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.

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.

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.

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.

TIMF Holdings, which owns stake in IPO-bound FirstCry and PharmEasy, bought 12 Lakhs shares, or 1.57% stake, of online gaming major Nazara Technologies on Monday (July 1) in a bulk deal worth INR 104.64 Cr.

TIMF Holdings lapped up some of the shares offloaded by Gyaana Retreat and Services, Fashion Brands, and Parijata Trading at INR 872 apiece. They cumulatively sold 18 Lakh shares in the company today worth INR 157 Cr.

TIMF Holdings is owned by US-based Think Investments, which counts the likes of Chaayos, Spinny, Dream11 and Swiggy in its portfolio.

It is pertinent to note that shares of Nazara jumped almost 7% on Friday (June 28) after its esports subsidiary NODWIN Gaming announced increasing its existing 13.51% stake in Germany-based Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to 100%.

Nazara witnessed high trading volume in today’s session with over 2.2 Mn shares traded together on the BSE and the NSE. The stock ended the session 1.8% higher at INR 884.8 on the BSE.

In May this year, Nazara Technologies’ promoter Mitter Infotech also sold 48.84 Lakh shares, or 6.38% equity, to Plutus Wealth Management in an on-market block deal.

Nazara’s promoters and promoter groups held a 16.43% stake in the company at the end of the quarter ended March 2024. 

After witnessing a sharp slump from the beginning of the year, shares of Nazara have been rallying since the end of May. The shares have jumped over 43% so far since May 27, after the company published its Q4 and FY24 earnings.

The company’s consolidated net profit declined 98% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 18 Lakh in Q4, while operating revenue also declined 8% YoY to INR 266.2 Cr. However, certain metrics in its results were better than expected by analysts.

The post TIMF Holdings Buys 12 Lakh Shares Of Nazara In INR 105 Cr Bulk Deal appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Foodtech major Zomato has received a goods and service tax (GST) demand notice of INR 9.45 Cr from the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) in Karnataka, the company said in a filing.

The notice, received on Saturday, demands a GST of INR 5,01,95,462 ( INR 5.01 Cr), which will be marked up with an interest charge of INR 3.93 Cr, and a penalty of INR 50.19 Lakh, bringing the total up to INR 9.45 Cr, the filing showed. 

The company has received the tax order for the financial year 2019-20 under the audit of GST returns and accounts.

The demand order has been received in respect of excess availment of input tax credit and interest, penalty thereon, stated the company in the filing.

Zomato responded to the show cause notice with detailed explanations and relevant documents, but the authority was not satisfied, it said.

The company said, “We believe that we have a strong case on merits and the company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority.”

It is not unusual for the Gurugram-based company to be served with a tax notice, as it received its previous GST penalty notice of over INR 2.31 Cr from Delhi’s sales tax officer in May, pertaining to fiscal 2018-19.

Prior to that, Zomato got a GST notice of INR 23.26 Cr for financial year 2018-19 (FY19) from Karnataka tax authorities, and a notice of INR 8.57 Cr from Gujarat’s Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, pertaining to fiscal 2018-19.

Meanwhile, the Blinkit parent rolled out restaurant services hub, an initiative to cater to restaurants, as part of its portfolio expansion in June. This new platform will help restaurants plug in various operational requirements like hiring, FSSAI registrations, taxation and trademarking.

The post Zomato Gets Fresh GST Notice Of INR 9.45 Cr, Plans To Appeal appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Proptech unicorn NoBroker’s loss for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) surpassed the INR 500 Cr mark. At a time when companies are about to file their FY24 financials with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, NoBroker uploaded its financial statements for FY23 nearly 15 months after the end of the year. The documents revealed that the Tiger Global-backed startup’s net loss rose 64% to INR 506.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 309.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Founded in 2014 by Saurabh Garg, Akhil Gupta and Amit Agarwal, NoBroker is a proptech platform that allows users to buy, rent, and list properties without any brokerage fees. It also offers tertiary real estate offerings, including packers and movers, rental agreement services, and painting and cleaning of houses. 

The startup’s operating revenue zoomed 87% to INR 609 Cr in FY23 from INR 325.8 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

The startup primarily earns revenue through sale of subscriptions, which primarily includes renting of apartments and purchase of properties. Besides this, it also earns money from rental agreements, home interior renovation services, packers and movers, among others. 

Including other income, total revenue jumped 84.7% to INR 683.4 Cr during the year under review from INR 369.83 Cr in FY22. 

Where Did NoBroker Spend?

The startup’s total expenditure rose 75% to INR 1,189.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 678.9 Cr in the previous year. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: As it expanded its offerings, NoBroker went on an aggressive hiring spree. This was reflected in its employee costs, which jumped 66% to INR 435 Cr from INR 261.5 Cr in FY22. 

Miscellaneous Expenses: Expenses under this head soared 84% to INR 673 Cr in FY23 from INR 366 Cr in the previous year. While the financial statement didn’t provide a breakdown of miscellaneous expenses, it might include advertising expenses, payment gateway fees, among others. 

The startup last raised $5 Mn last year in a likely bridge round from internet giant Google. 

NoBroker entered the unicorn club in November 2021 after raising $210 Mn in its Series E round led by General Atlantic and Tiger Global Management. Overall, it has raised a total funding of about $365 Mn till date and was last valued The startup is currently valued at around $1 Bn. 

Soon after turning a unicorn, the startup forayed into the home interiors market in March 2022 and intended to invest INR 100 Cr for it, including expenditure on both marketing and hiring.

While NoBroker competes against the likes of MagicBricks, 99Acres, Booking in the home classified space, it competes against MyGate in the gated community space. In the home interior segment, its rivals are HomeLane, LivSpace, and Bonito Designs. 

