Market intelligence platform Tracxn Technologies posted a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 1.27 Cr in the June quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), a 84.6% jump from INR 68.93 Lakh in the year-ago quarter.

However, on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, Tracxn reported a 10.5% decline in its PAT from INR 1.42 Cr in Q4 FY24.

Revenue from operations stood at INR 20.53 Cr in Q1 FY25, up 3.6% from INR 19.82 Cr in the corresponding quarter previous year. On a QoQ basis, operating revenue rose 1%.

The startup said that 39% of its revenue came from India, while 61% came from the international market.

Tracxn’s total expenses stood at INR 20.27 Cr during the quarter under review, up 2.1% from INR 19.84 Cr in the year-ago period.

Employee costs emerged as the biggest expense for Tracxn during the quarter review. The company spent INR 17.67 Cr towards employee benefit expense in Q1 FY25 as against 17.37 Cr in Q1 FY24.

Founded by Abhishek Goyal and Neha Singh in 2013, Tracxn is a market research and data platform that tracks company financials and captables of entities worldwide. 

It caters to a wide range of clients including private market investors such as venture capital and private equity firms and investment banks as well as corporates, government agencies, government banks, academic institutions, and startup accelerators.

Currently, Tracxn covers private company financials across more than 20 countries and cap tables across more than 15 countries.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Tracxn added 101 new customers. With this, Tracxn’s customer base rose to 1,413 in Q1 FY25 from 1,312 in Q4 FY24.

 The company said it has been investing across various growth initiatives that are expected to fuel new customer acquisition as well as customer expansion. It said it has been seeing a high volume of inbound leads from startups and has set up a dedicated team to focus on acquisition and expansion of customers in this segment.

Additionally, Tracxn has set up a specialised sales team for private equity as well as doubled down the data production specifically for the PE customer segment.

Ahead of the earnings announcement, shares of Tracxn ended Wednesday’s (July 31) trading session 3% lower at INR 94.44 apiece on the BSE.

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Nasdaq-listed Indian SaaS major Freshworks’ consolidated net loss narrowed 43.5% year-on-year to $20.1 Mn in the second quarter of 2024.

The Chennai-based firm posted a loss of $35.6 Mn in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Total revenue jumped 20% to $174.1 Mn in the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 on the back of improved sales and growing customer demand for AI-enabled solutions.

Commenting on the Q2 results, Dennis Woodside, CEO and president of Freshworks, said, “Freshworks delivered a solid Q2, growing revenue to $174.1 million with a free cash flow margin of 19%”.

On the other hand, Freshworks’ gross profit surged 21.3% to $145.9 Mn in Q2 2024 from $120.2 Mn in Q2 2023.

The company said that the number of customers contributing over $5,000 in ARR stood at 21,744 in the reported quarter, an increase of 14% YoY. Kayak, Davidson Kempner Capital  Management, Paul Smith UK, Asian Paints, Tile Mountain, San Diego Unified School District were among the new customers added in Q2. 

The company’s free cash flow stood at $32.8 Mn at the end of Q2 2024.

Freshworks aims for its Q3 2024 revenue in the range of $180 Mn-$183 Mn, registering a 17-19% growth YoY.

For the full calendar year 2024, Freshworks expects revenue in the range of $707 Mn-$713 Mn, clocking a growth of 18.5-19.5% YoY.

In its Q2 2024 earnings report, the company also announced that it completed the acquisition of Device42 to strengthen its IT offerings for mid-market and enterprise companies with enhanced IT asset management solutions.

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SaaS unicorn Fractal reportedly plans to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by the end of August or early September.

The enterprise tech startup is looking to list on the Indian bourses at a valuation of around $3 Bn, Moneycontrol reported citing sources. 

As per the report, the initial public offering (IPO) will likely be in the range of $500 Mn to $600 Mn and will have a “large share” of secondary share sale by existing investors.

The report said that as the quantum of the secondary sale is yet to be finalised, the total size of the IPO is still unclear.

Founded in 2000 by Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal and Ashwath Bhat, Fractal offers artificial intelligence and advanced analytics solutions to Fortune 500 companies. Backed by the likes of TPG Capital, Khazanah Nasional and Apax Partners, the startup has raised $685 Mn in funding till date. 

It turned unicorn in 2022 after private equity (PE) firm TPG pumped in $360 Mn at a valuation of over $2 Bn. 

Fractal turned profitable in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), posting a profit of INR 194.4 Cr during the period as against a loss of INR 148.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue jumped 53% to INR 1,985.4 Cr from INR 1,295.3 Cr in FY22. 

Fractal is looking to go public at a time when Indian startups are making a beeline for the bourses on the back of positive market sentiment, ample liquidity and growing appetite for new-age tech stocks. 

While D2C startup Menhood listed on NSE’s small and medium enterprise (SME) platform NSE Emerge earlier this month at a premium of 28% over its issue price, coworking startup Awfis and traveltech startup ixigo too saw bumper listings at premiums of 13.5% and 48.5%, respectively on the NSE.

Meanwhile, electric vehicle major Ola Electric’s IPO will open for retail subscription on August 2. Segment giants such as foodtech major Swiggy and omnichannel marketplace FirstCry are also eyeing a public listing. 

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Pune-based drone startup DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations has received the approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to open its fifth Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO) in Karnataka’s Dharwad. 

In November last year, the startup bagged an INR 96 Lakh order to provide drone training to 240 officials from the Karnataka forest department. The new centre will be used to train these officials.

“The RPTO will train 240 officials of the Karnataka Forest Department in DGCA-certified drone piloting and the applications of drones in forestry and surveillance. However, this centre will not be limited to only the KFA officers but will also facilitate training for civilians,” the startup said in an exchange filing.  

Founded in 2017, DroneAcharya offers drone solutions like multi-sensor surveys, pilot training, and data processing. The company went public in December 2022, listing on the BSE SME platform at INR 102 per share.

Currently, DroneAcharya runs four training centres in Pune, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Jaipur. These facilities offer comprehensive drone pilot training programmes, including DGCA-certified courses, drone building, data processing, aerial cinematography, and application-specific training for sectors like agriculture and disaster management. 

Commenting on the DGCA approval, DroneAcharya founder and MD Prateek Srivastava said,  “This initiative aims to enhance the operational capabilities of the department through the use of advanced drone technology enabling forest frontline staff to harness its potential in surveillance, search and rescue operations, and tracking activities related to wildlife conservation and poacher deterrence.” 

DroneAcharya has secured several high-profile contracts this year. In March 2024, it bagged an order from the Adani Group for DGCA-certified drone pilot training. The company also won contracts from the Indian Army for capacity building and advanced drone training, and from the Ministry of Defence to supply IT hardware for a drone lab in Jammu and Kashmir.

The drone startup’s consolidated profit after tax nearly doubled to INR 6.2 Cr in FY24 from INR 3.4 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue surged 90% year-on-year to INR 35.19 Cr.

Shares of DroneAcharya ended today’s trading session 0.2% lower at INR 139.35 on the BSE.

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Conversational engagement platform Gupshup has onboarded tech veteran Lorrie Norrington to its board of directors. 

