid rising consumer complaints over subpar after sales service, defective vehicle sales and consequent regulatory scrutiny. 

The stock ended Wednesday’s trading session 49.48% lower than its 52 week high of INR 157.40. 

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued an administrative warning to Ola Electric for violating its regulations. The regulator noted that the EV maker’s founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal published the information about the planned expansion of the store network nearly 4 hours before filing it with the exchanges.

Besides, the Karnataka High Court a couple of days ago dismissed Ola Electric’s plea to set aside a notice issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). The consumer protection watchdog in October last year issued a show-cause notice to the company over allegations of delays in providing service and deliveries, improper customer services and a host of other customer complaints among others. 

On the financial front, the company managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by 5.5% to INR 495 Cr in the September quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q2 FY25) from INR 524 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

The post Ola Electric Shares Crash 5% Amid Broader Market Decline appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Device management startup Servify’s consolidated net loss declined by 59.05% to INR 93.81 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 229.11 Cr in the previous fiscal year, helped by a boost in its topline and drop in employee benefit expenses.

The startup’s operating revenue increased by 23.44% to INR 754.51 Cr during the year under review against INR 611.23 Cr in FY23. 

Founded in 2015 by Sreevathsa Prabhakar, Servify’s offerings include device management services including device protection, product buybacks and device exchange. The startup earns a majority of its revenue from sale of services such as device protection plans and platform licences.

In the first three years, Servify only operated in India and gradually expanded into international markets. Besides India, it operates across three continents with regional offices in the US, Canada, China, the Middle East and Europe.

In the device management space, it competes with the likes of Qarmatek in India and Hyperlight in the US. 

The company has raised more than $130.10 Mn in funding till date and counts BEENEXT, Blume Ventures and DMI Sparkle Fund, among others as its backers. 

Servify works with brands like Apple, Samsung, Bose, HP, Panasonic, Airtel, Vodafone and Amazon among others. It claims to be operational in more than 40 countries and has around 18,000 service locations. 

The company in 2022 secured $65 Mn in its Series D funding round led by Singularity Growth Opportunity Fund.

Breakdown of Servify’s Revenue

As a device service platform, Servify earns a majority of its revenue from the sale of services and for some part from its products. However, in the financial year 2024, its product sales increased substantially.

In the fiscal year 2024, Servify’s income from sale of services increased to INR 662.99 Cr from INR 556.3 Cr a year ago. Its revenue from sale of products expanded to INR 91.17, a 66% year-on-year (YoY) increase from INR 54.9 Cr in FY23.

Besides, the company’s other income almost doubled to INR 4.46 Cr in the year under review against INR 2.17 Cr in FY23. 

Where Did Servify Spend in FY24?

The startup’s total expenditure saw a slight increase in FY24 to INR 859.23 Cr against INR 846.7 Cr in the previous year. 

Employee Benefit Expense: The expense under this bucket reduced by 13.57% in FY24 to INR 157.92 Cr as against INR 182.72 Cr. 

Purchase of Stock-In-Trade: The expense incurred on the purchase of stock rose by 57.86% to INR  84.50 Cr in the year under review from INR 53.53 Cr in FY23. The stock in trade includes purchase of mobile phones worth INR 82.45 Cr and spare parts worth INR 2.05 Cr in FY24. 

Cost of Materials Consumed: The startup’s direct operating cost in the form of cost of materials consumed reduced to INR 493.41 Cr in FY24 from INR 494.96 Cr in the previous fiscal.

Finance Cost: Servify’s finance cost contributed primarily to the marginal increase in its expenditure. The company’s finance cost stood at INR 9.66 Cr, witnessing a 218% rise in the reported year against INR 3.03 Cr in the last fiscal. 

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