One quick thing: Google ropes in former Apple executive Mitul Shah to lead Pixel's India expansion   

In today’s newsletter:

• Masa asks Indian founders to go all in on AI
• Shadowfax picks i-banks for 2025 IPO
• Govt calls for tougher social media laws

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AI here, AI there, AI everywhere is how founders would remember today’s lunch meeting with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.

The SoftBank chief stressed on the importance of building using AI, founders who attended the meeting in New Delhi told us. 

• He told founders that success in the future will be determined by humans who have AI vs humans who don't have AI
  
  
• He urged founders to be part of the 5% who have AI to be successful, else they will lose out

Fun thing: People lobbied for Masa to visit India more frequently. Why? Swiggy shares rallied over 9% on the NSE and Ola Electric shares hit upper circuit after surging 20% on November 27 (Of course there were other reasons)

From SoftBank’s old bets to its more recent ones, a lot of key founders/executives were in attendance. 

• Naveen Tewari from InMobi, Ritesh Agarwal of OYO, Bhavish Aggarwal from Ola, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Flipkart chief Kalyan Krishnamurthy had lunch with Masa 

• Peyush Bansal from Lenskart, OfBusiness’ Ashish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra, Khadim Batti from Whatfix, Krishna Depura of Mindtickle, Vikram Chopra from Cars24 were the other attendees
  
  
• The guest list also included Albinder Dhindsa of Blinkit, ElasticRun’s Saurabh Nigam, Supam Maheshwari of Firstcry and Unacademy's Gaurav Munjal, we were told

Soon after meeting the founders, Masa also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had also met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on November 26 in Mumbai.

Masa is visiting India after a break of about 19 months, his last visit being in March 2023, during a crucial time for SoftBank. 

• It recorded a profit of $7.7 billion in the July-September period helped largely by India’s IPO market
  
  
• Ola Electric, FirstCry were two key companies from SoftBank’s stable that went public during that quarter, with more in the pipeline 

Find out more

Picture credit: Kalaido.ai

The Bengaluru startup scene, often mocked for the lack of IPOs, could be ready for its big moment (or at least we hope).

Bengaluru-based logistics startup Shadowfax is one step closer to going public and has picked three bankers for its IPO, sources told us. 

• JM Financial, Morgan Stanley, and ICICI Securities are its bankers for a potential IPO in the second half of 2025  

The company is looking to raise somewhere around Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore. 

• The IPO preparations comes shortly after it closed a Rs 400 crore round from Edelweiss Discovery Fund, other HNIs and family offices 

• Shadowfax raised money at a valuation of Rs 6,000 crore during its latest fundraise and is likely to command a small premium over that during its IPO 

Before the Rs 400 crore round, Shadowfax also raised $100 million in a round led by TPG Newquest and others in a mix of primary and secondary transactions.

Shadowfax is also the second new-age company to pick bankers this week.

• We earlier reported that Axis Capital, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Jefferies will run Pine Labs’ $1 billion IPO mandate 

Shadowfax is gearing up to go public at a time when the quick commerce sector, to which the company provides delivery agents, is flourishing and has high investor interest.

Dig deeper

Is social media a tool for freedom of expression or unchecked chaos? 

Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has urged Parliament to weigh in on tighter regulations to clean up the digital space.

Vaishnaw, speaking in Parliament today, emphasised the need for robust measures to curb vulgar content on social media platforms.  

• The minister requested the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT and Communications to lead the charge in building consensus for stronger regulations

Vaishnaw highlighted how individuals publish content without the accountability that traditional media adhered to.

• He underlined the cultural mismatch between India and the countries where most social media platforms originate

Vaishnaw's comments come as governments globally wrestle on how to regulate social media without infringing on freedom of expression.  

Find out more 

Picture credit: DALL-E

• ChatGPT-owner OpenAI is reportedly allowing its employees to sell roughly $1.5 billion worth of shares in a new tender offer to the SoftBank Group.
  
  
• Emerging technologies such as Gen AI and Quantum Computing are set to create over 10 lakh jobs by 2030, according to a report released by staffing firm Quess Corp.

After a year-long hiatus, India's first IMAX screen is back with a bang! 

• Mumbai's iconic IMAX Wadala, now under the wing of Miraj Cinemas, has undergone a massive Rs 35 crore renovation

Miraj Cinemas is expanding its IMAX footprint. Jaipur is set to welcome its first IMAX, and another location is on the horizon.

Find out more   

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