With over four decades of experience in scaling global technology and internet businesses, Norrington has held several leadership roles at ecommerce company eBay. Besides, she had also worked with Intuit and General Electric Company. 

Currently, Norrington serves on the boards of global multinational Colgate-Palmolive and SaaS companies HubSpot and Asana.

Beerud Sheth, CEO and cofounder of Gupshup, said, “Norrington’s vast experience, deep expertise, and inspirational leadership will help accelerate Gupshup’s growth. Her commitment to mentoring executives, her personal values, and positive energy contribute greatly to a very constructive board dynamic.”

Norrington said, “I look forward to working with the Gupshup team to help realise the full potential of their ambitious vision.”

Founded in 2004 by Sheth, Gupshup allows businesses to communicate with customers through AI-powered chatbots and messaging services. The company serves over 45,000 brands globally, including Citibank, AkzoNobel, Khan Academy, Unilever, Dream11, Netflix, Flipkart, and Ola.

The company has shown significant financial growth, with its India operations reporting a revenue increase of 43% to INR 1,619 Cr in FY23, along with a profit of INR 49 Cr.

It recently launched India’s first Conversational Buyer App on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), allowing users to discover and purchase products via WhatsApp. 

Gupshup operates in India’s rapidly growing fintech market, which is projected to reach $111.14 billion in 2024 and expand at a CAGR of 30.55% to $421.48 billion by 2029. The company competes with other major players in the conversational engagement and AI-driven customer interaction space.

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Adtech unicorn InMobi is reportedly aiming for a valuation of about $10 Bn in an initial public offering it is planning for next year.

According to a report by TechCrunch, the company aims to list in India. InMobi, which is profitable, also plans to relocate its headquarters from Singapore to India in the coming months.

An IPO in India at a $10 Bn valuation would mark one of the largest listings by a local software startup. 

Earlier, the company was planning for an IPO in 2021 but postponed it due to market conditions. With the recent recovery in tech stocks, the company is now reconsidering an IPO within the next 12-15 months.

Founded in 2007 by Naveen Tewari, Piyush Shah, Mohit Saxena and Abhay Singhal, InMobi has grown to become a leading marketing and monetisation technology provider in India and worldwide. Headquartered in Singapore, the company maintains a significant presence in Bengaluru and San Francisco. It also has operations in New York, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, London, Dubai, and several other locations.

The development comes at a time when InMobi is undergoing a strategic realignment encompassing technology, organisational structure, workforce skills, and operations, driven by the adoption of artificial intelligence. 

In January, Inc42 reported that after nearly 17 years, InMobi recognised the need for technological advancement, aligning its strategy to incorporate advancements like Gen AI. This shift is anticipated to lead to the reduction of approximately 125 jobs, representing about 5% of its current workforce of 2,500 employees.

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Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to double down on Bengaluru-based MoEngage and is also in advanced discussions with the software as a service (SaaS) provider to invest $30-50 Mn (INR 250 – 418 Cr) via secondary deal.

“Goldman has decided to buy shares (of MoEngage) from some of the early investors. It’s a fully secondary funding round,” ET reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. 

This comes at a time when investors such as GetVantage and Velocity have announced fund allocation to invest in high potential SaaS startups as the sector has seen a higher traction in 2024.

The report also said that deal activity has picked up pace even as SaaS funding valuation multiples have readjusted significantly over the past year, based on people aware of the developments.

“The contours are still being finalised, but there may be a discount to MoEngage’s last valuation for this Goldman investment,” a source was quoted as saying by the ET..

Founded in 2014 by Yashwanth Kumar and Raviteja Dodda, MoEngage helps consumer brands amplify and scale customer engagement, and it has been providing its services from startups to global enterprises.

With MoEngage, it claims these users (companies) analyse audience behaviour and engage consumers with personalised communication across their lifecycle.

Earlier, MoEngage raised $77 Mn in a Series E funding round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and B Capital in 2022, to strengthen its presence in countries such as the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and foray into newer markets such as Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, in an exchange filing on behalf of CarTrade, Goldman Sachs Asset Management BV informed the bourses that it has increased its stake in the startup to 5.15%, becoming a substantial shareholder, in May. 

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Customer engagement platform Exotel witnessed a 2.5X increase in its net loss in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. The Bengaluru-based startup’s net loss surged 157% to INR 109.4 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 42.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Founded by Shivakumar Ganesan, Ishwar Sridharan, Siddharth Ramesh and Vijay Sharma in 2011, Exotel is a cloud telephony platform that provides APIs for voice, messages and user verification services over voice telephony or internet communications.

It claims that its AI-powered solutions for agents, bots and customers enhance interactions with conversational intelligence to improve customer experience.

Exotel’s operating revenue increased 32% to INR 419.5 Cr from INR 318 Cr in FY22. Including other income, total revenue grew 36% to INR 446.6 Cr from INR 328.4 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

Where Did Exotel Spend?

The startup’s total expenditure jumped 52% year-on-year during the year under review, outpacing its revenue growth. Total expenditure stood at INR 555.5 Cr in FY23 compared to INR 364.5 Cr in the previous year.

Employee Expenses: This was among the biggest expenses. Exotel spent INR 245 Cr on employee costs in FY23, an increase of 44% from INR 171 Cr in the previous year. This indicates that the startup likely increased its headcount during the year. It is pertinent to note that Exotel undertook a restructuring exercise during the year under review, which resulted in many employees losing their jobs.

Telephone Postage: Being a platform providing voice and SMS services for customer engagement over cloud, telephone postage is among the biggest expenditure for Exotel. It spent INR 177 Cr under the head in FY23, an increase of 65% from INR 107 Cr in FY22.

Advertising Expenses: Advertising expenditure jumped 136% to INR 14.07 Cr during the year under review from INR 5.9 Cr in FY22. 

Exotel merged with call centre platform Ameyo in 2021. It acquired conversational AI platform Cogno AI last year to become a ‘full-stack’ customer engagement platform. 

Exotel last raised $40 Mn in its Series D funding round led by Steadview Capital in January 2022. Overall, it has raised around $100 Mn to date and counts the likes of A91 Partners, Blume Ventures, and Mumbai Angels among its backers. 

Earlier this year, Exotel rolled out an AI-driven solutions suite, The House of AI, for better engagement of businesses with customers. The House of AI integrates Generative AI with natural language processing, a subfield of AI that allows computers to comprehend human language and respond.

The post Exotel’s FY23 Loss Crosses INR 100 Cr Mark, Revenue Jumps To INR 420 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Marker intelligence platform Tracxn Technologies has announced the allotment of 3.6 Lakh equity shares to eligible employees under its Employee Stock Option Plan 2016 (ESOP 2016).

In an exchange filing on Saturday (July 6), the startup said its Nomination and Remuneration Committee has approved the allotment at an exercise price of INR 1 per equity share.

As per the stock’s last closing, the value of these shares translates to INR 3.5 Cr.

With the new ESOP allotment, Tracxn’s total paid-up share capital has increased to 10.45 Cr from INR 10.41 Cr earlier.

The options can be exercised within a period of five years from the date of vesting of the respective options.

