Making another investment in the Indian startup ecosystem, Olympian PV Sindhu has backed D2C wellness brand Hoop.

Without disclosing the investment amount, Hoop said in a statement that Sindhu will also become a brand ambassador for the startup. 

Founded in 2022 by ex-McKinsey consultants Twinkle Uppal and Saharsh Agarwal, the startup sells pain relief, muscle recovery and sleep support products like sprays and roll ons. It sells the products via its website as well as ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. 

Hoop was a part of Peak XV Partners’ (erstwhile Sequoia India and Southeast Asia) second cohort of the Sequoia Spark fellowship programme. As part of this, it received an equity-free grant of $100K, along with mentorship support, in January 2023. 

Besides, the startup is backed by notable angel investors like OYO COO Abhinav Sinha, Swiggy’s food marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor, former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, Bombay Shaving Company founder Shantanu Deshpande, and Dr Vaidya’s founder Arjun Vaidya. 

Speaking to Inc42 about the startup’s journey, Uppal said the cofounders felt that there was a dearth of feasible solutions catering to exercise-related injuries, despite their growing prevalence. 

Before launching the products in the market in October 2023, the cofounders claim to have spent 18 months on research and development. Hoop claims it currently has a user base of over 50K across 1,000+ cities in the country. 

Commenting on her investment, Sindhu said, “Pain is a part of my daily life but I don’t see it as a bad thing. I love how hoop positions pain relief and muscle recovery as ways to self-care rather than something to be afraid of. I am excited to introduce Hoop products not just to athletes but to everyone trying to be active.” 

The investment comes just a month after Sindhu backed agritech startup Greenday’s FMCG brand Better Nutrition. With improving internet penetration and access to smartphones, a number of D2C brands have emerged in the country, across sectors, over the last few years. The country’s D2C market is expected to reach a size of $100 Bn by 2025.

The post PV Sindhu Invests In D2C Wellness Brand Hoop appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Online two-wheeler marketplace and financing platform Bike Bazaar has raised a debt of INR 25 Cr (nearly $3 Mn) from financial services company MAS Financial. 

As per Registrar of Companies (RoC) filings accessed by Inc42, the startup’s board passed a special resolution to allot 2,500 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to MAS Financial at an issue price of INR 1 Lakh each. This translates to a cumulative sum of INR 25 Cr. 

As per the filings, Bike Bazaar raised the debt investment at an interest rate of 10.7% per annum for a tenure of 30 months. 

The development was first reported by Entrackr. 

Founded in 2017 by Srinivas Kantheti and Karunakaran Vadakkepat, Bike Bazaar operates an online marketplace for buying and selling pre-owned two wheelers. It also offers loans for buying new as well as old two-wheelers.

The startup also claims to provide electric three-wheeler loans and electric bikes on rentals.

The startup last raised $30 Mn in its Series D funding round last year from DEG, the investment arm of German state-owned development bank KfW, Women World’s Banking Asset Management (WAM), Elevar Equity, and Faering Capital. 

Overall, Bike Bazaar has raised over $101 Mn in funding since its inception. 

Bike Bazaar claims to have touch points spanning 100 locations across the country. It claims to have so far disbursed loans worth INR 3,400 Cr to 64 Lakh customers. 

Bike Bazaar reportedly trimmed its net loss by 21% to INR 43 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2023 (FY23) from INR 55 Cr in FY22. Revenue from operations rose 20% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 180 Cr in FY23. 

With the fundraise, Bike Bazaar has joined the growing list of Indian startups that have raised debt in the recent past as funding winter and adverse macroeconomic pressures continue to loom over the startup ecosystem.

Earlier this week, Inc42 reported that logistics startup Ripplr has received board approval to secure INR 40 Cr in debt from IPO-bound Northern Arc. Prior to that, edtech unicorn upGrad was also said to be planning to raise INR 287.5 Cr in debt from financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital.

In June, NBFC Northern Arc Capital raised $75 Mn in debt from Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO. Omnichannel jewellery brand Bluestone also bagged INR 100 Cr debt from Neo Markets last month. 

The post Bike Bazaar Raises INR 25 Cr Debt From MAS Financial appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fintech major Groww’s asset management arm has paid INR 9 Lakh to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to settle a case related to alleged violation of norms. 

Groww Asset Management Company Ltd (formerly known as Indiabulls Asset Management Company Ltd) and Groww Trustee Ltd (formerly known as Indiabulls Trustee Company Ltd) filed a suo motu settlement application with SEBI to settle, by neither admitting nor denying the findings of fact and conclusions of law, the enforcement proceedings that may be initiated against them for the violation of a SEBI circular.

In the settlement application, Groww AMC and Groww Trustee said during April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022, certain scheme related expenses were being paid by the AMC and were not paid from the schemes. 

This was in violation of SEBI norms, which say that all scheme related expenses, including commission paid to distributors, has to be paid from the scheme, and not from the books of the AMC, its associate, sponsor, trustee or any other entity through any route.

It is pertinent to note that Groww completed the acquisition of Indiabulls Asset Management for a consideration of INR 175.6 Cr in May 2023.

After the filing of the application, the authorised representatives of Groww AMC and Groww Trustee held a meeting with the internal committee of SEBI to discuss the aforementioned issues and the terms of the settlement.

Following this, the applicants proposed revised settlement terms to settle any enforcement proceedings that may be initiated against them for the violations.

“The High Powered Advisory Committee (HPAC) in its meeting held on December 21, 2023 and March 04, 2024, considered the revised settlement  terms proposed  by  the applicants and recommended the case for settlement upon payment of INR 9 Lakhs,” said SEBI in its order dated June 28. 

Following this, the applicants made the payment and the same was confirmed by SEBI.

The settlement will offer the company protection from any future “enforcement action” from SEBI in connection with the said violations. 

The acquisition of Indiabulls Asset Management paved the way for Groww’s entry into the mutual fund space. Groww AMC received SEBI’s nod to launch its first mutual fund in September last year. Earlier this year, it also got the regulator’s nod to launch India’s first Nifty non-cyclical consumer index fund.

Zerodha, Groww’s rival in the discount broking space, also received SEBI’s greenlight to launch an asset management company last year. Following this, Zerodha Fund House launched its maiden mutual funds in October last year.

The post Groww AMC Settles SEBI Case By Paying INR 9 Lakh appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Cofounded by Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal, Dubai-based Sentient Labs has raised $85 Mn in a seed funding round co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, and Framework Ventures. The blockchain-based AI startup also got backing from Robot Ventures, Delphi, Republic, Arrington Capital and few other VCs.

Besides Nailwal, Sentient Labs counts Pramod Vishwanathan (Forrest G. Hamrick Professor of Engineering at Princeton University), and Himanshu Tyagi (Professor and Scientist at IISc Bangalore) as cofounders. 

