It started with a tweet on July 8, 2024, when Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal announced the launch of Ola Maps for developers. The CEO also officially announced that Ola Cabs was moving away from Google Maps, the company’s mapping partner until then. 

Incidentally, this came on the heels of Aggarwal’s tussle with Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and the company migrating away from Microsoft’s cloud solution Azure. So the move from Google to Ola Maps naturally attracted a lot of attention on social media. 

Since then, Ola Maps has been in the news for various reasons. 

For one, Aggarwal claimed that Google Maps reduced prices for certain core APIs by up to 70% in response to the Ola Maps launch.

But Developers that use the Google Maps API told Inc42 that Google had already announced a price reduction a few months before Aggarwal tweeted about Ola Maps. “We knew about it for at least a month before the announcement. Google, being a big company, likely planned it further in advance,” said the founder of a route planning and optimisation startup.

Then, Ola was hit by a legal notice from listed mapping major MapmyIndia for alleged data theft and reverse engineering Ola Maps by duplicating MapmyIndia APIs. Soon after, Aggarwal dismissed this notice as being opportunistic. 

But out of nowhere, India’s mapping services space has become a hotbed of competition, controversy and allegations. Ola and Aggarwal are at the centre of this frenzy, and the CEO is supremely confident that Ola Maps will be the next big thing from the house of Ola.  

Sources told Inc42 that the CEO is keen on spinning off Ola Maps as a separate entity and Aggarwal has eyes on creating yet another unicorn, after taking Ola, Ola Electric and most recently Krutrim to the $1 Bn valuation club. 

“A spin-off is on the cards[A few years down the line]; however, at present, the company needs a lot of nurturing from the Ola ecosystem. Once the product nears maturity and the brand achieves a sizable clientele outside the ecosystem, it will be something to look into,” a senior employee working on the platform told Inc42. 

But does Ola Maps even have a shot in this market, where the incumbents have decades of expertise and experience? 

Ola Maps Joins India’s Digital Mapping Frenzy

For the past 18 months, Ola Maps has been developed by Ola Cabs’ parent company ANI Technologies, building on the 2021 acquisition of Pune-based startup GeoSpoc. 

Unlike Ola Krutrim and Ola Electric, which were independent entities from inception and shared the Ola brand name and the company’s resources, Ola Maps is currently part of Ola Cabs’ parent company ANI Technologies.

This is why there is some speculation about Ola spinning off Ola Maps into a separate entity and offering it to developers and other product startups as an API-based service. Aggarwal on X mentioned that Ola Cabs has been spending around INR 100 Cr on third-party mapping services.

It will be interesting to see how Ola differentiates itself from the host of players that make up the mapping market. Although Google Maps and MapmyIndia are the two most dominant players, there are others such as Apple Maps, Dutch giant HERE Technologies, TomTom, MapBox, OpenStreetMaps among others. 

The digital maps and location intelligence services market consists of digital maps services, navigation solutions and telematics for business as well as consumer applications. And most of these companies have products that cater to both B2B and B2C or either of these verticals.  

The opportunity in the digital mapping space is very large. For instance, MapmyIndia’s operating revenue nearly doubled in the past two fiscal years from INR 200 Cr in FY22 to INR 379.4 Cr in FY24.

It is hard to estimate how much Google Maps is earning from India, as the tech giant does not disclose numbers for Google Maps nor its business in India. We do know that most service providers that operate at scale rely on Google Maps.

Swiggy and Zomato, for instance, would be contributing significantly to Google Maps revenue in India, given the millions of orders these platforms process daily for food delivery and quick commerce. Uber India too is a major customer for Google Maps, and Google Maps is pre-installed on millions of Android devices. 

It is hard to fight dominance of this scale, but MapmyIndia has looked to do that through customer acquisition and leading an antitrust battle with Google Maps, as we have written about in the past. 

For context, Google Maps entered the Indian market in 2007, a decade after MapmyIndia’s first product. Last year, MapmyIndia CEO Rohan Verma told Inc42 that MapmyIndia offers a superior product thanks to speed limit indicators, pothole indicators, 3D junction view (for exits and flyovers), several of which are still missing from Google Maps.

However, dethroning Google is no easy task, particularly because of its extensive tech industry network, deep pockets and Android’s dominance in the smartphone market due to which most Android devices come preloaded with Google Maps. 

For MapMyIndia and other majors in the space, it’s the B2B market which includes ride-hailing services, automobile, enterprise solutions, and delivery services that’s been the key addressable market.  

MapMyIndia claims to have captured over 80% of the connected vehicle market, where its apps and devices are installed on-board by the OEM. It also claims to be working with distribution companies, particularly in the food and beverages space. 

So the question is where can Ola even compete in such a market, where two large players already have deep roots. 

Ola’s Maps Journey From 2021

Ola’s journey into the mapping world began after the Indian government changed the guidelines for geospatial data in early 2021. The guidelines restricted foreign companies to a 1-metre accuracy and mandated the use of APIs for such companies from authorised domestic licensees. No such restrictions are applicable for Indian companies. 

The 2021 Guidelines liberalised the entire approach to how an entity could collect the mapping data. Before, it was heavily guarded. And, one needed to have a license and approval from the Indian government to enter the mapping data / streetview data collection.

“This was a major reason why Google could not be directly involved in mapping data collection in India before 2021. Instead, it has had to partner with entities such as Tech Mahindra to collect data for mapping solutions,” a former India-based Google Maps developer told Inc42. 

It was in this India-first milieu that Aggarwal set the roadmap for Ola Maps after the GeoSpoc acquisition. 

Aggarwal’s thesis was that domestic map solutions are critical to democratise access to digital services for all Indians, especially outside the metros. 

He also said that multimodal transportation options such as drones, autonomous vehicles or other new-ge connected vehicles will require more detailed geospatial data, including high-definition and three-dimensional (3D) maps. 

In its first Maps blog, Ola claimed that existing maps do not address challenges such as inaccuracy, inconsistency, varying street names, frequent changes in road networks, non-standardised streets, potholes, and road quality issues. 

Some of these problems are incidentally also MapmyIndia’s USP as Verma told us in January last year. 

But Ola Maps does offer a big upside for Aggarwal and Ola’s many verticals:

1. Cutting Costs: The company will no longer have to spend INR 100 Cr on mapping APIs and SDKs 
2. New Revenue Stream: The in-house mapping solutions is a new revenue stream for Ola 
3. Data Ownership: Ola Maps allows the company to have complete control over user location data, which feeds into other Ola businesses such as ride-hailing, Ola Electric as well as any other verticals launched by the company, including Ola’s recent push into food delivery with ONDC

Of course, competition is beneficial for the entire ecosystem, since this will create a race to offer more features at better prices. 

But building a mapping platform is no easy task. During an interaction with Inc42, a few weeks back, MapmyIndia CEO Verma said, “It is a huge infrastructural task to create a solid foundation of accurate maps based on ground reality for a large country like India (3.2+ Mn sq km to 6.6 Mn sq km!), and then an even more herculean task to maintain and keep the maps updated as the landscape changes.”

According to him, it is very hard to firstly build and maintain maps, and secondly make it into a viable business. “Many players have tried and failed after a few years,” Verma said. 

Ola Maps, which first appeared on the company’s EVs and inside Ola Cabs, is now being offered to developers.

For a moment, let’s put aside the controversy around MapmyIndia’s legal notice to Ola and see how the latter claims to have built Ola Maps.  

As per the company’s statements, it acquired data from Open Street Maps under a licence agreement, as well and from government sources, while also deploying sensors in some Ola Cabs and across the data operations fleet such as cameras, radar, and LiDAR. 

By processing this data, Ola said it developed a suite of APIs and SDKs for B2B use cases. Ola claimed that its maps platform ingested more than 5 Mn messages per second from various sensors and telemetry sources. The petabytes of data is collated, normalised, anonymised, and stored in a data lakehouse. Data streams from various sources are further divided into pipelines to collect relevant data for training AI models, analytics, and data ops for maps. 

The final output is stored in map databases for tiles, places, and routes systems. Ola Electric, meanwhile, has shelved its electric project which was unveiled in 2022, so for now, Ola will instead be relying on its EV two-wheelers and its fleet of cabs for further data collection. 

Suvonil Chatterjee, the chief technology and product officer of Ola Electric, said in a tweet that AI is at the heart of Ola Maps. The company leverages natural language processing for contextual searches, real-time traffic prediction, dynamic routing algorithms, and automated map updates, Chatterjee said. 

What Ola Can Learn From Apple Maps

While the Indian ecosystem has largely applauded the launch, some maps users pointed out bugs and shortcomings such as Ola’s reliance on Google Autocomplete API, routing issues and even about Ola using SDKs from other mapping solutions such as MapBox.

“The APIs offered by Google Maps are simply much more extensive, but the start by Ola Maps is promising. However, with Ola Maps currently being constrained to the Ola ecosystem, most issues are still not public as drivers rarely report them,” according to a founder of location-based services startup.

Moreover, some APIs are difficult to build in terms of accuracy and seamlessness and require multiple datasets to work together. Take for instance, Google Maps’ Places APIs. Industry insiders believe this is especially difficult to develop, because Google relies on high-quality data from Search and other products. This is partly why Google’s Maps APIs are so feature-rich. 

