BUSINESS
Zomato introduces long-distance fee, rider assurance plan for restaurants to boost order margins
Zomato's parent, Eternal, has also proposed a new visibility assurance plan for brands where they can pay around Rs 6,000-6,500 each month, for each restaurant identification (RID), and boost rider availability for their business, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Walmart-owned Flipkart names Ravi Iyer as new CFO
Sriram Venkataraman will continue to be the CFO of the Flipkart Group, the memo, reviewed by Moneycontrol, showed.
BUSINESS
Eternal, Swiggy together add over Rs 30,000 crore in market cap this week amid headwinds at Zepto
While Eternal led the charge by adding Rs 20,217.48 crore in market capitalisation, Swiggy added another Rs 10,373.57 crore in market cap this week, NSE data showed. The two companies saw gains during a week when their key rival, Zepto, had a busy week.
BUSINESS
Zepto defers IPO to 2026, seeks private funding from overseas and domestic investors
Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha has spent a lot of time in the US in the past couple of weeks to discuss a potential fundraise. Zepto has received term sheets from Avenir Growth and General Catalyst, existing backers, for a potential $700 million round, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
After groceries, services and fashion, baby care is quick commerce's next frontier
Cavi, a startup that delivers bay products in 30 minutes, is in advanced stages of raising $3-4 million from Stellaris Venture Partners. Its rival, Ozi, is raising a similar amount from Blume Ventures, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Tata Digital to shift HQ from Mumbai’s Fort to Lower Parel; to save Rs 2 crore in monthly rent
As Tata Digital moves into a smaller office space, it has given its Mumbai-based techies the option to relocate and move to the Bengaluru office, closer to CTO Vinay Vaidya, sources said.
BUSINESS
Zepto's Aadit Palicha accuses rival CFO of targeting quick commerce company with a smear campaign
In the wider quick commerce space, Zepto also counts Flipkart Minutes and Tata BigBasket as rivals.
BUSINESS
Zepto's monthly employee costs near Rs 100 crore, reaching 80% of larger rivals Zomato and Swiggy
Zepto’s monthly wage bill of around Rs 100 crore is 80% of what Swiggy and Zomato pay for similar costs, despite having other units like food delivery, dining out, B2B and more. Zepto’s workforce is half of key rivals.
TECHNOLOGY
MC Interview | India should be proud of Meesho and Rapido, see potential for $50 billion firms here: Prosus chief Fabricio Bloisi
In a freewheeling conversation with Moneycontrol, the Brazilian entrepreneur and investor said Prosus’ India portfolio can grow 5X to $50 billion in the next few years, as five of its companies gear up for IPOs this year.
BUSINESS
MC Exclusive: Prosus plans five IPOs this year; Sees India portfolio hitting $50 billion within three years: CEO Fabricio Bloisi
While Prosus stands to make gains from the IPOs, Bloisi said he wants to put more money on the table, to make India grow faster and is in no rush to sell shares.
STARTUP
Breaking ranks: VC mid-management jumping ship for bigger bets, shinier titles
A top-heavy structure, better remuneration, different investing style, and a preference for investment in other stages of a business are among the key reasons why the middle layer leaves.
BUSINESS
Walmart-owned Myntra to begin operations in Singapore
Myntra is expected to go live in Singapore in the coming weeks and will majorly focus on Indian ethnic wear, among other categories, during the initial period, a source told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Walmart-owned Flipkart sees a string of SVP, VP exits in top deck churn
Flipkart's SVP Ankit Jain is leaving to join Swiggy Instamart, replacing Sairam Krishnamurthy who was hired as SVP and COO in August 2024
BUSINESS
Zepto secondaries: Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal both personally buy shares worth $100 million
Apart from the current round, Motilal Oswal, the firm, is also preparing to lead a secondaries round to the tune of $250 million in Zepto. Edelweiss and Hero Fincorp will participate in the round, too.
BUSINESS
Porter raises $200 million from Kedaara and Wellington Management; Peak XV Partners exits
The primary portion that Porter will get in its coffers is around $50-80 million, the rest $120-150 million will be the secondaries component, a source told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Flipkart plans new startup within company, VP and CoS Ashish Vijayvergiya to head operations
The initial plan was for Ashish to start a fantasy gaming platform, but the ideas are still evolving so it is not clear if that will be the final form of the business
BUSINESS
Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart scale to over 4 million daily orders in March; more than double YoY
The top five quick commerce firms delivered a total of 4.8 million orders each day in March, the data sourced by Moneycontrol showed. From December 2024 to March this year, Zepto and Blinkit added fewer newer customers while Swiggy's standalone app Instamart grew, as per Sensor Tower.
ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE
Bengaluru airport likely to partner with KPMG for AI solutions to enhance passenger experience, operational efficiency
AI-powered chatbots are among the initiatives planned to enhance the passenger experience at India’s third-busiest airport.
BUSINESS
Down rounds: Stanza Living and CityMall mull fresh funding at marked down valuations
Accel, a common investor in the two companies, is participating in the ongoing rounds at both Stanza Living and CityMall, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Ultrahuman in talks to raise over $120 million from WestBridge Capital, others
Ultrahuman is firming up a new round after its talks with SoftBank for a $40 million fundraise did not go through. The ongoing discussions potentially value the company at around $550-600 million, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Kedaara Capital, others negotiate deal to invest over Rs 500 crore in The Sleep Company
The Sleep Company is being valued at around $400 million, or about Rs 3,400 crore during the current negotiations, one of the persons cited above told Moneycontrol, a significant jump from $200 million in 2023.
BUSINESS
Zomato rejig: Rakesh Ranjan to step down as food delivery chief, CEO Deepinder Goyal to run operations
This is part of a scheduled shuffle that happens at Zomato every two years as it makes different senior executives lead separate verticals from time to time, sources told Moneycontrol. A few weeks ago, Zomato's food delivery COO Rinshul Chandra also quit the company.
BUSINESS
Fireside Ventures gets ready to raise $230 million for fourth fund
Fireside has raised money largely from domestic LPs but is now looking to have more foreign investors come in
BUSINESS
Flipkart board asks CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy to slash spending as monthly cash burn hits $40 million
CEO Krishnamurthy has been tasked to cut the company’s cash burn to around $250 million a year, at a time when Flipkart has to become more aggressive with new business units, especially Flipkart Minutes, its quick-commerce arm.