Sensys, an open source AI venture development company is also part of the launch team for the startup which was founded in January 2024. 

Sentient is built on the Polygon CDK chain and aims to develop an open-source decentralised AI and, eventually, AGI. “Sentient is building on Polygon technology, that’s my main reason to support it,” Nailwal said Inc42.

Speaking to Inc42, cofounder Tyagi said, “The funding will be utilised to scale our engineering team and the platform. Since we are committed to delivering results, it also requires building a supportive ecosystem — the developers’ community. That’s where the funds will be used.”

On the roadmap ahead, Tyagi said that Sentient will enter the testnet phase within the next two months. “Sentient is lean and thin, and we wish to remain so. The current team size is 20, and we will add a few more members,” he added.

How Sentient Differs From OpenAI And Google’s Gemini

There are over 70,000 AI projects listed on platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and OneDev. Most of them seem to be either redundant or replicas of existing AI projects. Why is there a need for another AI project like Sentient?

Nailwal has earlier explained the idea behind Sentient which is to build an open world through blockchain to achieve transparency and fairness, as opposed to a closed world dominated by large companies. He noted that the rapid development of centralised AI and its integration into daily life has brought humanity to a crossroads. 

“We can choose either a closed world controlled by a few closed-source models operated by large enterprises or an open world with open-source models and verifiable reasoning. The latter can only be achieved by using blockchain to make AI more transparent and fair,” he said at an event earlier this year. 

Tyagi stated that the difference lies in Sentient’s approach versus the AI giants such as OpenAI, Google or Meta. Most existing AI projects are either closed-source or semi-closed, with some not disclosing their data or technology. 

For example, Meta’s Llama is only partially open source because it releases model views but not the data used to create those models. Releasing such data would have legal implications due to the unknown contents within large datasets, as seen in cases where datasets contained inappropriate images.

“With Sentient’s open-source architecture, issues like plagiarism and backdoor attacks can be better monitored, similar to smart contracts on blockchain. The code and data need to be open source for better auditing and transparency,” said Tyagi.

Sentient Labs has been developed based on the Open, Monetizable, and Loyal (OML) model, where community members are invited to develop for Sentient and will be rewarded accordingly. Nailwal has previously voiced concerns about developers not being truly rewarded for their work. The intersection of blockchain and AI enables the OML model, which Sentient claims benefits all stakeholders.

When asked about issuing a token to incentivise the community, Tyagi responded, “Eventually, something like that will be done. But monetisation and value distribution are separate points. We need to create powerful, useful AI that stands at par with leading AI technologies. When our AI is used, everyone who contributed will be rewarded through the blockchain protocol, which can take one to one and a half years.”

Crypto+AI: What Does That Mean?

In a statement shared with Inc42, Nailwal said that AI centralisation and its resulting safety issues are the biggest challenges humanity currently faces. Crypto and blockchain are the only ways to counter centralisation; hence, all efforts should be made to make something work on that front, however hard it might be. I have always hoped that the Polygon ecosystem puts its effort into that front.”

While other crypto projects have ventured into the AI space, the idea was to explore AI use cases for a particular crypto. However, Nailwal defines Sentient as a cloud-sourced AI company using blockchain incentives, but fundamentally an AI company.

“Sentient differs by focusing on what crypto can do for AI, creating a decentralised infrastructure that could compete with the likes of Google and AWS. Our long-term goal is to build an AI economy for all, enabled by an open-source ecosystem,” added Tyagi.

He also mentioned the importance of AI agents for blockchain functions and the need to ensure they perform as expected, drawing parallels to privacy and reliability concerns in enterprise AI. Sentient aims to enable a new AI economy where contributors are rewarded fairly, not just using open projects to build resumes for big companies.

Nailwal has set the goal of building an open AGI, which will require significant infrastructure. 

Tyagi noted, “We are taking one step at a time. Our ethos is to have a strong team of experts who came together for this mission. We believe a lot of AI development is happening outside large companies. We start with foundational models and align our efforts with ongoing benchmarks and research. Sentient is a research-first company, continually building and evolving.”

The post Sandeep Nailwal’s New Venture Sentient Raises $85 Mn To Take On OpenAI, Llama appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Actress Huma Qureshi has invested an undisclosed amount in Kolkata-based dating app flutrr. In a LinkedIn post, flutrr cofounder and CEO Kaushik Banerjee said that adding Qureshi on the startup’s cap table will help boost the adoption of its product.

“We’ve refreshed our branding to emphasise meaningful, long-term relationships amongst the youth of India. And our new app is set to help users find their perfect match more efficiently than ever,” he said. 

While Banerjee didn’t disclose the funding amount, YourStory reported that fluttr raised INR 2 Cr from Qureshi and other angel investors.

Founded in 2021 by father-son duo Kaushik and Anirban Banerjee, flutrr claims to be India’s first vernacular dating app which allows people to communicate in a language of their choice. 

The app is primarily focused on users in Tier-II, III cities and allows them to connect in English, Hindi and Bengali. It will soon be available in eight more Indian languages, including four south Indian languages. It claims to have over 4.5 Lakh weekly active users and over 9 Lakh app downloads. 

The startup also claims to use matching algorithms which connect people on the basis of astrology and numerology. 

The announcement comes days after the startup revamped its app to make it more “Indianised”. 

Last year, fluttr said it bagged INR 4 Cr from The Chennai Angels, Times of India, among others, to expand its user base to 5 Mn. 

fluttr competes with the likes Bumble and Tinder in the dating app market.

The fundraise comes at a time when a number of celebrities are investing in Indian startups amid the exponential growth in the country’s startup ecosystem over the past few years. Earlier today, Bengaluru-based supplement brand Supply6 said it has roped in former South African cricketer AB de Villiers as an investor and brand ambassador. 

Last month, PV Sindhu turned investor and brand ambassador for agritech startup Greenday’s FMCG brand Better Nutrition. 

However, the world’s third largest startup ecosystem is currently in the midst of the funding winter. According to Inc42’s ‘H1 2024 Startup Funding Report’, Indian startups cumulatively raised investments worth $5.3 Bn in the first six months (H1) of the calendar year 2024, down 1.8% from H1 2023’s $5.4 Bn.

The post Huma Qureshi Backs Vernacular Dating App flutrr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After largely making it available in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, Zomato has now expanded its home-cooked meal service ‘Zomato Everyday’ to Mumbai.

As per the foodtech major, the service will be currently available in Malad and Goregaon, and will soon be expanded into more areas across the financial capital.

Saurabh Patel, a marketing professional at Zomato Everyday, said in a LinkedIn post, “After Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, Zomato Everyday is now live in the City of Dreams! Currently serving in Malad and Goregaon, coming soon in more locations.”

This comes two weeks after the Zomato Everyday announced its foray into Pune. 