In fact, mapping platforms have transformed into super apps / super platforms incorporating a slew of vertical requirements. Users can directly reserve a table using Google Maps or seek appointments with a doctor or make inquiries about what products a nearby kirana store has in stock. 

MapmyIndia’s consumer app Mappls has partnered with ONDC to incorporate some of these features and more into its products, and the company has also tied up with wearables maker boAt to introduce some features for smartwatches, a category where devices running Google Maps and Apple Maps are typically more expensive than boAt’s smartwatches. 

Apple Maps has also built such features into its APIs but not all of these are available in India. In the US, where Apple is in a much more dominant position, these APIs are more feature-rich. 

What these feature-rich mapping solutions tell us is that mapping apps are no longer just about directions or finding the fastest route between two points. Maps apps are moving towards super apps in some ways. 

Apple’s example is most apt for Ola. Apple Maps was heavily criticised at launch in 2012 for having poor accuracy and mislabelled information. It took the company more than a decade to come close to Google in terms of service quality and features. 

It wasn’t easy for Apple, but having a revenue-generating machine such as the iPhone did help in staying the course. Does Ola have the tenacity that Apple showed? 

For Ola to directly take on Google Maps or Apple Maps, it is critical to add some of these consumer-friendly features, since they can have a snowball effect and bring more B2B customers  on board as well. For Ola Maps, the arduous task begins now. 

Ola Maps might well find itself in the unicorn club if Aggarwal decides to spin it off, but that will still be a valuation game. Dethroning Google, MapmyIndia and even Apple Maps won’t be as simple as going from point A to point B.

[Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam]

The post A Long Road For Ola Maps: Can Bhavish Aggarwal Dethrone Google Maps, MapmyIndia? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has called geotech company MapmyIndia’s move to send a legal notice to the IPO-bound electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer opportunistic.

Addressing media questions at a pre-IPO press conference, Aggarwal said, “We think it is very opportunistic of them given that Ola Electric is not even in the map business. We as a group have three different entities, Ola Cabs, Ola Electric, and Krutim. There are opportunistic players across the board and we will definitely respond to them at the right time.” 

On July 29, MapmyIndia’s parent entity CE Info Systems accused Ola Electric of illicitly copying its data to build its recently launched Ola Maps interface. The company sent a legal notice to Ola Electric for co-mingling and reverse engineering its licensed product.

Ola Electric then called the allegations “false, malicious and misleading”. “We would like to state unequivocally that these allegations are false, malicious and misleading. Ola Electric stands by the integrity of its business practices. We will suitably respond to the notice shortly,” a company spokesperson said. 

It is pertinent to note that the two warring companies inked an agreement in June 2021, which gave Ola Electric the licence to use MapmyIndia’s data . 

Ola Electric’s Attractive IPO Pricing

Meanwhile, Ola Electric is set to make its public market debut. The company’s IPO will open on August 2 and close on August 6. The EV maker has set a price band of INR 72-76 per equity share for the public offer via which it is aiming to raise over INR 6,145.6 Cr at the upper end of the price band.

On the pricing of the public offer, Aggarwal said that the company has a very big opportunity to grow and it wanted to keep the pricing attractive. 

“Ola Electric is essentially an India story and we wanted the Indian investor community to be part of the story. We want their partnership, we want their support, and we also want them to also create wealth for themselves… We wanted to price it so that the investor community feels excited about it,” he said. 

However, the company is looking for a listing at a time when its losses are widening. For the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), Ola Electric’s net loss widened 7.6% to INR 1,584.4 Cr from INR 1,472.1 Cr in the previous year.

While its topline surged over 90% to INR 5,009.8 Cr in the fiscal, its total expenses also shot up over 60% to INR 6,277.4 Cr from INR 3,883.4 Cr in the previous year.

A majority of its burn is attributed to the jump of over 75% in the cost of materials consumed, which stood at INR 4,390.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 2,504.8 Cr in FY23.

Ola Electric’s Dependency On China

As per the RHP, Ola Electric’s imported supplies accounted for 37.03% (a majority of it from China) of the cost of materials consumed in FY24 as against 31.11% in FY23. Meanwhile, domestic supplies comprised 62.97% of the cost of materials consumed in FY24 as compared to 68.89% the previous year.

Addressing a question on the dependence on China, Aggarwal said he anticipates the dependence on China to reduce in the long term. Breaking the process of building electric batteries into three parts, he said that the majority of the company’s dependence on China is for processing raw materials to build cell components (midstream process). 

He said that the company is currently looking to bring the process of assembly of the battery cells, the “Level I” of battery manufacturing, in India via its Gigafactory. Post that, he said that the company plans to bring the midstream process to the home soil as well. 

Aggarwal also lauded the government’s decision to quash custom duties on the import of key minerals required for EV battery manufacturing. He said that the move will benefit the company’s push to Indianise battery production.

The post Ola Electric’s Bhavish Aggarwal Calls MapmyIndia “Opportunistic” For Sending Legal Notice appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reportedly postponed its decision on approving the INR 158 Cr settlement between BYJU’S and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the embattled edtech startup’s US-based lenders raised allegations, questioning the source of the capital.

As per Moneycontrol’s report, the lenders requested the tribunal not to accept the settlement, calling it a “tainted settlement”. They also alleged that the settlement amount is from “stolen money”.

As a result, NCLAT has asked the founder Byju Raveendran to ensure that the source of the money was not tainted and that no court orders were violated in obtaining the capital.

The development follows the report of BYJU’S reportedly transferring INR 50 Cr to the BCCI as part of the first tranche of payments to settle the ongoing insolvency dispute. 

This 50 Cr settlement was reportedly made via Byju Raveendran’s brother Riju Raveendran and the remaining INR 83 Cr lot was scheduled to be paid by August 8, the reports added. 

Citing the findings of a US court, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who represents the US lenders added that both Byju and Riju conspired to siphon off over INR 500 Cr. 

As per Bar and Bench’s report, Rohatgi said that this settlement money belonged to the US lenders. “And now the debtor is offering to pay off the dues of 158 crores. It is our money that has been withdrawn by these fellows.” 

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve who represents the BCCI also assured that the cricket control authority would never accept any tainted money.

Alongside this, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who is also representing BCCI, pointed out that the creditor’s concerns were based on assumptions.

“They (creditors) have argued before me that don’t believe Riju Raveendran. Then they showed me the US order of prohibitory injunction on the use of that 533 million,” NCLAT was quoted as saying in the report.

Seeking relief on the development, Byju Raveendran’s counsel replied that some assurance should be given to ensure that the insolvency process against BYJU’S does not come in the way of the proposed settlement.

It is pertinent to note that earlier this month NCLT admitted the BCCI’s plea to initiate the corporate insolvency resolution process against BYJU’S for not paying the dues to the tune of INR 158.9 Cr to the cricket body for a sponsorship deal.

Following this, Raveendran took the matter to the Karnataka High Court to suspend the NCLT order. However, the HC headed by a single bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar disposed of Raveendran’s plea. 

This comes at the heart of multiple other entities, including BYJU’S US-based Term Loan B lenders, also filing insolvency petitions against the beleaguered company in the past.

BYJU’S, once the poster child of the Indian startup ecosystem, is battling multiple issues, including mass layoffs, a severe cash crunch, delay in filing financial statements, a slew of legal cases and mounting regulatory scrutiny. Making matters worse is a public spat with investors even as losses continue to mount for the company.

BYJU’S net loss surged 81% year-on-year YoY to INR 8,245.2 Cr in FY22.

The post After US-Based Lenders’ Claims, NCLAT Postpones Decision On BYJU’S-BCCI Settlement appeared first on Inc42 Media.

BrainBees Solutions Ltd, which operates omnichannel kidswear brand FirstCry, has filed its red herring prospectus (RHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

As per RHP, the company’s initial public offering (IPO) will open on August 6 and close on August 8. The price band for the IPO will be announced on August 1.

The Pune-based company has reduced the size of its fresh issue by around 8% to INR 1,666 Cr from INR 1,816 Cr.

FirstCry is offering equity shares with a face value of INR 2 each, totaling up to INR 1,666 Cr, while the offer for sale (OFS) component comprises shareholders selling 5.4 Cr equity shares.

According to its RHP, FirstCry will use the net proceeds from the IPO for several key expenditures. The company plans to spend INR 108.1 Cr on setting up new modern stores under the ‘BabyHug’ brand (INR 93.9 Cr) and establishing a warehouse in India (INR 14.2 Cr).

Additionally, INR 93.1 Cr will be allocated for lease payments for existing identified modern stores owned and operated by the company in India.

Investment in the subsidiary Digital Age will total INR 299.6 Cr, with INR 169 Cr dedicated to setting up new modern stores under the FirstCry brand and other home brands, and INR 130.6 Cr for lease payments for existing identified modern stores owned and controlled by Digital Age in India.

For overseas expansion, FirstCry will invest INR 155.6 Cr in the subsidiary FirstCry Trading, which includes INR 72.6 Cr for setting up new modern stores and INR 83 Cr for establishing warehouses in KSA.

