One quick thing: Kreditbee’s profit soars 66% to Rs 473 crore, revenue surges 40% to Rs 2,712 crore 

In today’s newsletter:

• Peyush Bansal eyes pre-IPO discount deal
• Zepto to raise $500 mn at $7 bn valuation
• India becomes Cisco's global bet

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Lenskart’s co-founder and CEO, Peyush Bansal, is making moves… but this time, they are driving the company’s valuation down.

Bansal is in talks with nearly all of Lenskart’s investors, including SoftBank, Chiratae, and others, to buy shares in Lenskart and increase his stake. 

• The deal, however, is a bargain – a good one for him 

Bansal is looking to borrow Rs 200 crore and buy shares in Lenskart at a valuation of $1 billion, we were told.  

• A price tag of $1 billion is a tenth of the valuation it is targeting for its IPO (hint, it is aiming for $10 billion)
  
  
• If a deal materialises at $1 billion, it would mean Lenskart’s valuation will return to 2019 levels 

For context, the company was last valued at $5 billion in 2024.

Bansal’s move to buy shares in his company is understandable. 

• Bansal currently owns around 4% of the company
  
  
• Once this transaction is complete, his stake will increase to 6% 

In addition, Bansal controls shares from the ESOP pool, which accounts for 19% of the company and is earmarked for distribution among employees and top executives once exercised.

Lenskart is looking to raise $1 billion through its upcoming IPO, slated for later this year, we previously reported.

• Its key backers include ADIA, Kedaara, ChrysCap and others 

Dig deeper

Zepto’s back for another large funding round, this time with a $7 billion valuation and sharper elbows.

Despite tighter competition, Zepto is still drawing deep-pocketed backers to the checkout. 

• The online grocer is raising $450–500 million in primary capital, with General Catalyst and Avenir leading the charge, we were told 

Its valuation has surged 40% since last year, climbing from $5 billion to $7 billion — a big bump in a crowded aisle.

• A few public market-savvy investors may slip into the cart before the deal hits the billing counter

Zepto’s cap table is shifting, and domestic ownership is taking a hit for now.

• Recent secondary deals pushed Indian ownership to around 40%, powered by Motilal Oswal and Ranjan Pai’s Claypond Capital

But once this round lands, that figure will dip to around 35%, as global funds take the driver’s seat.

• Zepto remains confident it’ll cross the majority-Indian threshold by IPO time — part of its plan to localise before listing

As rivals bulk up their baskets, Zepto’s fight for shelf space is far from over.

• Blinkit and Instamart are speeding ahead with loyalty, logistics, and larger user bases
  
  
• BigBasket and Flipkart Minutes are widening their scope — from daily essentials to large appliances and beyond

Zepto’s fundraise buys it more time and firepower, but the quick commerce aisle is only getting tighter.

Dig deeper

India is climbing the global leaderboard…not just in GDP projections but also in CEO calendars.

• Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, on his recent visit to Mumbai, laid out why the country is becoming central to the tech giant’s global game plan

Robbins called India “one of its biggest opportunities globally,” highlighting Cisco’s growing footprint in the country.

The company has been in India for over 30 years, with sales offices in seven cities and a hardware manufacturing unit launched in Chennai last year.

“Over the next five to ten years, I'm not sure there's another place on the planet where you would expect the growth that we should see here,” Robbins said in Mumbai.

Robins believes India is now a “viable place” to export products from. The Cisco CEO also credited the Indian government for smooth partnerships and timely approvals.

Robbins also addressed concerns around the shifting sands of global trade policy, particularly in the context of the reciprocal Trump tariffs.

“Until we understand that, it's very difficult to adapt a supply chain strategy,” Robbins said. 

Cisco is watching the developments and has been closely communicating with the White House, he said.

Go deeper

• OpenAI has ramped up its hiring efforts, bringing on four engineers from top tech firms, including David Lau from Tesla, Uday Ruddarraju and Mike Dalton from xAI, and Angela Fan from Meta, as competition for AI talent heats up.

• Meta has acquired a minority stake of just under 3% in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, worth about $3.5 billion, signalling its deeper push into the smart glasses market.
  
  
• French AI startup Mistral AI is in talks to raise as much as $1 billionin equity from several investors, including Abu Dhabi fund MGX.

She wasn’t just an elephant…she was history on four legs. 

Vatsala, Asia’s oldest elephant, passed away at the age of 100 at Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve. 

• She was affectionately called ‘Dadi Maa’ 

From Kerala’s timber forests to tracking tigers in Panna, her life was a saga of resilience and maternal grace. 

Find out more

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