BUSINESS
Accel, Prosus and other VCs close to striking deals with half a dozen AI startups
While Accel is negotiating a deal with Vaya and August AI, Prosus is inching closer to a deal with Arivihan. Stellaris Venture Partners is negotiating a deal with Pivot AI and Vertex Ventures is doubling down on Hakimo, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Myntra’s chief product and technology officer Raghu Krishnananda quits Walmart-owned firm
Krishnananda is the second CPTO to depart from the Flipkart group in a span of about two months. On February 5, Moneycontrol had reported that Jeyandran Venugopal, CPTO at Flipkart, was leaving after an eight-year-long tenure.
BUSINESS
Peak XV-backed Wakefit picks Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services, Nomura as bankers for IPO
The company is looking to raise around Rs 1,500-2,000 crore, or about $200 million through the IPO, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Going nuts: Dry fruit companies Nutraj and Farmley prepare to raise over $40 million each as investors line up to take a bite
While Nutraj is nearing a deal to raise around $40 million, or around Rs 340 crore, from Belgium's AvH, Singapore's Venturi Partners and homegrown PE firm CX Partners, Farmley, its new-age rival, is in talks to raise a similar amount of capital from L’Catterton, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Prosus-Jar deal comes unstuck due to differences in valuation
Apart from a valuation mismatch, Jar’s founders wanted to sell some of their shares in the company through secondary transactions, a move the incoming investors were not okay with, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Chargebee acquires Trainn, a SaaS startup founded by its alumni, as industry consolidates
Trainn is Chargebee’s second acquisition in about a month’s time as the Tiger Global-backed company accelerates its AI efforts. A few weeks ago, Chargebee acquired Inai, a firm that provides software to track and manage payments.
BUSINESS
Unicorn alert! B2B startup Jumbotail nears $120 million funding round at $1 billion valuation
The larger entity’s fresh valuation of around $900 million is a significant markup from Jumbotail’s valuation of around $300 million in 2021 and Solv’s valuation of $200 million a few years ago.
BUSINESS
Uber accelerates autonomous vehicles’ dream, hitches ride with Waymo
Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi has said said autonomous vehicles are a '$1 trillion opportunity' in the US alone and the market will only grow
BUSINESS
Meesho picks Morgan Stanley, Kotak and Citi as bankers for $1 billion IPO at valuation of $10 billion
Meesho is likely to command a valuation of $10 billion, a 2.5X increase from $3.9 billion last year. The company is expected to list on the stock exchanges around Diwali this year, outpacing Flipkart, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Minimalist’s ethos is transparency; it’ll stay intact under HUL ownership, says co-founder Mohit Yadav
While Yadav shed light on what typically changes for other brands after an acquisition, he is confident, from his conversations in the past several months, that HUL will not alter Minimalist’s perception and positioning which makes the acquisition deal even sweeter, he told Moneycontrol in an interview.
BUSINESS
Lahori, a beverage brand, nears Rs 450 crore fundraise from Motilal Oswal, others
While the company was valued at around Rs 700-750 crore in 2022, ongoing negotiations value the company at around Rs 2,500 crore, a source told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Namdhari appoints Sprout Capital to look for buyers for retail arm
Simpli Namdhari's is being valued at Rs 220-250 crore in deal negotiations, sources have said. The company is only looking sell its retail unit and its other businesses such as the seeds vertical continue to scale and expand
BUSINESS
Solv to merge with Jumbotail as the B2B space consolidates
Through the deal, Jumbotail, largely seen as a vertical B2B company, will look to strengthen its horizontal play. A final deal announcement is expected in the coming weeks, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Zepto taps domestic mutual funds for $300 million share sale ahead of IPO
During the course of his meetings, CEO Palicha has told mutual fund houses that Zepto will breakeven on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) basis by Q4FY26, a source told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Flipkart’s chief product and technology officer Jeyandran Venugopal quits
Flipkart is looking at internal candidates to fill in the role of CPTO and there are senior vice presidents (SVPs) in the running, people in the know told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Capillary Technologies picks Nomura, IIFL Capital and JM Financial for IPO
Capillary is likely to issue fresh shares worth around Rs 200-300 crore and the remaining Rs 1,200-1,300 crore will be through share sales. The company is likely to list in the second half of the year
BUSINESS
Zetwerk mafia on fundraising spree: Scimplify, CBCatalyst, Sanlayan discuss new rounds
While Scimplify is likely to raise $30 million, Sanlayan is in talks to raise $20 million. CBCatayst is discussing a $1 million deal and Lightspeed is in advanced stages to back a former business head at Zetwerk in a $5 million deal, multiple sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Davos 2025: At least 4 companies from Kedaara’s portfolio to go for IPO in next 18-24 months, says chief Manish Kejriwal
While Kejriwal did not take specific names, the IPOs are likely to include new-age companies like eyewear startup Lenskart, beauty e-commerce player Purplle, among others.
BUSINESS
PharmEasy co-founders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, Harsh Parekh and Hardik Dedhia to leave troubled startup
The founder group cumulatively holds under 2 percent in API Holdings. Each of the five co-founders held between 0.20 percent to 0.30 percent stake in the company, data showed.
BUSINESS
Swish, a 10-min food delivery startup, settles for smaller fundraise even as market heats up
Large players toying with the idea of rapid food delivery and tasting initial success will give these well-funded companies an edge over the others which essentially means the smaller startups, that do not have deep pockets or large investor backing, will tend to lose out.
BUSINESS
Milky Mist kicks off IPO process: JM Financial, IIFL Capital Services and Axis Capital running mandate
Milky Mist is aiming to raise around Rs 2,000 crore (around $235 million) through its IPO, slated for later this year, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Fintech firm Scapia in talks to raise Rs 340 crore in fresh funding from Peak XV Partners, others
Scapia is commanding a valuation of around Rs 1,250-1,500 crore, slightly higher than Rs 800-850 crore previously, a source told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Swiggy launching a new app is not a new strategy, says chief Sriharsha Majety on Instamart, Snacc launch
Along with Snacc and Instamart, more apps like Pyng, a Justdial-like offering, and a separate one for Rare, a membership programme by Swiggy, are also in the works, sources told Moneycontrol.
BUSINESS
Swiggy to launch Instamart as separate app, eyes multi-app strategy on quick commerce boom
To be sure, Instamart will continue to be present on the main Swiggy app.This approach mirrors strategies adopted by Chinese internet giants like Meituan and Alibaba, which combine a unified app with a suite of standalone apps tailored to specific use cases.