Furthermore, INR 169 Cr will be invested in the subsidiary GlobalBees Brands for acquiring an additional stake in step-down subsidiaries. The company will also allocate INR 200 Cr towards sales and marketing initiatives and INR 57.6 Cr for technology and data science costs, including cloud and server hosting-related expenses.

Lastly, funding for inorganic growth through acquisition is also planned, although a specific amount is not mentioned.

FirstCry’s initial offer size was INR 1,816 Cr, as per its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). The Supam Maheshwari-led ecommerce unicorn first filed its DRHP in December.

Later, it refiled its DRHP after markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) claimed that the Supam Maheshwari-led startup failed to disclose certain key indicators in its draft papers filed last December.

The company reported a revenue of INR 6,481 Cr in FY24, up 15% from INR 5,633 Cr in FY23, as per filings. It narrowed its losses to INR 321 Cr in FY24, down 34% from INR 486 Cr in FY23.

The post FirstCry Files RHP With SEBI, Reduces Fresh Issue Size To INR 1,666 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaming major Nazara Technologies’ subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia has completed the acquisition of casual freemium card game “UTP – Ultimate Teen Patti”. 

In a filing with the bourses, the listed gaming giant on Tuesday (July 30) said that it has acquired all intellectual property (IP) rights, softwares and associated trademarks pertaining to the game after paying the final tranche of payment worth INR 1 Cr.

“… We hereby inform you that, based on the intimation received from Next Wave Multimedia… the acquisition of all the intellectual Property rights pertaining to the “UTP – Ultimate Teen Patti” casual freemium card game/ software and associated trademarks from U Games Private Limited has been completed, upon payment of the final tranche of the consideration of INR 1 Cr, inclusive of applicable taxes, in cash,” said Nazara. 

This comes three months after the company, in April this year, announced that its subsidiary will buy all the IP rights related to the casual freemium card game from skill-gaming unicorn Games24x7’s arm U Games.

At the time, Nazara said that it will buy these assets for a cumulative sum of INR 10 Cr in cash, including INR 9 Cr that was paid on April 4. The remaining INR 1 Cr has been paid now post the transfer of these assets.

Launched in early 2015, UTP is a free-to-play social casual card game and does not offer any real money winnings to the players. The game clocked a gross turnover of INR 7 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23).

On the other hand, Nazara’s Chennai-based subsidiary develops casual and multiplayer sport mobile games including the World Cricket Championship that claims to have over 100 Mn downloads across platforms over the last seven years.

It is pertinent to note that Nazara, earlier this year, completely bought Nextwave by acquiring an additional 28.12% stake in the gaming company for INR 21.6 Cr. This came six years after Nazara first acquired a majority stake in Nextwave in January 2018 and further increased its shareholding to 71.88% in May last year.

The development comes at a time when the listed gaming major is on an acquisition spree. Earlier this month, the company picked up an additional 48.42% stake in Paper Boat Apps in an all-cash deal valued at INR 300 Cr. WIth this, Nazara’s ownership in the company will now rise to 100%.

Prior to this, Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming’s Singapore-based subsidiary also picked up an additional 43.49% stake in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH for around INR 212.9 Cr. It also bought gaming company Ninja Global FZCO for $3.57 Mn in a cash and stock deal in June 2024.

The gaming major saw its consolidated net profit decline 98% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 18 Lakh in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Meanwhile, operating revenue declined 8% to INR 266.2 Cr in Q4 FY24 compared to INR 289.3 Cr in the same quarter a year ago.

The post Nazara’s Nextwave Completes Acquisition Of Ultimate Teen Patti appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Just a few weeks ago, social media was abuzz about Zomato and Swiggy, but most users didn’t have good things to say. The debate was about platform fees — rising from INR 1 per order in August last year to INR 6 in July 2024 — and how this has weakened the food delivery proposition. 

But platform fees are only going to rise in the future. This is the price that consumers have to pay to get the convenience of food and quick commerce deliveries. And with no real competition in sight, Zomato and Swiggy pretty much follow each other’s moves when it comes to pricing.

We have seen the likes of Amazon, Uber Eats and Ola try to disrupt the duopoly, but Swiggy and Zomato continue to all-but split the food delivery market. The others just couldn’t expand beyond Bengaluru and other top cities, while keeping up with the discounts that Swiggy, Zomato offered. 

But now, things might be changing. Large players such as Ola and Paytm are increasingly leaning on the Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) to gain ground and disrupt Zomato and Swiggy with more attractive pricing. 

To be clear, this is a battle that’s largely being fought on pricing thus far. ONDC-backed food delivery players such as Ola or Paytm do not have the operational expertise nor the resources to pull off food delivery on a consistent basis. In particular, Ola has leveraged ONDC to quickly mount a challenge, and take another shot at food delivery after its past failures. 

In other words, ONDC has opened the doors to competition for Swiggy and Zomato. But can Ola and others banking on ONDC truly outpace Zomato and Swiggy? 

Ola Dreams Food Delivery Again

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has a fascination with food delivery. The company has attempted food delivery thrice through the Ola app, before the latest ONDC tryst.

When Ola and Aggarwal first experimented with food delivery through Ola Cafe in 2015, the idea was to build an instant delivery model through a restaurant network.

Unlike Zomato or Swiggy, which allowed consumers to browse through the entire menu of a restaurant, Ola limited itself to select few items from a handful of restaurants in the consumer’s vicinity. The company banked on its fleet for delivery, but the differentiated product did not go down well with consumers, and Ola Cafe was shut down within a year.

For act two, Ola acquired Berlin-based FoodPanda from Delivery Hero for $50 Mn in 2017, to again take on Swiggy, Zomato, as well as Uber Eats (eventually acquired by Zomato). The company wanted to replicate Uber Eats’ early success in India at the time, but once again, Ola fell short of the mark when it comes to user experience on Ola FoodPanda.

In 2022, Ola moved away from the restaurant aggregator model, and looked to leverage cloud kitchens to enter the space. Here, it was looking to emulate the likes of Rebel Foods, CureFoods, Box8, among others. Even though Ola put cofounder Pranav Jivrajka in place to lead this vertical, the business proved tough to scale up. Jivrajka quit the company just before the Ola’s third attempt failed.

But this time around, the company is hoping that ONDC will help it achieve its food delivery dreams, starting with Bengaluru. The company is also building a delivery fleet with EV bikes to improve the user experience, which was severely lacking in previous attempts. 

According to ONDC seller apps such as Magicpin and uEngage, which bring restaurants on board, Ola has seen good user traction on account of efficient operations and in-house logistics.

“Food delivery orders work on crucial delivery timelines which is why if a company has been in the business for many years, it will have better efficiencies as it can manage sensitive peak hours, will have prior experience of tie-ups with restaurants,” owner of a Bengaluru-based cafe told Inc42. 

In Ola’s case, a number of cloud kitchen brands and other infrastructure it was running until 2022 is likely to come in handy as it begins to scale operations to the other states. But it will not be easy to compete with juggernauts such as Swiggy and Zomato. 

Swiggy is on the verge of an IPO to raise cash before expanding further, and Zomato is cash rich after its profitable stint in FY24. Given these developments, how far will Ola’s discounts-heavy play work? 

Can Ola-ONDC Eat Into Zomato, Swiggy Share? 

There is one advantage to Ola’s strategy of offering high discounts through ONDC. It expands the base of food delivery consumers who are wary of the higher prices and extraneous fees on Zomato and Swiggy. This means Ola can attract customers who were either on the food delivery fence or who have abandoned the two primary apps. 

“Competitors like Zomato and Swiggy have entirely different business ambitions now compared to 2022. They aren’t looking to burn cash anymore which will definitely give more room to Ola to acquire more users through better user experience and discounts,” uEngage founder Sameer Sharma said. 

Sources told Inc42 that Ola’s Aggarwal is feeling bullish about eating away at market share by offering heavy discounts. In fact, Ola has also reduced take-rates from restaurants by 50% in comparison to Zomato and Swiggy, which has at least worked out in Bengaluru.

“When Ola begins charging delivery fees, it will be still another revenue source for the company. I think Bhavish is fully prepared to do the heavy lifting for ONDC in the food delivery space this time,” the source quoted above said.

Ola’s discounts in food delivery as per Inc42’s analysis are staggering. Ola is offering 70-80% cheaper food delivery than Swiggy, Zomato and even other ONDC buyer apps like Paytm or Magicpin.

In fact, sources tell us that Ola is also providing free deliveries for every order, which has doubled its order volumes in the past couple of months. 

Susmit Patodia, associate partner at early-stage venture capital firm Antler, believes that ONDC cannot dictate the pricing or discounts even though that was the case during the first two years. Now it’s left entirely up to the participants to decide the pricing for every order. 

Bengaluru-headquartered Antler has built a thesis around investing in startups that are building on the ONDC protocol. “We need to reinforce the idea that ONDC is an open protocol where the network participants will play a huge role in the price determination, the waiver of delivery charges. This includes even the merchants or sellers who are now realising that ONDC is a viable option,” Patodia said.

He added that although ONDC has taken giant steps in the initial years, and that cash burn is not a big problem for the moment. “The ecommerce giants have grown and scaled up after burning cash for about 5-7 years, including Zomato and Swiggy. The total cash burn under the ONDC model is not comparable to that, at the moment,” Antler’s associate partner added.