Earlier in May, Inc42 reported that Zomato is eyeing to scale up Zomato Everyday in Bengaluru and Mumbai. 

During Zomato’s earnings call for Q4 FY24, a company spokesperson said, “We want to continue expanding ‘Everyday’. Right now it’s largely in Gurugram, but over the next few months, we’ll see maybe Mumbai and Bengaluru being added as cities where we will launch ‘Everyday’ and then we’ll take it from there in terms of other cities that we want to expand in.”

Zomato launched this service in early 2023, which was a remodelled version of its earlier similar offering, Zomato Instant. With ‘Zomato Everyday’, the company offers fresh home-cooked meals starting at INR 89. 

The remodeling was reportedly due to low daily order volume, and the inability to scale the segment and pay fixed costs.

Initially, Zomato Everyday was piloted in select areas of Gurugram in February last year. Since then, the service has expanded to multiple cities across locations, underscoring that demand for affordable, homestyle food still exists.

With Zomato Everyday, the foodtech aggregator intends to target a new set of consumers, including working professionals residing away from their homes and looking for affordable home-cooked meal options.

Earlier in May this year, Zomato’s counterpart Swiggy also relaunched its homestyle meal delivery offering Swiggy Daily in Bengaluru. 

Swiggy introduced Daily in 2019 but had to shut down this offering following the slump in demand due to Covid-induced lockdowns. 

While Zomato witnessed some degrowth in the GOV of its core food delivery business in Q4 FY24 with its GOV falling 0.6% QoQ to INR 8,439 Cr, the company continues to remain profitable. 

Riding on the back of its quick commerce vertical, Blinkit, Zomato reported its fourth consecutive profitable quarter with profit after tax (PAT) rising almost 27% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to INR 175 Cr in Q4.

The development comes on the same day of Zomato’s shares touching an all time high of INR 209.80 apiece during the intraday trading following the shareholders’ approval to create a new employee stock option pool of 18.26 Cr shares.

The post Zomato Expands Its Meal Service ‘Zomato Everyday’ To Mumbai appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Foodtech major Zomato on Tuesday (July 2) said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Zomato Financial Services Limited (ZFCL) has decided to voluntarily withdraw its application with the Reserve Bank of India to operate as an non-banking financial company (NBFC).

In an exchange filing, the company said that it no longer wishes to pursue the lending/credit business.

The decision to withdraw the application was taken by the board of directors of ZFSL at a meeting held on July 2, the filings showed.

The company further said that the move will have no material impact on its revenues and operations.

The development comes days after Zomato’s subsidiary Zomato Payment Private Limited (ZPPL) surrendered its payment aggregator licence.

It is pertinent to note that Zomato, earlier this year, was said to be in talks with multiple NBFCs to offer working capital loans to its partner restaurants.

While Zomato incorporated ZFCL in 2022, ZPPL was incorporated in 2021, as part of the company’s broader digital lending plans.

The development comes at a time when the RBI has been cracking down on NBFC companies and certain fintechs due to lapses in governance and regulatory compliance.

Earlier this year, the RBI issued draft papers to regulate online payment aggregators, mandating physical KYC verification for merchant onboarding.  

Meanwhile, shares of Zomato touched an all-time high of INR 209.80 during Tuesday’s intraday trading session on the BSE.

The surge in the stock’s price came after Zomato announced that it has received approval from its shareholders to create a new employee stock option pool of 18.26 Cr shares.

Earlier this week, Zomato was slapped with a goods and services tax (GST) demand notice of INR 9.45 Cr by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) in Karnataka.

Last month, the company launched a new platform in a bid to support restaurants in the recruitment process, as part of its broader portfolio expansion plans. 

The post Zomato Subsidiary Voluntarily Withdraws NBFC Licence Application appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Karnataka High Court (HC) has reportedly set aside the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT’s) interim order, passed right month, restraining embattled BYJU’S from undertaking a second rights issue.

Hearing BYJU’S petition against the NCLT’s order, Karnataka HC’s Justice SR Krishna Kumar sent the matter back to the Tribunal for a fresh consideration, Bar and Bench reported.

BYJU’S declined to comment on the development.

The HC order will come as a relief for the cash-starved edtech startup. Last month, hearing a petition filed by investors General Atlantic Singapore and Sofina S.A., the NCLT asked the Byju Raveendran-led company to maintain the status quo with regard to existing shareholders and their shareholding. 

It asked BYJU’S to not proceed with the second rights issue till the petition against the first rights issue was disposed of.

The petitioners argued that BYJU’S proposed a second rights issue by way of an offer letter dated May 11, which opened on May 13 and is scheduled to end on June 13. 

Meanwhile, sources at BYJU’S then told Inc42 that there was no second rights issue and the rights issue being referred to by the investors was an extension of its previous $200 Mn rights issue.

They said that while BYJU’S received commitments worth over $200 Mn for the rights issue, it was able to close it partially as some of the commitments didn’t translate to fund infusion. As a result, the company floated the new offer. 

Following the Tribunal’s stay, BYJU’S moved the Karnataka HC against the NCLT order. The next NCLT hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 4.

Behind the courtroom drama is BYJU’S contentious rights issue. It is pertinent to note that the proceeds raised by BYJU’S from its first rights issue are also held in a separate escrow account, as per the NCLT’s order. 

BYJU’S, once the poster child of the edtech ecosystem, is currently in the news for all the wrong reasons. From multiple insolvency cases, allegations of hiding funds, and rising losses to a severe cash crunch, fight with investors, and layoffs – the startup is dousing fires on multiple fronts.

The post Karnataka HC Sets Aside NCLT’s Stay On BYJU’S Second Rights Issue appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Following the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) circular on Monday (July 1), barring market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) from offering discounts based on trading volumes or members’ activities, Zerodha cofounder and CEO Nithin Kamath has said that the brokerage might have to let go of its zero brokerage structure.

In a post on X, Kamath said, “With the new circular, we will, in all likelihood, have to let go of the zero brokerage structure and/or increase brokerage for F&O trades. Brokers across the industry will also have to tweak their pricing.”

SEBI, in its circular yesterday, said that the charges MIIs recover from the end client should be “True to Label”. Besides, the charge structure of the MII should be uniform and equal for all its members and not slab-wise. 

It is pertinent to note that members of MIIs refer to stock brokers, clearing corporations, and depositories, including discount broking platforms such as Zerodha, Groww and Upstox.  

As per SEBI’s circular, MIIs will have to ensure that their charges recovered from end-customers by its members are deposited entirely in the account of MIIs. 

In a blog post today, Kamath said, “This circular has an impact not only on brokers but also on trading and investing customers.”

Topline Of Brokerages To Take A Hit

He explained that stock exchanges charge a transaction fee based on the overall turnover contributed by a broker in a month. More turnover implies a lesser transaction fee. 

