Nasdaq-listed travel major MakeMyTrip (MMT) is evaluating a potential listing in the Indian bourses to open up an access to capital from domestic institutional and retail investors. A potential India IPO could also act as a catalyst to bolster its presence in its core Indian market and consolidate leadership, the company said in a statement today.

Ahead of the IPO, the Delhi NCR-based company has completed an internal restructure by combining its key brands under a single Indian entity. A key part of the amalgamation was the merger of RebBus India with MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt Ltd, it said. 

The company’s India listing plans would be contingent on it getting key regulatory approvals and customary corporate considerations as well as supporting market conditions. 

The travel major is weighing a domestic IPO about 16 years after listing on Nasdaq in 2010. The company opted for a US listing at the time due to factors such as greater market maturity and access to institutional capital for a tech-focused business. 

Since incorporation in 2000, the company has processed over 8.7 Cr transactions for retail consumers as well as onboarding 77,000 SME and large corporate customers. Its market cap has also expanded to over $5 Bn as of now. 

On the financial front, MakeMyTrip reported a 73% YoY decline in its net profit to $7.3 Mn for Q3 FY26 from $27.1 Mn in the year-ago period, largely due to rise in finance costs. Operating revenue increased 11% YoY and 29% QoQ to $295.7 Mn in Q3 FY26. 

Over the years, MMT acquired rivals such as Goibibo and redBus to supplement its primary focus of air ticketing and hotels. Recently, it acquired a minority stake in Visa processing platform Atlys and holiday packages business Flamingo Transworld. 

MakeMytrip would become the second Indian travel tech company to list in India after a Nasdaq debut. Yatra made its Indian markets debut in 2023, seven years after listing in the US. Yatra India raised ₹602 Cr from the IPO and reported revenue of ₹256.8 Cr in Q3 FY26, with a net profit of ₹8.3 Cr. 

The post MakeMyTrip Plans India IPO To Raise Funds For Long-Term Growth appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Visa processing platform Atlys has secured $36 Mn (₹331.8 Cr) in a Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Asia VC, with participation from MakeMyTrip. Existing investors Elevation Capital, Long Journey Ventures, and Peak XV Partners also participated in the round.

Atlys plans to use the fresh capital to enter new international markets while expanding its presence in existing geographies. A portion of the capital will go into embedding intelligence across the entire visa lifecycle as well as strengthen regulatory integrations and global partnerships.

Founded by Mohak Nahta in 2020, Atlys is an online visa platform that claims to ensure on-time delivery of visas. It facilitates e-visa applications for more than 120 countries from India, including destinations like the UAE, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Argentina, Russia, and Sri Lanka.

Besides visa service, Atlys also offers other global travel solutions, including eSIMs, forex, and travel insurance. 

“We are currently on an over 7 Lakh annual visa run rate, and as rising incomes drive a surge in global travel and cross-border experiences, the scale of the opportunity ahead is significant,” Nahta said.

Prior to this round, the Delhi NCR-based startup raised $20 Mn in 2024, to improve product and engineering capabilities, enter new markets, and scale operations globally. Shortly afterwards, it acquired visa service company Artionis’ UK subsidiary in an all-cash deal to expand overseas in February 2025.

Overall, the travel tech startup has raised over $73 Mn since its inception from investors like South Park Commons, Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), DST Global, Headline,among others.

The development comes at a time when international travel is going through a rather tough patch with mounting global geopolitical uncertainties. The ongoing war in West Asia has posed significant risks to the operations of travel tech players. Multiple flight cancellations and changes in schedule have continued to affect the tourists traffic and reservations. 

In this light, investors are cautious in the startups they back in this space. Instead of backing startups operating in the international travel market, VCs have been doubling down on investments in travel solution providers. Startups like BillionE Mobility, Carrum, Pumpumpum, to name a few, have raised fresh equity funding this year.

The post Visa Processing Platform Atlys Bags $36 Mn To Enter New International Markets appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed EV company Ola Electric is reportedly set to raise up to ₹2,000 Cr (around $216.8 Mn) by selling a portion of stake in its battery subsidiary, Ola Cell Technologies (OCT).

As per a report by Moneycontrol, the fundraise would see the company sell a minority stake to financial investors. As per a report by ET, the company is in discussions with sovereign wealth funds and global infrastructure investors. Investment banks Avendus Capital and Motilal Oswal have been mandated to run the fundraising process, as per the report.

Ola Electric declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development. The BSE has also sought a clarification from the company on this. The story will be updated based on the company’s response.

Important to mention that the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company has been mulling fresh capital raise for some time now. In November 2025, the company’s board approved the raise of ₹1,500 Cr via a qualified institutional placement (QIP). However, nothing has panned out on this front till now. 

The new fundraise plans come at a time when Ola Electric’s shares are under selling pressure primarily due to the company’s declining financial performance. In the third quarter of FY26, the EV company’s operating revenue plunged 55% YoY and 32% QoQ to ₹470 Cr. Meanwhile, it managed to trim its net loss by 14% YoY to ₹418 Cr. 

In the quarter, it delivered 32,680 E2Ws in Q3 FY26, a 61% drop from 84,029 units delivered in the year-ago quarter. 

The declining sales have also hit Ola Electric’s cash balance. In the quarter, the company’s auditor highlighted its negative cash flow from operations of ₹866 Cr during the nine-months period ended December 31, 2025, primarily on account of continued operating losses and lower-than expected growth in sales volume.

In the past, Ola Electric has raised capital from OCT for its vehicle manufacturing and technology business. In October, Ola Electric announced that OCT would be investing ₹877.6 Cr in its other material subsidiary Ola Electric Technologies Pvt Ltd. 

Ola Cell Technologies’ board today approved the investment by way of subscription of 87.76 Lakh non-cumulative and non-participating 0.001% Series A optionally convertible redeemable preference shares of Ola Electric Technologies. 

This investment was part of Ola Electric’s plans to alter the use of ₹5,500 Cr it raised from its IPO last year. 

Shares of Ola Electric ended today’s trading session 5.28% higher at ₹24.32.

The post Ola Electric To Raise ₹2,000 Cr By Selling Stake In Ola Cell Technologies: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Fino Payments Bank plummeted 19.6% to touch a 52-week low of ₹136 apiece on the BSE during the intraday trading today, after a report said that the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) may recommend an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into online gaming transactions connected with the bank.

The stock ended today’s trading session 17.3% lower at ₹139.85 apiece. 

Earlier today, ET reported that the DGGI may recommend an ED probe into the company’s transactions after the former identified multiple suspected money laundering transactions.  

However, Fino Payments Bank rejected the report. “This is non-factual and speculative. As consistently disclosed, the bank is currently not subject to any investigation by any authority other than the DGGI, Hyderabad, in connection with this matter,” it said. 

Last month, Fino Payments Bank MD and CEO Rishi Gupta was arrested by the DGGI over alleged GST evasion. The DGGI has alleged that Gupta was one of the “masterminds” in an organised syndicate involved in routing funds linked to illegal online gaming platforms through shell entities and programme managers associated with Fino Payments Bank.

The payments bank has maintained that the GST case pertains to programme managers who have relationships with other banks, including Fino Payments Bank, and that it and Gupta have nothing to do with the actions of the programme managers.

Following Gupta’s arrest, the bank appointed CFO Ketan Merchant as the interim head to manage its day-to-day operations.

Gupta has moved the Telangana HC against his arrest. Last week, the court heard the matter and reserved the order till March 17.

Fino Payments Bank’s shares have crashed over 27% since Gupta’s arrest. His arrest came nearly a month after the RBI approved the reappointment of Gupta as Fino Payments Bank’s MD and CEO for a period of three years, with effect from May 2, 2026. 

Fino Payments Bank made its public market debut in 2021 and received the central bank’s in-principle approval in December last year to convert into a small finance bank (SFB). 

Earlier this month, the bank said it remains focused on its transition into a SFB, despite Gupta’s arrest. 

On the financial front, Fino Payments Bank’s net profit declined 47% to ₹12.3 Cr in Q3 FY26 from ₹23.1 Cr in the year-ago period. Total income for the quarter declined 15% YoY to ₹394.4 Cr, due to a fall in its traditional transaction business. 

The post Fino Payments Bank Shares Slump Over 17% On Report Of Potential ED Probe appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Quick commerce began as a way to solve urgent, last-minute purchases. It has now become a mainstream buying habit — one that brings consumers back multiple times a week and compresses decision-making into minutes. Between 2023 and 2025, the category scaled rapidly. 

The 10-minute delivery market, estimated at around $6 Bn today, is projected to expand to $35–$40 Bn by 2030. Over the same period, gross order value rose from $3.1 Bn in 2023 to $7.4 Bn in 2025, signalling just how quickly the format has moved from novelty to routine.

The ‘let me try this once’ attitude of the Indian consumer has evolved into a default behaviour, with at least 42% people living in Tier I cities opting for 10-minute deliveries for their everyday household needs. When an app grabs the user’s attention with such stickiness, it stops being just a logistical tool and starts being an attention surface that attracts marketers. 

What makes quick commerce distinct from its parent, ecommerce or powerful social media? It is the predictability of returns. Users return to the apps multiple times a week. This has unfolded a plethora of opportunities for marketers to explore. Traditional advertising, such as ecommerce or social media, does not offer such repeat engagement. The value of every pixel changes on a quick commerce screen. No wonder social media is losing its shine with returns on ad spends ebbing out. 

“On social media, the default user mode is entertainment, leading to high ad fatigue and sub-1% CTRs. A user, in contrast, opens a quick commerce app to complete a specific task or fix a last-minute need. Because the context is inherently transactional, the platforms can place sponsored tiles, bundles, and in-cart prompts right next to an active basket,” said Umair Mohammad, who founded Nitro Commerce as an AI-based marketing services startup. 

This granular data dramatically raises the relevance and captures high-intent users who are ready to buy. When a brand shows up next to an active search query or in a live cart, it becomes relevant, and this intent-led visibility becomes a high-value, non-endemic ad property. 

Non-endemic ads are those placed by brands in retail environments where they don’t sell their products directly, but leverage the retail customer data to target the audience, based on shared interests or demographics. 

Quick commerce platforms hold rich first-party signals, including basket size, category mix, order timing, and locality that perfectly map the demand for non-endemic categories like financial products, mobility, and OTT.

With this data, advertisers can accurately measure if a campaign moved physical volumes in specific pin-codes or store radii, and easily correlate that data with offline signals like physical store visits or auto test drives.

High-Frequency Data Powers Share Of Voice 

The real power of quick commerce as a visibility channel lies in two structural advantages: high-frequency usage and deterministic first-party data. Unlike ecommerce, where a user might transact once a month, quick commerce operates on compressed, repeat cycles. Users place multiple orders a month, and each order generates hard, concrete signals, such as which category, what time of day, what basket size, and which neighbourhood.

That repetition offers brands steady and predictable exposure. Every one of those sessions is logged, tied to a real address, and backed by an actual transaction. As third-party cookies fade, this becomes far more valuable. Going beyond who’s buying, quick commerce platforms know what they are buying regularly, when they are buying it, where they live, and so on. 