The post Proptech Unicorn NoBroker’s FY23 Loss Crosses INR 500 Cr Mark appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Coworking major WeWork India has roped in Janak Malkani as the head of managed office for the country and sales lead for the West region. 

The appointment comes just weeks after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared all decks for the exit of WeWork Inc from its Indian unit. 

With an experience of 24 years in the Indian real estate industry, having most recently served as executive director at CBRE Asia Pacific, Malkani’s appointment is aimed at strengthening WeWork India’s managed office offerings and driving growth in the sector, ET reported.

WeWork India CEO Karan Virwani said, “With Janak’s extensive experience and proven track record, we are poised to lead the industry in delivering efficient workspace solutions.”

It is pertinent to note that WeWork India operates independently from WeWork Inc, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US last November. WeWork India, operated by the Embassy Group, has managed to maintain robust growth, with its revenue surging 67.6% to INR 1,314 Cr in FY23.

WeWork India continues to expand its presence across the country. Recently, the company entered the Chennai market with the launch of ‘Olympia Cyberspace’ facility, marking its presence in eight major Indian cities. 

The company has a portfolio of over 6.5 million sq. ft across 44 locations in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad. 

The Indian coworking space market is experiencing significant growth. The market is projected to reach  $1.94 Bn in 2024 and grow to  $2.72 Bn by 2029, with a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period.

The company competes with other major players in the Indian coworking market, including 91Springboard, Awfis, The Hive, and Mumbai Coworking.

The post WeWork India Ropes In CBRE Asia Pacific Exec Janak Malkani To Lead Managed Office Biz Expansion appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Meta-owned photo and video-sharing app Instagram was down for several minutes on Saturday, rendering thousands of users globally unable to access the platform.

More than 6,000 users in India reported issues with accessing the platform at the peak of outage at around 12:08 PM today, as per Downdetector, a website that tracks user reports of internet disruptions.

Of these, 57% of these complaints were about Instagram’s feed, 33% of users reported issues with accessing the app and 10% of users said they were facing server connection issues.

Several users turned to social media platform X to vent out their frustration with many complaining that Instagram’s short-video platform Reels failed to load and began displaying error messages.

The cause of the outage remains unknown and there is no official statement yet from Instagram on the outage.

This is not the first time that Meta has been hit by an outage. Earlier this year in March, two Meta-owned apps, Instagram and WhatsApp, blinked out for several hours, leaving local businesses in lurch.

Prior to that, in April last year, some Indian WhatsApp users faced disruption as they were unable to download videos on the app. In October 2022, WhatsApp suffered a two-hour service outage, prompting the company to issue a clarification to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

India is home to the largest user base to Meta’s family of apps. While Facebook has 378 million users in India, WhatsApp 478 Mn and Instagram 362 Mn, as per global data and business intelligence platform Statista.

A large number of local businesses are reliant on services offered by these apps and frequent outages do not augur well for them. For instance, India has services like Meesho, where sellers are hugely dependent on communication through instant messaging app WhatsApp.

The post Instagram Outage Hits Thousands Of Users Globally, Reels Displaying Error Messages appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Big tech giant Google has added seven new Indian languages to its Google Translate service. Awadhi, Bodo, Khasi, Kokborok, Marwadi, Santali, and Tulu are the new Indian languages added.

Besides, Google also rolled out support for 103 other global languages on Google Translate in what it called the “largest expansion” of the offering. With this, Google Translate now caters to 243 languages.

“From Cantonese to Qʼeqchiʼ, these new languages represent more than 614 Mn speakers, opening up translations for around 8% of the world’s population… The list includes 7 new Indian languages – Awadhi, Bodo, Khasi, Kokborok, Marwadi, Santali, and Tulu,” said Google in a blog post. 

The company said it leveraged its in-house large language model (LLM) PaLM 2 to roll out the new additions to its translation service. 

“PaLM 2 was a key piece to the puzzle, helping Translate more efficiently learn languages that are closely related to each other, including languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole,” Google added.

For the uninitiated, PaLM 2 is Google’s LLM that has multilingual, reasoning and coding capabilities, and is powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). However, PaLM 2 LLM is different from the Gemini Pro LLM as the latter powers the tech major’s generative AI chatbot Bard and Gemini. 

The development comes at a time when Google has ramped up its focus on GenAI and rolled out a slew of offerings for both end users and businesses. Earlier this month, the company also made some language alterations to its most prominent AI offering, Gemini.

It also rolled out a mobile app for its chatbot in India with new capabilities in English and nine Indian languages earlier this month. The app is available in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

That said, Google has not had a smooth tryst with GenAI experiments in India. Earlier this year, it found itself amid a controversy after its chatbot’s answers to a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to an uproar. The big tech major was also pulled up by the Centre. 

In a bid to allay the fears ahead of the general elections in the country, the Alphabet-owned company announced a slew of new initiatives in March this year to help voters navigate AI-generated content.

Besides its AI initiatives, the company also recently launched Google Wallet app for Android users in India in partnership with multiple ecommerce and ticketing partners. The offering allows users to store tickets, boarding passes, loyalty or membership cards and more for easy access. 

The post Google Translate Adds Support For 7 More Indian Languages appeared first on Inc42 Media.

At a time when Urban Company has seen a number of protests by the workers employed by the platform, the hyperlocal services startup’s cofounder Abhiraj Singh Bhal has reportedly alleged that local politicians and unions seek advantage from such conflicts and put pressure on the firm.

Bhal addressed the criticism around the startup’s new policy for partners, which penalises gig workers for sustained low ratings from users. “Sometimes there is pressure on us. Local politicians and unions get involved; some may seek political mileage,” he was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.