The difference between the brokers’ charges from the customers and the exchanges’ charges from the brokers at the end of the month is a rebate. Kamath said that such rebates are common across the major markets in the world. 

“We earn about 10% of our revenue from these rebates. This could range between 10% and 50% of the revenue for other brokers. For us, this has increased from about 3% to 10% in the last four years because of the increase in options turnover,” said Kamath. “Today, 90% of our revenue from these rebates comes from options trading alone. With the new circular brokers will no longer earn these rebates.”

Since 2015, Zerodha has been offering free equity trades. Kamath said this was possible because F&O trading revenues were subsiding equity delivery investors.

“This structure could now potentially change. As a business, we may have to introduce a brokerage fee for equity delivery investments, which is currently free, or/and increase F&O brokerage,” he said. 

He added that this is even more important given the big uncertainty around the future of F&O trading volumes. 

It is pertinent to note that SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch said last week that the regulator is open to taking “some derivative products” off the market amid a sharp jump in options trading in the country.

Responding to this, Kamath said earlier that Zerodha was a big beneficiary of the surge in options trading and SEBI’s regulatory action can hurt the revenues of brokerages, as most of them earn a large part of income from options trades. 

Meanwhile, Kamath said in his latest blog post that all brokers will be forced to tweak their pricing models in a few months following the latest circular. 

“We are still trying to ascertain the second-order effects of the circular. In all likelihood, we will probably have to let go of the zero brokerage structure for equity delivery trades which we have been able to offer for the past nine years,” he added.

SEBI circular will come into effect starting October 1, 2024. 

Meanwhile, stock brokerage platform Angel One’s shares slumped nearly 9% during Tuesday’s trading session. Shares of Motilal Oswal Financial Services also declined over 4%, while those of IIFL Securities’ fell 3.6% on the BSE today.

Explaining SEBI’s circular, Capitalmind founder and CEO Deepak Shenoy, in a post on X, said, “SEBI just said no more of this, and charge only true-to-label fees, meaning if you say it’s an NSE fee, it should be what goes to NSE. (and NSE needs to charge the same fee without lowered fees for higher turnover).”

To compensate for this, brokerage costs might go up, he added. 

“For a lot of F&O players, this can hurt somewhat, but it will hurt brokers more as brokerage numbers are competitive and those willing to keep lower margins will shine out,” he said.

The post SEBI Circular For MIIs: Zerodha May Discontinue Zero Brokerage Structure appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaurav Munjal-led edtech startup Unacademy undertook another restructuring exercise last month, which resulted in 250 employees losing their jobs, sources told Inc42.

While 150 employees were from the sales department, who were fired for not being able to meet their “sales targets”, the remaining 100 employees were from various other departments, the sources said.

A spokesperson of Unacademy confirmed the development with Inc42 but didn’t disclose the number of employees impacted by the layoff round. 

“As part of our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and enhance business efficiency, we have recently undergone a restructuring exercise. This was necessary keeping in mind the company’s goals and vision for the year, as we focus all our efforts on sustainable growth and profitability. Consequently, some roles have been impacted. While this transition won’t be easy, we will be supporting all impacted individuals during this transition,” the spokesperson said.

Financial Express was the first to report the development. As per the report, around 600 employees were impacted by the restructuring exercise. 

It is pertinent to note that the latest restructuring exercise was an addition to the growing number of layoff rounds undertaken by Unacademy over the last couple of years. As per Inc42’s layoff tracker, Unacademy has laid off around 2,000 employees since the onset of the funding winter. 

In May this year, Inc42 exclusively reported that the startup’s medical entrance test preparation platform PrepLadder undertook a layoff exercise amid a shift in its sales strategy. Sources told Inc42 then that the NEET preparation platform laid off around 145 employees, which was almost 25% of its workforce. It was PrepLadder’s third round of layoffs in the past three years. 

Unacademy has been looking to raise funds for over a year now but hasn’t been successful so far. Recently, one of Unacademy’s cofounders, Hemesh Singh, stepped down from his executive role and moved to an advisory role. 

Singh, along with Munjal and Roman Saini, founded Unacademy in 2015. The Bengaluru-based startup claims to have a network of 91K registered educators (teachers) and over 99 Mn learners.

Sumit Jain, a partner at Unacademy, is reportedly going to replace Singh on the startup’s board seat.

Last month, Inc42 learnt that K-12 Techno Services held talks to acquire Unacademy. However, the talks are at initial stages.

Peak XV Partners-backed Unacademy narrowed its consolidated net loss by almost 40% to INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,847.9 Cr in the previous year, on the back of a sharp reduction in costs.

Unacademy Group has raised about $800 Mn in funding till date. Last valued at $3 Bn, the startup counts Tiger Global, Elevation Capital, General Atlantic, and Meta among its backers.

The post Unacademy Fires Another 250 Employees To Turn Profitable appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed logistics major Delhivery has alloted 36,525 stock options under the Delhivery Employees Stock Option Plan 2012.

“… the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company has approved the grant of 36,525 stock options under Delhivery Employees Stock Option Plan 2012 (“ESOP-2012”) to the eligible employees of the Company on Tuesday, July 02, 2024,” the startup said in an exchange filing.

The stock options would vest over a period of four years from the date of grant. 

While 10% of the newly granted ESOPs will vest on completion of 12 months from the date of grant, 30% will vest within 24 months. The remaining stock options will vest at a rate of 15% every 6 months thereafter.

As per the stock’s last closing price on Tuesday, the new stock options are valued at over INR 1.45 Cr.

Last month, Delivery allocated 11.06 Lakh ESOPs. 

Back then the startup said it issued over 2.85 Lakh equity shares under Delhivery ESOP 2012, over 3.49 Lakh equity shares under ESOP II 2020, and over 4.70 Lakh equity shares under the ESOP III 2020 scheme.

Prior to that, in May, the startup issued 75,000 stock options under ESOP-2012.

It is pertinent to note that Delhivery incurred a consolidated loss of INR 69 Cr in Q4 of FY24 as against a net profit of INR 11.7 Cr in the preceding quarter. Revenue from operations declined 5% on a quarterly basis to INR 2,076 Cr in Q4 on the back of a reduction in express parcel and cross-border service volumes.

ESOPs are used by organisations, especially startups, to reward and retain employees. In recent times, a number of listed new-age tech startups have announced allotment of ESOPs.

For instance, Paytm allotted over 87,000 ESOPs in May, while Policybazaar parent PB Fintech allocated over 48 Lakh ESOPs in June.

Besides, a number of startups, including DeHaat, XYXX, and Purplle, have announced ESOP buyback programmes in recent times to provide liquidity to employees.

Shares of Delhivery ended today’s session 0.38% lower at 397.95 on the BSE.

The post Delhivery Expands ESOP Pool With Allotment Of 36,525 Stock Options appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Zomato has reportedly brought back two senior executives to ramp up its Going-Out business amid the foodtech major’s discussions with Paytm to acquire its movie ticketing and events business.