The wider industry has begun recognising this shift, as quick commerce media networks are on course to average a 21% growth between 2023 and 2027. Retail media, which claims a major slice of the digital ad pie, too, sees the sharpest spike coming from quick commerce. Advertisement spends on the quick commerce big three – Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart – jumped from ₹1,325 Cr to ₹4,000 Cr in 2025, surging 202% in one year, with projections to reach ₹6,000 Cr by 2026, implying another 50% growth.

These figures reflect that brands are not treating quick commerce as an add-on channel but as a revenue engine that sits close to the point of sale. And, according to Mohammad, the share of voice (SoV) becomes critical for brands at this juncture. 

“In Q-commerce, purchasing decisions are compressed into a few seconds on the top search results and first rows. Brands that repeatedly dominate these high-impact slots capture mindspace and category share. Therefore, your share of those prime impressions tracks much closer to the actual share of the market than CPC does in this compressed environment,” he said. 

But there are some limitations too. When brands that have nothing to do with groceries start advertising on a quick commerce platform, things can go wrong, too. 

These ads get heavier than standard product listings, which can slow the app down. Second, any intrusive ad can break the seamless experience of quick commerce platforms, which is one of their key moats, and third, the ad can simply feel out-of-place, which can adversely affect a user’s trust in the platform.

“Anything that slows the user down on a platform which they use to complete tasks in minutes risks lower engagement and high drop-off,” Mohammad pointed out. He also shared how brands can tackle it. “Platforms can solve this by tightening contextual rules, serving BFSI ads only on high-value baskets, or telecom ads on heavy digital-consumption signals, and integrating them into native, low-friction placements like post-purchase confirmation screens or slim, non-intrusive tiles.” 

Enabler For Next Phase Of Monetisation 

As quick commerce adds another facet beyond utility – the media layer – execution has come up as a major issue. Platforms sit on high-intent traffic, but unlocking value from it without hurting user experience requires superior infrastructure. This is where an intelligent layer like Zodiac by Nitro becomes critical. 

Zodiac functions as an AI copilot for brands navigating quick commerce, bringing agentic capabilities that help teams continuously optimise their performance across platforms. It stitches together sales, inventory and advertising signals into unified shopper and SKU-level profiles, allowing brands to identify performance patterns across dark stores and quick commerce platforms without relying on fragmented dashboards or manual reporting.

Using Nitro’s solutions, these profiles can then be activated across the quick commerce network, from stock decisions and purchase orders to ad targeting on Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart, closing the loop between data and revenue in real time.

“Nitro has four layers working as one. The four layers – Identity resolution, intent-led media, agentic engagement, and real-time retention – are all connected. So, the moment a user browses, drops off, or comes back for a second purchase, Nitro knows what to do next,” Mohammad said. 

Instead of static campaigns, platforms can run intent-led flows that move users closer to conversion while staying native to the shopping journey by using Nitro.

“Building an end-to-end ad-tech stack from scratch – identity graphs, audience managers, billing, reporting, and compliance, is incredibly slow, capex-heavy, and distracts from core roadmap items like logistics and assortment. Nitro provides these primitives as ready-to-use modules,” Mohammad told Inc42. 

But this opportunity comes with a caveat. If monetisation overwhelms experience, the very habit that powers this channel can erode. 

The next phase of growth will not be defined by how many ad platforms can squeeze in, but by how intelligently they balance relevance, speed and trust. Those who get that equation right will not just move groceries faster. They will move budgets, market share and long-term brand equity in the process.

The post How Quick Commerce Is Turning Into A Visibility Engine For Retail & D2C Brands appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fintech major PhonePe has temporarily paused its IPO plans amid the ongoing war in Iran and parts of West Asia, as well as volatility in the global equity markets. 

In a statement, the fintech company said it intends to restart the IPO process once global capital markets regain stability.

“We sincerely hope for a swift return to peace in all the affected regions. We remain committed to a public listing in India,” PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said, without giving any indication of when the company would be back on the IPO course. 

However, sources close to the development told Inc42 that PhonePe is likely to push the IPO till at least June 2026. 

The fintech giant received SEBI approval in January 2026 and has up to 12 months to launch its IPO, as per SEBI regulations. So, PhonePe does not need to rush the IPO process for the time being and can wait for market conditions to stabilise and geopolitical tensions to subside, the sources added.

It was reported earlier this month that the Walmart-owned company was planning to launch its IPO by April, targeting a valuation in the range of $9 Bn to $10.5 Bn. As per its DRHP, PhonePe is to go for an offer-for-sale (OFS) listing, with its backers offloading 5.07 Cr equity shares. Majority owner Walmart is expected to lead the way by offloading about 4.59 Cr equity shares, followed by Tiger Global and Microsoft. The IPO is expected to be in the range of $900 Mn to $1.5 Bn.

On the financial front, the company ‘s net loss for H1 FY26 jumped 20% to ₹1,444.4 Cr from ₹1,203.2 Cr in the same period previous fiscal year. Its top line surged 21% to ₹4,174.5 Cr from ₹3,459.7 Cr in H1 FY25.

Stock Markets, Domestic Consumption Reel

The conflict in West Asia and the subsequent war, which erupted at the end of February and is in its third week now, has wreaked havoc in the lives of citizens and businesses even in India. Much of this is due to the shortage of LPG and crude oil due to the conflict and disruptions to shipments stuck at the Strait of Hormuz. 

As covered by Inc42 in the past two weeks, the shortage of LPG has resulted in many restaurants shutting down and households being left without cooking gas. The fuel shortage has also impacted other sectors of the economy.

The ongoing war has also pummelled the Indian equity market over the past three weeks. Both Sensex and Nifty 50 have crashed over 8% each since the beginning of the war at the end of February.

A key trigger for the bearish sentiment in the Indian market has been the sustained heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who have remained net sellers across segments. 

“In the near-term, FIIs are likely to continue selling in the market, particularly when there is a mild rally in the market. This will add to the weakness in the market, even in fundamentally sound sectors and stocks,” Geojit Investments’ chief investment strategist VK Vijayakumar noted.

Will Other IPOs Get Hit?

PhonePe delaying its IPO could have a cascading effect on other listings. As one of the biggest listings expected this year, its IPO would have been a key indicator of the market appetite. 

BharatPe, for instance, is preparing for an IPO after a turn to profitability. In recent weeks, sources close to the company had indicated that the PhonePe IPO would serve as a bellwether in the fintech space. Other fintech public listings such as Razorpay, Moneyview, PayU and large non-fintech IPOs such as OYO, Zetwerk, Rebel Foods and Zepto could also see some adjustment in their IPO timelines. 

The scenario is similar to the spate of delayed IPOs at the tail end of 2022, when market sentiment had turned sour in the aftermath of rising interest rates, following the global zero interest rate fiscal policies. 

However, this time, with serious armed conflict close to Indian shores and given Indian business interests in the Middle East, one can expect a severe impact on the IPO timelines for some of the above companies. 

“Bankers and primary investors are currently exercising caution, as this is one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year. Given the prevailing market uncertainty, there is little appetite to proceed with a launch right now. Several other startups that were lining up for public listings are also likely to take a more measured approach. Those that are not in the final stages of launching their IPOs may choose to hold back for the time being and reassess market conditions before moving ahead,” a wealth manager at a leading mutual fund said.

Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam

The post PhonePe Pauses IPO Plans Amid War; Will Others Follow? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaming and esports startup NODWIN Gaming has announced the appointment of Modern Times Group’s EVP-Gaming Arnd Benninghoff to its board amid plans to raise further capital. Benninghoff has been with MTG since 2014, where he oversees the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth.

In a statement, the Nazara associate startup said that the appointment comes at a time when it is looking to initiate an initial public offering (IPO) after a fresh round of funding. 

The startup said that its pre-IPO funding round will comprise fresh primary capital to drive global expansion via organic growth and strategic acquisitions. The round will also comprise of a secondary component to offer liquidity to existing shareholders.

Important to note that NODWIN became an associate entity of Nazara in July 2025 after the latter announced that it doesn’t intend to participate in NODWIN’s fresh funding round. This reduced Nazara’s stake in the gaming entity to under 50%.

NODWIN’s cofounder Akshat Rathee described the de-subsidiarisation not as a separation, but as an evolution, noting that the startup needed access to larger capital pools than Nazara’s typical cheque size to pursue its ambitions.

The deconsolidation of NODWIN materialised in Q3 FY26, leading to a 85% YoY crash in Nazara’s esports revenue for the quarter to ₹34 Cr. Meanwhile, NODWIN’s revenue for the quarter surged 58% YoY to ₹261 Cr. Its EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹40 Cr.

Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN operates in the esports, gaming, and youth entertainment segments. Nazara bought 55% stake in NODWIN in 2018, making it a subsidiary of the brand.

Its business centres around building and monetising youth focused content around gaming, esports, live events and content via its IPs like leagues, tournaments and reality shows.

Over the years, NODWIN has been backed by companies like Krafton, JetSynthesys, Sony Group and Innopark. It last raised $28 Mn at a post-money valuation of $349 Mn in 2023 to build an esports platform, power acquisitions and grow its international footprint.

Editor’s Note: The story has been edited to remove the reference to UBS after NODWIN Gaming said it was “inadvertently” included in the statement.

The post NODWIN Gaming Ropes In MTG’s Arnd Benninghoff To Board Amid Fundraise Plans appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Networking platform Grapevine has raised $4.1 Mn (about ₹37.9 Cr) from Kae Capital, Peak XV Partners, and upGrad cofounder and chairman Ronnie Screwvala to scale its new AI-led job discovery platform TAL.

Grapevine cofounder Saumil Tripathi took to X to make the funding announcement. Along with the funding round, he also announced the launch of TAL – an AI-powered talent agent which scans jobs on the users’ behalf and recommends the suitable ones. 

“3 years and 1M+ users on Grapevine taught us this: The internet today works for companies.Not for talent,” Tripathi said in his post. 

Notably, during the India AI Impact Summit last month, Peak XV announced investments in five AI startups. Round1, another product by Grapevine, was among these five startups.

While Round1 is an AI-native interview practice app where users can simulate job interviews and get feedback on their answers, TAL is a job discovery platform. Grapevine plans to use the fresh capital to scale both these products. 

Founded by Tripathi, Jainam Talsania, and Shreeyash Dharmadhikari, Grapevine started as a networking platform for corporate and startup employees. It enables employees to discuss various issues, including salaries, hiring, layoffs, and work culture, anonymously. The platform has multiple “Communities” for different topics to allow its users to participate in discussions as per their choice. 

It competes with the likes of Teamblind, Glassdoor, Fishbowl, Levels.fyi, and Reddit, among others. 

Amid rising adoption of AI across sectors, the technology is being extensively used for job discovery as well. From assignments to finding jobs and taking interviews, recruiters as well as employees are leveraging AI. 

For instance, Northtstarz.ai is helping startups and companies find the right talent with the help of its small language models, built in-house and trained on 40,000 real-life interviews.

Investors are also actively backing startups using AI for job discovery solutions. For instance, TurboHire raised $6 Mn last year to automate the enterprise recruitment process.