“There is pressure on us to take back the protesting workers, but it would be unfair to the vast majority of other hardworking partners and customers.”

This also marks the company’s first public statement addressing the protests against its new policies, introduced early last year under ‘Mission Shakti’.

Earlier this month, women gig workers working with the platform went on a strike at the consumer services startup’s Bengaluru office to protest against its new terms of reference.

The protestors were part of the Gig and Platform Services Workers Union (GIPSWU), which described new work conditions as “horrific” and likened to placing thousands of partners in exploitative situations akin to slavery.

Over the years, Urban Company has faced protests from certain segments of its partners. According to Bhal, these protests mainly concern two policies — the ratings system and a newly implemented order scheduling system.

Bhal said that Urban Company’s service partners have maintained an average rating of 4.83 out of 5 in 2023 and 2024 so far, with category-specific minimum thresholds ranging from 4.5 to 4.7. Partners falling below these thresholds undergo retraining and feedback, but persistent low ratings result in removal from the platform.

Founded in 2014 by Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan, Urban Company offers a range of services such as salon and massage, home cleaning, appliance repair services, and painting.

Meanwhile, the startup claimed its consolidated business turned profitable before tax in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25).

In May, Bhal took to LinkedIn to claim that the startup turned profitable before tax in April 2024. In his post, he also said that the platform will focus on growing profitably and sustainably while “prioritising” the interests of customers, service partners, employees, and shareholders.

Reportedly, the company is also on track for an IPO in 2025 and will soon announce a new independent director on its board.

Ubran Company said that as per its latest Partner Earnings Index, there has been a continuous rise in the earnings of the service partners earnings.

In the second half of 2023, service partners delivering more than 30 services per month earned an average monthly net income of INR 33,469, the startup said. Additionally, the top 20% of Urban Company service partners earned an average monthly income of INR 42,792 after deducting all commissions, fees, travel, and product costs, it added.

The startup also claimed that women service partners earn 23% more than their male counterparts.

The post Amid Partner Protests, Urban Company CEO Backs Policies; Claims Pre-Tax Profitability In Q1 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Nazara Technologies jumped as much as 9% to INR 887.05 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Friday (June 28) after the announcement that its esports subsidiary NODWIN Gaming will increase its stake to 100% in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH.

Earlier in the day, the online gaming major said in an exchange filing that NODWIN Gaming International Pte. Ltd is set to increase its existing 13.51% stake in Germany-based Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to 100% in tranches through a share swap valued at up to INR 271 Cr.

This acquisition is expected to enhance NODWIN’s capabilities, bringing in the expertise, experience and network of the Freaks 4U Gaming team, also contributing materially to its revenues going forward.

“This acquisition is a pivotal step in our global growth strategy. By integrating Freaks 4U Gaming’s expertise and resources, we are poised to deliver unparalleled services and expand our global footprint in the gaming and esports industries,” said NODWIN’s cofounder Akshat Rathee.

After jumping 9%, Nazara shares shed some gains and were trading 6.8% higher at INR 868.9 by 3.26 PM IST.

It is to be noted that NODWIN today owns an 80% share of the Indian esports market basis which it garnered INR 427 Cr in revenue in FY24. The company accounted for 38% of Nazara’s total revenue in FY24 which stood at INR 1,138.3 Cr. 

Though NODWIN posted a loss of INR 20 Lakh in FY24 as against a profit of INR 7.1 Cr in FY23 on the back of the acquisition made during the year, Nazara CEO and joint MD Nitish Mittersain recently highlighted his confidence in the subsidiary given positive developments such as the success of the Playground IP, particularly with Season 3 performing exceptionally well and garnering international interest. 

“Overall, we are optimistic that FY25 will be a much stronger year for esports, building on the groundwork laid in FY24,” he said.

Earlier this year, NODWIN also picked up a 100% stake in Comic Con India for INR 55 Cr ($6 Mn).

Shares of Nazara have witnessed a significant rally over the last one month and have jumped over 32% so far since May 25, the day the company published its FY24 earnings.

The post Nazara Jumps 9% Intraday After NODWIN Acquires 100% Stake In Freaks 4U appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Nazara Technologies-backed NODWIN Gaming announced that its Singapore-based subsidiary, NODWIN Gaming International Pte. Ltd, will increase its existing 13.51% stake in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to 100% in tranches through a share swap valued at up to INR 271 Cr.

NODWIN Pte will initially increase its stake in Freaks 4U Gaming to 57%, with the remaining 43% held by founders Michael Haenisch, Matthias Remmert, and Jens Enders to be swapped at a later time at its option. Existing investors of Freaks 4U Gaming will become shareholders of NODWIN Pte.

This acquisition will enhance NODWIN Gaming’s capabilities, bringing in the expertise, experience and network of the Freaks 4U Gaming team and is expected to contribute materially to NODWINs revenues going forward, the company said in a statement.

Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH is a marketing services company for gaming and esports, delivering its services across the world.

Back in December, NODWIN Gaming had invested INR 33.26 Cr in Germany-based Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH via convertible note. Later in January, NODWIN Gaming announced around INR 71.8 Cr investment in the company.

Since the acquisition of a minority stake in Freaks 4U Gaming in January 2024, NODWIN has been working with the Freaks 4U Gaming management on integration of the two businesses and evaluating the synergies they present.

The two teams have already worked on jointly delivering high-profile projects such as the PUBG Mobile Global Open and Esports World Cup (EWC) and have jointly explored new business vertical opportunities. Based on the outcomes of this exercise and early traction on potential synergies, NODWIN Gaming and Freaks 4U Gaming have decided to proceed with this transaction.