The company has brought back Rahul Ganjoo and Pradyot Ghate, who left the company last year, Moneycontrol reported.

Ganjoo joined Zomato in 2017 and became its Co-CEO after three years, as well as the head of new initiatives in August 2022. 

He put down his papers in November and left the company in January 2023. Since then, Ganjoo has been serving as an advisor to a US-based GenAI conversation intelligence platform observer.ai., a position he has held since 2016. 

Ghate’s engagement with the foodtech major was similar to Ganjoo. After joining the company in 2014 as an associate vice president- growth, Ghate was elevated to VP role during his nine-year long stint. He left the company in July 2023, citing a career break.

According to the report, the company has asked both of them to incubate new ideas for its Going-Out business.

“Both of them are pursuing 0-1 ideas in the going-out business… which is closer to dining out, lifestyle and entertainment than the core food delivery segment. But, things change very quickly in Zomato. There’s no guarantee that what they are working on will eventually be launched,” a source was quoted as saying by the publication.

Inc42 has reached out to the company for a comment on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

This comes shortly after it was reported that the company is looking to bolster its live entertainment and ticketing vertical with the acquisition of Paytm Insider for a speculated INR 1,500 Cr. 

While Zomato’s Going-Out business was instituted in 2018 and oversees IPs like Zomaland, it contributes in only single digits to the foodtech major’s overall business. For instance, it only brought in a revenue of INR 93 Cr in the quarter ending on March 31, 2024. 

Shortly after the companies acknowledged the talks, brokerage firm JM Financial said that acquisition of Paytm’s ticketing business will strengthen Zomato’s ‘Going-out’ business. “The deal could catapult Zomato to second position in the events & movie ticketing space, behind only BookMyShow,” it observed. 

Besides the experimentation with this vertical, the company is also aggressively expanding services under its other verticals. Recently, it introduced a restaurant services hub, large order fleet, last mile deliveries for office goers, priority deliveries in a pilot phase, and Zomato Everyday,, within this year. 

The company’s shares were trading at INR 209.05 at 3:40 PM on July 2, up 1.81% from previous close. 

The post Zomato Brings Back Two Senior Executives To Scale Up Its Going-Out Biz appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai-based B2B healthtech platform Watch Your Health has marked the final close of its Series A round at $5 Mn after raising capital from Cornerstone Ventures from India and Conquest Global from Singapore.

The company will use the fresh funds to scale up its operations, expand user base, as well as to boost technological infrastructure and platform capabilities.

Founded in 2015, Watch Your Health helps insurance and pharma companies improve their customer apps. Its platform supports the consumer apps of major insurers and pharmaceutical companies by adding health tracking, guidance on diet and exercise management, and advanced analytics for personalised tips. 

The startup counts ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Kotak Life Insurance, Reliance General Insurance, Dr. Lal PathLabs, Madhavbaug Multidisciplinary Cardiac Care Clinics & Hospitals and Zydus Cadila among its portfolio clients.

Ratheesh Nair, co-founder at Watch Your Health, said, “This will enable us to improve our technological infrastructure, expand our user base, and introduce innovative health management solutions.”

Nanika Kakkar, partner, Cornerstone Ventures, said “What we like the best about the platform is the ease with which it is able to attribute the value it is creating for its clients and that impact is telling and consistent – leading to a value-share driven business model. We believe this simply takes the potential of the platform to a completely different level.”

Watch Your Health has partnered with several leading healthcare providers to integrate their services into the Watch Your Health platform. Notable partnerships include Watania Takaful and Shalina Healthcare in the UAE, marking a significant step in international market expansion.

The startup’s new investment comes a year after it raised $2.2 Mn from Conquest Global Ventures.

In 2024 the digital health market in India is worth about INR 73,873 Cr (USD 8.8 Bn) and is expected to grow by about 17.67% each year from 2024 to 2033 to reach around INR 4,01,578 Cr (USD 47.8 Bn) by 2033.

The company competes against the likes of MyKare, HealthifyMe, Practo, CureFit and 1mg.

The post Healthtech Startup Watch Your Health Marks Final Close Of Series A Round At $5 Mn appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | Jul 2, 3:30PM

Almost a month after Inc42 exclusively reported that D2C sneaker brand Comet was in advanced talks with Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners for a fundraise, the startup confirmed the development in its regulatory filing. 

Comet has raised INR 42 Cr (about $5 Mn) from the investors, with Elevation Capital infusing about INR 33 Cr.

Original Story | May 11, 3:43 PM

Bengaluru-based D2C sneaker brand Comet is in advanced stages of discussions with Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners to raise Series A funding, sources told Inc42.

“The round will be led by new investor Elevation Capital, while existing investor Nexus Venture Partners will also participate in this round,” one of the sources said. 

The terms of the deal have been finalised and the funding round will be closed soon, the sources added. However, Inc42 couldn’t ascertain the amount of capital the startup will be raising in this round.

Comet declined to comment on Inc42’s queries about the funding round and the deployment of the fresh capital. 

The sources said that the D2C startup would use the fresh funds to expand its team and product portfolio, grow its inventory, among others. Currently, Comet has a workforce of 10-20 employees.

The startup also plans to begin opening offline retail stores by early next year.

Founded by former Hotstar executive Utkarsh Gupta and ex-Urban Company executive Dishant Daryani in 2022, Comet was officially launched in 2023. 

The startup currently sells sneakers for both males and females in the price range of INR 4,000 to INR 4,500. It also sells slides and shoe laces. Currently, the startup primarily sells its product through its own website. 

Earlier, Comet raised seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners. 

Earlier this year, the startup collaborated with multidisciplinary artist Shantanu Hazarika to drop limited edition sneakers. 

Besides Comet, the Indian homegrown sneaker market has multiple startups like 7-10, Neemans, and Rare Rabbit. However, given its price range, Comet competes with the likes of Puma.

Meanwhile, Elevation Capital also counts popular D2C brands such as The Souled Store, Sugar Cosmetics, and Bliss Club among its portfolio.

It is pertinent to note that the last few years have seen the emergence of hundreds of D2C brands across sectors in the country. Not only this, these brands are also receiving strong interest from investors.

At the heart of all these is the rapidly expanding D2C market. According to an Inc42 report, D2C is one of the fastest growing subsector in the ecommerce sector. The country’s D2C market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 19% to reach a size of over $400 Bn by 2030.

The post [Update] Exclusive: D2C Sneaker Brand Comet Raises Series A Funding From Elevation Capital, Nexus appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Trouble seems to be mounting for BYJU’S as now Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad has asked the embattled edtech startup to settle the overdue salaries of its former employees “at the earliest”.

During a meeting with the representatives of BYJU’S parent entity Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, the minister flagged concerns over the outstanding dues owed to its former employees, Moneycontrol reported.