The post Grapevine Bags $4.1 Mn To Scale Its AI Job Discovery Platform TAL appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Google’s AI Futures Fund and VC firm Accel’s pre-seed investment programme Atoms have selected five AI startups for ‘2026 Atoms AI’ cohort to fuel the next wave of pre-seed AI innovation.

In a statement, the companies said that the five startups were selected from the 4,000 applications received for the programme.

Accel and Google AI Futures Fund will co-invest up to $2 Mn (₹18.5 Cr), split equally between them, in the selected startups. Besides, the startups will be offered $350K in compute credits spanning Google Cloud, Gemini, and Google DeepMind resources.

“By providing these five startups with early access to our most advanced models and compute power, we’re helping them solve hard problems faster and more responsibly,” said Jonathan Silber, cofounder and director of Google AI Futures Fund.

Google and Accel announced their partnership in November last year to back Indian founders using AI for optimising work, creativity, software engineering and entertainment. 

The programme officially began at Google Ananta in Bengaluru on March 11. Accel said that the programme will conclude in June with a visit to Mountain View, California, where founders will get hands-on guidance from AI leaders and the broader investor community.

With that, let’s take a look at the five startups that are part of the 2026 Atoms AI Cohort:

Meet The 5 Startups In 2026 Atoms AI Cohort

Dodge AI

• Founded In: 2025
• Founders: Rebhav Bharadwaj, Aditya Thakur
• Headquarters: San Francisco

Dodge AI is building AI agents for ERP maintenance to replace the traditional spending on ERP consultants to maintain legacy systems. Its AI agents can spot and solve SAP AMS tickets and enhancements before they become a priority incident.

K-Dense

• Founded In: 2025
• Founders: Timothy Kassis, David Zhang
• Headquarters: Palo Alto

K-Dense is building an AI co-scientist to accelerate scientific discovery by helping researchers reason through complex problems in life sciences, physics, and chemistry. The statement said that the startup is developing open-source tools that are gaining strong adoption within the global research community.

LevelPlane

• Founded In: 2025
• Founders: Vineeth Rajagopal, Suri Chawla
• Headquarters: San Francisco 

LevelPlane is using AI to automate and streamline sourcing for auto and aerospace industries. It has built an operating system that connects to the ERP, reads drawings, manages supplier networks, and acts on the client’s behalf across the full sourcing cycle. 

Persistence Labs

• Founded In: 2025
• Founders: Utkarsh Marwaha
• Headquarters: Los Angeles

Persistence Labs is building voice AI agents for call centres. It lets clients instantly build an AI voice agent with their knowledge base that can be easily embedded on a website or used as a standalone solution. The AI agent analyses and learns from the text content to provide accurate answers about products or services. 

Zingroll

• Founded In: 2024
• Founders: Harshit Yadav
• Headquarters: Menlo Park

Zingroll is building a streaming platform for AI-native movies and shows which helps AI creators connect with their audiences directly. The platform aims to provide Netflix-level quality with YouTube-like accessibility.

The post Meet The 5 Startups In Google’s AI Futures Fund & Accel’s Atoms AI Cohort 2026 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Green finance-focused NBFC Ecofy has raised ₹380.5 Cr ($42 Mn) in an equity round led by British International Investment (BII) and Finland-based Finnfund. The round also saw participation from existing investors FMO and Eversource Capital.

Founded in 2023 by Rajashree Nambiar and Govind Sankaranarayanan, Ecofy provides loans to small-medium enterprises (SME) and individuals for two and three wheeler electric vehicles, commercial and industrial rooftop solar installations, energy efficient equipment financing and supply chain financing loans. It provides loans in the range of ₹1 Lakh to ₹1.5 Cr for a tenure between six months to five years.

The lender is planning to use the fresh capital infusion toward scaling credit offerings for sustainable assets further.

The Mumbai-based NBFC claims to have served 1.25 Lakh customers till date, with assets under management worth ₹1,400 Cr. It has partnered with over 23 banks and financial institutions for its co-lending activities, along with over 100 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Earlier, it announced a strategic partnership with Ather Energy to offer customers access to its green financing options, including vehicle loans, leasing solutions and assured buyback structures. It signed a similar deal with Motovolt Mobility in September last year.

“Over the last three years, we have created a technology-led, retail-focused green finance platform with strong unit economics, disciplined risk management, and scalable impact. This capital allows us to deepen our offerings, expand distribution, and continue building a high-quality green lending franchise, while delivering attractive, risk-adjusted returns,” cofounder Nambiar said.

Ecofy last raised a debt of $12.5 Mn from Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). In the past, it has raised close to $11 Mn in equity excluding the current round.

On the financial front, the NBFC’s net loss for the fiscal year FY25 increased 16% to ₹42.3 Cr from ₹36.6 Cr loss incurred in the previous fiscal. The company’s operating revenue grew nearly 3X to ₹102.9 Cr in the fiscal from ₹34.9 Cr.

The green financing sector has scaled considerably in the past few years on the back of a demand for ecofriendly solutions to support sustainability mandates.

Notably, many of these financing startups have received investments from global impact funds interested in India’s sustainable solutions sector, with the solar energy sector alone projected to reach a size of $34.7 Bn by 2033 from $12.4 Bn in 2025.

For instance, solar financing startup Aerem raised $15 Mn last month in a round led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s VC arm SMBC Asia Rising Fund, which also saw participation from BII.

The post Ecofy Bags $42 Mn To Scale Climate-Focused Financing Solutions appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Markets regulator SEBI has greenlit the IPO of Travelstack Tech, the parent entity of budget hotel chain Fabhotels and hotel-focused corporate management provider TravelPlus.

The regulator issued its observation letter to Travelstak on March 11. In SEBI’s parlance, the issuance of the observation letter is the official nod to a company to proceed with its public offering.

The company’s proposed IPO is expected to comprise a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹250 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 2.69 Cr shares. It filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the SEBI in December 2025.

Investors like Accel, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Anupam Mittal and Panthera will offload a portion of their shareholding in the company via the IPO, while its founders and promoters Adarssh Mnpuria and Vaibhav Aggarwal plan to offload 17.91 Lakh and 35.82 Lakh shares, respectively. 

The company plans to utilise the fresh proceeds netted via the IPO to fund working capital requirements, repay/ prepay certain borrowings and for general corporate purposes. 

Travelstack, formerly known as Casa2 Stays Pvt Ltd, operates SaaS platform TravelPlus and budget hotel chain FabHotels. While it operated close to 1,400 properties under the FabHotels brand as of September 30, 2025, TravelPlus, which allows businesses to simplify travel for their workforce, served over 100 clients like Eternal, Infra.Market, Zepto, Titan Company and UnifyApps.

On the financial front, the company reported a net profit of ₹32.2 Cr in H1 FY26 on an operating revenue of ₹400.4 Cr for the period.

In FY25, Travelstack managed to trim its net loss by 95% to ₹6.3 Cr from ₹114.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue for the period surged 31% to ₹716.4 Cr from ₹547.8 Cr in FY24. 

The SEBI nod comes at a time when the global equities markets, including India’s, have been under immense pressure due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia. 

With no signs of the conflict easing, market experts expect volatility to persist in the near term, potentially disrupting the IPO plans of companies. Amid this, fintech major PhonePe today said it has temporarily paused its listing plans until the situation eases. 

Notably, the momentum in new-age tech IPOs carried over from 2025 into 2026, with five companies – Fractal, SEDEMAC, Aye Finance, Shadowfax, and Amagi – going public in the first three months of the year.

The post FabHotels Parent Travelstack Gets SEBI Nod For IPO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian AI ecosystem is entering a complex phase, marked by technological breakthroughs, selective capital infusion and rising geopolitical uncertainty. 

Over the past week alone, developments across sovereign AI models, enterprise funding activity and global market shocks have reinforced how deeply AI is now intertwined with the broader startup and economic narratives.

On the technology front, India’s sovereign AI ambition gathered fresh momentum as Sarvam AI open-sourced its 30B and 105B reasoning models built under the IndiaAI Mission.

The move signals a strategic shift from India’s dependence on Western foundational models.

Meanwhile, enterprise AI adoption continues to gather pace, with a series of startups raising capital. Bengaluru-based Coreworks AI recently raised $5 Mn to automate enterprise reporting workflows, while vision AI SaaS startup Constems-AI secured $2 Mn to scale global deployments and deepen its R&D capabilities. These deals reflect growing investor conviction in applied AI platforms that promise measurable operational outcomes rather than experimental pilots.

This is at a time when the ecosystem is also grappling with macro headwinds. Escalating tensions in the Middle East are beginning to disrupt supply chains and threaten revenue pipelines for Indian SaaS startups with Gulf exposure — especially during the crucial March-April renewal cycle. Rising freight costs, tightening security protocols and budgets among enterprise clients could test the resilience of startups dependent on cross-border demand.

Yet, Indian founders remain robust. Strategic acquisitions such as Nitro Commerce’s buyout of Zodiac Labs point to a rising appetite for agentic AI integrations across sectors like quick commerce and retail analytics. 

Against this backdrop, Inc42 is back with its monthly AI Startups To Watch series, spotlighting five emerging players in the areas of data intelligence infrastructure, semiconductor automation, enterprise developer productivity, AI-driven product content creation, and renewable energy analytics.

With that said, here is the sixth edition of Inc42’s Five AI Startups To Watch.

Editor’s Note: This is not a ranking. The startups featured here are a curated selection by the Inc42 editorial team and are listed alphabetically.

EarthSync | Optimising Clean Energy Decisions For Enterprises

As organisations accelerate decarbonisation strategies, renewable energy deployment decisions are becoming increasingly complex. Variables such as tariffs, regulatory frameworks, storage technologies, transmission costs and emissions targets must be evaluated simultaneously.

Founded in 2024 by Mehul Kumar and Rajat Singh, EarthSync is building an AI-powered platform that enables enterprises to simulate, optimise and execute renewable energy investments with greater speed and confidence.

Integrated Intelligence: The startup’s platform performs holistic technical, financial, and policy analysis across the clean energy project lifecycle. Standardised templates automatically incorporate regulatory variables such as time-of-day tariffs, taxation norms and grid constraints.

EarthSync’s physics-informed machine learning engine helps organisations evaluate optimal capacity sizing, risk scenarios and sustainability outcomes across solar, wind and battery energy storage deployments.

Stakeholder Collaboration Layer: By centralising data across project teams, advisors and procurement partners, the platform aims to reduce miscommunication and streamline decision-making.

CXO-ready dashboards allow enterprises to compare multiple deployment scenarios across more than 50 performance metrics, accelerating board-level approvals for large-scale clean energy transitions.

The Market Opportunity: With corporate net-zero commitments intensifying globally, EarthSync is targeting independent power producers, industrial energy consumers and advisory firms navigating multi-technology decarbonisation strategies.

As renewable portfolios grow more distributed and data-heavy, AI-driven optimisation platforms could play a central role in bridging sustainability ambitions with execution realities. 

The company eyes India’s energy management software market, projected to grow from $1.6 Bn in 2024 to $4.7 Bn by 2033.