“This acquisition is a pivotal step in our global growth strategy. By integrating Freaks 4U Gaming’s expertise and resources, we are poised to deliver unparalleled services and expand our global footprint in the gaming and esports industries. In Michael, we have a person who is highly regarded across the world for his wealth of experience and expertise in the sectors,” said NODWIN Gaming’s cofounder Akshat Rathee.

Founded in 2014 by Akshat Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN Gaming is gradually emerging as a youth-centric recreational, entertainment company with esports being its primary focus area.

Although NODWIN started with esports tournaments, it has expanded its scope over the years to organise music festivals and other youth-centric events.

In addition to growing its intellectual properties (IPs) organically, NODWIN has also pursued mergers and acquisitions to broaden its reach and influence in the industry. Currently, it has over 50 IPs.

In a bid to expand its presence in the global entertainment landscape and diversify offerings, NODWIN Gaming acquired Comic Con India earlier this year.

The post Nazara’s NODWIN Gaming To Pick Up 100% Stake In Freaks 4U Gaming For INR 271 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed a complaint against Google India alleging the tech giant abused its dominant position to favour Truecaller by allowing it exclusive access to user’s private contact information.

In a statement, the CCI said, “The Commission finds that no prima facie case of contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act is made out against Google in the instant matter.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, prohibits large firms from abusing their dominant market position.

The ruling came in response to a complaint filed by Rachna Khaira, who accused Google of granting exclusive access to Truecaller for sharing private contact information while prohibiting other apps from doing the same. 

She further alleged that this practice distorted the market and created a monopoly for Truecaller. Khaira contended that Google’s developer policy prohibits unauthorised disclosure of non-public contacts, on the contrary Truecaller’s privacy policy allegedly permitted sharing of such information.

However, Google refuted the allegations saying that its Play Store explicitly prohibits unauthorised disclosure of users’ non-public contacts and that Truecaller’s app adheres to these policies, requiring user authorisation for access to contact information. 

The tech giant emphasised that the informant provided no evidence of violations by Truecaller’s Play Store app or any discriminatory treatment against other apps.

Furthermore, Google denied any exclusive commercial arrangements with Truecaller involving data sharing. 

“In respect of alleged conduct on part of Google, the Commission found merit in the argument of Google that the Informant, while making allegations against Google for giving preferential treatment to Truecaller and not taking any action for violating its own policies, has relied on a version of Truecaller’s app which is not available on Play Store. 

The Informant in her rejoinder has contested these submissions by Google, but has not substantiated the same. Therefore, the allegation of the Informant remains unsubstantiated,” the CCI order said.

The CCI also addressed allegations concerning Google’s commercial relationships, emphasising that mere commercial ties do not necessarily indicate preferential treatment unless substantiated. Despite claims, the regulator found no evidence supporting the assertion that these arrangements provided Truecaller with an unfair competitive edge over its competitors.

Furthermore, the informant’s request for interim relief, seeking to temporarily block Truecaller from the Play Store, was dismissed by the competition watchdog.

The Commission concluded that there was no prima facie evidence of a violation of Section 4 of the Act by Google in this case. Therefore, the Information was ordered to be closed.

This comes at a time when Google is “pausing” its plans to expand and allow new kinds of real-money games (RMG) list on the Play Store in India and globally, citing the absence of a central licensing framework and the complexities in developing an appropriate monetisation model.

It is pertinent to note that Google began onboarding a wider range of RMG apps on the Play Store with pre-existing licensing frameworks in 2021. In January this year, the tech giant announced plans to relax its Play Store policies to allow more types of games in the RMG category to be listed on its app marketplace. 

Besides, the tech giant rolled out the mobile app of its GenAI chatbot Gemini in India with new capabilities in English and nine Indian languages earlier this month.

The post CCI Turns Down Plea Alleging Google Of Sharing Contact Data With Truecaller appeared first on Inc42 Media.

UK-based private equity (PE) firm Finnest has invested INR 1,335 Cr ($160 Mn) in Kitchens@ to acquire a majority stake in the cloud kitchen startup. 

As per Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing accessed by Inc42, the startup issued 40 Lakh equity shares at INR 3,000 apiece to the PE firm. This translates to a total sum of INR 1,200 Cr ($145 Mn).

In addition, Ktchens@ also issued an additional 4.5 Lakh Series C compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) amounting to INR 135 Cr ($16.1 Mn) to Finnest.

With this, Kitchens@ has become a subsidiary of Finnest and the investment firm will hold a 53.75% stake in the cloud kitchen startup. 

The fresh capital will be utilised to fuel the startup’s business operations, working capital requirements, and expand its footprint. 

The development was first reported by Entrackr. An Economic Times report noted that the startup raised the funds at a post-money valuation of $305 Mn, adding that the latest fundraise also included the $65 Mn investment by Finnest in the startup in December last year.

In December, Finnest infused the capital in Kitchens@’s Series C round. Back then, the startup said it raised the capital to expand its hybrid model Dinerium. 

Founded in 2018 by Junaiz Kizhakkayil, Kitchens@ helps brands in setting up kitchens, hiring and training, brand development, online delivery, among others. 

It currently has 700 cloud kitchens spanning six major cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai. It commenced operations with initial seed capital from Zomato and then later bought back the shares from the foodtech major later in 2019. 

Besides Finnest, the startup is also backed by the likes of Beenext and DG Ventures as its investors. It works with marquee names in the Indian quick service restaurant (QSR) chains such as Domino’s, Subway, Taco Bell, Nando’s, and Barbeque Nation. 

Kitchens@’s net loss halved to INR 18.61 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 37.24 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue rose about 67% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 62 Cr.

The post UK-Based Finnest Invests $145 Mn In Kitchens@ To Become A Majority Stakeholder appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Continuing its portfolio expansion spree, foodtech major Zomato has rolled out restaurant services hub, an initiative to cater to restaurants.