In both cases the idea is the same: get consumers habituated to ordering online, and gradually taper down the discounts. The big question is can Ola even scale up to the extent where it can take its foot off the discounts pedal? 

For that, it needs to build the leadership and the network effects that Zomato and Swiggy have. Both platforms offer a robust system for restaurants to manage online orders and also help in advertising and marketing, albeit this comes at a cost. How far can Ola replicate this on its ONDC-linked platform? 

ONDC’S Food Delivery Menu

Ola, Paytm and others on ONDC’s food delivery bandwagon are also banking on the network adding familiar features to ease onboarding of consumers and merchants. 

For instance, popular Bengaluru eateries are in the process of setting up QR codes that will enable consumers to place orders through ONDC-enabled apps on their smartphone. 

In fact, ONDC launched the interoperable QR code system on Tuesday (July 30), which allows sellers to generate a unique QR code that consumers can scan using an ONDC-registered buyer app, starting with magicpin and Paytm. 

This will soon be expanded across the entire network after initial testing. 

Within food delivery, this could help increase visibility of ONDC buyer apps as they look to take on Swiggy and Zomato. 

Neither of these two food delivery giants have such QR codes displayed inside restaurants. It must be understood, however, that the QR codes solve a problem that is unique to ONDC. 

While QR codes will be added soon, ONDC’S food delivery order volume has almost tripled to 14 Lakhs per month in June 2024 from 5 Lakhs per month in March this year. 

Currently, Zomato and Swiggy may together command close to 90% of the market in Delhi and Bengaluru, where ONDC has launched. But is the open network eating into this duopoly?

“Swiggy and Zomato are great companies. But this market is so huge that there is definitely room for other players which offer seamless user experience, cheaper alternatives especially if the hotels, restaurants are themselves willing to discount the end user without the aggregator,” uEngage founder Sharma added .

On the flip side, one does wonder, will ONDC see a decline in food delivery volumes when the discounts are taken off the table, especially if participants actually want to turn profitable. 

Currently, Ola ONDC charges anywhere between 5% to 10% in commission on each order besides nominal delivery charges. But not everyone wants to splurge on discounts to chase the food delivery high. 

PhonePe-backed Pincode and Paytm, which offered as much as INR 100 discount on each food order and free deliveries, are changing their tune.  

Sources claim Pincode has found it hard to navigate through the fragmented ONDC landscape of partners such as third-party logistics players, customer support companies, payments partners and more. 

Paytm took its foot off the discounts accelerator due to headwinds in its core UPI and merchant payments businesses. The fintech giant has turned the focus away from food delivery discounts, prices on Paytm are closer to Swiggy and Zomato prices than Ola. 

Lessons From The Past

Of course, Ola’s potential success in the future will only serve to attract other players to the ONDC space. Amazon has long held ambitions to scale food delivery beyond Bengaluru, while Flipkart is also considering early moves for ONDC-based food delivery. 

Flipkart and Amazon India were well positioned to foray into food delivery and leverage their existing user base, as well as logistics to make a dent. But there is pressure on both these giants to move towards profitability. This curtailed any food delivery ambitions held by Amazon and Flipkart never made a serious move into the space. 

Can Ola’s ONDC success lure these players in?

“Amazon is also in a wait-and-watch mode to see the traction enjoyed by Ola and other such ONDC apps. It may enter the space if Ola can prove that ONDC works for food delivery,” the owner of a popular cloud kitchen brand told us on the condition of anonymity. .

Antler’s Patodia added that one cannot ignore the challenges that being faced by merchants and restaurants in getting on board ONDC buyer apps. He acknowledged that the platform needs to remove the hurdles in the way. 

“Perhaps we will see founders and startups building products that will solve the impending issues associated with seller integrations and make them swifter and simpler. ONDC is too young right now but it is off to a good start. Scaling to 10 Mn transactions a month in two years is no easy feat,” Patodia added.

[Edited By Nikhil Subramaniam]

The post Can Ola’s ONDC Food Delivery Bet Match Swiggy, Zomato? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Troubled edtech major BYJU’S reportedly transferred INR 50 Cr to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as part of the first tranche of payments to settle the ongoing insolvency dispute. 

The edtech major made the payment to the cricket board on Tuesday (July 30) evening, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The development followed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitting the BCCI’s plea to initiate the corporate insolvency resolution process against BYJU’S for not paying the dues to the tune of INR 158.9 Cr to the cricket body for a sponsorship deal.

Post the payment, the startup would still be liable for payments worth INR 108.9 Cr to the BCCI. 

As per a separate Reuters report, the edtech major was planning to pay the outstanding amount to BCCI in three installments, starting with an upfront payment of INR 50 Cr. It also said that the terms of the settlement were still under consideration and could change. 

Earlier on Tuesday, BYJU’S informed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) about its plans to pay a part of the dues to the cricket board. 

Arguing for BYJU’S before the NCLAT, lawyer Arun Kathpalia said that the company had “almost resolved” a dispute over unpaid fees to the BCCI. 

As per the Bloomberg report, a lawyer for the BCCI also confirmed before the appellate tribunal that both parties were engaged in settlement talks. The NCLAT will next hear the matter on Wednesday (July 31).

The payment of the first tranche is expected to offer some respite for BYJU’S and stave off the insolvency crisis for some time now. It is part of the startup’s efforts to help founder and CEO Byju Raveendran gain complete control of the company again.

However, the case is expected to continue and will only be dropped after BCCI officially informs the tribunal that it was withdrawing its case.

It is also pertinent to note that multiple other entities, including BYJU’S US-based Term Loan B lenders, have also filed insolvency petitions against the beleaguered company in the past.

BYJU’S, once the poster child of the Indian startup ecosystem, is battling multiple issues, including mass layoffs, a severe cash crunch, delay in filing financial statements, a slew of legal cases and mounting regulatory scrutiny. Making matters worse is a public spat with investors even as losses continue to mount for the company. 

BYJU’S net loss surged 81% year-on-year YoY to INR 8,245.2 Cr in FY22. 

The post BYJU’S Pays First Tranche Of INR 50 Cr To BCCI As It Looks To Settle Insolvency Case appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian crypto ecosystem has had a tough couple of years due to various factors like regulatory uncertainty, heavy taxation stance adopted by the central government, a raging funding winter, negative press on account of the collapse of industry bellwether FTX, among others. 

Already under heavy scrutiny by users and authorities alike, the Indian crypto ecosystem was in for a rude shock when reports surfaced earlier this month that hackers, in a major breach at WazirX, decamped with $234.9 Mn worth of crypto tokens.

While the exchange’s many users were suddenly saddled with lost crypto tokens, a sharp criticism of WazirX’s handling of the entire episode came in from its competitor CoinDCX cofounder and CEO Sumit Gupta. 

In a post on X on July 29, Gupta said, “Hate to be saying this, but the way WazirXIndia is handling this entire situation isn’t community first and this IMO won’t go down well for them. This sadly is also hurting the other ecosystem participants”. 

But, his grouse with WazirX was about a bigger issue – the latter’s plan to make its customers absorb 45% of the losses. Calling the proposal “utter nonsense”, Gupta emphasised that ideally WazirX should absorb the losses rather than throwing the burden on its customers. 

Several social media users too chimed in on the debate and expressed displeasure with WazirX’s handling of the crypto heist. One user said that the exchange was prioritising profits while trying to escape answerability and accountability for the mishap.

The backlash came a week after WazirX suffered what was called the biggest cyberattack on any Indian crypto exchange till date as hackers stole funds equivalent to 45% of total user funds on WazirX.

As the news spread like wildfire, the crypto startup went on a damage control mode and said that the security breach impacted one of its wallets ‘Safe Multisig’ on the Ethereum network. 

For the uninitiated, a multisig wallet is a type of cryptocurrency wallet that requires multiple private keys to authorise and complete transactions. 

Following this, WazirX ‘temporarily’ suspended all trading activities on its platform as it looked to track the missing funds. 

While the users were pinning their hopes on the exchange stepping up efforts to trace the funds, it was WazirX cofounder Niscal Shetty’s comments about a ‘socialised loss’ strategy that unleashed a volley of criticism online. 

What Is The Socialised Loss Strategy?

Under fire and with no headway made in recovering funds, Shetty took to X to conduct a poll to outline two paths forward for the exchange following the breach. He cited two options – ‘legal recourse’ or ‘social loss’.

Then, in a blog post on July 27, WazirX said that in light of the recent cyberattack on the platform, it was implementing a “socialised loss strategy to distribute the impact across all users equitably”.

The company has proposed a 55-45 approach to facilitate management of the remaining user funds, where 55% of user crypto assets will be made available for trading or withdrawals depending upon the option selected by the user. 

Meanwhile the remaining 45% will be converted to Tether-equivalent tokens and locked until WazirX recovers the stolen assets.

The exchange has provided two options to its customers:

• Option A: Under this, users can trade and hold their crypto assets with priority for recovery efforts, but won’t be able to withdraw funds. If they want to start withdrawing their assets later, they can switch to Option B. However, in this case, they will lose priority in the recovery process.
• Option B: This will let users trade and withdraw their assets, but recovery efforts will focus on those who chose Option A first. Customers choosing this can switch to Option A anytime before making any trades or withdrawals.