The new allotment comes a month after the startup allotted 2.06 Lakh shares under the ESOP 2016 plan on June 7, raising the total paid-up share capital to INR 10.41 Cr from 10.39 Cr.

Prior to that, Tracxn allotted 1.99 Lakh shares as part of the ESOP 2016 plan in May.

In the March quarter of FY24, Tracxn reported a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 1.42 Cr. This was a sequential decline of 36% but a 13% increase on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

As per the company’s earnings report for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, it recorded INR 1.61 Cr as ESOP expense. The ESOPs granted and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 stood at 71.97 Lakh.

Tracxn’s FY24 PAT declined a massive 80% YoY to INR 6.50 Cr, while operating revenue rose a mere 7% YoY to INR 87.03 Cr.

After a decline in its share price in May following the earnings report, the stock started gaining momentum from the beginning of June. Over the last one month, it has gained over 24% on the BSE. The shares ended Friday’s (June 5) trading session 0.3% higher at INR 96.87 on the BSE.

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The BSE has slapped a fine on Pune-based drone startup DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations for delay in submission of the financial statements for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24).

In an exchange filing, the startup said that the BSE imposed a fine of INR 5,900 on it for the delay in submission of standalone and consolidated financial results for FY24. 

DroneAcharya reported its financial results for FY24 on May 31 this year. It is pertinent to note that the startup’s board was scheduled to discuss and approve the standalone and consolidated financial statements for FY24 on May 29 this year. While the board did meet on May 29, DroneAcharya informed the exchange that the meeting would be continued on May 30 to consider the results.

Post the meeting on May 30, the startup submitted to the exchange a statement highlighting some of the numbers for FY24 but did not submit the profit and loss statement.

The complete financial statement was provided to the exchange only on May 31.

DroneAcharya’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) almost double to INR 6.2 Cr in FY24 from INR 3.4 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue surged 90% year-on-year to INR 35.19 Cr

Founded by Prateek Srivastava in 2017, DroneAcharya offers an array of drone solutions for multi-sensor drone surveys, pilot training, and data processing, among others. The startup forayed into drone manufacturing last year. 

Its shares listed on the BSE SME platform at INR 102 apiece, almost a premium of 90% to the issue price, in December 2022. Shares of the startup ended Wednesday’s (July 3) trading session 3.1% higher at INR 146.30.

Earlier this year, investor Shankar Sharma offloaded 2 Lakh shares, or a 0.83% stake, of the drone startup via a block deal.

Meanwhile, DroneAcharya has bagged a number of new contracts in the last few months. 

Last month, it received INR 2.59 Lakh service order from Maani Care System (India), an entity associated with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), to provide a drone pilot training course to individuals recommended by the Air Surveillance team of RIL.

In May, it won a work order of INR 53 Lakh from Alter Dynamics & Artificial Intelligence. Prior to that, it received an order from the Ministry of Defence to supply IT hardware for a drone lab in Jammu and Kashmir. 

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Delhi NCR-based traveltech company RateGain has expanded its employee stock option plan (ESOP) pool by allocating 59,904 shares to the employees.

In an exchange filing on Monday (July 1), the company said it has allotted 23,880 equity shares to its employees under RateGain ESOP 2015 and 36,024 equity shares under the Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme – 2022.

“We hereby inform that the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Company vide its resolution dated July 01, 2024 approved the allotment to the eligible employee(s) of the Company of 23,880 Equity Shares of face value of Re. 1/- each, under RateGain Employee Stock Option Scheme – 2015 (‘ESOP 2015’) and 36,024 Equity Shares of face value of Re. 1/- each under RateGain – Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme – 2022 (‘SAR 2022’),” the filing said.

Consequent to the allotment, the paid-up share capital of RateGain will climb to INR 11.79 Cr from INR 11.78 Cr earlier.

As per the stock’s opening price on Tuesday, the newly-allotted ESOPs are worth nearly INR 4.49 Cr.

Founded in 2004 by Bhanu Chopra, RateGain is a global provider of SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality enabling them to accelerate revenue growth through acquisition, retention and wallet share expansion. The company claims it caters to more than 3,200 customers and has a presence in over 100 countries.

The development comes against the backdrop of reports that RateGain founder’s family members — Megha Chopra, its promoter, and Usha Chopra, part of its promoter group,  sold 3% of their total holding of 51.25% in March.

RateGain saw a more than two-fold jump in its net profit to INR 146.39 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 68.40 Cr in FY23.

Meanwhile, revenue from operations grew 36% year-on-year to INR 255.81 Cr during the period under review versus INR 187.72 Cr in the previous fiscal.

It is pertinent to note that several new-age tech companies are banking on ESOPs to remake their employer brand image as job seekers become increasingly reluctant to join startups amid mass layoffs within the system.

A number of Indian startups such Delhivery, Paytm, Policybazaar, ideaForge and Nykaa have leaned on ESOPs recently to woo employees back to the startup ecosystem.

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Conversational engagement platform Gupshup has rolled out India’s first conversational buyer app on the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), aimed at boosting ecommerce inclusivity nationwide.

This app will enable buyers to discover, browse and buy products on the ONDC network via WhatsApp. It provides a shopping experience directly within the Meta-owned messaging platform, eliminating the need to download any additional apps.

Besides, Gupshup plans to soon offer enterprises to use this conversational commerce feature in their chatbots, making shopping easier for their customers.

The app is currently in Beta mode, meaning it is available to a limited group of users. At this stage, users can order food and beverages. They can share their location in a WhatsApp chat, browse nearby sellers, and make payments directly through WhatsApp.

Soon, users will also be able to use additional messaging services like Google RCS and voice commands to order. 

“India’s diverse population uses different mobile tools, varied languages, and possesses different levels of tech-savvy. But they all know how to chat via WhatsApp. Delivering conversational experiences via the messaging app is the only way to reach everyone,” said Gupshup’s CEO and founder Beerud Sheth.

“Gupshup’s Buyer App on ONDC brings the vast commerce network to users nationwide, usable in any language, quickly and easily. This will truly transform digital commerce on a population scale in India,” Sheth added.

Founded in 2004 by Sheth, Gupshup enables businesses to advertise, communicate, and converse with their customers by leveraging AI and CPaaS. It serves over 45,000 brands across the globe to deliver better customer experience, and increased revenue while saving costs. 

Its notable clients include Citibank, AkzoNobel, Khan Academy, Unilever, Dream11, Netflix, Flipkart, and Ola. With total funding of $486 Mn, it counts Tiger Global, Fidelity Management and Research Co. LLC, among others as its investors.

This comes as the latest addition to ONDC’s Buyer App portfolio with the likes of  Paytm, MagicPin, Pincode, Meesho, and Mystore already making the list. 

Notably, ONDC enables businesses to function as buyer apps and seller apps on its network. Buyer apps help sellers make their products discoverable to potential consumers nationwide.

Launched in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open protocol-based network to enable local commerce across multiple segments, including grocery and mobility among others. 

Meanwhile, ONDC is expanding its services by entering new segments and onboarding new participants. Notably, it clocked a 23% month-on-month increase in the transactions on the platform in May. It posted a record 89 Lakh transactions across retail and ride-hailing segments in the same period. 