As per the report, Lad told BYJU’S officials to “settle at least 50% of the dues owed to former employees at the earliest” and sought assurance from the company that it will settle the remaining dues in due time.

BYJU’S has reportedly informed the Karnataka government that its funds are currently kept in an escrow account with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

It is to be noted that the NCLT earlier barred BYJU’S from using the proceeds from the second rights issue and asked it to park the funds in a separate account till the settlement of the case.

The hearing on the plea is scheduled for Thursday (July 4).

The edtech company has reportedly pledged to clear all dues owed to former employees within a month of receiving a relief order from the NCLT.

Inc42 has reached out to BYJU’S for a comment on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

This comes after Karnataka’s labour department reportedly received a barrage of complaints from about 160-200 former BYJU’S employees, alleging the edtech firm had not settled dues worth nearly INR 4.5 Cr owed to them, even months after their termination.

It was earlier reported that founder and CEO Byju Raveendran took personal debt to clear part of the overdue employee salaries for the month of March.

Meanwhile, BYJU’S has also cut fixed salaries of new hires by 90%, sources told Inc42.

Once the world’s most-valued edtech firm, BYJU’S has been facing pressure from all directions from shrinking revenues to funding vacuum and consequent mass layoffs to legal trouble with the NCLT and probe by the Enforcement Directorate.

Last week, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said that the probe into potential governance lapses at BYJU’S was still “ongoing” and that reports claiming the edtech major had been cleared of financial fraud were “inaccurate and misleading.”

Last month, US-based asset management company Baron Capital cut BYJU’S valuation by more than 99% to $120 Mn as of March 31, 2024.

Adding to its woes, Netherlands-based Prosus, which holds a 9.6% stake in BYJU’S, wrote off its entire investment in the edtech firm.

Furthermore, OPPO has moved the NCLT, alleging BYJU’S owes the smartphone manufacturer INR 13 Cr.

The post Karnataka Labour Minister Asks BYJU’S To Resolve Dues Of Former Staff appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based supplement brand Supply6 has roped in former South African cricketer AB de Villiers as an investor and brand ambassador.

Founded in 2019 by Vaibhav Bhandari and Rahul Jacob, Supply6 is a supplement brand offering products, including nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and fibre. It claims to have products addressing common deficiencies in Vitamin D, B12, and gut health as well as offering targeted solutions around skin wellness and energy enhancement.

To date, the startup claims to have raised a total funding of $1 Mn.

Jacob said that AB de Villiers is an excellent fit for the brand because his dynamic approach to his career and health aligns perfectly with the startup’s mission.

“We are confident that this collaboration will enhance our connection with our audience.  de Villiers’ esteemed reputation in the sports world mirrors the trust and quality we aim to provide with our products,” he added. 

AB de Villiers said, “As an athlete, I recognise the critical role nutrition plays in health and performance. Their commitment to comprehensive and convenient nutrition solutions aligns with my dedication to peak performance and well-being. The brand’s rapid expansion is impressive, and I am eager to support its mission of promoting healthier lifestyles.”

The startup competes against the likes of supplement startups like OZiva, BoldFit, HealthKart, among others.

The health and wellness segment was traditionally dominated by brands like Amway, Cipla, Herbalife, and Himalaya Wellness. The market has recently seen a rise in startups such as OZiva, MuscleBlaze, Cureveda, Wellbeing Nutrition, What’s Up Wellness and more. 

These startups have collectively raised over $70 Mn+. According to the ministry of food processing industries, the dietary supplements market in India is likely to reach $10.2 Bn by 2026, clocking a 22% YoY growth rate since 2020, when it was valued at $3.9 Bn.

For the past several years, many cricket celebrities have been showing their involvement in the startup industry as investors, brand ambassadors and founders. 

For instance, in April this year, personal hygiene D2C brand Svish roped in Shikhar Dhawan as an investor and brand ambassador in a bridge funding round. 

In the same month, former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined Pune-based EV startup EMotorad as an equity investor as well as a brand ambassador.

The post Supplement Startup Supply6 Ropes In South African Cricketer AB de Villiers As Investor appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Zomato jumped more than 3% to reach an all-time high of INR 209.75 apiece during the intraday trading today (July 2) after the foodtech major received shareholders’ approval to create a new employee stock option pool of 18.26 Cr shares. 

The stock opened today at INR 203.45 per share, marking a 0.3% decline from the previous close.

After hitting a record high, the stock shed some gains and was trading 1.37% higher at INR 206.85 apiece on the BSE at 12:06 PM.

The price surge came on the heels of an announcement by Zomato that it has secured approval from its shareholders to formulate, adopt and implement a new employee stock option plan, Zomato ESOP 2024, to grant 18.26 Cr employee stock options, as per regulatory filings.

The food delivery giant in May said that Zomato ESOP 2024 will entitle the employee for one fully paid-up equity share of face value of INR 1 each against each ESOP exercised.

As per the stock’s opening price on Tuesday, the ESOP plan would translate to shares worth nearly INR 3714.9 Cr.

Zomato clocked a 26% sequential growth in consolidated net profit to INR 175 Cr for the quarter ended March 2024. Its consolidated net profit in Q3 FY24 stood at INR 138 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that global brokerage Morgan Stanley last month reiterated its overweight call on Zomato, setting a price target of INR 235 apiece, which implies an upside of 13% from the stock’s last close on Monday.

Overall, the stock has jumped 4.5% in the last five days.

Earlier this week, Zomato said it has been slapped with a goods and services tax (GST) demand notice of INR 9.45 Cr by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, the company has launched a new platform in a bid to support restaurants in the recruitment process, as part of its broader portfolio expansion plans. 

The post Zomato Shares Touch An All-Time High After ESOP Plan Gets Shareholders’ Nod appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Healthtech startup Cloudphysician has roped in Mandar Vaidya as its India chief executive officer.

Prior to that, Vaidya was regional the CEO at OYO for four years, where he led multiple geographies outside of India (Europe, SE Asia, Middle East, and Japan). He led profitable and transformative growth in these markets via a tech-enabled approach: building scale from India for the world. Additionally, Vaidya is an independent director on the board of Cipla Limited.
the company said in a statement.

With over 20 years of experience in driving global businesses and delivering transformative results, his (Vaidya’s) experience as a former partner at McKinsey & Co., where he led the healthcare practice in Asia and developed strategies for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, will help Cloudphysician serve partner hospitals effectively and drive growth across India, it added.

Founded in 2017 by Dhruv Joshi and Dileep Raman, Cloudphysician, partners with hospitals to improve ICU and NICU care for their patients. Its unique Care Centre has AI-guided doctors and nurses 24/7; the Care Centrr collaborates with hospitals and their consultants to ensure better outcomes for patients. Cloudphysician has claimed to help manage care for over 1 Lakh ICU patients across more than 200 hospitals.