 Explaining further, WazirX said that users with 100% of their tokens in the ‘not stolen category’ will only be able to trade or withdraw 55% of their crypto assets. The company said it would deduct the tokens to rebalance the portfolio of users who lost more than 45% of their crypto assets in the heist.

The value of the unlocked tokens (55%) will be calculated based on the average prices of CoinMarket and select global exchanges as of July 21, 8:30 PM, the day WazirX halted withdrawals on the platform.

Following the backlash, the exchange said that the poll is a preliminary step to understand the opinions of the users and is not “legally binding upon the users or the WazirX platform”. 

While the poll is still open till August 3, it is important to trace the chronology of events that led up to the current fracas. 

Tracing The Post-Hack Timeline

While the cybersecurity incident took place on July 18, WazirX, right afterwards, announced a bounty programme and offered a prize of $23 Mn to help recover the stolen $230 Mn funds. 

While touting the company’s supposed commitment to “transparency and collaboration”, Shetty said that the three-month long bounty programme was open to further extension based on the progress of the recovery.

Additionally, the company also announced that it was willing to offer rewards of up to $10,000 worth of USDT (stablecoin) to white-hat hackers for providing actionable intelligence that leads to the freezing of the stolen funds.

Even as the crypto exchange called on blockchain forensics experts and cybersecurity professionals worldwide to join the mission, the story soon took a different turn altogether as it launched a preliminary probe into the cyber attack.

In its early probe, the company said that the attack likely originated from digital asset management platform Liminal’s infrastructure as the hackers bypassed the latter’s final verification step.

However, Liminal dismissed the findings, saying that the “incident originated from an external source”.

“… Our initial assessment indicates that Liminal’s platform, infrastructure, wallets, and assets remain secure… As a wallet infrastructure support platform, we emphasise that this incident originated from an external source, underscoring the crucial need for comprehensive security measures across platforms,” Liminal said at the time.

Just as the company was grappling with the fallout of the hack, a new angle emerged in the case. US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly reached out to the cryptocurrency exchange to probe the nature of a cyberattack. 

While the FBI reportedly hinted that the hack allegedly involved unnamed North Korean hackers, Shetty outright claimed that Lazarus Group was likely behind the incident. 

Lazarus, alleged to be backed by the North Korean government, is known for carrying out some of the world’s largest crypto exchange attacks in the past. 

Later on July 29, external threat landscape management platform CYFIRMA claimed that the North Korea-backed hacker group indeed was behind the security breach. It linked the attack to North Korean intelligence service Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

According to CYFIRMA, close to $235 Mn were lost in crypto assets, including $96.7 Mn worth of Shiba Inu tokens, nearly $52.6 Mn of Ether coins, $11 Mn of Matic tokens and nearly $7.6 Mn of Pepe tokens. 

“The threat actor has already swapped a number of these tokens for Ether using a variety of decentralised services, an expected initial step of a typical laundering process,” added CYFIRMA. 

Amid all this, WazirX has sought help from its former partner Binance for bailing out the customers affected by the hack. 

While it remains to be seen whether WazirX can emerge from this row successfully and recover back the funds, the cybersecurity incident has raised questions about the safeguards implemented by crypto exchanges. 

Additionally, the incident could also have an adverse bearing on the larger crypto landscape.

The post Crypto Heist: Here’s Why WazirX’s Socialised Loss Strategy Is Drawing Controversy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Homegrown cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has elevated Mridul Gupta as its founding partner. 

Gupta, who joined the company as its chief operating officer in 2021, will now helm on meeting growth targets, international expansion, team building and driving profitability. 

Besides, he will also continue to oversee the Indian market while strengthening CoinDCX’s product portfolio, marketing, partnerships and operations.

“We will continue to innovate simple investment & trading platforms for retail users and build tailored solutions. My vision is to transform CoinDCX as the most loved crypto brand,” he said.

It is pertinent to note that Gupta was at the forefront in developing compliant crypto investment and trading products.

Chiming in, cofounder Sumit Gupta said, “As we scale up, shoring up revenues and launching new geographies will be key. Mridul’s experience in launching operations across new geographies and turning them profitable will help CoinDCX transform to the next level.”

The appointment coincides with CoinDCX’s recent acquisition of BitOasis, a virtual assets trading platform based in Dubai. This marks CoinDCX’s entry into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market.

Founded by Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal in 2018, CoinDCX claims to have a user base of over 1.4 crore. It offers easy access to Web3 experiences and democratise investments in virtual digital assets with user safety and security.

CoinDCX became the country’s first crypto unicorn in 2021 after raising $90 Mn in Series C from Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, Coinbase Ventures, and others.

It counts Pantera, Steadview Capital, Kingsway, Polychain Capital, B Capital Group, Bain Capital Ventures, Cadenza, Draper Dragon, Republic, Kindred, and Coinbase Ventures among its investors.

The post CoinDCX Promotes Mridul Gupta To Founding Partner appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of fashion and beauty ecommerce major Nykaa jumped as much as 10.4% to touch a 52-week high at INR 202 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Tuesday (July 30).

The stock shed some of the gains by the end of the trading session and ended the day 9.3% higher at INR 200. Nykaa shares had last closed at this level in mid-November of 2022, the year it made the stock market debut (adjusted for stock split).

The stock witnessed a significant rise in volume during today’s session, with 6 Cr shares traded cumulatively on the BSE and the NSE.

After seeing some corrections and trading sideways for a while, Nykaa shares have been on an uptrend since the beginning of June this year. The shares have been rising since last week after Nykaa said it would raise INR 125 Cr (about $15 Mn) via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from an undisclosed foreign portfolio investor for Nykaa E- Retail Limited.

After the announcement on June 22, shares of Nykaa rose almost 5% in four trading sessions to cross the INR 180 mark.

The stock has gained 15% year to date.

The startup said last month that it is expected to post a strong revenue growth of around 22-23% year-on-year in Q1 FY25, with gross merchandise value (GMV) rising in the mid-twenties percentage range during the period.

JM Financial raised its price target on Nykaa to INR 230 from INR 220 earlier, after the company held its investor day last month.

“Despite the muted demand environment in FY24, Nykaa did gain market share across online BPC (beauty and personal care) and Fashion, suggesting strong brand affinity as well as the benefits of Nykaa’s attempts at category expansion. While Superstore as well as international expansion is likely to require investments and hence would impact near-term margin, the company would accrue benefits from a larger BPC and Fashion business,” said the brokerage.

Meanwhile, ICICI Securities upgraded the stock to ‘add’ from ‘hold’, raising the target to INR 195 from INR 175 earlier.

Currently, 14 out of the 23 analysts covering Nykaa have a ‘buy’ or higher rating, with an average price target of INR 192.87.

The post Nykaa Hits 52-Week High By Jumping 10% Intraday; Closes At INR 200 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a major setback for Rapido, the Karnataka Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) has reportedly held that the ride hailing unicorn is liable to pay goods and service tax for its cab services.

“The applicant (Rapido’s parent company Roppen Transportation) is liable to pay GST on the supply of services provided by the independent four-wheeler cab service provider (person who has subscribed to the applicant’s Rapido app) to his passengers on the applicant’s app platform, being an ecommerce operator, in terms of Section 9 (5) of the CGST Act 2017,” the ARR order was quoted as saying by ET.

As part of the hearing, Rapido submitted that it charges its drivers a subscription instead of a commission, without making any revenue on the fare.

It is pertinent to note that the retrospective ruling will open Rapido to previous tax dues on its cab services. 

This also comes at a time when Rapido turned unicorn after raising a funding of $120 Mn from its existing investor WestBridge Capital at a post-money valuation of a little over $1 Bn. 

Last year in December, it entered the cab booking services category with the launch of Rapido Cabs. The Swiggy-backed company then said it had a fleet of around 1 Lakh cabs on its platform and the service is currently operational across Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. 

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

This Karnataka ARR further adds to the ambiguity regarding the GST applicability on the ride-hailing companies operating via a subscription model with their drivers and service providers. 

Contrary to this ruling, the Karnataka ARR ruled in favour of  Namma Yatri which offers a subscription-based model to its driver-partners, allowing it to not pay GST.

In the case involving Juspay Technologies, the company behind the Namma Yatri mobility platform, the AAR relied on the dictionary definition of the word “through.” It concluded that merely linking service providers with customers via a digital platform does not constitute a supply of service and is thus not subject to tax.

The same Karnataka authority had previously issued an opposite ruling in the case of Opta Cabs Pvt Ltd. Additionally, the Tamil Nadu Advance Ruling Authority, in a recent decision regarding Balat Enterprises Pvt Ltd, held that the company, which provides a platform for small business owners to connect with customers, is liable to discharge tax under Section 9(5) of the CGST law for specified services.

Not to mention, these ride-hailing platforms incur a 5% GST on the fair for rides they facilitate through the commission model.

However, under the subscription model, these platforms charge a daily or weekly fee to driver partners to avail of the offerings given by ride-hailing platforms like getting recognised by customers. 

This development comes against the backdrop of other major players like Ola and Uber introducing their subscription-based models for their three-wheeler booking services.

Meanwhile, earlier this month it was also reported that platforms such as Uber have approached the finance ministry seeking clarity on if their business was liable to incur indirect tax or not. 