Startups in the likes of Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, Shiprocket, Delhivery, Dainik Jagran, Uber, IDFC Bank, Kotak, Dunzo, and Tata Neu have already integrated some of their services with the ONDC.

At the heart of all these is the burgeoning ecommerce landscape in India, expected to reach a size of $400 Bn by the end of 2030

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US-based retail major Walmart’s chief financial officer (CFO) David Rainey has said that ecommerce major Flipkart and digital payments giant PhonePe are on “path to profitability”. 

Speaking at an investor conference in London, parent Walmart’s CFO said that Flipkart’s “improving” losses are giving the the retail major a “lot of confidence” in what the ecommerce giant’s financial profile would look in a few years. 

“… They’re (Flipkart and PhonePe) all on their path to profitability. We’re seeing those ecommerce losses improve year after year after year, which gives us a lot of confidence in what the overall financial profile of this business looks like a few years from now,” said Rainey. 

On PhonePe, the Walmart CFO said that the fintech major is clocking “roughly $1.5 Tn of total payments volume (TPV)”. 

“They (PhonePe) are doing roughly $1.5 Tn of total payment volume… That has got to be up there as large as any payment company in the world, certainly outside of China. And how it’s resonating with customers there, it’s just amazing. So to be the largest payment provider in the largest market of the world, that’s exactly where you want to be,” Rainey added. 

He also expressed confidence over the growth clocked by PhonePe, saying Walmart is “pleased” with that performance of the fintech major. 

This comes a month after Walmart executives during a quarterly analyst call in May said that the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Flipkart and PhonePe could take a couple of years. During the same call, the CFO said Flipkart witnessed double-digit growth during the quarter ended April 2024. 

Interestingly, earlier this month, Rainey also said that Flipkart’s path to profitability would determine the timeline of the ecommerce major’s IPO.

This comes months after Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy reportedly told employees that the ecommerce major was “close” to hitting profitability and had significantly trimmed its monthly cash burn. 

Overall, Flipkart continues to be one of the biggest players in the Indian ecommerce space and has been rapidly looking to expand its footprint in other categories, including quick commerce. The company last month added Google to its cap table. As per a report, the tech giant was part of a $1 Bn funding round, which valued Flipkart at $35 Bn to $36 Bn. 

On the financial front, the ecommerce giant’s B2C arm, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, saw its operating revenue surge 42% YoY to INR 14,845.8 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). Meanwhile, loss reduced 9% to INR 4,026.5 Cr during the year under review from INR 4,419.5 Cr in FY22.

Meanwhile, PhonePe is another jewel in Walmart India’s crown. The fintech major is the biggest player in the digital payments space and has been accounting for nearly half of all the UPI payments almost every month.

However, PhonePe’s net loss grew 39% YoY to INR 2,795.3 Cr in FY23 while operating revenue rose 77% YoY to INR 2,913.7 Cr.

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Finnish telecom giant Nokia is reportedly considering shifting a large part of its global design capacity to India.

The move can be attributed to the presence of large designing talent in India, Economic Times reported, citing sources.

Nokia has a presence in five locations across India – Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru – with two R&D centres in Chennai and Bangalore. 

The company is reportedly keen on localising more of its operations, recognising the need to move up the value chain in India. “Nokia could look to begin designing telecom network infrastructure equipment from its facility in Chennai,” one of the sources was quoted as saying.

 Currently, the majority of Nokia’s design work is carried out in Finland, the UK, and parts of the US. 

Nokia is prioritising design expansion in India while also considering increasing manufacturing. The company is building its local supply chain through its ongoing localisation efforts. 

Nokia already manufactures 5G/4G radios and GPON optical line terminals for both domestic and global markets in India, in partnership with Foxconn.

The company has manufactured over 7 Mn telecom network equipment units in India to date, with about 40% of these being exported.

India is a lucrative market for companies in the telecom space because of the country’s large telecom subscriber base. The country’s telecom subscriber base crossed the 1.2 Bn mark in April this year, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 

The latest development comes at a time when India is emerging as a global manufacturing hub. 

iPhone maker Apple has been gradually scaling up its manufacturing operations in the country, with India now accounting for about 7% of total iPhones produced globally. Apple manufactured iPhones worth INR 1 Lakh Cr in India last year and recorded a revenue of INR 49.3K Cr in FY23.

Besides, Google has also announced its decision to manufacture Pixel 8 in the country. Even Chinese manufacturers are setting up manufacturing plants in India. BBK Group, which owns Oppo, Vivo, and Realme, has partnered with Dixon Technologies and Karbonn Group for smartphone production. 

The electronics manufacturing sector in India is projected to reach $300 Bn by 2026. The smartphone industry alone is expected to create 1 Mn direct jobs by 2025.

India’s smartphone market, the world’s second-largest, shipped 146 Mn units in 2023. Despite a 2% year-on-year decline, the market is expected to recover in 2024 with an estimated 5-8% growth.

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Private equity firm Warburg Pincus is reportedly looking to lead a funding round of $100-150 Mn (about INR 833 Cr to INR 1,250 Cr) in SoftBank-backed B2B SaaS startup Whatfix. 

The round will be a mix of both primary and secondary transactions.

Citing sources close to the matter, ET reported that SoftBank is also expected to participate in the fundraise, while early investors Helion Venture Partners and Eight Roads Ventures are set to make partial exits. 

It is pertinent to note that SoftBank holds more than 13% in the Bengaluru-based startup.

The report further added that Whatfix is expected to raise primary capital at a valuation of $800 Mn.

“Warburg has been engaging with Whatfix for a while and has issued the term sheet now. They are set to lead the round,” one of the sources told ET.

In September last year, it was reported that Warburg Pincus had early stage talks with Whatfix.

This development follows deal activity among several SaaS unicorns, including Innovaccer and Icertis. SoftBank may increase its stake in Icertis, while US health and insurance giant Kaiser Permanente is expected to lead a new funding round at a flat valuation.

Founded in 2013 by Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar, Whatfix generates revenue through subscriptions and professional services provided to businesses. The digital adoption platform offers solutions for onboarding new customers, effective training, and enhanced user support by displaying contextual content at the moment of need. The startup claims to serve several Fortune 500 companies with its solutions.

In FY 2023, the B2B SaaS startup reduced its net loss by 53% by lowering expenses. The startup reported a net loss of INR 328.33 Cr for FY23, compared to INR 706.26 Cr in FY22. 

The company saw a 65.14% increase in operating revenue, rising to INR 284.74 Cr in FY23 from INR 172.42 Cr in FY22.

Whatfix has raised a total funding of nearly $140 Mn till date. Besides SoftBank, the startup counts the likes of Peak XV, Eight Roads Venture, F-Prime Capital, Anupam Mittal, Cisco Investments and Helion Ventures among its investors.

With its vibrant startup ecosystem and burgeoning talent pool, India has emerged as a key player in the global SaaS landscape. Government initiatives, vertical-specific solutions, and a focus on security and compliance are driving this growth. 