Recently, Cloudphysician raised $10.5 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Elevar Equity and Panthera Peak.

“The healthcare landscape in India is evolving and there is a significant opportunity for tech-enabled solutions to establish sustainable models of care delivery. His rich experience and strategic approach to business development will help establish Cloudphysician as the preferred critical care partner, helping us expand our tech-driven solutions to over 5,000 hospitals,” Joshi and Raman said in a joint statement.

Incubated by ‘Google for Startups Accelerator: India’ in 2023, the startup raised $4 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Elevar Equity in 2021. With the recent investment, Cloudphysician has become the latest addition to Peak XV’s healthtech portfolio, which includes Mosaic Wellness, Twin Health, Qure.ai, and Practo.

Overall, the Indian healthtech space continues to grow rapidly. As per an Inc42 report, the homegrown healthtech space is projected to be a $10.6 Bn market opportunity by 2025.

The post Cloudphysician Ropes In OYO Veteran Mandar Vaidya As India CEO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fabric sourcing platform Fabriclore has raised INR 13.1 Cr (around $1.6 Mn) in  a seed funding round co-led by PeerCapital and Regal Group.

The round also saw participation from Fluid Ventures, Matrix Partners India, DeVC and Bulleon Ventures.

The Jaipur-based startup plans to use the fresh capital to scale up its tech stacks, streamline operations, boost customer experience and expanding its marketing operations across India and overseas, including Europe, the US and the Middle East.

Founded by Vijay Sharma, Sandeep Sharma and Anupam D Arya in 2016, Fabriclore provides made to order fabric solutions, including designing, dyeing and printing of fabrics, all at a single stop.

The startup claims to have developed an in-house automation and management platform to streamline multiple vendors, raw material sourcing, processing and quality checks.

It competes against the likes of Fabric Root, Fabrifry and Fabmynta among others. 

“Our key differentiator is streamlining complex multi-stage fabric processing that includes dyeing, screen printing, digital printing, and block printing techniques. By implementing tech-enabled processes, the company has substantially reduced delays by 20% and customer rejections by 33%, setting a new benchmark in the industry,” said Vijay Sharma.

 Since its B2B pivot, it claims to have onboarded more than 200 private labels, primarily from India and the Middle East. 

Last month B2B apparel sourcing and manufacturing startup ZYOD raised INR 150.2 Cr (around $18 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by RTP Global. 

Meanwhile, the global B2B ecommerce market size was valued at $6.64 Tn in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.7% from 2021 to 2028, according to a report by Grand View Research.

The post Fabric Sourcing Platform Fabriclore Bags Funding From PeerCapital, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Delhi NCR-based traveltech company RateGain has expanded its employee stock option plan (ESOP) pool by allocating 59,904 shares to the employees.

In an exchange filing on Monday (July 1), the company said it has allotted 23,880 equity shares to its employees under RateGain ESOP 2015 and 36,024 equity shares under the Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme – 2022.

“We hereby inform that the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Company vide its resolution dated July 01, 2024 approved the allotment to the eligible employee(s) of the Company of 23,880 Equity Shares of face value of Re. 1/- each, under RateGain Employee Stock Option Scheme – 2015 (‘ESOP 2015’) and 36,024 Equity Shares of face value of Re. 1/- each under RateGain – Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme – 2022 (‘SAR 2022’),” the filing said.

Consequent to the allotment, the paid-up share capital of RateGain will climb to INR 11.79 Cr from INR 11.78 Cr earlier.

As per the stock’s opening price on Tuesday, the newly-allotted ESOPs are worth nearly INR 4.49 Cr.

Founded in 2004 by Bhanu Chopra, RateGain is a global provider of SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality enabling them to accelerate revenue growth through acquisition, retention and wallet share expansion. The company claims it caters to more than 3,200 customers and has a presence in over 100 countries.

The development comes against the backdrop of reports that RateGain founder’s family members — Megha Chopra, its promoter, and Usha Chopra, part of its promoter group,  sold 3% of their total holding of 51.25% in March.

RateGain saw a more than two-fold jump in its net profit to INR 146.39 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 68.40 Cr in FY23.

Meanwhile, revenue from operations grew 36% year-on-year to INR 255.81 Cr during the period under review versus INR 187.72 Cr in the previous fiscal.

It is pertinent to note that several new-age tech companies are banking on ESOPs to remake their employer brand image as job seekers become increasingly reluctant to join startups amid mass layoffs within the system.

A number of Indian startups such Delhivery, Paytm, Policybazaar, ideaForge and Nykaa have leaned on ESOPs recently to woo employees back to the startup ecosystem.

The post RateGain Expands ESOP Pool, Allots Shares Worth INR 4.5 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre is reportedly planning to improve accessibility for all its websites, digital applications and services across government-to-government, government-to-business and government-to-citizen space.

Citing a senior government official, ET reported that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will anchor this project, suggesting ways to improve page and website loading times, enhance user interfaces on websites and apps and make them more accessible for people with disabilities.

“If you see the government websites of today, almost all the information is presented on the first landing page. This makes them (websites) slow. We plan to not only improve the accessibility for such websites but also make the UI (user interface) cleaner so that the user is not burdened with a lot of information at the same time,” the official said.

As per the report, in the initial phase, all IT ministry websites and applications will be upgraded to enhance accessibility. These upgrades are part of the IT ministry’s plan to improve the global visibility of Indian government apps and services.

“So, for example, we have a user who can not see very well. Why can a government website or app not have the option of narrating the contents to such users and guiding them to their choice effortlessly? If there is a need to integrate Bhashini, we can surely look into that as well,” the official added.

Meanwhile, in May the government announced plans to create a unified portal for all its digital public goods (DPGs), such as Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface, and the Open Network for Digital Commerce, to provide easy access to apps and services. 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will likely lead this initiative, collaborating with all ministries, departments, and agencies to detail the digital public infrastructure (DPI) they have created.

In April, the government established five working groups to address key issues such as data anonymisation, zero trust architecture, IoT and mobile device security, and digital education. MeitY formed these groups to develop guidelines and frameworks for the effective implementation of e-governance projects across various ministries and government departments.

The post Govt Mulls Major Accessibility Upgrades For Its Websites, Digital Apps And Services appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The government has proposed new guidelines to reduce the approval time for power connection for electric vehicle charging stations.

As per ET, the power ministry’s draft revised guidelines on charging infrastructure for EV proposes that the approval time in metropolitan areas will be cut from 7 days to 3 days, and in municipal areas from 15 days to 7 days. In rural areas, the time will be reduced from 30 days to 15 days.

The views on the draft guidelines are to be submitted within 30 days.