Mindcase | External Intelligence Layer For Enterprises

As enterprises double down on AI-driven decision-making, access to structured external intelligence continues to slow execution. Critical signals around competitor pricing, product assortment, consumer trends and market movements increasingly reside across fragmented digital surfaces, such as marketplaces, review platforms, directories and brand websites. Yet, most organisations rely on manual research workflows or inflexible dashboards to access this information.

Founded in 2024, Mindcase is building an AI-native intelligence platform that converts unstructured web data into decision-ready business insights.

What’s In The Klin? The platform provides enterprises with access to structured datasets derived from publicly available digital platforms. This reduces the need to rely on traditional research vendors. It uses specialised AI agents to continuously track ecommerce platforms, location data sources, competitor websites and social signals to discover relevant data. Building on this, an intent-driven analysis layer interprets business hypotheses or problem statements and dynamically identifies the most relevant datasets required to validate them. 

The platform also converts raw data into visual dashboards, benchmarking reports, and actionable recommendations, rather than static spreadsheets. It also supports iterative decision workflows, allowing teams to refine datasets, add variables and generate fresh insights in real time without restarting research cycles.

From Consulting-Led Learning To Productisation: Before building its platform, the startup spent over a year working closely with large consumer brands and consulting firms on custom intelligence projects. This helped Mindcase develop domain-specific playbooks across use cases such as competitor benchmarking, assortment analysis, quick commerce pricing intelligence and emerging product trend tracking.

Business Model & Market Opportunity: Mindcase operates on a hybrid revenue model — combining one-off intelligence requests for strategic projects with recurring subscriptions for continuous market monitoring. With its upcoming chat-based platform expected to enable global self-serve adoption, the startup is positioning itself within the broader market intelligence and research software category, where enterprises are increasingly seeking faster, AI-led alternatives to traditional data services. 

The company operates in the intelligence and analytics software market, which is projected to exceed $42.1 Bn by 2033.

Potpie AI | Codebase-Aware Autonomous Agents

While AI coding assistants have become mainstream, large engineering organisations continue to struggle with context fragmentation across repositories, documentation systems and workflow tools. Surface-level code generation often fails to address deep architectural dependencies or governance requirements.

Founded in 2025 by Dhiren Mathur and Aditi Kothari, Potpie AI is building a spec-driven development platform that deploys custom AI agents capable of reasoning across entire enterprise codebases.

AI Agents For Engineering Workflows: Potpie maps repositories into knowledge graphs that enable agents to understand dependencies, logs, pull requests and workflow patterns. The platform supports specialised agents for migrations, enabling teams to embed AI directly into engineering pipelines rather than using standalone copilots.

Designed for regulated industries and large-scale deployments, Potpie emphasises auditability and predictable execution. Every agent action is logged with contextual grounding, allowing organisations to maintain compliance while scaling automation.

Enterprise Engineering Opportunity: With engineering teams managing codebases exceeding tens of millions of lines, Potpie is positioning itself as a foundational layer for AI-augmented software development — particularly in environments where reliability and system understanding matter more than raw generation speed. 

The startup operates in the AI coding assistant market, projected to reach a $26 Bn opportunity by 2030.

Tattvam AI | Compressing Chip Design Timeline 

As AI model innovation accelerates, semiconductor design workflows are emerging as a critical bottleneck. While cloud infrastructure and hardware investments are expanding globally, the process of converting chip architecture designs into manufacturable layouts remains highly manual, capital-intensive and time-consuming.

Tattvam AI, founded in 2025 by IIT Madras alumnus Bragadeesh Suresh Babu and Lannan J, is building autonomous AI systems focused on the physical design stage of semiconductor development.

This segment has historically been dependent on large engineering teams and long execution cycles.

Inside Tattvam’s AI Stable: The startup focuses on physical design automation. Using AI-led decision systems, it reduces execution timelines from nearly a year to a few weeks. The startup operates between chip design firms and fabrication units, enhancing existing electronic design automation (EDA) toolchains. It also targets global semiconductor majors, fabless startups and design services firms.  

Adoption & Revenue Strategy: Tattvam AI is exploring pricing models similar to traditional EDA tools, reflecting the capital-intensive and risk-sensitive nature of semiconductor workflows.

Enterprise adoption, however, is likely to hinge on proof-of-performance deployments and early validation milestones. With its product launch expected in the coming months, the startup is betting that accelerating chip execution timelines could unlock meaningful demand as global compute requirements surge. Tattvam operates in the EDA tools market, projected to reach $32.75 Bn by 2032.

Trupeer.ai| Offering Professional Videos And Guides In Minutes

Enterprise software adoption increasingly depends on scalable content ecosystems, training videos, onboarding walkthroughs, documentation and support guides.

Founded in 2025 by Shivali Goyal and Pritish Gupta, Trupeer is building an AI-first product content platform that simultaneously converts a single screen recording into a finished professional video and structured step-by-step documentation.

Automating Product Tutorials: Trupeer’s intelligent screen recorder captures audio, user actions and click data alongside screen pixels, giving the AI enough context to generate accurate scripts, voiceovers, zoom annotations, subtitles and brand overlays without manual editing.

The same recording also produces a formatted guide with auto-detected screenshots, exportable as PDF, Word or Markdown files. Both outputs are generated in roughly 30 seconds, with video edits made by editing the script text rather than a timeline editor.

Beyond creation, teams can host all content in a branded knowledge base with AI video search. A fourth product, Share Pages, bundles assets into trackable client-facing links with viewing analytics.

Enterprise Traction: Having raised $3 Mn seed round last year, Trupeer counts 35,000+ teams as users, including Adobe, Glean, Zuora, Accenture, Diageo and Zomato. 

By compressing content production timelines from hours to minutes, Trupeer is positioning itself as a critical layer in AI-enabled product adoption workflows. It operates in the AI video generation and content automation market, which, valued at $716.8 Mn in 2025, is expected to cross the $3.35 Bn mark by 2034.

With inputs from Venu Rathore
Edited by Shishir Parasher

The post AI Startups To Watch: 5 Indian AI Startups That Caught Our Eye In March appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based AGNIT Semiconductors has raised $2.6 Mn (around ₹24 Cr) in an extension of its seed funding round led by Shastra VC, with participation from existing backers 3one4 Capital and Zephyr Peacock.

With the fresh capital, AGNIT plans to scale production to 1 Lakh gallium nitride (GaN) components over the next two years as well as expand into telecom infrastructure and high-efficiency power semiconductor devices.

Cofounder and CEO Hareesh Chandrasekar told Inc42 that the capital would help the startup scale the production volume of three semiconductor chips it is piloting as of now.

Launched in 2019 by a team of industry professionals Chandrasekar, Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in GaN semiconductor technology. It designs and produces GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency (RF) applications.

The Bengaluru-based startup previously raised $3.5 Mn in its seed funding round in 2024, with plans to scale up its production and expand commercial operations. Excluding the current round, it has raised $4.87 Mn (around ₹41 Cr) from various investors.

While AGNIT previously planned to shift its focus to consumer-focussed use cases, it has put that on hold. “We were trying to develop some components for EVs as well but we put that on hold and we decided to focus on the strategic sector market mainly because the tailwind seemed to be stronger, there was a lot of customer interest and gallium nitride is more of an export-restricted technology in these sectors,” Chandrasekar said.

The development comes at a time when a recent Bloomberg report said that the Centre is planning to launch a ₹1 Lakh Cr ($10.84 Bn) fund to offer subsidies for chip design projects, manufacturing equipment and semiconductor supply chain development.

To note, the government expects India’s chip manufacturing ecosystem to cater to nearly 70–75% of the country’s domestic semiconductor demand by 2029.

With the government’s active measures, investors are increasingly backing startups that are engaged in the semiconductor sector. In the past two months, startups like C2i, Raana Semiconductors and Sensesemi have raised funding from various investors.

The post AGNIT Semiconductors Nets $2.6 Mn To Foray Into Telecom, Power Electronics appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Unacademy Signs The upGrad Deal

After months of talks and discussions, upGrad has finally signed a term sheet to acquire 100% stake in Unacademy in a share swap deal, with Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal and upGrad’s Ronnie Screwvala both confirming the news on Sunday. 

Munjal will stay on as CEO, and says AI will be central to what comes next for the edtech company, which has gone through some major swings in the past three years. 

The Deal: The acquisition covers Unacademy’s full portfolio, including AI-driven learning platform Airlearn, which Screwvala noted is already gaining global traction. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the share swap structure mirrors upGrad’s recent purchase of internship platform Internshala, reportedly valued around ₹100 Cr.

A Long Way From $3.5 Bn: Unacademy was once valued at $3.5 Bn, backed by Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Peak XV, having raised over $830 million in total. Merger talks with Allen, K-12 Techno Services, and upGrad itself previously fell apart over valuation. 

Munjal has since acknowledged a realistic valuation figure closer to $500 Mn. In recent months, the company bought back ₹50 Cr in ESOPs and announced an exit from its offline centres — both moves pointing toward a leaner, more capital-efficient model.

upGrad’s Consolidation Play: For upGrad, this is its second acquisition in a month and at least the seventh since 2022. The company has also expressed interest in BYJU’S stressed assets, currently under insolvency proceedings. The pattern is clear: upGrad is positioning itself as the dominant consolidator in a sector still recovering from its pandemic-era excess.

Read the full story here as upGrad looks to consolidate the beleaguered edtech sector… 

From The Editor’s Desk

All Decks Cleared For Jio’s IPO

• The Centre has eased minimum shareholding requirements for IPO-bound companies. Under the revised rules, companies with a post-issue capital of more than ₹5 Lakh Cr will be able to offer 2.5% of their shares to the public during listing.
• The norms clear the path for the IPO of Reliance’s digital arm Jio Platforms. Earlier, it was reported that the conglomerate was awaiting the new rules to move ahead with the listing. 
• This comes seven months after Reliance CMD Mukesh Ambani said that Jio would list on the bourses in H1 2026. While the timeline looks highly unlikely, the potential m-cap of Jio Platforms has been estimated to be as high as $170 Bn (around ₹14 Lakh Cr).

Weekly Funding Bounces Back

• Indian startup cumulatively raised $206.5 Mn across 22 deals last week, up 112% jump from a mere $97.6 Mn raised across 11 funding deals in the preceding week. Mozark and Captain Fresh took the biggest cheques home at $40 Mn and $31.4 Mn, respectively.
• Ecommerce topped the sectoral charts, bagging $74 Mn across six deals, while SaaS startups secured $51 Mn last week. 
• Seed-stage funding spiked 95% week-on-week to $11.5 Mn. Meanwhile, Faad Capital and Endiya Partners were the most active investors last week with two deals each.

OfficeBanao Nets ₹34.8 Cr 

• The workspace interiors startup has raised nearly $3.8 Mn in a funding round led by existing backer Lightspeed at a pre-money valuation of ₹522.7 Cr. The funding seems to be a part of a larger ongoing round. 
• The company’s board approved the issuance of 45,472 CCPS at ₹7,654 apiece. The shares were allotted in two tranches, first in December 2025 and then in January this year.
• Founded in 2022, OfficeBanao operates a tech-led platform to offer solutions for creating, maintaining and managing workspaces. The startup claims to have completed over 200 projects across 40 cities so far.