The Indian SaaS ecosystem has the potential to generate $50 Bn – $70 Bn in revenue and $500 Bn in enterprise value by 2030. With this growth, India can become the second-largest SaaS ecosystem globally. 

The post Warburg Pincus Likely To Lead $100-150 Mn Funding In SoftBank-Backed Whatfix: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Community and security management startup Mygate reported a 35.3% rise in operating revenue to INR 96.2 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 71.1 Cr in the previous fiscal, helped by growth in its key revenue streams of advertising and software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions. 

The startup earned INR 85.4 Cr as enterprise revenue, which increased 35.1% year-on-year (YoY), as per the startup’s business summary. This includes income from enterprise sources, including resident welfare associations, security agencies, and builders.

On the other hand, revenue from consumer services, which includes utility bill payments, maintenance bills, and home services, also grew almost 38% YoY to INR 10.9 Cr in FY24.

Mygate said its total revenue stood at INR 109.1 Cr in FY24, an increase of 41% from INR 77.2 Cr the previous year.

Meanwhile, the startup claimed to have reduced its cash burn by 85% during FY24, with zero cash burn recorded in the March quarter (Q4).

However, it continues to be a loss-making entity. Mygate posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of INR 20.4 Cr as against INR 71.3 Cr reported in the last fiscal.

It claimed that between FY21 and FY24, its losses decreased by 81%. 

“Overall, the company’s financial performance reflects a positive growth trajectory. With significant revenue growth, efficient expense management, reduction in losses, and effective cash flow management, the company is well-positioned for continued success in the future,” said Mygate in its FY24 business summary.

Where Did MyGate Spend?

The startup managed to decrease its total expenses by almost 13% to INR 129.5 Cr in FY24 from 148.5 Cr in the previous year.

Its employee benefit expenses continued to be the biggest expense head. Mygate’s employee cost, excluding ESOPs, stood at INR 66.4 Cr in FY24 as against INR 79.6 Cr in the previous year.

It is pertinent to note that the startup laid off 30% of its employees in February 2023, which reportedly shrunk its total headcount to around 400 from 600 earlier.

Founded in 2016 by Vijay Arisetty, Vivaik Bharadwaj, Shreyans Daga, and Abhishek Kumar, Mygate offers security solutions for apartment complexes at entry and exit gates. It replaces other security-related systems such as RFID cards, biometrics and vehicle stickers.

In the last few months, there have been a few top-level rejigs at the company. Earlier this year, Mygate cofounder and former chief operating officer Kumar took up the position of CEO in the company, with cofounder and former CEO Arisetty promoted to the role of the chairman. Earlier this week, Inc42 reported that Arisetty has taken up the role of cofounder and CEO of fintech startup Aurm. 

Mygate said that the previous two years have been “what in the startup world is thought to be boring” – optimising expenses, lowering costs, and responsibly growing revenue. It said that with the organisation maturing, it would look forward to doing more of the same.

However, the startup’s other expenses grew 7.8% YoY to INR 61.5 Cr in FY24. The company did not provide a breakdown of these expenses.

Outlook

Mygate projects its revenue to grow 75% YoY in FY25.

“We are a startup at heart, and when any opportunity arises, we will look for areas where we can innovatively make a difference. Over the past few months, we have begun to pilot a large new initiative that will expand the foundations of the company, and take the magic of Mygate beyond gated communities, too,” said Mygate.

The startup claims to be the largest community management app in the country with a presence in over 4 Mn homes.

Mygate competes with the likes of Gate Keeper, NoBrokerHood, and JioGate. The startup has raised over $79 Mn in funding till date. 

The post Mygate’s Operating Revenue Jumps 35% To INR 96.2 Cr In FY24; Cost Optimisation Continues appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Huddle Ventures said its Fund II has received strong response from investors and has been oversubscribed by 20% ahead of its final close. 

Launched in mid-2023, the fund had an initial corpus of INR 100 Cr for investment in 20 startups. However, the VC firm has activated the green shoe option following the oversubscription and is aiming for a final close at INR 150 Cr in the next four to eight weeks.

The fund has received commitments from family offices, founders, and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), Huddle Ventures said.

The fund will have an average ticket size of $500K, extendable up to $1M, including follow-on investments, per company. It will invest in consumer brands, fintech, agritech, and healthcare startups.

The VC firm aims to deploy the fund’s entire corpus by early 2026.

Founded in 2017 by Ishaan Khosla and Sanil Sachar, Huddle Ventures launched its Fund I in 2021 and invested in a total of 25 startups. It counts the likes of sexual wellness D2C brand Bold Care, coffee chain Blue Tokai, EV companies Cell Propulsion and RACEnergy, and D2C brand CureSkin in its portfolio. 

Earlier, Huddle Ventures used to co-invest in startups with small cheques of approximately $150K-$200K. The VC firm has now changed its investment methodology.

Speaking to Inc42, its general partner Khosla said, “Earlier, we actively deployed smaller sums as compared to what we are doing today. And our investment methodology has evolved into largely being the lead/co-lead investor as part of the new companies.”

Khosla said Huddle Ventures has always tried to be among the first backers of businesses, and it is now doubling down on this strategy.

He said the VC firm has already made six investments, including in insect protein bioprocessing startup Greengrahi and D2C skincare brand Asaya, from its Fund II.

Speaking about the VC firm’s investments in the crowded D2C space, general partner Sachar said Huddle Ventures was fortunate to be the first backer of brands like Perfora and Bold Care. This, he said, helped the firm take a long-term view while making investment decisions. 

“The cliche is that we have to evaluate the founders from early on, their ability to hire a team around that has a sense of ownership, their ability to understand the space they are operating in. The other evaluation is what Huddle is bringing to the table for the companies. Because of these evaluations, 83-85% of our portfolio today has gone and raised successive rounds since we entered, 65% of them are in series A, B and C stages,” said Sachar.

Huddle Ventures, with its Fund II, aims to continue supporting early-stage ventures, enabling them to grow into established organisations. 

The latest development comes at a time when the Indian startup ecosystem is struggling to get out of the grip of the funding winter. Despite this, a number of new funds have been launched in recent times to invest in the country’s startups.

Last month, 360 ONE Asset launched a secondaries fund, ‘Special Opportunities Fund-12’, with a target corpus of INR 4,000 Cr.  Avendus also launched its late-stage ‘Future Leaders Fund (FLF) III’ with a total corpus of $350 Mn (about INR 3,000 Cr). 

Prior to that, Caret Capital and Ev2 Ventures came together to launch a new $50 Mn India-focussed fund.

The post Huddle Ventures’ Oversubscribed Fund II To Soon Close At INR 150 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

SaaS unicorn Zoho has rolled out a host of product offerings for its global enterprise customers, including revamped Zoho CRM for Everyone, to boost customer growth and improve their experience.

Customer relationship management (CRM) has been one of Zoho’s primary revenue generators among its various other offerings, and the company said its new capabilities are aimed to improve visibility for every stakeholder in the customer journey, mitigate gaps in coordination and reduce turnaround time.

The company claimed India to be one of Zoho’s fastest growing markets, and particularly for its CRM product offering, the country stands as the second largest market, with a 33% YoY growth in customers in 2023.