The move is a huge advantage for companies such as Exponent Energy and BluSmart that have raised funds and companies like Tata Passenger Electric Mobility and Adani TotalEnergies E-Mobility building partnerships, and betting on setting up electric vehicle chargers on petrol hubs across the country’s landscape.

State nodal agencies and city authorities will carry out periodic mapping, at least once in every year, of the geographic distribution of potential EV charging demand, the report added.

It also added, the tariff for supply of electricity to EV charging stations is largely unchanged and is proposed to be a single part tariff and not exceed the ‘average cost of supply, till March 31, 2026.

When the proposal comes into force, it is likely that the demand for electric vehicles among consumers would rise, benefitting the EV makers and other energy tech companies involved in the sector.

At least one charging station shall be available in a grid of 1 km x 1 km in the urban limits by the financial year 2030, compared with 3 km X 3 km earlier, based on the proposed draft. It further said, one charging station shall be set up at every 20 km on both sides of highways and roads.

This comes at a time, where the Centre approved a new policy in March, under which electric vehicle companies would have to pay lower duty on imports of EVs if they agree to set up manufacturing facilities in the country and the policy is aimed at promoting EV manufacturing in India.

Meanwhile, Delhi NCR-based EV fleet management startup Zypp Electric raised INR 115.7 Cr in a fresh round of investment from Japanese energy giant ENEOS, in May.

The post Govt Proposes New Guidelines For Faster Power Supply To EV Charging Hubs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a move that could impact the revenue of discount broking firms, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) from offering discounts based on trading volumes or activity of its members. 

In a circular issued on Monday (July 1), the market watchdog directed MIIs to charge all its members uniformly, starting October 1, 2024. 

For the uninitiated, the members of MIIs include stock brokers, including discount broking platforms such as Zerodha, Groww and Upstox. 

“… The charge structure of the MII should be uniform and equal for all its members instead of slab-wise viz. dependent on volume/activity of members,” said SEBI.

Under the new directions, the onus will be on MIIs to ensure that the MII charges recovered from end-customers by its members are deposited entirely in the account of MIIs. 

In the circular, the market regulator said that it observed that a volume-based slab-wise charge structure is followed by some MIIs. SEBI said that while MIIs are receiving aggregate charges from its members on a monthly basis, the members are recovering such charges from the end  users on a daily basis. 

 “The aforesaid process can result in a situation wherein the aggregated charges collected by the members from the end clients is higher than the end of month charges paid to the MII (due to slab benefit). This can also result in an incorrect or misleading disclosure to the end client about the charges levied by MIIs,” the circular said. 

It also said that the volume-based slab-wise charge structure of MIIs could impact transparency and create a hindrance in ensuring fair access to all market participants due to size differentials. 

SEBI also issued the following diktats to MIIs through the circular:

• Redesign the existing charge structure and associated processes
• Take  necessary steps  to put in place requisite infrastructure and systems for implementation of the circular

The move could have an impact on the topline of new-age stock brokers such as Zerodha, Groww, Upstox and Angel One as they are charged lower rates by MIIs due to the high volumes they generate. 

The development comes a week after Zerodha cofounder and CEO Nithin Kamath, in a post on X, termed regulatory issues as the “biggest risk” for any regulated business. He made his comments in response to SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch saying that the market regulator is open to taking “some derivative products” off the market as the country is in the middle of a period of excess options trading. 

It is pertinent to note that there has been a sharp jump in retail investors participation in futures and options since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. As per a Reuters report, the turnover of Indian index options contracts surged to $135 Bn in March 2024, 6X compared to the four years earlier. 

“We have been a big beneficiary of this jump in volume (of options trading) but have always been aware that it can be significantly reduced in size due to regulations, which can significantly hurt revenues, and that’s also why we have never made any forward projections.But yeah, times will be tough for the broking industry going forward because almost everyone’s business model is skewed towards earning from options,” Kamath said in his post. 

The directives come at a time when online stock broking space continues to see heavy competition as major players Zerodha and Groww eye a bigger pie of the users. In terms of active investors, Groww raced ahead of Zerodha with 1.03 Cr active users on its platform at the end of May with the latter coming in second with 75 Lakh active investors.

However, in terms of profitability, Zerodha clocked a net profit of INR 2,908.9 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), up 37% year-on-year (YoY), while Groww reported a net profit of INR 448.7 Cr in the year under review. 

The post SEBI Bars MIIs From Offering Volume-Based Discounts To Brokers appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Data restrictions proposed under the draft Digital Competition Bill may “compromise” the user interface (UI) of major digital apps in the country, a report by think tank CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition (CUTS CIRC) said.

“Data use restrictions may compromise the seamlessness of consumers. Thus, it may enhance the effort and time while using the digital services,” said the report. 

The comments were part of a report that surveyed the plausible impact of the modified UI on account of the changes proposed by the draft Bill. 

CUTS CIRC also said that the Bill may mandate systematically significant digital enterprises (SSDE)-designated companies to undertake “changes” in the product architecture. 

As per the draft Bill, large digital platforms will be designated as SSDEs if they meet certain financial and user base criteria. Some of the thresholds include a turnover of not less than INR 4,000 Cr in India in the preceding three financial years or a gross merchandise value (GMV) of not less than INR 16,000 Cr in the country. 

Citing unbundling requirements under the draft law, the think tank said that the upcoming norms may force users to access these services individually, which are otherwise currently available in a single app.

Flagging another issue, the organisation said that the user consent requirements under the draft digital competition rules may increase the time and effort for end-consumers without “yielding commensurate benefits in privacy and consumer welfare”.

The report also noted that 13 Indian startups and digital companies, including foodtech majors Zomato and Swiggy, fintech giant Paytm, ecommerce major Flipkart, traveltech startup MakeMyTrip, could come under the purview of the draft Bill and the SSDE designation. 

It is pertinent to note that a parliamentary panel, in December 2022, recommended the implementation of ex-ante regulation for digital markets in India. A few months later in February 2023, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) set up and tasked the Committee on Digital Competition Law to prepare a draft Digital Competition Bill. 

Eventually, in February this year, the CDCL released its report and examined the effects of designating a significant digital platform as an SSDE on consumer choice. In its report then, the committee defined SSDEs as platforms that “wield significant influence over various aspects of digital services”. 

It also flagged concerns regarding fair competition, data privacy, and consumer choice, and sought an overarching ex-ante law to regulate these players and curb anti-competitive practices. 

Alongside the report, a draft Digital Competition Bill was also opened for public feedback. In their comments, industry bodies panned the draft law and sought its overhaul. 

At the time, CUTS CIRC had said that Indian startups’ ability to build a cost-effective customer acquisition strategy may be adversely impacted due to excessive restrictions and may create additional hurdles to scale up their operations. 

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) had also claimed that some of the restrictions proposed in the draft Bill for tech players will raise costs for the end users.  

The post Digital Competition Bill May Compromise Seamlessness Of Digital Apps, Says Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.