The new platform will help restaurants plug in various operational requirements like hiring, FSSAI registrations, taxation and trademarking. It can be accessed through Zomato’s restaurant partner app, website or dining app. 

The company had been piloting the service for the past six months and claims to have already helped service over 3,200 restaurant partners, which include Havmor, Dastaan-e-Dawat, Berry on Top, Nutri Bar and Cheelizza among others.

It plans on adding multiple services like point of sales integrations and hygiene audits in the near future. 

For hiring, it has partnered with vendors Apna, WorkIndia, Shiftz, Rozgaar Inc and Kaam.com. The hiring services would cost restaurants in a range between INR 299-5,250. 

For FSSAI registrations, trademark security and GST registrations, it has partnered with vendors like SRV Taxcon, GoAuditz, Plans4U, among others. 

“The restaurant services hub platform is only a step towards our vision of creating a full-stack solution for any restaurant owner looking to set up shop or scale their existing business,” Zomato food delivery’s CEO Rakesh Ranjan said in a statement.

This comes a week after Swiggy, the company’s primary rival in the foodtech space, also rolled out a restaurant partner focused service. On June 20, Swiggy launched a recruitment support initiative to assist restaurant partners with staff recruitment. It partnered with Apna, WorkIndia, Kaam and Shiftz for the initiative, which is available on the Swiggy Partner App. 

The startups’ restaurant partner focused initiatives come at a time when their battle to achieve dominance in Indian foodtech is heating up. While they compete across services like quick commerce and live events, Zomato has an advantage over Swiggy in the food delivery space as of now. 

On June 25, brokerage firm Goldman Sachs pegged Zomato’s share in the food delivery market to be around 56-57%. Taking Swiggy’s 2023 results as a base, the brokerage said Zomato’s gross order value (GOV) in 2023 was about 30-35% higher than Swiggy’s. It added that Zomato was well poised to gain further market share on the back of improving profitability.

The listed company’s latest experiment comes at a time when it has been aggressively expanding its services. It has recently introduced a large order fleet, last mile deliveries for office goers, priority deliveries in a pilot phase, and Zomato Everyday.

Besides its bread and butter food delivery business and crown jewel Blinkit, the company is now turning its purview towards its events business.

On June 16, it intimated the bourses that it is in discussion with fintech major Paytm to acquire its events and movie ticketing business, Paytm Insider for an estimated INR 1,500 Cr. If materialised, the deal could catapult Zomato to second position in the events and movie ticketing space, behind only BookMyShow, brokerage JM Financial ascertained. 

Shares of Zomato ended today’s trading session 1.44% higher at INR 200.15. 

The post Zomato Launches New Platform To Help Restaurants In Hiring, Licensing appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | June 27, 03:35 PM

Coworking startup Smartworks said it has raised $20.24 Mn (around  INR 168 Cr) this year so far from investors like Keppel Ltd, Ananta Capital Ventures Fund I, Plutus Capital LLC, family trusts, and a host of individual investors.

In a statement, Smartworks founder Neetish Sarda said, “We thank our investors for their continued confidence in our capabilities and the office experience and managed campus platform. Capital from the latest fund raising will be used for the growth and expansion of the business of the company and to meet its general corporate expenses.”

—————————————————————————————————————————

Original Story | June 11, 08:05 PM

Coworking startup Smartworks has raised around $12 Mn (about INR 100 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by Ananta Capital, the backer of Bella Vita Organic.

As per the startup’s filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the funding round saw participation from around 45 investors, including Plutus Capital, Kili Ventures LLP, and Dhawan Family Trust.

Smartworks didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the development till the time of publishing this story. The article would be updated on receiving a response from the startup.

The fresh investment comes almost a couple of months after Inc42 exclusively reported that the startup raised nearly $4 Mn from its existing investor, Singapore-based Keppel Land. 

It is pertinent to note that Smartworks cofounder Neetish Sarda said in May last year that the startup was looking to raise $70 Mn to $90 Mn. The latest fundraise could be a part of this funding round. 

Prior to this, the startup raised $25 Mn in its Series A funding round from Keppel Land. 

Founded in 2016 by Sarda and Harsh Binani, Smartworks is a shared workspace provider. It provides office spaces that can be rapidly configured and customised to the needs of enterprises. 

The startup claims to have over 8 Mn sq. ft. of office space across 40+ locations in 13 cities, including Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Pune. It caters to over 600 organisations, including Forbes 2000/ Fortune 500 companies, multinational companies, unicorns and soonicorns.

Last month, the startup entered the Pune market by leasing a 14-floor tower in Balewadi area. The building is expected to accommodate 8,000 desks. 

SmartWorks’ revenue soared 98% year-on-year to INR 711 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), while net loss increased 44% to INR 101 Cr.

 The startup competes against the likes of WeWork India, IndiaQube, and recently-listed Awfis. 

The post [Update] Exclusive: Smartworks Raises $20 Mn From Ananta Capital, Keppel, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaming major Nazara Technologies’ publishing arm, Nazara Publishing, has entered into a publishing partnership with nCore to publish ‘Made in India’ mobile game FAU-G Domination.

Developed by Dot9 Games, a studio of nCore, FAU-G: Domination features modern-day military aesthetics with Indian characters, each with unique backstories. This is the latest game from the FAU-G franchise, the previous version of which garnered up to 50 Mn downloads.

Pre-registrations for FAU-G: Domination will open on Google Play and the App Store later
this year.

The mobile shooter game will be marketed and distributed by Nazara Publishing.

“Made in India games have a huge potential to address the growing needs of the Indian gamer with locally relevant content, and we are excited to partner with nCore to bring FAU-G: Domination to all our players,” Nitish Mittersain, founder and CEO of Nazara Technologies, said.