“Zoho CRM for Everyone breaks down those silos for the first time, enabling different teams in a sales process to contribute productively by reducing CRM complexity and encouraging participation,” said Mani Vembu, chief operating officer at Zoho.

The company has also enhanced its offerings for professional developers within Catalyst, its pro-code full-stack development platform and Zoho Apptics, an application analytics solution that enables developers to track the in-app usage and performance of applications.

Sridhar Vembu, CEO at Zoho, said, “Businesses are looking for unified solutions that help them optimise for value, maximise their competitive advantages, and tap into new market opportunities amid tough economic conditions.”

He added, “Zoho CRM for Everyone, for instance, is the first true democratisation of the CRM paradigm and helps unify all customer operations teams onto the CRM to deliver better customer experiences. Likewise, the upgraded Catalyst and the privacy-focused Apptics solution work hand-in-hand to deliver an unmatched developer experience from concept to code, and deployment to analytics.”

Zoho’s announcement comes right after its US peers Salesforce trimmed its second quarter forecast and Freshworks cut its annual outlook, in May 2024, with reason to weak client spending and inflationary pressures.

Earlier this year, Zoho’s sales crossed the $1 Bn mark in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. The company reported an operating revenue of INR 8,703.6 Cr ($1 Bn) in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), a jump of 30% from INR 6,710.7 Cr in FY22.

Founded in 1996, the Sridhar Vembu-led company was initially known as AdventNet INC. Zoho has various product offerings ranging from web applications for sales, marketing, finance, legal, to suites, mobile applications and such.

Last month, it was reported that the Chennai-based company was looking to enter the semiconductor space and was seeking approval to get incentives under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for setting up a chip fabrication plant. 

Prior to that in April, Vembu announced the launch of his new venture Karuvi, a power tools manufacturing company, which is a mechatronics startup that designs and builds consumer and industrial power tools and other mechanical systems. 

In February, the company also launched a new business division called Zakya in India, to cater to the retail businesses. Zakya offers a POS (point of sale) solution for retail stores to streamline their day-to-day operations and easily monitor them from one place.

The post Zoho Revamps CRM Product With Bigger Focus On Collaboration Across Sales Teams appeared first on Inc42 Media.

As a nation, India is taking huge strides digitally. This is obvious from independent research reports estimating that the digital economy of India will contribute nearly 20% from 8% currently to its GDP by 2030.

Among other technologies, the cloud has played a big role in enabling and accelerating the digital economy and forecasts from analyst firms indicate a monumental shift towards embracing public cloud services. 

Research firm IDC, for example, predicts that the public cloud services market in India will reach a mammoth $17.8 Bn by the year 2027, growing at an impressive CAGR of 22.9% from the year 2022 till 2027.  

However, despite the growing adoption of cloud, many Indian organisations are still grappling with common concerns centred around cost, risk, and security.

The Cost-Risk-Security Imperative

Often it has been observed that though the cloud promises enhanced flexibility and responsiveness many organisations in India remain apprehensive about migrating from traditional data centres. This reluctance often stems from perceived costs and risks associated with cloud adoption.

Contrary to conventional beliefs that on-premises data centres offer superior security, cloud providers can deliver superior security measures that ensure round-the-clock data protection while adhering to stringent industry and regulatory standards. Through robust service level agreements (SLAs), organisations can gain greater control over their applications and data and mitigate the risks of unauthorised data access. 

Cloud service providers invest heavily in state-of-the-art security infrastructure, employing a team of cybersecurity professionals dedicated to staying ahead of evolving threats. This expertise translates to a higher level of security compared to what many businesses might be able to achieve on their own, especially for smaller organisations. 

Cloud providers have sophisticated security monitoring systems in place that can detect and respond to security threats in real time. These systems analyse network traffic for suspicious activity, identify potential vulnerabilities, and automatically trigger security protocols to mitigate threats. 

This continuous vigilance provides a significant advantage over relying solely on in-house security personnel. Cloud infrastructure is also scalable, allowing resources to be provisioned and de-provisioned rapidly. In the event of a cyberattack, cloud providers can quickly isolate affected systems and scale up resources to maintain service and business continuity. 

This redundancy and scalability mitigate the risk of downtime and data loss associated with data centre breaches. 

There is also a misconception that on-premise solutions are inherently more cost-effective. This hypothesis is far from the truth.   A comprehensive evaluation of the total costs reveals hidden costs such as maintenance, upgrades, security, and performance optimisation.  

In this context, cloud migration, when viewed holistically, emerges as a financially prudent choice, offering potential cost savings and operational efficiencies that transcend traditional infrastructural limitations.

Tailoring Cloud Solutions To Unique Organisational Needs

For organisations attempting to move to the cloud, a one-size-fits-all approach in the adoption process is impractical. Hence, collaboration with cloud providers is crucial for organisations contemplating migration. 

They must choose their path towards the cloud meticulously: these should encompass upgrades, optimisation, and modernisation. Each component must be tailored specifically towards meeting the unique needs of each organisation. This is imperative for a successful cloud migration. 

Within the cloud landscape, Software as a Service (SaaS) has emerged as a preferred deployment model for new applications, with companies expressing a preference for scalable, subscription-based solutions. 

In the above-quoted IDC study, SaaS was the largest component of the overall public cloud services market. The SaaS model helps organisations with access to best practices, which previously was the prerogative of large enterprises. 

This enables and empowers organisations of all sizes to drive efficiency and innovation. The SaaS model also enhances cost savings, supports a flexible workforce, eliminates implementation and maintenance costs, and provides improved collaboration capabilities. 

Hence, for organisations in India aiming to enhance efficiency and agility, SaaS has emerged as a preferred deployment model. The IDC study previously quoted identifies SaaS as the largest component of all public cloud services markets. 

The Value Of Hybrid Cloud Management

With hybrid clouds being the norm rather than the exception, maintaining visibility and control across disparate environments can be difficult. Businesses struggle to monitor performance, ensure compliance, and optimise resource utilisation. 

Managing separate tools and processes for on-premises and cloud resources increases complexity. Siloed operations make it difficult to achieve consistent automation and orchestration across the entire IT ecosystem. 

The integration of different environments introduces new security concerns. Businesses need robust security measures that seamlessly integrate across both cloud and on-premises infrastructure. 

Hybrid cloud management solutions bridge the gap between on-premise and cloud environments, by offering a consolidated view of all IT resources, both on-premise and in the cloud. 

This enables businesses to monitor performance, manage deployments, and automate workflows across their entire hybrid infrastructure. By offering standardised tools and processes for managing cloud and on-premise resources, hybrid cloud management solutions streamline operations. 

This translates to increased efficiency, reduced operational costs, and faster time to market for new services. Additionally, by providing a holistic view of resource utilisation across the hybrid environment, businesses can identify and eliminate inefficiencies. 

This leads to optimised resource allocation, reduced cloud costs, and improved return on IT investments. 

The Importance Of FinOps

Cost is also one of the major considerations for evaluating the benefits of a cloud-driven process. Hence, cloud governance is important as left unchecked, cloud costs can spiral out of control. Here is where FinOps can play a vital role. 