Earlier this year, the Karnataka transport department fixed uniform fares for all taxis plying in the state, including metre-based taxis. Under the new regime, the app-based cab aggregators will not be able to levy surge charges to customers during peak hours.

These app-based cab services have also been scrutinised by other state governments, like those in Delhi and Maharashtra, for various reasons

The post Rapido Liable To Pay GST For Its Cab Services: Karnataka AAR appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In another setback for the embattled edtech startup BYJU’S founder Byju Raveendran, the Karnataka High Court today disposed of his appeal to suspend National Company Tribunal (NCLT) order, which admitted insolvency resolution process earlier this month. 

The matter was heard by a single bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar. After understanding that a special bench constituted by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) is already hearing the matter, the judge reportedly disposed of Raveendran’s plea. However, the court granted Raveendran a liberty to revive the petition later. 

“Having regard to the undisputed fact that appeal is filed before NCLAT and it has been taken up for consideration today and kept for hearing tomorrow. Petition is disposed off with liberty to revive the petition if occasion arises,” the judge was quoted as saying by a LiveLaw report.

While Raveendran’s appeal to the Karnataka HC went without avail today, proceedings at NCLAT didn’t bear much fruit for the troubled startup. According to reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed the tribunal’s bench today that it is in initial settlement talks with Byju Raveendran to settle the dispute.

On account of these preliminary discussions, the solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for BCCI, suggested the matter to be heard on July 31, which the tribunal agreed upon. 

Meanwhile, the company’s US based lenders also added to the courtroom drama for the crushed startup. Counsel appearing for them sought to appeal the NCLT’s order disposing of their insolvency plea as BCCI’s insolvency plea had already been admitted. 

The company’s tryst with NCLAT yesterday led to another setback for it when NCLAT’s justice Sharad Kumar Sharma recused himself from hearing the former’s plea challenging the order to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the edtech firm.

At the heart of the issue is the NCLT’s order which admitted BCCI’s petition to initiate the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against BYJU’S for not paying the dues to the cricket board. BYJU’S owes INR 158.9 Cr to BCCI for sponsorship of the Indian cricket team.

Meanwhile, it disposed of the insolvency plea initiated by the company’s US based lenders, represented by GLAS Trust, on July 16. While disposing of the plea, the NCLT allowed the lenders to put forth their claims before the interim resolution professional (IRP) appointed for the company.

Shortly after the order, Raveendran challenged the tribunal’s decision in front of the Karnataka HC. In his filing, he said that the move will also result in a “total shutdown” of the edtech startup’s operations. The court dismissed the plea shortly afterwards, which led the startup to knock on the doors of the NCLAT.

The post BYJU’S Courtroom Drama: Karnataka HC Disposes Of Byju Raveendran’s Plea appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo’s cofounder and former chief technology officer Mukund Jha is reportedly in discussions to rake in INR 50-80 Cr ($6-10 Mn) from Together Fund for his new GenAI venture.

Jha is working on a Gen AI startup that will focus on automating quality assurance processes. This involves integrating AI with SaaS to enhance QA checks, which are used to test, identify errors and ensure that products meet quality standards, as per Moneycontrol’s report.

Together Fund, founded in 2021 by Girish Mathrubootham, Manav Garg, and Shubham Gupta, raised $85 Mn in its first fund and expanded to $150 Mn with its second fund in 2023. The fund has invested in over 20 companies across areas like recruitment, sales intelligence, marketing, healthcare and cloud for connected devices. 

Its portfolio includes DhiWise, SpendFlo, SecureDen, and TopLyne.

This fundraising effort follows Inc42’s report in October last year about Jha’s departure from Dunzo. 

Jha, who was with Dunzo from 2015 to 2023, previously worked at Google in New York. During his time there, he attempted to launch two of his own ventures: Wisdom.ly, a group video platform for virtual meetups and conferences, and Habet, an intelligent goal-tracking platform.

The round comes at a time when several top executives from Dunzo are quitting the startup. Earlier this year, Dunzo was dealt a body blow with its key investor Lightbox exiting the company’s board.

Founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Suri, Jha, and Ankur Aggarwal, Dunzo connects consumers with nearby stores and facilitates deliveries of products including groceries, medicines, and food, among other daily needs.

Inc42 has reached out to Jha for an official confirmation on the matter. The story will be updated based on the response. 

The fundraiser comes at a time when Dunzo is dealing with significant financial challenges. The company is reportedly facing a cash crunch and owes around INR 11.4 Cr to vendors, including Google India, Nilenso, Clover Ventures, Facebook India, Cupshup, Koo, and Glance. This financial strain is reflected in Dunzo’s FY23 results, with the Bengaluru-based quick commerce startup reporting a substantial loss of INR 1,801 Cr, up from INR 464 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The post Dunzo Cofounder Mukund Jha Seeks To Raise INR 50-80 Cr For His New GenAI Venture appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ride-hailing startup Rapido has bagged a funding of $120 Mn (about INR 1,000 Cr) from existing investor WestBridge Capital at a post-money valuation of a little over $1 Bn.

The investor poured in the fresh capital by participating in Rapido’s Series E funding round through three of its related entities – Setu AIF Trust, Konark Trust, and MMPL Trust, as per regulatory filings.

Rapido’s parent entity Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd allotted 95,479  Series E compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) and 95,489 Series E1 CCPS to the three WestBridge Capital entities on July 18. This cumulatively translates to INR 1,002.00 Cr.

Of this, the startup has received about INR 500 Cr, while the remaining amount will be received when called upon. 

With this, the startup has become the third unicorn of 2024 and 116th Indian unicorn. Krutrim AI and Perfios are the two other startups which entered the unicorn club earlier this year. 

Meanwhile, ET reported that Rapido is in talks with investors to raise another $20 Mn. “A US-based family office and a UK-based fund are in talks to pick up stakes in the company,” a person aware of the matter was quoted as saying. 

Inc42 has reached out to Rapido for a comment on the development. The story will be updated on receiving a response. 

Rapido counts the likes of Swiggy, TVS Motors, Nexus Ventures, and Shell Ventures among its investors. The bike taxi startup last raised $180 Mn in a funding round led by Swiggy in participation from TVS Motors, WestBridge Capital, Nexus Ventures, and Shell Ventures back in April 2022. 

Founded in 2015 by Rishikesh SR, Pavan Guntupalli, and Aravind Sanka, the startup  primarily operates in the bike taxi and auto transportation segments. In December last year, it also launched cab services in some cities. In addition, it also offers peer-to-peer delivery services via Rapido Local. 

On the financial front, Rapido’s net loss widened more than 50% to INR 674.5 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 439 Cr loss in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue shot up 3.05X to INR 443 Cr from INR 144.8 Cr in FY22.

The post Rapido Enters Unicorn Club By Raising $120 Mn From WestBridge Capital appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed gaming giant Nazara Technologies has sought approval from its shareholders for an increase in the limits to provide loans, guarantees, securities, or make investments.

The proposal includes granting loans on favourable terms and conditions to any person(s) or other corporate bodies. Additionally, it includes providing guarantees or securities in connection with loans taken by the company’s subsidiaries, associates, or other corporate bodies.

Furthermore, Nazara aims to acquire securities of various corporate bodies through subscription, purchase, or other means, in one or more tranches, up to an aggregate amount of INR 2,100 Cr.

Explaining the need for this, Nazara said it has been making investments in giving loans to its various subsidiaries, associates and other corporate bodies from time to time.

“The company has been constantly looking for opportunities in the market for acquisition/ investment in new businesses as part of its inorganic growth strategy. In order to make optimum use of funds available with the company and also to achieve long-term strategic and business objectives, the board of directors of the company proposes to make use of the same by making strategic acquisitions and investment in other bodies corporate or granting loans, giving guarantee or providing security to other body corporate as and when required,” it added.

Meanwhile, the gaming company has also sought approval from its shareholders for the acquisition of 2,614 fully paid-up equity shares, representing 24.54% of the paid-up share capital of Paper Boat Apps Private Limited, a subsidiary of the company. This acquisition will be from Anupam Dhanuka, considered a material related party transaction.

It has also sought approval for the acquisition of 2,543 fully paid-up equity shares, representing 23.88% of the paid-up share capital of its subsidiary Paper Boat Apps, from Anshu Dhanuka, classified as a material related party transaction.

It is pertinent to note that Anupam and Anshu are the cofounders and whole time directors of Paper Boat Apps.

Last week, Nazara announced that it would be acquiring an additional 48.42% stake in Paper Boat Apps. The transaction, valued at INR 300 Cr and to be paid in cash in tranches, will raise Nazara’s ownership in Paper Boat Apps to 100%.

Paper Boat Apps is the developer and publisher of children’s digital gamified learning app ‘Kiddopia’, a gaming app for kids in the US. Nazara will also consider merging Paper Boat Apps into the company at the appropriate time to bring home gamified learning IP ‘Kiddopia’.

Nazara first acquired a 50.91% stake in Paper Boat Apps in 2019.

For the last few months, Nazara has been increasing its stakes in companies in which it invested earlier. In May, it announced acquiring another 28.12% stake in Nextwave Multimedia Private Limited, the developer of the mobile cricket game franchise World Cricket Championship, for INR 21.6 Cr.

Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming’s Singapore-based subsidiary, NODWIN Gaming International Pte. Ltd, also picked up an additional 43.49% stake in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH for around €23.4 Mn (about INR 212.9 Cr).

Nazara’s consolidated net profit declined 98% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 18 Lakh in Q4 FY24. Its operating revenue also declined 8% YoY to INR 266.2 Cr in the quarter.

The post Nazara Seeks Shareholders’ Nod For Increasing Limit For Granting Loans appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of coworking startup Awfis rallied more than 9% to touch an intraday high of INR 700.5 apiece on the BSE on Monday.

However, the stock pared some of the gains to end at INR 694 per share, up 8.19% from the previous close.

Notably, Awfis was among the only three new-age tech stocks that rallied in the week ahead of the Union Budget 2024-25, with its shares climbing 4.52%. The stock also touched an all-time high of INR 757.20 during the intraday trading session on July 18. 

Awfis made its stock market debut in May, with its shares listing on the BSE at a premium of 12.8% over the issue price.

At INR 694, the stock’s last closing price was 60.5% above the listing price of INR 432.25 apiece and 81.2% higher than the issue price of INR 383 per share.

Last week, Awfis roped in Nivia Sports executive Rajesh Kharbanda as a non-executive, non-independent director to its board.

The startup also made certain amendments to its Articles of Association (AoA) to grant specific rights to some shareholders. Now, Awfis shareholders — Peak XV Partners and the New Investor Group, can nominate one director each on the coworking startup’s board as long as they hold a 5% stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.

The recently-listed startup posted a consolidated net profit of INR 1.4 Cr in the March quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) on the back of significant improvements across business verticals. Awfis’ operating revenue also jumped over 45% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 232.3 Cr in Q4 FY24.

It had posted a net loss of INR 13.8 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal on an operating revenue of INR 160 Cr.

The post Awfis Shares Jump 9% To Touch Intraday High At INR 700.5 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

EV mobility startup Ola Electric has set a price band in the range of INR 72-76 per equity share for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), which is opening for bids on Friday (August 2).

The startup is expected to raise over INR 6,145.6 Cr at the upper price band.

Ola Electric’s public offer comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 5,500 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 8.49 Cr shares worth INR 645.6 Cr. The company’s IPO will close on August 6. 

The anchor bidding is starting on August 1. The bid lot of the IPO is 195 shares and in multiples of the same thereafter. 

Its IPO will have 75% allocation towards qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 10% towards retail, and 15% towards the non-institutional investor (NII) category.

The buzz around Ola Electric’s IPO plans started early last year. In December 2023, the startup filed its IPO draft papers with the SEBI. Initially, the public issue comprised a fresh issue of shares worth INR 5,500 Cr and OFS component of up to 9.51 Cr shares. However, the OFS amount was lowered in its RHP.

Kotak Mahindra, Citigroup, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, and ICICI Securities are some of lead the book runners for its IPO.

Speaking during the IPO launch announcement, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, said, “We don’t focus our energies into ICE or other transitionary technologies like hybrid, etc, but our singular focus is to create the EV future and to create the entire business model, manufacturing ecosystem that goes with it.” 

The EV two-wheeler maker currently leads the market in terms of market share. Aggarwal also highlighted that the startup is aggressively working on its electric motorcycles.

It is pertinent to note that the startup was also planning to launch its electric car. However, reports emerged recently saying that ahead of its public market debut, the startup has kept its e-car plans on hold.

Speaking on this topic on Monday (July 29), Aggarwal said, “We have not made any formal announcement ever, either this way or that way. Our focus is to build the foundations for the EV ecosystem in India. We made a starting point from a product standpoint with the scooter. We are moving to the motorbike. And our immediate focus is on these two-wheeler products and our focus is to build the cell as a foundation layer for any future product, for any company which wants to buy our cells.”

He also reiterated that the company is eyeing exports in the long term. 

While Ola Electric’s IPO is one of the biggest by the Indian startups, the company continues to be a loss-making entity.

Its net loss widened 7.6% to INR 1,584.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 1,472.1 Cr in the previous year. Ola Electric’s operating revenue jumped over 90% to INR 5,009.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 2,630.9 Cr in FY23.

Speaking on the profitability aspect, Aggarwal said that the company’s revenue is growing steadily and gross margin also improved in FY24. However, he did not give any timeline for achieving profitability or even EBITDA breakeven.

“If you see manufacturing industries in general, as you grow revenue, you get a lot of operating leverage because your fixed costs don’t scale in line with revenue growth. So, that’s been our story in the last couple of financial years, where as we have grown volumes and we have invested for a higher volume, as we are growing into that capacity, our margins are improving,” said Aggarwal.

The post Ola Electric Sets IPO Price Band At INR 72-76, Aims To Raise Over INR 6,145 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Sportstech startup Game Theory has roped in India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand and a clutch of other players as investors.

However, the company did not disclose the financial terms of the new funding round.

Among others who have participated in the round include former squash player Saurav Ghosal and table tennis veteran Sharath Kamal.

The company plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to elevate athletes from foundational skills to elite competitive levels using the world’s leading technologies brought to everyday play.

“By investing in this venture, I hope to contribute to building a robust sports ecosystem that nurtures talent from the grassroots level. With Game Theory’s technology, we’ll not only be able to deliver a great program but also scout future talents, helping us win in the sport on a global scale. We can now create a structured and highly personalised pathway that guides young athletes to excel globally, particularly at the Olympics,” Gopichand said.

This comes at a time when sports and fitness tech startup Machaxi and SportVot raised funds earlier this year, in a pre-Series A funding round from various investors aimed at expansion and boosting their tech stack and product offerings.

Founded in 2019 by Sudeep Kulkarni, Game Theory is creating an ecosystem through a user-friendly app, facilitating the seamless discovery of compatible players and enjoyable gaming experiences.

It also claims to use computer-vision data to help players track progress, provide deep stats, and offer personalised coaching.

In November last year, Game Theory acquired sports analytics startup Matchday.ai to leverage its tech stack, which employs computer vision and AI capabilities, already being used in pro-sports.

At the heart of this development, a lot of funding and M&A activities have been witnessed in India’s broader sportstech space.

For instance, in October last year, Bengaluru-based sportstech company raised $2 Mn (INR 16.7 Cr) in its pre-Series A funding round from Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter, Rohan Bopanna, WEH Ventures, Prequate Advisory, and angel investors such as Balakrishna Adiga.

Meanwhile, athletic professionals have been active in backing growing startups in the country.

Earlier this year, Pune-based EV startup EMotorad roped in former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an equity investor and healthtech platform Curelo raised funds from Indian cricketer Shreyas Iyer.

Few weeks ago, Olympian PV Sindhu also invested into an agritech startup Greenday’s FMCG brand Better Nutrition and D2C wellness brand Hoop.

The post Sportstech Startup Game Theory Ropes In Chief Badminton Coach Pullela Gopichand, Others As Investors appeared first on Inc42 Media.

BYJU’S founder Byju Raveendran suffered further setback as justice Sharad Kumar Sharma of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal recused himself from hearing the former’s plea challenging the order to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the edtech firm.

In his order dated July 29, Justice Sharma admitted that he had appeared as a senior counsel for the Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) in the past, Moneycontrol reported.

“Since they are the main beneficiaries of this order, I cannot take this up,” Justice Sharma was quoted as saying by the publication.

The case will now be heard by NCLAT chairperson (retd) Ashok Bhushan.

With the NCLAT having deferred Raveendran’s plea on the recusal of a member, BYJU’S is facing a potential takeover by the Committee of Creditors.

This comes just days after the Karnataka High Court deferred hearing on Raveendran’s plea challenging the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) order to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the embattled edtech firm.

The Karnataka HC has listed the plea for hearing on July 30.

Earlier this month, Raveendran moved the Karnataka HC after the NCLT started bankruptcy proceedings against BYJU’S on a BCCI’s plea over unpaid dues of about INR 158 Cr.

Raveendran argued before the Karnataka HC that the insolvency proceedings initiated against the startup will likely “force” thousands of its employees to quit.

In September last year, the BCCI dragged BYJU’S to the NCLT, seeking initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against the edtech company under section 9 of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 over the dispute around the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket teams’ jerseys.

BYJU’S has been mired in troubles for quite some time now, facing problems such as shrinking revenues, funding vacuum and consequent mass layoffs and legal trouble with the NCLT and probe by the Enforcement Directorate.

In June, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said that the probe into potential governance lapses at BYJU’S was still “ongoing”.

Earlier this month, Inc42 reported that the edtech giant has been locked out of more than 100 BYJU’S Tuition Centres (BTC) across the country over unpaid rent and utility bills.

Recently, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund and investor in BYJU’S, moved the Karnataka HC to compel Raveendran to disclose and block the transfer of his personal assets. QIA has claimed up to $235.19 Mn of Raveendran’s personal assets.

The post NCLAT Judge Recuses From Hearing Byju Raveendran’s Plea Against Bankruptcy Order appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Raise Financial Services, which operates stock trading and investment platform Dhan, is in early stage of discussions to raise around $100 Mn in a new funding round, which will propel the company’s valuation between $1.2-1.5 Bn, earning it unicorn status.