FAU-G: Domination is a free-to-play game. Like most free-to-play shooters, monetisation will happen through in-app purchases.

Last year, Nazara Technologies launched its new game publishing division — Nazara Publishing — dedicated to launching top-quality games for both the Indian and international markets.

The gaming giant plans to collaborate with various Indian and global developers to introduce games to India’s extensive gaming community, while also facilitating the global publication of games created by Indian developers.

For each game, Nazara will invest a minimum of INR 1 Cr, the company said. Apart from financial support, Nazara will offer developers assistance in game design, localisation, data analytics, beta testing, quality assurance, improved monetisation strategies, and robust distribution through smart user acquisition spending and platform partnerships.

Nazara, a gaming and sports media platform, has a footprint not only in India but also in emerging and global markets such as Africa and North America. The company’s diverse portfolio includes interactive gaming, eSports, ad-tech, and gamified early-learning ecosystems.

Nazara Technologies’ consolidated net profit declined 98% to INR 18 Lakh in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 9.4 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Nazara said it incurred INR 11.37 Cr charges due to goodwill impairments, and INR 10.56 Cr for intangible assets related to gaming segment during Q4.

The company’s profit from continued operations was at INR 17.1 Cr for the quarter, as compared to INR 11.9 Cr in Q4 FY23.

Operating revenue declined 8% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 266.2 Cr in Q4 FY24 from INR 289.3 Cr in the same quarter a year ago.

The post Nazara Partners nCore To Publish Made In India Mobile Game ‘FAU-G Domination’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Less than a week after Zepto raised $665 Mn from a clutch of investors at a valuation of $3.6 Bn, the quick commerce major is now looking to raise more funds at a higher valuation.

As per a report by The Information, the Mumbai-based startup is in talks with multiple investors to raise around $400 Mn at a likely valuation of $4.6 Bn.

This would be more than 25% higher than its previous valuation of $3.6 Bn when the startup raised $665 Mn last week from investors such as Glade Brook, Nexus, and Lightspeed among others.

Earlier, Zepto said that it will deploy the funds to double its dark store count to 700 by March 2025 from 350 currently.

Additionally, the company said that its GMV has exceeded $1 Bn, with approximately 75% of its stores achieving full EBITDA positivity as of May 2024. 

Founded in 2021 by Palicha and Vohora, Zepto has grown rapidly on the back of increasing demand for quick 10-minute deliveries. Last year, Zepto became the first unicorn of 2023 after raising $200 Mn in its Series E funding round.

The fundraising spree of Zepto comes at a time when it is planning to reverse flip to India and eyeing a public listing in 2026.

Zepto’s revenue surged 14.3X to INR 2,024.3 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 140.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Net loss jumped 3.4X year-on-year to INR 1,272.4 Cr in FY23.

Zepto competes against the likes of Zomato-backed Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart in the quick commerce segment.

The competition in the space is set to intensify further with Walmart-owned Flipkart set to launch quick commerce offerings across Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Earlier, the ecommerce giant also held talks to acquire a majority stake in Zepto, but the talks fell through. 

Meanwhile, Tata Digital-owned BBnow is also mulling a major investment in the quick commerce space.

As per a report, the Indian quick commerce industry’s gross merchandise value zoomed 77% year-on-year to $2.8 Bn in 2023. 

The post Zepto In Talks With Investors To Raise Another $400 Mn At $4.6 Bn Valuation: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Spacetech startup Pixxel has inked a deal with the Ministry of Defence under the Innovations for Defense Excellence (iDEX) scheme to manufacture miniaturised multi-payload satellites for the Indian Air Force.

Pixxel’s miniaturised satellite will be capable of carrying electro-optical, infrared, synthetic aperture radar, and hyperspectral payloads of up to 150 kgs, the ministry said in a statement.

Founded in 2019 by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel is building a constellation of hyperspectral earth imaging satellites to provide insights to sectors like agriculture, mining, environment, among others.

The startup plans to launch six satellites, named Fireflies, in 2024 and 18 more by 2025. It was earlier reported that it would launch the first three satellites in June this year. The satellites will weigh around 50 kg each, significantly higher than the 15 kg weight of the demo satellites, Shakuntala and Anand, launched by Pixxel in 2022. 

It is pertinent to note that last year, Pixxel bagged a grant from iDEX to manufacture miniaturised multi-payload satellites for the Indian Air Force.

Launched in 2018, iDEX is the flagship initiative of the Ministry of Defence to encourage startups, MSMEs, and other private entities in the defence sector. iDEX reached a milestone by signing its 350th contract with Pixxel. 

“This 350th iDEX contract enables innovation in space electronics, wherein many payloads earlier deployed on dedicated large satellites are now being miniaturised. The modular small satellite will integrate multiple miniaturised payloads as per requirement, providing advantages like faster and economical deployment, ease of manufacturing, scalability, adaptability, and less environmental impact,” the ministry said.

The development comes at a time when the Indian government is increasingly looking at startups to enhance the country’s defence capabilities.

Earlier this month, the defence ministry announced that Noida-based startup Ingenious Research Solutions has developed an indigenous facial recognition system in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Prior to that, in March, Big Bang Boom Solutions, a deeptech startup working in the defence space, clinched an order worth over INR 200 Cr from the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army for its anti-drone technology.

With the Indian government encouraging private players in defence manufacturing, a number of startups have cropped up in the sector and are attracting investor interest.

Meanwhile, Pixxel is a part of the country’s rapidly growing spacetech ecosystem. It has raised a total funding of nearly $74 Mn till date and is backed by the likes of Google, Lightspeed and Blume Ventures among others.

As per Inc42 data, more than 150 spacetech startups raised over $285 Mn in funding between 2014 and 2023. The Indian spacetech market is poised to reach a size of over $77 Bn by 2030.