FinOps isn’t a product or software; it’s a cultural and operational shift that fosters collaboration between finance, IT, and business teams. It emphasises continuous optimisation of cloud costs by providing a framework for informed decision-making. 

Cloud costs are tracked and allocated transparently to specific teams or projects. This fosters a sense of ownership and encourages responsible cloud resource usage. 

Cloud spending is also aligned with business objectives. FinOps helps identify opportunities to leverage cost-effective cloud services while ensuring optimal performance and value for the business. 

More importantly, FinOps is an iterative process. Costs are continuously monitored, analysed, and optimised through regular reviews and adjustments to cloud resources and pricing models.

Over some time, organisations adhering to FinOps principles can identify and eliminate wasteful spending on underutilised resources or poorly optimised configurations. By leveraging the cost-saving features of cloud providers and implementing right-sizing strategies, businesses can significantly reduce their cloud bills. 

Teams are empowered to understand their cloud usage patterns and make informed decisions about resource allocation. This promotes collaboration and eliminates finger-pointing when it comes to cloud bill management. 

FinOps also equips businesses with data-driven insights into their cloud spend. This allows for better forecasting, budgeting, and selection of the most cost-effective cloud services and pricing models based on evolving business needs.

In Conclusion

In the cloud migration journey, selecting the right cloud service provider is critical. Factors such as customer references, flexibility, integration capabilities, support services, robust security, certifications and compliance frameworks must be meticulously evaluated. 

For instance, products or platforms enabling cloud-certified Enterprise Information Management applications as managed services in private or public clouds can be extremely effective in cloud-based migrations. These platforms offer a seamless transition path for organisations seeking enhanced security, reduced TCO, and improved operational resilience.

As India marches towards a cloud-centric future, organisations must overcome their traditional biases. The cloud, with its promise of improved security, enhanced data protection, and operational efficiencies, is poised to become the standard backbone for businesses across industries.

The post Embracing A Cloud-Driven Future appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Traveltech company RateGain’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) zoomed 48% to INR 50.02 Cr in the quarter ended March 31, 2024 (Q4 FY24) from the INR 33.78 Cr profit it reported in the year ago. 

In Q4 FY24, RateGain saw a 24% jump in profits from the previous quarter’s INR 40.42 Cr. For the full fiscal year of FY24, the company’s profits more than doubled to INR 146.39 Cr from FY23’s INR 68.40 Cr. 

RateGain’s operating revenue surged to INR 255.81 Cr in the quarter, up 36% year-on-year (YoY) from Q4 FY23’s INR 187.72 Cr and 1.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) from Q3 F24‘s INR 252.02 Cr. 

Meanwhile, its expenses also increased marginally in the quarter to INR 211.40, a 0.2% sequential increase from last quarter’s INR 210.86 Cr. However, the number is up 30% YoY from Q4 FY23’s INR 161.88 Cr. 

In tandem with the increase in its profits for the full fiscal year, the startup’s operational revenue grew 69% to INR 957.03 Cr in FY24 from INR 565.12 Cr in the previous year. Total expenses also grew to INR 809 Cr in FY24, a 56% increase from previous fiscal’s INR 517.8 Cr. 

The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at INR 54.2 Cr, up 68% YoY from Q4 FY23’s INR 32.2 Cr. Its EBITDA margins also expanded to 21.2% from previous quarter’s 17.6%.

Post the announcement, the startup’s stocks were trading 5.70% higher at INR 775.50 during the intra-day trading session on May 21. The RateGain stock hit a high of INR 810 per share around 2 PM on Tuesday, before settling slightly lower. 

For the uninitiated, RateGain offers SaaS solutions for the travel and hospitality industry. The platform claims to work with more than 3,000 customers and 700 partners spanning 100 countries.

Commenting on the company’s financial result, CEO Bhanu Chopra said, “FY24 was a transformative year for RateGain and it would not have been possible without the combined effort of our global teams to continuously deliver value to our clients.” 

The company said that it witnessed strong traction across the services it offers to online travel aggregators (OTAs), airlines and car rentals. Further, it said that it acquired 337 new customers during the quarter. Fresh customers for the company include Yatra, Rental, and Flyr. 

“We continue to see robust revenue growth coupled with strong margin expansion, clearly demonstrating the value we are delivering to our customers… The company continues to witness significant improvement across key operating metrics including customer retention and revenue diversification. With focused execution we witnessed doubling of our contract wins in the past year powered by healthy growth from key markets and a strong demand for our products in emerging markets positioning us well for future growth opportunities,” RateGain’s CFO Tanmaya Das said.

The quarter saw members of the promoter group offloading 3% stake. Megha Chopra, one of the company’s promoters, and Usha Chopra, part of the promoter group, together divested shares equivalent to 3% stake out of the total holding of 51.25%.

The post RateGain FY24 Results: Profits More Than Double To INR 146 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Market intelligence platform Tracxn Technologies reported a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 1.42 Cr in the quarter ending March 2024 (Q4) in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). This represents a sequential decline of 36% from Q3 FY24’s INR 2.2 Cr. 

However, on a YoY basis, Tracxn has reported a 13% increase in net profits from Q4 FY23’s INR 1.25 Cr. 

For the complete fiscal year of FY24, Tracxn’s PAT shrank to INR 6.50 Cr, down 80% from the net profit of INR 33.09 Cr it recorded in the previous fiscal. 

However, its operational revenue zoomed by 7% to INR 87.03 Cr in the fiscal from FY23’s INR 81.18 Cr. Its net expenses also witnessed a similar increase, growing 3% to INR 78.35 Cr from last year’s INR 75.72 Cr. 

Tracxn’s operating revenue sank during the quarter to INR 20.31 Cr, a 3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) depreciation from last quarter’s INR 21.1 Cr. 

The number is also marginally down YoY from the INR 20.34 Cr it made in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. 

On the other hand, the startup’s total expenses rose to INR 19.68 Cr during the quarter, up 2% QoQ from last quarter’s INR 19.32 Cr, again marginally down YoY from the INR 19.70 Cr in the year-ago period. 

Founded in 2013 by Abhishek Goyal and Neha Singh, Tracxn is a business intelligence platform that tracks companies across the globe. Its customer base includes private market investors such as venture capital and private equity firms and investment banks as well as corporates, government agencies, government banks, academic institutions, and startup accelerators.

This is the first fiscal where the India market accounted for the maximum share of Tracxn’s revenue. 

The company claimed that Q4 FY24 was the quarter where it acquired a maximum number of customers, precisely 88. With the addition, Tracxn’s customer base increased to 1,313 from last quarter’s 1,224. 

From a geographical lens, its revenue from India grew 14% YoY, accounting for 34% of its revenue for FY24. Contribution from the American countries stood at 32%, while the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region brought in 23% of its total revenue. 

Besides its focus on big ticket accounts, the company also announced that it has set up  a separate team to focus on  acquisition and expansion of customers in the startup segment. 

It reasoned the introduction of this separate team to it witnessing a high volume of inbound leads from startups which require differentiated use cases and workflows.

Further, the quarter also saw the company introduce its new offering Tracxn Lite for PLG (Product-Led Growth). Under this, Tracxn users get restricted access to the platform, with limitations like daily hits for profile views, exports and certain platform modules. 