As per a Moneycontrol report, although the talks are still in the early stages, investment banking firm Avendus has been roped in to handle the transaction mandate.

Founded in 2021 by former Paytm Money CEO Pravin Jadhav and Alok Pandey, Raise offers multiple financial services in the stock broking space, primarily targeting users in Tier I, II Indian cities. Its portfolio of products consists of stock broking app Dhan, Option Trader app to facilitate options trading, Dhan Web platform, TradingView by Dhan and an API platform for traders called DhanHQ API. 

Since its inception, the startup has also acquired brokerage company Moneylicious and edtech platform Upsurge. 

Dhan is a part of Raise, which focuses on trading and investment and competes with larger rivals such as Zerodha, Groww, and Angel One.

For Dhan, the new funding round will be the largest since its inception, boosting its valuation from approximately $150 Mn to between $1.2 and $1.5 Bn. 

Inc42 has reached out to the company. The story will be updated as per the responses.

As per the report, the fresh capital will support business expansion and enhance its competitive edge. While Dhan currently offers investing and wealth services, it plans to expand into financing, payments, and insurance to capture a larger market share. The round is expected to attract both new investors and existing backers, including Beenext, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, 3one4 Capital, and Rocketship.vc, though formal negotiations are still pending.

Raise Financial Services secured seed funding from Mirae Asset Venture Investments, with contributions from prominent angel investors such as CRED CEO Kunal Shah, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamoorthy, PhonePe founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, and Jupiter Money CEO Jitendra Gupta. 

In January 2022, the company raised $22 Mn in a funding round led by BEENEXT, with participation from Mirae Asset Venture, 3one4 Capital, and rocketship.vc.

In August 2021, Raise Financial Services acquired Mumbai-based stock broker Moneylicious Securities and integrated it with the Dhan platform.

Besides, in June 2022, fintech platform Raise Financial Services announced plans to invest up to $500K in early-stage startups in the investech and wealthtech space, primarily in India.

In FY23, Mumbai-based Raise Financial Services achieved profitability, reporting a net profit of INR 7.16 Cr, compared to a net loss of INR 2.78 Cr the previous year. It’s operating revenue zoomed 25X to INR 20.74 Cr in FY23 from INR 82.14 Lakh in FY22.

The post Trading Platform Dhan’s Parent Eyes Unicorn Tag With $100 Mn Funding appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Pune-based FirstCry is expected to file its red herring prospectus (RHP) this week for an initial public offering (IPO) that values the omnichannel marketplace at $3-3.5 Bn.

“FirstCry will launch its IPO for subscription officially from this week, and wants to close it before August 15,” a source told ET, adding that it has received strong interest from institutional investors for its anchor book.

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offerings of FirstCry.

FirstCry’s offer size remains consistent with its draft IPO papers, totalling INR 1,816 Cr for the primary fundraise. 

The IPO will also include an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 5.4 Cr equity shares.

Shareholders, including SoftBank, Premji Invest, TPG Growth and Mahindra & Mahindra, will offload shares under the OFS.

It is pertinent to note that Firstcry first filed its DRHP in December last year, taking the first step in its journey to list on the bourses. However, it withdrew the IPO papers after SEBI flagged that some of the key indicators were missing. Following this, the kids-focussed retailer refiled its DRHP in April this year.

Founded in 2010 by Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry is an omnichannel marketplace for baby and kids’ products.

To date, FirstCry has raised over $700 Mn in multiple funding rounds, with notable investors including SoftBank, ChrysCapital, and Vertex Ventures.

Notably, FirstCry clocked sales of INR 4,814 Cr and reported a loss of INR 278.2 Cr in the first nine months of the fiscal year ended March 2024 (FY24).

The post FirstCry Likely To File Papers For $3-3.5 Bn IPO This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

US intelligence agency Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly reached out to the homegrown cryptocurrency exchange WazirX to probe the nature of a cyberattack allegedly involving North Korean hackers and to assist with the ongoing investigation.

While the company did not reveal the identity of the attackers, cofounder Nischal Shetty told ET, “We’re convinced it could be North Korea’s Lazarus Group.”

Lazarus, alleged to be backed by the North Korean government, is known for carrying out some of the world’s largest crypto exchange attacks in the past.

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

“Global law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, want to future-proof their own cryptocurrency market from any such shocks, and their expertise will greatly benefit the company’s efforts as well,” a person close to WazirX told ET.

On July 18, WazirX experienced a major security breach, resulting in withdrawals of around $234.9 Mn during the early European hours.

Following this, the company also announced a prize of $23 Mn as a part of its bounty programme to recover the $230 Mn assets stolen during the attack.

Earlier, Inc42 reported that the attack likely originated from Liminal’s infrastructure, bypassing their final verification step, as evidenced by the use of 3 WazirX signatures and 1 Liminal signature.  

WazirX’s security breach affected one of its wallets, Safe Multisig, on the Ethereum network, leading to the loss of user funds.

“The attack of this magnitude and nature was unprecedented. No one has seen such a sophisticated attack ever on a centralised exchange,” Shetty said, adding, “It’s not a fly-by-night operator or hacker, it’s really a state actor who has carried out this attack with extreme sophistication. I am not justifying the situation, but if it could happen to us despite the industry best practices, it could happen to anyone.” 

The report further added that blockchain experts indicated the possible involvement of the cybercriminal group Lazarus in the attack.

Founded in 2017, WazirX is a bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange where you can buy, sell, and trade digital assets, catering to both first-time investors and professional traders alike.

As per its website, the company claims to specialise in cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency exchange, blockchain technology, digital assets, Tron, Bitcoin wallet, P2P transactions, buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tron, and Matic in India, crypto trading, investing, NFTs, Dogecoin, and Polygon.

The post Now, FBI Reaches Out To WazirX On Alleged Crypto Heist By North Korean Cyber Criminals appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based two wheeler electric vehicle maker Ather Energy is set to raise INR 60 Cr (around $7.1 Mn) via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from InnoVen Capital. 

As a part of this dept funding, Ather will issue 6,000 Series D1 Debentures with face value of INR 1,00,000 (One Lakh) per debenture to InnoVen Capital.

“Pursuant to the order is hereby accorded for allotment of 6,000 Series D1 unlisted, secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (“Series D1 Debentures”) having face value of INR 1,00,000 (Rupees One Lakh only) per Series D1 Debenture, by way of private placement through issue of serially numbered private placement offer cum application letter…,” Ather said in its filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

This debt funding marks the third infusion in Ather in less than two months, following an infusion pegged at INR 286.5 Cr in a mix of equity and debt last month. 

Alongside this, Ather’s board also approved raising INR 200 Cr of debt funding from Stride Ventures by issuing up to 20,000 non-convertible debentures.

Last year Hero MotoCorp committed to acquire an additional 3% stake in Ather at up to INR 140 Cr. Not to mention, Ather secured INR 900 Cr from existing shareholders Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue in September last year. 

It is pertinent to note that Hero MotoCorp owns 40.89% stake in Ather Energy on a fully diluted basis. 

Meanwhile, reports suggesting that existing investor Sachin Bansal had sold a significant portion of his shares in Ather Energy to Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath also emerged earlier this year.

Ather Energy’s net loss widened 22.5% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24), as per the annual report of Hero MotoCorp.

The EV manufacturer’s net loss jumped to INR 1,059.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 864.5 Cr in FY23, as per the report. Hero MotoCorp owns 40.89% stake in Ather Energy on a fully-diluted basis.

This comes at the heart of Ather eyeing a public listing in the second half of 2024 at a valuation of around $2 Bn. In the run up to its initial public offering (IPO) launch, the startup converted into a public entity last month.

Founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Ather Energy is a major player in the Indian two-wheeler EV market and currently offers two escooters – Ather 450X and Ather 450S.

The startup has two manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu with a combined capacity to produce 4.2 Lakh scooters annually. Now, it is planning to set up a third manufacturing facility in Maharashtra.

Additionally, Ather Energy has a network of 1,700+ fast charging stations across the country and plans to scale this number up to 5,000 by the end of the year.

The startup competes with the likes of Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Bajaj and Hero MotorCorp’s Vida.

The post Ather Energy Raises INR 60 Cr Debt From InnoVen Capital appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Electric vehicle maker Ola Electric is set to open its initial public offering (IPO) for retail subscription on August 2, according to its red herring prospectus (RHP). 

The SoftBank-backed company is eyeing a valuation between $4.2 Bn and $4.4 Bn, according to a Reuters report. 

The IPO will close on August 6, while anchor bidding will take place on August 1. 

The public offer comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 5,500 Cr and an offer for sale component of up to 8.49 Cr shares, as per the RHP. The company has cut the size of the OFS component. As per its DRHP filed in December last year, the company was looking to sell up to 9.51 Cr shares via the OFS.

Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal plans to offload 3.79 Cr shares via the OFS, which is about 20% less than initially estimated in the draft prospectus. 

The company’s expected valuation represents a 18.5% to 22% decrease from its last funding round in September, which valued Ola Electric at $5.4 Bn.

The other shareholders offloading their stake via OFS include Alpha Wave Ventures, Tiger Global, Indus Trust, among others. 

(The story will be updated soon)

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