The post Pixxel Inks Deal With Defence Ministry To Manufacture Miniaturised Satellites appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After Prosus published IPO-bound Swiggy’s 2023 operating performance, Goldman Sachs, in a research note on Tuesday (June 25), estimated that the company’s biggest competitor Zomato now likely holds a 56-57% market share in the food delivery market. 

In its 2024 annual report, Prosus said that Swiggy saw a 26% year-on-year (YoY) increase in gross order value (GOV) in 2023. The foodtech decacorn’s core food-delivery business GOV grew by “double digits”, it said.

Swiggy saw a 17% YoY GOV growth in the food delivery segment in the first half of 2023. Assuming the growth at mid-point of 10% to 20% for 2023, analysts at Goldman Sachs said this would translate to a 14% YoY growth in Swiggy’s GOV in the second half of the year and 4% growth compared to the first half of the year. 

On the contrary, Zomato’s food delivery GOV grew over 22% YoY in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). If compared between H1 and H2 of the calendar year 2023, Zomato’s food delivery GOV growth was over 18%, as reported by the company in its last financial performance announcement.

“In food delivery, we calculate Zomato’s market share now at 56-57%, a circa 200 bp (basis point) expansion versus the previous period,” said Goldman Sachs. “At a 31% FY24-27 GOV CAGR, Zomato is the fastest growing food delivery company within our global coverage and also one with the highest margin profile.”

Earlier, Zomato’s share in the Indian food delivery market was pegged at around 54%.

The brokerage also noted that if Swiggy’s total GOV growth of 26% YoY in 2023 is compared with 34% GOV growth for Zomato over the same period, it suggests that the growth for Swiggy stood at 22% YoY in the second half of the year, which is meaningfully lower than 42% YoY growth reported by Zomato. 

As per Goldman Sachs’ calculation, Zomato’s total GOV in 2023 was about 30-35% higher compared to that of Swiggy’s.

Meanwhile, the brokerage said that for online grocery, it expects competition to be a consistent feature of the market, given the size of the industry, with no player likely having more than 20% market share. However, Zomato’s scale is likely about 50% larger than its nearest competitor, the brokerage said.

Goldman Sachs also said that while Swiggy’s adjusted EBITDA loss has narrowed in recent periods, it remains meaningfully higher than Zomato, which turned profitable starting in 2023. 

“We believe Zomato being ahead of its peers on profitability will continue to provide it with the opportunity to further gain market share or improve profitability, or deliver on a mix of both,” the brokerage added.

In fact, not only Goldman Sachs but several other Indian brokerages have also turned more bullish on Zomato after Swiggy’s 2023 performance report.

For instance, JM Financial said that while on an absolute basis, Swiggy’s numbers were impressive, on a relative basis it lagged Zomato in terms of growth as well as profitability. 

“In fact, our channel checks suggest the growth differential was attributable to Zomato outperforming Swiggy in each of the three comparable B2C businesses in CY23,” said the brokerage.

While Swiggy confidentially filed its pre-DRHP with the SEBI earlier this year, the brokerage believes that a successful public listing of the company largely hinges on the management’s ability to demonstrate a clear path to adjusted EBITDA break-even at a consolidated level and arrest market share losses in both food delivery and quick commerce businesses.

“While it’s amply clear from recent Prosus disclosures that profitability improvement remains a key focus area for Swiggy management in the run-up to its public listing, we expect investors to also keenly monitor Swiggy’s ability to stem the decline in its market share across its food delivery as well as quick commerce business,” said JM Financial analysts.

Several other brokerages, including Kotak Institutional Equities, Emkay, and CLSA, have also reiterated their ‘buy’ rating on Zomato, with most of them highlighting that the company’s growth is faster than Swiggy’s.

Shares of Zomato rose almost 3% during the early trading hours on the BSE on Tuesday to touch INR 204.65, a level last seen around the middle of May. The stock ended the session 2% higher at INR 202.85.

The post Zomato Extends Lead Over Swiggy, Has 57% Market Share In Food Delivery: Goldman Sachs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Touted as the pioneer of esports in India, NODWIN Gaming has experienced phenomenal growth and diversification since its acquisition by Nazara Technologies in 2018.

When Nazara acquired a 55% majority stake in NODWIN, it was already a trailblazer in India’s nascent esports industry, fostering relationships with global giants like ESL and Valve Corporation. However, NODWIN’s ambitions extended beyond esports.

Recognising the pulse of India’s youth, the company began to spread its wings, venturing into music festivals and other pop culture events. This strategic expansion was fuelled by a combination of organic growth and numerous strategic acquisitions, turning NODWIN into a versatile entertainment powerhouse.

“At the time of the acquisition, NODWIN was already a dominant player in the esports sector, which was one of the key reasons behind our decision. We believed in the long-term potential of this acquisition, and it has certainly paid off,” reminisced Nitish Mittersain, joint managing director & CEO of Nazara Technologies.

He added that since the acquisition, NODWIN’s revenue growth has been exceptional. Today, it contributes 37% to Nazara’s total revenue, having grown 25X in just six years. “This growth is a testament to the foresight of integrating NODWIN into the Nazara portfolio,” he said. Notably, NODWIN’s revenue surged from a modest INR 18 Cr in FY18 to INR 427 Cr in FY24.

Now, before we dive deeper into understanding what NODWIN’s acquisition has meant for Nazara, let’s steal a glance at the company’s early days.

NODWIN’s Early Days 

Founded in 2014 by Akshat Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN Gaming is gradually emerging as a youth-centric recreational, entertainment company with esports being its primary focus area.