It claimed that the user base for Tracxn Lite has grown to over 20K user sign ups since introduction in December 2023. Its monthly active user base has also crossed 8,000. 

The post Tracxn FY24 Results: Profits Shrink By 80% For Full Year appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Sridhar Vembu-led SaaS unicorn Zoho is reportedly looking to enter the semiconductor space and has applied to the Centre to seek approval to get incentives under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for setting up a chip fabrication plant.

The bootstrapped company is estimating an investment of around $700 Mn to set up the unit, Reuters reported citing sources.

“Zoho is proposing to manufacture compound semiconductors, which have specialised commercial applications and are made from alternatives to the more-commonly used silicon in chipmaking,” the report quoted a source as saying. 

The company’s proposal is under the IT ministry’s review. The ministry has also sought more clarity from Zoho on the customers it intends to do business with. 

Citing one of the sources, the report also said that Zoho has already identified a tech partner to set up the chip fabrication plant.

Zoho declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development.

The latest development comes almost two months after Vembu said in a post on X that Zoho was planning a semiconductor design project in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. 

Zoho’s plans to get into the semiconductor space also come as a big boost for the government, which has taken a number of initiatives to promote semiconductor manufacturing in the country.

The Centre has allocated INR 76,000 Cr under the Semicon India programme to develop the semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

Earlier this year in February, the union cabinet approved the country’s first semiconductor fab to be set up by the Tata Group, in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC), with a net investment of INR 91,000 Cr. 

Further, it also greenlit two other semiconductor proposals of Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd (TSAT) and CG Power and Japan’s Renesas. 

As per Inc42 analysis, the size of India’s semiconductor industry is expected to surpass the $150 Bn mark by 2030, growing at a 24% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2023 and 2030.

While semiconductor manufacturing is capital intensive, it is unlikely to be an issue for the deep-pocketed Zoho. The company’s operating revenue zoomed 30% year-on-year to INR 8,703.6 Cr ($1 Bn) in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), while net profit rose 3% to $340 Mn. 

The post Zoho Eyes Semiconductor Foray, Plans $700 Mn Investment To Set Up Chip Fabrication Unit appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre is mulling to build a dedicated research and development unit under the proposed India Semiconductor Research Centre (ISRC).

This facility will focus on semiconductor research that can “quickly go into industrial production”, ET reported.

“There is a recognised need for both private and public sectors, particularly in the semiconductor domain, to employ dedicated R&D professionals full-time. The goal is to foster an ecosystem driven by intellectual property rights (IPR) in manufacturing. We are considering structures where R&D efforts can be co-funded or conducted in public-private partnership (PPP) mode,” the report said, citing government officials.

The proposed R&D wing will operate separately from other research activities that have long project timelines. Its focus will be on developing the next generation of semiconductors, alongside advancements in packaging, systems technologies, processes and materials.

Based on the scheme’s viability, this dedicated R&D centre could even evolve into an independent entity, the report added.

The detailed plans for the initiative are likely to be revealed after the general elections in June. 

It is pertinent to note that last year an expert panel recommended the establishment of a semiconductor research centre to MeitY (The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) with an initial corpus of $8 Bn (INR 66,500 Cr) over the next five years.

ISRC is aimed at developing India’s capabilities in the semiconductor research space. Modelled on the lines of global institutions such as IMEC and the MIT Micro-Electronic Labs, it focuses on semiconductor processes, advanced silicon solutions, packaging R&D, compound/ power semiconductor and chip design.

India’s semiconductor ecosystem has gained significant traction in recent times. Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet approved three semiconductor proposals from private firms, totalling INR 1.26 Lakh Cr in investment. 

Additionally, US-based semiconductor giant Micron is in the process of establishing an ATMP plant in Gujarat, with an investment exceeding INR 22,000 Cr.

India has also inked agreements with various global semiconductor manufacturing giants to set up manufacturing units domestically. Moreover, companies like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron, and Qualcomm are also investing in India.

In 2021, the government introduced Semicon India program, allocating INR 76,000 Cr to provide incentive support to companies engaged in silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors/sensors fabs, and semiconductor packaging and design.

Subsequently, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was launched in 2022 to cultivate a robust semiconductor and display ecosystem, aiming to position India as a prominent global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.

The semiconductor industry in India is projected to reach a market value of $55 Bn by 2026, driven by rising demand for smartphones, automobiles, and data storage. 

The post Govt Mulls Separate Semiconductor R&D Unit With Short Project Timelines appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Data collaboration software provider Atlan has raised $105 Mn in its Series C funding round, co-led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Meritech Capital. The round also saw participation from the startup’s existing investors Salesforce Ventures and Peak XV Partners.

Atlan said that its post-money valuation has increased to $750 Mn post this fundraise. 

Founded in 2018 by Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka, the Singapore-headquartered startup allows enterprise teams to collaborate on projects and help create a single source for all data assets on its platform. Today, in an AI-forward and data-driven business landscape, Atlan claims to have become a next-generation platform for data and AI governance.

Sankar, cofounder of Atlan, said that CIOs and CDOs across enterprises are being asked about their AI roadmaps, and they are all looking to bring in AI-ready data or data enriched with business context, trust, and security for AI adoption. 

Data sets and sources are exploding within disconnected systems and silos, said the startup, adding that cataloguing data for discovery and then utilisation across the enterprise becomes a highly manual, cumbersome process. 

Atlan claims to be addressing this issue by building the control plane for the data and AI stack, while also integrating trust and context into the digital fabric. The startup said that it centralises data management, uniting data producers and consumers throughout an organisation.

Cofounder Banka added that every organisation handles data differently across roles, structures, and platforms. The startup’s solution unifies data across warehouses, lakehouses, vector DBs, BI tools, and AI agents, he claimed.  

“In doing so, Atlan empowers data teams to leverage the entirety of their data at high velocity and scale by ensuring its quality, accuracy, and governance. This means data teams can efficiently and effectively collaborate on data that would be otherwise siloed for various use cases, including populating AI models with trustworthy data,” Banka added.

Atlan has a customer base comprising enterprises such as Cisco, Unilever, Autodesk, Ralph Lauren, Nasdaq, FOX, and HubSpot.  The startup claims to have witnessed over 7X growth in its revenue in the last two years, with a 75% win rate in competitive trials and a 400% enterprise sales growth in Q1 2024. 

The company’s operating revenue jumped 189.8% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 93.83 Cr in FY23. However, its PAT saw a decline that year partially hurt by high tax expenses. 

Earlier, Atlan raised $50 Mn in its Series B funding round in 2022. Overall, Atlan has raised $206 Mn so far across rounds. Its other major investors include Insight Partners and Waterbridge Ventures.

Rob Ward, cofounder of Meritech Capital, believes that the startup is setting a new standard for modern data governance, especially for enterprises with a cloud-first data strategy. “It’s increasingly viewed as the essential data control plane for major business initiatives like AI readiness and data democratisation. The enthusiasm within the data community for Atlan is extraordinary, reminiscent of the most transformative companies,” Ward said.

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