BoldCare’s Mixed FY25 Show

• The sexual wellness brand’s operating revenue surged 2.4X YoY to ₹79.5 Cr in FY25 on the back of growing top line and healthy traction on quick commerce platforms. 
• However, losses also zoomed 202% YoY to ₹58.3 Cr during the fiscal under review, driven by a 2.6X YoY jump in expenses to ₹138.2 Cr. However, the company projects significant improvement in the bottom line in FY26.
• Founded in 2019, Bold Care is a health and wellness startup that sells products like condoms, lubes, chewables and gummies. Backed by actor Ranvir Singh, the startup has raised over $5 Mn so far.

Bloodbath On D-Street

• Amid escalating tensions in West Asia, the total market capitalisation of 54 new-age tech stocks tanked $5 Bn to $115.94 Bn last week.
• Of the 54 startup stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 39 fell in a range of 0.19% to nearly 15%. The remaining 15 gained in a range of 0.09% to 14%. BlueStone was the biggest gainer, while Aequs was the biggest loser.
• Largely to blame for the subdued sentiment was the ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran, rising crude oil prices, concerns over inflation and sell-offs by foreign investors.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Foxo Make Longevity Mainstream?

India is facing a silent epidemic of lifestyle diseases. Traditional healthcare often misses the root causes of such chronic illnesses, leaving patients in a cycle of temporary fixes. Enter Foxo, a longevity platform that uses science to help Indians reclaim their healthspan.

Foxo’s Systems Biology: Founded in 2024, Foxo is a startup focused on proactive longevity. By leveraging systems biology, an approach that views the body as an interconnected network, the startup provides members with a digital twin of their health. 

Using biomarkers, and AI-driven modeling, Foxo identifies early warning signs of chronic diseases and offers hyper-personalised lifestyle interventions to maximise a user’s healthspan.

Mapping A Healthier Future: The platform’s backbone is a multidisciplinary clinical team, comprising genomic scholars and nutritionists, which is supported by AI models like Claude. The tech handles the heavy lifting – analysing food logs and biomarker data – so doctors can focus on hyper-personalised coaching.

Foxo’s Business Model: The startup offers two membership plans. While the flagship tier caters to business executives and runs into Lakhs of Rupees, the ₹10,000 Primer membership slab aims to make longevity science accessible to a broader audience. The company claims to have so far onboarded 50 Flagship members, and plans to accept 100 members in the first Primer cohort. 

Going forward, the startup aims to experiment with different price points and roll out specialised programmes focused on women’s health and cancer survivors. So, can Foxo flip the script from reactive sick-care to proactive longevity?

Infographic Of The Day

AI is increasingly becoming the reason people are losing jobs. From Oracle and Amazon to Livspace and Ola Electric, AI-driven efficiency is accelerating layoffs. Here’s the exhaustive list…

The post upGrad Acquires Unacademy, Jio IPO Buzz & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Geopolitical shocks rarely stay confined to the geopolitical theatre. They eventually seep into commodity markets, supply chains, consumer sentiment and ultimately, the stock market.

India’s new-age startup ecosystem, once insulated from such macro tremors by abundant venture capital and private market optimism, is now increasingly exposed to these shifts. With nearly 60 listed tech startups now trading on Indian public markets, the sector is far more sensitive to global developments than it was just a few years ago.

The latest geopolitical escalation in West Asia has triggered precisely such a ripple effect. Following coordinated strikes on Iran and the subsequent retaliation targeting energy infrastructure in the Gulf region, global energy markets have been thrown into turmoil.

The situation escalated further when Iran began deploying naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting one of the world’s most critical energy shipping routes.

As a recent Shriram AMC market note explains, “Even a suspected minefield can halt all commercial traffic as insurers simply won’t underwrite tankers into a mine-risk zone.”

For India, the implications are particularly acute. Around 55–65% of the country’s LNG imports transit the Hormuz corridor, with Qatar alone accounting for roughly 40% of India’s LNG supply, the note added. The disruption has already triggered supply tightness and delays, while the government recently increased domestic LPG prices by INR 60 per cylinder amid rising costs.

While the immediate concern is energy security, the ripple effects are now reaching sectors deeply intertwined with India’s startup ecosystem, particularly food delivery, quick commerce, logistics, and mobility platforms. These sectors have some of India’s largest publicly listed startups.

Historically, many of these stocks have struggled in public markets over the past year as investors demanded profitability and stronger unit economics. Now, a direct macro shock in the form of a potential LPG and fuel crunch is adding another layer of pressure.

The key question for investors is simple: are India’s listed new-age companies resilient enough to weather such shocks?

Fuel Disruption Is Not Just A Cost Story

At first glance, the impact of a fuel crunch on new-age platforms appears straightforward: higher fuel costs squeeze profitability.

For companies dependent on large delivery fleets , whether in food delivery, quick commerce, or logistics,  rising fuel prices directly impact operating costs. The extent of the damage depends largely on whether platforms can pass these costs on to consumers or delivery partners.

But investors say the bigger risk may lie elsewhere.

“The real vulnerability sits in the fulfillment ecosystem that powers digital platforms such as restaurants, cloud kitchens, delivery fleets, and logistics networks that rely heavily on fuel and LPG availability,” Aditya Mulki, CEO of Navi AMC, told Inc42.

If commercial LPG supplies tighten significantly, restaurants and cloud kitchens could face operational disruptions. Industry reports already indicate that several restaurants operate with limited LPG buffer capacity, sometimes as little as a week.

The implications for digital platforms could be immediate. If kitchens shut temporarily or reduce operating hours, merchant uptime drops. Delivery productivity declines. Order throughput slows. The demand for digital platforms may remain intact but the supply side of the ecosystem begins to falter.

In fact, market analysts warn that food delivery companies could become second-order casualties of restaurant shutdowns, especially in cities where LPG shortages begin to affect commercial kitchens.

Logistics platforms face a parallel challenge. Fuel shortages or sustained price spikes could affect delivery partner availability. If gig workers find deliveries economically unattractive due to higher fuel costs, companies may need to increase incentives, directly impacting contribution margins.

There is also a third-order risk: consumer demand compression. An LPG crunch does not merely affect businesses. It hits household budgets directly. When energy costs rise, discretionary spending tends to shrink at the margins  and food delivery frequency or quick commerce basket sizes are often among the first expenses consumers trim.

Historically, similar patterns have appeared during commodity cycles. During the global commodity surge in the late 2000s, organised retail and early logistics businesses saw sequential softness in demand despite strong long-term value propositions, Mulki noted.

The Resilience Test For India’s Listed Startup Economy

Despite these challenges, many investors believe India’s listed startups are structurally stronger today than they were a few years ago.

The biggest reason: public market discipline. Since the 2022 tech market correction, investors have consistently pushed startups toward profitability, operational efficiency, and disciplined growth. This shift has reshaped the operating playbook of many digital-first companies.

“The sector is better prepared for macro shocks than it was during the private capital boom years. The shift toward contribution margins and operational discipline has forced companies to redesign logistics networks, shorten delivery radii, and adopt variable-cost fleet structures,” a wealth manager at a leading mutual fund said.

Over the past three years, companies across food delivery, mobility, and logistics have focused on improving unit economics, contribution margins, and network utilisation, Mulki echoed the view as well.

Several structural changes have improved resilience. Route and fleet optimisation has become a major area of investment. Companies have deployed proprietary logistics technology  including AI-driven routing, predictive demand mapping, and batching algorithms, to reduce delivery distances and fuel consumption per order.

Quick commerce platforms have also pushed aggressively toward hyperlocal fulfilment density. The proliferation of dark stores across cities is not only about speed but also efficiency. A delivery fulfilled from a store located less than a kilometre away requires significantly less fuel than one dispatched from a centralised warehouse several kilometres away.

Another key shift has been the move toward variable-cost delivery networks. Many platforms have transitioned away from owned fleets to gig-based partner networks. While this model has raised debates around worker protections, it reduces the direct exposure of company balance sheets to fuel volatility.

Equally important has been the sector’s shift in performance metrics. The earlier obsession with GMV has gradually been replaced by contribution margin as the core operating benchmark.

This shift matters in times of external shocks. When margins become the primary metric of success, management teams are incentivised to protect per-order economics rather than chase unsustainable growth.

In effect, the funding winter that forced startups to tighten cost structures may now be proving to be an unexpected advantage.

When Sentiment Moves Faster Than Fundamentals

Even if the operational impact remains manageable, investor sentiment could still become volatile. Energy disruptions have a powerful psychological effect. They are highly visible, affect daily life, and generate intense media coverage. As a result, they often influence market narratives more quickly than company fundamentals.

Quick commerce companies, in particular, tend to attract disproportionate scrutiny during such episodes. The optics of a delivery rider transporting a small basket order during a fuel shortage can easily trigger questions about economic sustainability , even when the underlying unit economics remain healthy at scale.

Historically, such episodes tend to affect sentiment more than fundamentals, at least in the short to medium term. And that gap between perception and reality is often where market opportunities emerge.

For investors monitoring the sector, a few operational indicators will be critical in assessing whether the crisis begins affecting earnings trajectories.

One early signal would be take-rate compression, if platforms absorb delivery cost increases instead of passing them on to merchants or consumers. Such pressure typically shows up in blended take rates before appearing in reported margins.

Another indicator would be delivery partner churn. Higher fuel prices disproportionately affect gig workers. If attrition rises, platforms may need to increase incentive payouts to retain partners, impacting profitability.

Consumer behaviour metrics will also matter. Any slowdown in order frequency in Tier-1 cities, which serve as the margin engines for many platforms, could reverse operating leverage.

Operational signals from the supply side are equally important, restaurant working hours, kitchen availability, fulfilment rates, and delivery times.

At the same time, the broader investment landscape may also evolve. If geopolitical disruptions become more frequent, investors could increasingly favour asset-light, technology-driven business models over those heavily reliant on physical infrastructure and fuel-intensive operations, the Navi AMC CEO added.

That does not necessarily mean sectors like food delivery or logistics will fall out of favour. Instead, investors may become more selective, rewarding companies that use technology to orchestrate networks efficiently rather than relying solely on capital-heavy expansion.

In an environment defined by recurring geopolitical uncertainty, operational flexibility becomes a strategic advantage.

Companies that can dynamically adjust pricing, optimise routes, leverage partner networks, and scale supply chains efficiently are more likely to maintain service levels and margins even during disruptions.

For India’s new-age startups now navigating public markets, the real test is no longer just growth. It is resilience.

MARKETS WATCH: NEW ISSUES, POST-IPO JOURNEY & MORE

LPG Crunch Hits Food Delivery: Fuel shortages triggered by the Gulf crisis are disrupting restaurant operations, forcing many partners of Swiggy and Zomato to cut deliveries or temporarily shut kitchens.

Eternal Pumps ₹450 Cr Into Blinkit: Foodtech major Eternal has infused ₹450 Cr into its quick commerce arm Blinkit via a rights issue as competition intensifies in the rapid delivery market.

