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In today’s newsletter:

• Groww eyes IPO at $8 Bn valuation
• Zepto gets NCLT nod ahead of India IPO
• Blue Tokai brews offline push, to open 80-90 outlets each year

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Bengaluru-based Groww is making big moves with its eyes set on Dalal Street!

Stockbroking market leader Groww is in talks with multiple investment bankers to launch its initial public offering (IPO), targeting to raise $700 million at a $7-8 billion valuation.

• While the exact timeline hinges on market conditions, this move follows its recent flip from the US to India last year

To put Groww’s valuation in context, Mumbai-based and listed stockbroking firm Angel One is valued at less than $3 billion.

Groww's path to IPO also comes as the firm became the country's largest stock broking firm by active investor base in October of 2023.

• The firm has more than doubled its FY24 revenue to Rs 3,145 crore

The Bengaluru-based discount broker saw its consolidated operational profit rise 17% to Rs 535 crore in the year ended March 2024, compared with Rs 458 crore it had reported a year back.

India's IPO market, which was buzzing in 2024, looks set to stay busy in 2025 as well.

• Upcoming IPOs include Zetwerk, Ather Energy, Table and pharmaceutical platform PharmEasy

Dig deeper

Zepto’s IPO dream is taking shape, one step at a time.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the company’s reverse flip from Singapore to India, filings showed. 

• Kiranakart Technologies Private Limited can now proceed to become the holding company of Zepto
  
  
• Prior to this, the Indian entity was a subsidiary of Kiranakart Pte. Ltd which is based in Singapore

The NCLT approval comes just in time as the company prepares to go public later this year. 

• The company being domiciled in India is necessary for a domestic IPO and will also give investors the confidence

Zepto will likely raise as much as $400-500 million for its IPO in India later this year, we had exclusively reported. 

• The company has picked Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Axis Capital as advisors
  

Zepto aims to become a company majorly owned by domestic investors before its IPO.

• It even raised over Rs 2,900 crore from Motilal Oswal, Ranjan Pai’s Claypond Capital and others last year to increase domestic ownership
  
  
• The company even set up a new marketplace entity to streamline operations, we had exclusively reported 

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Homegrown speciality coffee and bakery brand Blue Tokai is betting big on offline retail store expansion, and quick commerce to drive growth over the next three years.

Blue Tokai is banking on out-of-home coffee consumption to more than double its revenues to Rs 1,000 crore by 2028, said CEO and co-founder Matt Chitharanjan.

• India’s out-of-home coffee market is expected to reach $2.6-$3.2 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 15-20% annually, according to a Redseer report 

Yet, opening 80-90 stores a year will be a tall order, since it has launched just 70 stores over the past 18 months, and cumulatively operates 133 since inception in 2013.

While 75% of its business is coming from offline channels, quick commerce has surpassed e-commerce to become Blue Tokai’s primary driver for online sales, said Chitharanjan. 

• Blue Tokai has partnered with Swiggy’s 15-minute food delivery service Snacc to offer breakfast staples and quick bites

That said, Chitharanjan is of the view that quick commerce will “never be the majority” of its business.

However, Blue Tokai does not want to repeat the mistakes of its rivals while expanding, and is looking to scale in a sustainable manner, emphasised Chitharanjan. 

• Arch-rival WestBridge-backed Third Wave Coffee, for instance, faced a management rejig  and a round of layoffs while trying to scale

Find out more

Travellers are either pulsating to the rhythm of 'Chalo Bulawa Aaya Hai' (god's calling), the song from the 1983 movie Avtaar or vibing to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (You Only Live Once) as Maha Kumbh drives a large number of travel bookings. 

• Prayagraj is the destination of the season with flight bookings up 162 percent while trains to the city are seeing 187% surge in bookings

Many are calling Maha Kumbh 2025 a once in a lifetime opportunity due to the special cosmic alignment that happens once in 148 years. 

Read to know more

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang praised Elon Musk for his groundbreaking work in AI, recognising his contributions to cognitive intelligence, autonomous driving, and robotics, and emphasizing that Musk's multifaceted approach is poised to revolutionize the tech landscape.
  
  
• The UK is looking to build a homegrown challenger to OpenAI and drastically increase national computing infrastructure, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government sets its sights on becoming a global leader in AI.

Brace yourselves, cricket fanatics! 

Netflix is about to unleash a captivating documentary series titled "The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan" on February 7. 

• Expect tales of triumph and tears, secrets and legendary clashes

Legends like Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, and Javed Miandad spill the beans, offering unprecedented insights into the fierce battles that have ignited passions across the subcontinent. Find out more

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