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In today’s newsletter: 

• Zomato, Swiggy orders to get costlier
• Windfall for Urban Company founders, investors
• Influencers reel under online gaming ban

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Festive season cravings aren’t the only thing going up – platform fees are quietly fattening up the food-delivery giants’ bottom lines.

What began as a token charge has quietly grown into double digits.

• Swiggy has spiced up its platform fee to Rs 15, from Rs 12 earlier

• Zomato, too, is ladling out Rs 12 per order, versus Rs 10 on regular days

The once-humble Rs 2 fee (April 2023) has ballooned over sixfold in barely a year.

A pinch more per order, a platter of cash at scale.

• Swiggy’s Rs 3 hike dishes out Rs 60 lakh more daily, Rs 54 crore quarterly, and Rs 216 crore annually

• Zomato’s Rs 2 uptick plates up Rs 50 lakh extra daily, Rs 45 crore per quarter, and Rs 135 crore per year

Together, both now plate up over Rs 6 crore a day from platform fees alone.

Higher fees are the secret sauce to offset sour numbers.

• Swiggy’s Q1 losses nearly doubled to Rs 1,197 crore as Instamart burned cash

• Zomato’s profit slid 90% YoY to Rs 25 crore despite a 70% revenue jump

Platform fees offer a festive-season cushion, testing if users can stomach the higher tab.

Dig deeper

Gurugram-based Urban Company’s IPO is shaping up to be a jackpot…not just for its founders but also for marquee private equity investors.

CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal and co-founders Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan each own around 9.77 crore shares acquired for practically nothing.

• At the IPO price band of Rs 98–103, their stakes are now valued at over Rs 1,000 crore each, a 10,000x leap

The private equity crowd is having their moment.

• Accel India: From Rs 55 crore to nearly Rs 1,500 crore (26x)
  
  
• Elevation Capital: From Rs 85.7 crore to Rs 1,638 crore (18x)
  
  
• Bessemer India: From Rs 68 crore to Rs 976 crore (13x)
  
  
• VY Capital (VYC11): From Rs 275 crore to Rs 1,386 crore (400%)
  
  
• Tiger Global: From Rs 375 crore to Rs 627 crore

The home services marketplace is looking to raise about Rs 1,900 crore through the IPO, open September 10–12.

• Proceeds will go toward technology upgrades, cloud infra, leases, marketing, and general corporate needs

Urban Company had posted a net profit of Rs 6.9 crore during the quarter ended June 2025, a decline of 45% from Rs 12.6 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

• The drop was due to a Rs 8.6 crore loss in a joint venture, weak operating metrics and higher costs

Revenue rose 30.8% year-on-year to Rs 367.3 crore from Rs 280.9 crore, while EBITDA loss widened to Rs 4.8 crore from Rs 3.36 crore.

Dig deeper

Also read: SBI Mutual Fund, Permira, others to pick up Rs 450-crore worth of shares in Urban Company in pre-IPO round

From scoring big bucks to scoring nothing — the online gaming ban has reset the influencer playbook.

• Campaign volumes are down, brand scrutiny is up, and creators now need to look past gaming

Earnings of Rs 10–15 lakh a month or Rs 8–10 lakh per collaboration have been wiped out, influencers say.

• Agencies are no better off, with payments of up to Rs 20 lakh on hold

From Rs 50 lakh cheques for top names to Rs 1–1.5 lakh for mid-tier players, RMG was a steady income stream for creators.

• Nearly a quarter of influencer brand deals — largely gaming-led — could disappear, say marketers

Also read: MP High Court issues notice to Centre on plea challenging new online gaming law

Comedy and lifestyle influencers have also been affected, losing brand partnerships.

• Content creators in regional languages are bearing the brunt, as the ban disrupts gaming brands’ aggressive Tier-2 and Tier-3 localisation efforts

In gaming-centric states such as Karnataka, Telangana, and Maharashtra, creators feel the ban’s impact more sharply due to strong audience interest and dense brand partnerships.

• The immediate disruption due to the ban highlights the heavy dependence on gaming-related partnerships, said marketers

The ban has forced creators to rethink their content strategies, but the pivot poses a dual challenge: keeping audiences engaged while establishing credibility in new domains. 

• The switch won’t be quick, as experts note it typically takes 3–6 months to build credible partnerships in alternative sectors

Find out more

• OpenAI has agreed to buy product testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the ChatGPT maker’s history.
  
  
• Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI” and former Google researcher, has warned that advanced AI systems are already surpassing humans at emotional manipulation.

In 1816, a French physician rolled up a sheet of paper, pressed it to a patient’s chest, and invented the stethoscope.

• For over 200 years, it has been a doctor’s best friend

But now, medicine’s most iconic tool just got an AI-era upgrade. Researchers at Imperial College London have built an AI stethoscope that can spot the faintest irregularities in heartbeat and blood flow.

• In just 15 seconds, it can diagnose three major conditions: heart failure, valve disease, and abnormal rhythms

Find out more

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