Morgan Stanley Buys ₹69 Cr Worth Of Nazara Shares: Morgan Stanley acquired 28.85 lakh shares of Nazara Technologies worth about ₹69.2 Cr through a block deal, with Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP offloading an equivalent stake.

SEDEMAC Mechatronics Lists At 13.5% Premium: Shares of SEDEMAC Mechatronics debuted at ₹1,535 on the National Stock Exchange of India, a 13.5% premium over its IPO issue price of ₹1,352 per share.

[Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam]

The post The War Stress Test For The Listed New-Age Tech Giants appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Almost three months after upGrad and Unacademy merger talks failed over a valuation mismatch, Unacademy cofounder Gaurav Munjal took to social media platform X today (Sunday, March 15) announcing that upGrad had signed a term sheet to acquire 100% stake in Unacademy. 

In his post, Munjal said that the deal is a share swap deal, without disclosing the deal size. 

As a part of the deal, Munjal will continue to remain as the CEO and cofounder of Unacademy. He added that moving forward AI will play a key role in Unacademy’s next growth. 

Ronnie Screwvala, founder of upGrad, confirmed the acquisition, which also includes Unacademy’s other verticals. “They (Unacademy) disrupted the sector once, and now with AI they plan to do it again. We are already seeing Airlearn gain global traction.” 

The fresh development has come almost a few weeks after the edtech startup announced buying back INR 50 Cr worth of ESOPs. 

The development also happened within a month after the startup announced it plans to exit its offline business by converting company operated centres into franchise partnership. This move aligned with Unacademy’s bid to move to a more capital efficient model. Unacademy currently has more than $100 Mn in cash reserves, according to Munjal. 

Unacademy’s Long Road To A Deal

Amid the slowdown in the edtech space following the pandemic led bloom, Munjal led Unacademy was reported to be in acquisition talks with multiple companies including K-12 Techno Services, Allen, upGrad among others. 

But these talks failed, largely over the high valuation being sought by Unacademy.  Founded by Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh in 2015, Unacademy was last valued at $3.5 Bn during its external funding round. 

The startup counts investors such as Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, SoftBank, WaterBridge Venture, and Meta, among others, and has raised more than $830 Mn in funding. 

Most recently, Munjal acknowledged that Unacademy’s valuation is somewhere around $500 Mn a far cry from its on-paper valuation after successive funding rounds.  

For upGrad, this is the second acquisition within a month, and it is one of the most acquisitive companies in the edtech space, having acquired more than half a dozen companies since 2022.

Late last month, upGrad acquired 90% stake in internship marketplace Internshala, via share swap deal. While both companies did not disclose the deal size, it was widely reported to be around INR 100 Cr.

The company had also expressed interest in acquiring the stressed assets of erstwhile edtech giant BYJU’S, which is currently under insolvency proceedings. 

The post upGrad To Acquire Unacademy In Share Swap Deal appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Earlier this month, amid the major conflict between the US-Israel combine and Iran in the Middle East, Amazon’s cloud services company, Amazon Web Services data centre facilities were impacted. 

At least three of AWS’ data centres, two in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one in Bahrain, were damaged by drone strikes. This is one of the first of its kind data centre disruption as a direct result of military activities. 

These strikes have resulted in structural damage and power delivery disruption, along with additional water damages as a consequence of fire. Companies and institutions like Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, ride-hailing platform Careem, among others reported outages. 

The disruption has forced the cloud provider to advise customers to reroute workloads to alternate regions including the United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific, bringing locations such as India into the conversation as enterprises reassess disaster recovery strategies and geographic diversification of their digital infrastructure.

“For customers requiring guidance on alternate regions, we recommend considering AWS Regions in the United States, Europe, or Asia Pacific, as appropriate for your latency and data residency requirements,” the cloud service provider said. 

There are also concerns that data centres are now being seen as strategic targets as the entire playbook of drone warfare and aerial attacks is being handled by AI and big data. As AI systems and models help nations hunt for targets and become “more efficient” in striking their enemies, data centres are just as critical as military bases in a war-like situation. 

Could India Offer Respite?

To be sure, in the Asia Pacific region, India hosts six of the 41 availability zones, and seven of the total 23 edge network locations. AWS, and even Microsoft Azure, may reroute data centre workloads to India and Singapore, Economic Times reported quoting an unnamed person in the know. These hyperscalers are reportedly seeking capacity in sites like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kochi for rerouting especially banking-related workloads. 

Experts believe such geopolitical disruptions could reshape how companies choose where to host digital infrastructure. The event reinforces a broader lesson that enterprises should reduce dependence on single-region, single-availability-zone, and highly concentrated deployment models, and focus on strengthening backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity capabilities. 

“In that context, it is reasonable to expect that some incremental infrastructure demand could accrue to markets such as India, particularly given the country’s expanding data center capacity, increasing hyperscaler and colocation activity, strengthening international connectivity, and a strong push by the government,” said Ashish Banerjee, senior principal analyst at Gartner.

To be sure, AWS agreed to invest ₹60,000 Cr in data centres in Telangana in January 2025. “AWS will be expanding its data centres in Hyderabad in a big way with plans for fresh investment of around ₹60,000 Cr. With this AWS  Region in Hyderabad will play an increasingly important role in supporting AWS’s growth of cloud services in India, including AI in the future,” the company had then said. 

While the Middle East has emerged as an important interconnection hub for Asia–Europe workloads in recent years, such events also highlight the importance of diversified regional capacity and stronger resilience planning, said Amit Sarin, managing director, real estate and colocation data centre provider Anant Raj.

“Against this backdrop, India is gradually emerging as a strong alternative. The country has a stable policy environment, good connectivity and a data centre ecosystem that is expanding quickly. For companies looking at regional infrastructure, these factors make India a practical option for hosting and distributing workloads,” he added. 

Data Centres As Strategic Infrastructure

Notably, Iran’s armed forces launched the strike on the AWS facilities to potentially identify the role of these centres in supporting the military and intelligence activities of the US and Israeli forces, according to Iranian state TV. This first of its kind instance has shown that data centres are now legitimate military targets.

Modern businesses increasingly depend on cloud infrastructure, which is housed in physical servers and storage within data centres. With the growing need for enterprise applications modernisation, AI platforms, and digital infrastructure across sectors, the cloud penetration has increased. 

According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Software and Public Cloud Services Spending report, spending on public cloud alone is expected to exceed $1Tn in 2026. Among the cloud services providers, the ‘Big Three’ – AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud – command 60% of the market share. 

For many enterprises, the incident became a real-time stress test of disaster recovery planning. Companies operating in affected regions are now evaluating alternate infrastructure routes to maintain uptime for critical applications, financial systems, and customer-facing platforms. 

IT industry body Nasscom said in its advisory note on strengthening operational and cyber resilience amid evolving Middle East situation on March 9, said that firms are evaluating alternate infrastructure routing to ensure cloud and data centre resilience and safeguard critical systems.

However, Gartner’s Banerjee cautioned that any shift in the geographical focus of data centre giants will likely be selective rather than large-scale. Enterprises must still balance resiliency benefits against data sovereignty rules, application dependencies, available capacity, and the complexity of migrating mission-critical workloads.

The post War Hits Global Data Centres: Cloud Resilience, India’s Role In Focus appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Adding another feather to its hat, CRED has secured the RBI’s approval to operate as a payments aggregator (PA). With this, the fintech startup will now be able to onboard merchants, process digital transactions, and settle payments across multiple payment instruments such as cards, UPI, and net banking. 

CRED secured an in-principle approval for the PA licence in 2024. Such approvals typically come with a long list of compliance, operational, and technology requirements. 

This also serves as a critical milestone for Tiger Global-backed CRED’s steady push to penetrate deeper into the country’s payments ecosystem. The approval gives the Bengaluru-based startup, which has been gradually expanding its fintech footprint, greater control over how money moves within its ecosystem. 

More than anything, it is a signal that CRED now wants to own and dominate the payments value chain, rather than remaining dependent on third-party infrastructure providers. 

But, while CRED has been pushing to evolve from a credit card bill payment platform into a full-stack fintech superapp, spanning payments, lending and wealth products, why does securing a PA licence matter so much for CRED at this stage of its growth? Let’s explore in this edition of The Outline.

The Need For A PA License

Until now, CRED largely relied on third-party payment aggregators to process transactions happening on its platform. With a PA licence in place, the startup will now be able to route these transactions through its own payment infrastructure. 

With this, CRED will no longer need to share commissions with external payment aggregators. Instead, a portion of the merchant discount rate (1-2% of the transaction amount), which is currently being shared with third-party players, is expected to have a positive impact on its top line 

According to industry experts, “With a PA licence in place, the startup will have stronger control over transaction processing. This will not only improve reliability and speed, but also help CRED create a more seamless payment experience for merchants.”

While CRED already works with merchants via CRED Store, CRED Rewards, and CRED online pay, with the RBI’s nod for a PA licence, the startup will now be looking to onboard more merchants in the coming months. 

The company, however, hasn’t disclosed much about its plans.

A Leap Beyond Bill Payments

Bagging a PA licence also bodes well with CRED’s broader strategy that has been unfolding for the past couple of years. 

CRED built its early popularity by rewarding users for paying their credit card bills on time. Today, the startup’s product stack comprises a wide range of financial services, including CRED Pay, CRED CASH+, CRED Money, and CRED Mint, each targeting different segments in the financial services ecosystem. 

Through these products, CRED has gradually expanded into areas such as merchant payments, lending, and other financial services. Beyond this, the startup also offers CRED Escape (a curated, premium travel vertical within the CRED app for members with high credit scores) and CRED Garage (a CRED app feature for managing vehicle documents, expenses, insurance, and maintenance logs).

Alongside this, the startup has also been securing multiple regulatory licences. While the PA license is the latest in its stable, CRED already has a PPI licence, an insurance licence from IRDAI, and a third-party application provider licence from NPCI. 

These licences only strengthen the startup’s regulatory position across different layers. “The flexibility to offer multiple financial services such as payments, lending, and wealth management becomes much easier when you have the full stack of licences, and it also ensures these services remain regulated,” a fintech expert said. He added that these licences have helped CRED gain trust and keep multiple avenues open. 

CRED Enters Crowded Payments Race 

Owning a payments infrastructure is imperative for building a fintech startup in the country. From ordering groceries on quick commerce platforms to paying for software subscriptions, every digital business today relies on a robust payment processing system.

By owning its own payment aggregation layers, the startup is likely to get access to a steady stream of transaction data that can be utilised to build risk models for its lending products and more targeted offerings for its customers.

However, the payments infrastructure space is already crowded with deep-pocketed players. Startups such as Razorpay, IPO-bound PhonePe, listed Paytm, and Prosus-owned PayU already operate large-scale payment processing businesses with massive merchant networks in comparison to CRED’s.

In such a competitive landscape, the only advantage that CRED has is its affluent consumer base that has a stronger engagement with its premium financial products. But would that be enough to give CRED the leverage to capture a larger share of the fintech value chain, helped by a PA licence?  

Edited By Shishir Parasher
Creatives By Abhyam Gusai

The post CRED Tosses Its Hat In The PA Ring appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian equities market continued to suffer amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, resulting in continued selling pressure on new-age tech stocks as well this week. The total market capitalisation of 54 new-age tech companies slumped over $5 Bn to $115.94 Bn at the end of the week. 

Amid this, deeptech company SEDEMAC made a stellar public market debut on Wednesday (February 11), listing at a near 12% premium to the issue price on the BSE. However, the stock fell over 3% during the subsequent trading sessions to end at ₹1,462.8. Including SEDEMAC’s market capitalisation of $697.7 Mn, the total market cap of 55 new-age tech companies under Inc42’s coverage stood at $116.64 Bn at the end of the week.

Shares of 39 out of the 54 new-age tech companies fell in a range of 0.19% to close to 15%.

Contract manufacturer Aequs’ shares plummeted 14.96% to end the week at ₹117.1 and emerge as the biggest loser. The stock fell to a fresh all-time low of ₹113.85 during the intraday trading yesterday. 

Besides Aequs, shares of 12 other new-age tech companies – WeWork India, MobiKwik, Awfis, Smartworks, Unicommerce, Zappfresh, Wakefit, MapmyIndia, Pine Labs, Meesho, IndiQube – touched fresh lows this week. 

Meanwhile, shares of 15 new-age tech companies gained in a range of 0.09% to nearly 14%. Jewellery brand BlueStone was the biggest gainer, jumping 13.95% to end the week at ₹522.45. Shares of Ather Energy, PhysicsWallah, RateGain, Groww, among others, also ended the week in the green. 

With that, here’s a look at some of the key developments at the new-age tech companies this week:

• In further trouble for Fino Payments Bank, its application challenging CID’s ₹11.92 Cr lien (a form of security interest granted over an item of property) in relation to the ongoing investigation of its CEO Rishi Gupta was rejected by a district court in Bengaluru. The company intends to appeal against the order in the Karnataka High Court. 
• FirstCry announced the expansion of its quick deliveries offering, Qwik, across select pincodes in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. Under Qwik, FirstCry delivers apparel and toys for kids to its customers within three hours. 
• SBI Mutual Fund sold close to 5 Lakh shares of BlackBuck via open market transactions on Thursday (March 12), raking in ₹28.3 Cr.
• After the NPCI proposed lowering the fees paid to UPI TPAPs and PSPs, Paytm said that the proposed revision would not have a material impact on its overall business. The company’s shares have plunged about 5% since the disclosure. 

With that, let’s take a look at what happened in the broader market this week. 

West Asia Tensions Singe Indian Equities Market 

Bears continued their grip on the Indian equities market this week as the war between US-Israel and Iran continued to rage.

While the Sensex plummeted 5.5% to end the week at 74,563.92, Nifty 50 slumped 5.3% to end at 23,151.10.

Crude oil prices zoomed past $101 per barrel, raising concerns over India’s fiscal position and inflation outlook.

Besides, domestic macroeconomic data also added pressure. India’s retail inflation rose 3.2% in February 2026, largely driven by higher food prices, while January inflation was revised slightly lower to 2.74%. 

Amid the global uncertainty, FIIs remained net sellers across segments, with net equity outflows exceeding ₹35,052 Cr during the week. 

“Looking forward, market direction is likely to remain dominated by the Israel and US conflict with Iran and crude trends, given their knock-on effects on inflation, corporate margins, the current account, and RBI policy space. A firm dollar and higher US yields may keep FIIs selective and volatility elevated. Selective value opportunities should persist in fundamentally resilient and domestically anchored themes, while energy‑sensitive pockets may stay pressured if oil remains elevated,” Geojit Investments’ research head Vinod Nair noted.

Now, let’s take a look at the performance of BlueStone, Eternal and Swiggy this week. 

BlueStone Surges 14% 

Amid the grim situation in the broader market, shares of BlueStone rose significantly this week. The stock soared as much as 17% during the intraday trading yesterday. After weeks of being under pressure, the stock ended the week about 3% higher than its listing price in August last year.

The rally stood out because other jewellery stocks either held steady or declined modestly. For instance, shares of Titan Company slipped nearly 4% this week.

Earlier this month, Systematix Group initiated coverage on BlueStone with a buy rating and a price target of ₹644. The brokerage cited BlueStone’s powerful omnichannel flywheel as the reason behind its rating.

“India’s jewellery market is undergoing a decisive shift—from investment-led gold buying toward design-driven, studded, and occasion-based consumption. BlueStone has built its franchise squarely around this transformation, having derived nearly two-thirds of its revenue from diamond-studded jewellery. Unlike commoditised gold retailing, studded jewellery enables brand differentiation, pricing power, and superior gross margin return on inventory (GMROI). Its positioning seems structurally advanced to benefit from increased organised penetration and as younger consumers prioritise ‘jewellery for the wardrobe’ over ‘jewellery for the locker,” the brokerage said.

Swiggy, Eternal Feel The Heat

Shares of foodtech companies Swiggy and Eternal came under selling pressure this week, as investors grew concerned over the impact of the ongoing LPG shortage on food delivery operations.

Shares of Swiggy declined 6.41% to close the week at ₹282.35, while Eternal fell 6.96% to end at ₹216.

The commercial LPG shortage is expected to weigh on near-term operations for food delivery platforms, as supply constraints could disrupt restaurant operations. Industry operators told Inc42 that several kitchens have already begun reducing menu options, and some may be forced to temporarily suspend operations if the situation persists. Platforms were largely unprepared for the sudden disruption and currently lack a clear contingency plan.

“Limited menu availability can hamper online food delivery volumes in the short term. However, the category should continue to see healthy double-digit growth over the long term due to deeper penetration in new cities and rising out-of-home consumption,” said Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental equity research at SBI Securities.

Echoing similar concerns, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said the LPG disruption could create a near-term hiccup if the shortage continues through March. Reduced menus, limited cooking hours and temporary kitchen shutdowns could constrain order availability, potentially moderating food delivery order volumes in the fourth quarter.

Despite this, Motilal Oswal maintained its growth outlook, projecting GOV growth of 15.3% and 18% for Eternal in FY26 and FY27, respectively, and around 20.2% and 17.3% for Swiggy, supported by gradual market share gains and continued expansion into new cities. 

Edited by Vinaykumar Rai

The post BlueStone Bucks Bloodbath In New-Age Tech Stocks This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

While overall UPI transactions declined month-on-month in February, market leaders continued to retain their dominant market share.

User favourite PhonePe, which has long held the top spot in the UPI ecosystem, continued to lead despite recording an over 6% decline in its transaction volume to 928.3 Cr in February from 991.3 Cr transactions recorded in the previous month. Its transaction value for the month stood at ₹13.1 Lakh Cr. 

The company recorded a market share of 46.5% in the month under review, down slightly from 46.6% in January. 

Google Pay maintained its second position in the UPI market in terms of transaction volume and value. It recorded 676.7 Cr transactions in the month of February, from 722.9 Cr transactions recorded in January, processing transactions worth ₹9.03 Lakh Cr. While its transaction volume declined, market share remained the same at 34%.

The third-largest player, Paytm, saw a slight uptick in its market share at 8%. Paytm processed 159.9 Cr transactions worth ₹1.74 Lakh Cr in January, down from last month’s 165.9 Cr transactions worth ₹1.81 Lakh Cr. 

Notably, the transaction volume for each of the players declined on a monthly basis in February  due to overall transaction dip. As per the data by NPCI, the UPI transactions declined 6% to 20.39 Bn from 21.70 Bn in January.

The value of the UPI transactions in February stood at ₹26.84 Lakh Cr, down 5% from ₹28.33 Lakh Cr in January. 

Navi retained the fourth position on the January UPI leaderboard with 65 Cr transactions worth ₹36,563 Cr, while super.money also maintained its market share, recording 28.9 Cr transactions during the month, slightly up from 28.7 Cr transactions in December.

NPCI’s Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), which surpassed Kunal Shah-led CRED as well as FamApp last month, recorded 17.5 Cr transactions in the month under review, from 17.2 Cr transactions recorded in the previous month. Its market share also increased to 0.9% in February from 0.8% in January. 

FamApp saw a marginal decline in its market share with its transaction volume declined to 14.9 Cr in February from 16.1 Cr transactions recorded in January. Meanwhile, CRED retained its market share with 14.5 Cr transactions recorded.

Although the broader UPI ecosystem is seeing a decline, the space is heating up with new activity. To ensure financial sustainability of the UPI ecosystem, a parliamentary panel recommended the re-introduction of MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) discussions as the current zero-MDR regime puts pressure on government finances as well as limiting the ability of the ecosystem to invest in long-term infrastructure.

For context, MDR is a fee paid by merchants to banks and payment service providers for processing digital transactions. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) removed the MDR on Person-to-Merchant (P2M) UPI transactions via a gazette notification in 2020.

Important to mention that industry bodies like the Payments Council of India (PCI) have been pushing the government to restore MDR on UPI payments so that companies involved in the ecosystem can generate direct revenue instead of depending on government subsidies. 

At present, the government subsidises ecosystem players enabling UPI transactions. In the Union Budget 2026–27, the Centre earmarked ₹2,000 Cr under an incentive scheme to encourage transactions made via RuPay debit cards and low-value payments of up to ₹2,000 through BHIM-UPI.

The allocation is nearly five times higher than the ₹437 Cr budgeted for FY26, though it is slightly lower than the revised estimate of ₹2,196 Cr for the year.

The post UPI In February: PhonePe, Google Pay Maintain Market Share Amid Volume Dip appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre has eased the minimum public shareholding requirement for companies planning to go public, allowing large firms to offer a smaller portion of shares during their IPOs. The finance ministry notified the changes through amendments in the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026.

Under the revised rules, companies with a post-issue capital of more than ₹5 Lakh Cr will need to offer at least 2.5% of their shares to the public when listing on recognised stock exchanges. 

Notably, SEBI had earlier allowed the changes in minimum shareholding in September last year to facilitate IPOs of large companies. The 5% minimum public float requirement was a concern for large companies going public, as they were uncertain about sufficient demand and market depth.

The notification clears the path for large IPOs, including that of Jio Platforms – the telecom and digital services arm of Reliance Industries. Earlier, it was reported that RIL was awaiting government notification to move ahead with the Jio IPO. 

As per the notification, companies with post-issue capital of up to ₹1,600 Cr will need to offer at least 25% of their shares to the public, while those with post-issue capital between ₹1,600 Cr and ₹4,000 Cr must offer shares equivalent to at least ₹400 Cr.

For companies with post-issue capital between ₹4,000 Cr and ₹50,000 Cr, the minimum public shareholding requirement is 10%. These companies will need to increase their public shareholding to 25% within three years of listing.

Companies with post-issue capital between ₹50,000 Cr and ₹1 Lakh Cr must offer shares worth at least ₹1,000 Cr and ensure a minimum public float of 8%. These companies will have five years from the date of listing to increase their public shareholding to 25%.

For firms valued between ₹1 Lakh Cr and ₹5 Lakh Cr, the minimum public float has been set at 2.75%, with shares worth at least ₹6,250 Cr offered to the public.

Companies with public shareholding below 15% at the time of listing, will have to increase it to 15% within five years and 25% within 10 years of listing. 

While revising the minimum public shareholding norms last year, SEBI had said that requiring very large companies to dilute a big portion of their stake during an IPO could create challenges as the market may not be able to absorb such a large supply of shares. 

According to the regulator, lowering the minimum public offer could encourage large issuers to pursue listings in India while still ensuring adequate liquidity in the market.

The notification comes amid growing anticipation around the IPO of Jio, which has been estimated to command a market capitalisation of up to $170 Bn (about ₹14 Lakh Cr). 

Last year, RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani said the company was aiming for Jio’s listing in the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

The post Centre Eases Public Float Norms For Mega IPOs, Paving Way For Jio IPO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

For years, we at Inc42 have tracked the Indian tech startup ecosystem and seen it grow from a kid to an adult. Among the clearest signs of evolution and maturity of this ecosystem is the growing number of startups eyeing a public listing now.

For Indian companies, achieving a public listing has for long symbolised operational progression, transparency, and long-term viability. For startups, it’s a relatively new but increasingly critical rite of passage, one that not only signals coming of age but also creates pathways for investor exits and wealth creation.

Currently, nearly 15 startups, including Zepto, Shiprocket, boAt, OYO among others, are in various stages of their IPO journey. Meanwhile, over 60 Indian new-age tech companies have already crossed the milestone and are now listed on the bourses.

The list now also includes Indian companies like MakeMyTrip, Zoomcar and Freshworks, which are listed on Nasdaq in the US.

India’s startup IPO wave reached its peak in 2025, surpassing the previous year’s momentum.

While 13 startups went public in 2024, the number has already been overtaken this year, with 18 companies making their market debut in the previous year. The list of new-age tech companies that went public in 2025 included Meesho, Ather Energy, Urban Company, Lenskart, Groww, Pine Labs and PhysicsWallah.

The list is only expected to grow further this year. Fiive new-age companies – Aye Finance, Fractal Analytics, Amagi, Shadowfax and SEDEMAC – have already made their public market debut.

As of now, the total market capitalisation of the listed companies stands at over $130 Bn.

To consolidate all the information about listed startups, Inc42 has launched the Indian Listed New-Age Tech Company Tracker. From the movement in the shares of the companies since their listing to the financial performance of these companies, the tracker is your one-stop resource to know everything you need about the listed tech companies.

Read our methodology here. 

Inside The Dalal Street Startup Ride

Indian startups had gained a reputation for being “loss making” by prioritising growth at all costs and market share over immediate profitability. The trend of putting scale ahead of the bottom line was at its peak amid the funding boom of 2020-22. 

While prioritising growth is not wrong for startups, especially at early stages, the start of funding winter in 2022 gave a reality check to the Indian startup ecosystem. Subsequently, startups started pushing for profitability. Giving further wings to the aggressive profitability push was the ambition to list on the exchanges.

While new-age tech companies look to turn profitable before filing their draft IPO papers, those that cross the line manage to stay in the green, data shows. About 64% of the listed new-age tech companies, 41 to be precise, are currently profitable.

In terms of profits, Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led internet company Info Edge towers over the rest. It posted a net profit of INR 962 Cr in FY25. Prominent internet companies Justdial and IndiaMART trail Info Edge in terms of profitability, raking in profits of INR 584 Cr and INR 551 Cr in FY25, respectively. 

It is pertinent to mention that these companies have been listed on the bourses for years now, with Info Edge making its public market debut in 2006. While these companies trace their origin back to the 90s, a large majority of the new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s purview are about a decade old. 

From a broad perspective, Inc42 data reflects that the median time taken for a startup to get listed on the bourses is 11 years. While listing for 18-year-old ixigo and 19-year-old Fino Payments Bank came relatively much later, ArisInfra’s IPO materialised within four years of its operations.  

Meanwhile, the new-age tech companies that have made their public market debuts this year generally turned profitable right before their public market debuts. For instance, eyewear major Lenskart reported a net profit of around INR 297 Cr , a significant turnaround from a INR 10 Cr loss in FY24. The company maintained profitability in the first three quarters of FY26. 

Urban Company also reported its first consolidated net profit of approximately INR 240 Cr for FY25, a major turnaround from losses in FY24. While it maintained profitability in Q1 FY26, the company plunged back in to the red in Q2, reporting a multifold rise in its net loss to INR 59.3 Cr.

Sectors Driving India’s Startup IPO Boom

The startup sectors producing the most number of listed companies is proportional to the private funding trends witnessed in the Indian startup ecosystem. The three most funded sectors, fintech, ecommerce and enterprise tech, also house the highest number of 11 listed startups each.

The dominance of the fintech and ecommerce sectors on the bourses is expected to continue as the likes of  PhonePe, boAt and Turtlemint would soon be making their public market debuts.

Meanwhile, the number of startups hailing from other sectors is also expected to surge. For instance, the number of listed real-estate tech startups may go up to seven from six currently, with Infra.Market having filed its IPO papers confidentially with the SEBI. 

Delhi NCR Home To Highest Number Of Listed Startups

While Bengaluru continues to be the startup capital of India, Delhi and its neighbouring cities Gurugram and Noida account for the most number of listed new-age tech companies. Overall, the Delhi NCR region is home to 25 listed new-age tech companies, ahead of Bengaluru’s eleven and Mumbai’s eight. 

While thirteen companies, including Eternal, Delhivery, and Lenskart, call Gurugram their home, Awfis, EaseMyTrip, MapmyIndia and E2E Networks are from Delhi. Noida on the other hand is home to four listed new-age tech companies, including Paytm and IndiQube. 

Delhi NCR contributes $72.5 Bn in the cumulative $130 Bn market cap of new-age tech companies. 

Last updated: March 13
The Indian Listed New-Age Tech Company Tracker will be updated periodically with fresh data.  

[Edited by: Vinaykumar Rai]

The post Indian Listed New-Age Tech Company Tracker: Market Cap, Revenue & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Workspace interiors startup OfficeBanao has bagged ₹34.8 Cr (about $3.76 Mn) in a funding round led by existing investor Lightspeed, with participation from investment firm Mangum II and Medra Family.

According to the startup’s MCA filings accessed by Inc42, its board approved issuance of 45,472 pre-Series A2 non-cumulative CCPS for ₹7,654 per share. 

The shares were allotted in two tranches. It offered shares worth ₹10.62 Cr each to Lightspeed India Partners III and LS Opportunities Access Fund on December 31, 2025, while Mangum II LLC was allotted shares worth ₹9.04 Cr on December 31, 2025.

The second tranche was completed on January 23 this year, with Medra Family subscribing to shares worth ₹4.52 Cr. 

As per the startup’s valuation report, it raised the fund at a pre-money valuation of ₹522.7 Cr (about $56.5 Mn). 

The funding seems to be a part of a larger ongoing round. Queries sent to OfficeBanao founder Tushar Mittal on the funding round didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

Founded in 2022 by Mittal, Akshya Kumar, and Divyanshu Sharma, OfficeBanao offers a platform which leverages technology to provide solutions for creating, maintaining and managing workspace.

The platform serves designers, architects, contractors, office furniture, and material suppliers, providing them technology, content and processes. It provides complete workspace design and build services, corporate interiors, and turnkey fit-outs. The startup claims its integrated procurement solutions act as a central hub for general contractors and project partners, simplifying vendor management, sourcing, and cost efficiency across all stages. 

OfficeBanao caters to projects starting from ₹10 Lakh for small offices to ₹5 Cr for large offices and enterprise projects. As per its website, OfficeBanao has completed over 200 projects in more than 40 cities across the country till now.

The startup currently has two offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru, and an experience centre in Gurugram.

Prior to this round, it raised $6 Mn in its seed funding round in 2023. 

OfficeBanao operates in the interior design market, which is largely unorganised in India. Startups are leveraging technology to organise this segment and provide modern solutions with transparency. These startups are also seeing a lot of interest from investors.

For instance, interior design startup Flipspaces raised around $50 Mn in three tranches last year in a mix of primary and secondary capital. PharmEasy cofounders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah and Hardik Dedhia also launched an architectural and interior design startup All Home in June 2025 and raised an undisclosed amount of capital from Bessemer Venture Partners at a valuation of $120 Mn (about ₹1,041 Cr). 

According to a recent report by IMARC, India’s interior design market is projected to reach a size of $74.73 Bn by 2034, registering a CAGR of 8.16%. 

The post Exclusive: Workspace Interiors Startup OfficeBanao Raises ₹34.8 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Sexual wellness brand Bold Care’s net loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 (FY25) zoomed 202% to ₹58.3 Cr from ₹19.3 Cr loss incurred in the previous fiscal at the behest of growing expenses.

The startup’s operating revenue for the period under review also surged 2.4X to ₹79.5 Cr from ₹33 Cr in FY24. In this, domestic sales contributed ₹79.4 Cr while the remainder ₹9.1 Lakh came from export sales.

Including an other income of ₹42 Lakh, which came largely from shipping income, interest income and sale of scrap, the startup’s total income rose 2.3X Y-o-Y to ₹79.9 Cr.

Bold Care’s cofounder and CEO Rajat Jadhav told Inc42 that the sexual wellness brand saw the greatest traction for its products on quick commerce platforms, leading to a hefty contribution to the startup’s top line.

The startup is expecting to sustain this growth in the ongoing fiscal year FY26. “We are seeing the growth continue in FY26 at a similar rate to the past years, with significant improvements in the bottom line,” Jadhav said.

Founded in 2019 by Jadhav, Rahul Krishnan, Harsh Singh and Mohit Yadav, Bold Care started as a D2C men’s health and wellness startup, selling products like condoms, lubes, chewables and gummies. The startup onboarded actor Ranvir Singh as its cofounder in 2023.

The D2C brand sells its products via its website, Amazon, Flipkart, and quick commerce platforms such as BlinkIt, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto, among others.

It forayed into the women’s health and wellness space with the roll out of a new brand Bloom in October 2024, to offer solutions focused on women’s health issues with products in the range of sexual health, menopause supplements, personal hygiene and period care.

The startup has raised over $5 Mn from investors like Rainmatter, Huddle, Sharrp Ventures, Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund, Claris Capital, among others.

Magnifying Bold Care’s Spending

Bold Care expenditure in FY25 stood at ₹138.2 Cr, marking a 2.6X from ₹53.9 Cr in the year ago. Here’s a breakdown of the major expenses of the startup:

Employee Benefit Expenses: These expenses, which account for employee salaries, directors’ remuneration, rose 149% to ₹10.5 Cr in FY25, from ₹4.2 Cr spent in the previous year.

Purchase of Stock-In-Trade: Costs under this head, which constituted 22% of Bold Care’s expenses for the fiscal, stood at ₹30.7 Cr, a more than 2X from ₹14.9 Cr spent in FY24.

Advertising & Marketing Expenses: Comprising the biggest portion of the overall expenditure of 28%, Bold Care spent ₹38.4 Cr in the year under review, increasing 174% from the previous year’s cost of ₹14 Cr.

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