Rathee, a gamer at heart, who spent much of his childhood immersed in gaming, began organising esports tournaments at home before the launch of NODWIN. Along with Virk, he set up 30-40 computers in a LAN environment, transforming his house into a hub for gaming enthusiasts. This effort helped the duo build a strong community of gamers, ultimately paving the way for the incorporation of NODWIN Gaming in 2014.

When NODWIN Gaming started, Rathee took the initiative to organise tournaments, which required securing sponsorships. Reflecting on his early days, Rathee said that obtaining sponsorships was challenging and unconventional back then. 

“I often received returnable mousepads as sponsorships, which had to be used for the tournaments and then returned to the sponsors. The concept of turning this into a sustainable business was unclear to everyone, including myself,” Rathee said. 

“During 2010-14, there were not enough marketing companies targeting the gaming market in India. The country’s PC gaming base was too small, and mobile gaming didn’t exist yet. We had to build a fundamentally new category. We sought to redefine the ecosystem by changing its value proposition. Therefore, we focussed on selling to gamers directly rather than people buying a mouse, headset, keyboard, laptop, desktop, or graphics card,” Rathee said.

Fortunately, like many startups, the period of demonetisation (November 2016) provided a significant boost to NODWIN. The esports startup benefited from the wave of digitisation, with everyone turning to digital payments and affordable mobile phones becoming widely available. 

At the time, India had “14 telecom operators”, which were engaged in a desperate cut-throat to slash data prices, which immensely helped them. 

“We were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Although we had no role in making data prices cheaper in India, this reduction played a crucial role in our success,” Rathee commented.

The cheaper data prices and the rise of the smartphone era gave a significant boost to the gaming industry, and NODWIN was quick to capitalise on this opportunity. 

As per Nazara filings, NODWIN today owns an 80% share of the Indian esports market basis which it garnered INR 427 Cr in revenue in FY24, up 10% year-on-year. 

NODWIN’s Expansion Strategy At A Glance

Although NODWIN started with esports tournaments, it has expanded its wings over the years to organise music festivals and other youth-centric events.

In addition to growing its intellectual properties (IPs) organically, NODWIN has also taken the M&A route to broaden its reach and influence in the industry. Currently, it has 50+ IPs. 

“We are now operating based on a theory we like to call “Timeshare of Mind Share”. This metric spans NODWIN’s entire ecosystem, encompassing gaming and youth culture. Whether it’s Comic Con events, “Playground” on Mini TV, influencers on Instagram, live streams on YouTube, or our tournaments and BGMS play, this approach is integral to our strategy,” Rathee said.

For example, NODWIN’s IP, BGMI Masters Series, is considered India’s biggest esports tournament. It also started broadcasting BGMS on Star Sports in 2022. Another IP is “Playground”, which premiered on Amazon Mini TV and achieved remarkable success. It has reached over 25 Mn unique viewers across all touchpoints, as per Nazara’s investor presentation.

In a bid to expand its presence in the global entertainment landscape and diversify offerings, NODWIN Gaming acquired Comic Con India earlier this year. 

Including Comic Con India, Nodwin has made five acquisitions. While it acquired Publish.Me and Branded in 2023, the Nazara esports arm took over Ninja last week. Earlier this year, it bought a 13.5% stake in a Germany-based marketing services company for gaming and esports, Freaks 4U Gaming, for €8 Mn (around INR 72 Cr).

While these investments are part of its broader strategy to dominate the esports and youth media space, the financial impact from these acquisitions is expected to reflect in FY25 and beyond.

Moving on, as per Rathee, the startup aims to establish its presence not only on traditional media channels but also across all relevant social media platforms and streaming services. 

“We encompass all forms of media — from digital to social and television — ensuring comprehensive coverage. Additionally, our focus extends to esports and sports media, targeting our audience. Currently, NODWIN Gaming’s sweet spot is individuals between the ages of 16 and 35, with our demographic continuously evolving. As time progresses, our core age demographic will shift, growing by approximately two years annually,” Rathee said.

NODWIN’S Beyond-India Aspirations 

In its quest to capture the attention of the youth, NODWIN Gaming is also focussing on emerging markets. With India as its key market, the company is aggressively foraying into other regions. 

Notable growth is happening in Turkey, Central Asia, and South Asia. Additionally, NODWIN has been setting its footprint in African markets such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa for the past three-four years. 

“We aim to expand beyond our current 22 office locations. Currently, we are aiming for 40 to 50 locations worldwide,” Rathee said.

Moreover, NODWIN Gaming has plans to acquire at least 5-7 more companies in the coming years. 

“Although substantial revenue potential exists in regions around the Tropic of Cancer such as Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and America, our focus on delivery will be directed towards developing and lower-cost markets. This includes countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and CIS nations like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. We also see promising opportunities in Latin American markets such as Mexico and Brazil,” Rathee said.

According to him, the Global South as a market will continue to expand, driven by conversations at forums like the G20 and the United Nations. The growth engine of the world, especially among young people, is increasingly shifting towards these regions. 

Nazara’s NODWIN Game Plan

Nazara Technologies, a prominent gaming company, acquired a majority stake in NODWIN Gaming in 2018. Since then, NODWIN has been significantly contributing to Nazara’s revenue stream. Despite witnessing a slow FY24 due to the impact of India’s ban on online games, NODWIN Gaming anticipates a robust resurgence in FY25, particularly in the esports sector.

Over the past two years, the Indian government has banned popular mobile games like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Free Fire, which are widely used in esports tournaments. This ban has significantly impacted the business case for esports organisers. Nodwin Gaming, in particular, has intellectual properties (IPs) linked to BGMI, which has been affected by these bans.

Moreover, it is also imperative to mention that NODWIN Gaming posted a loss of INR 20 Lakh in FY24 compared to a profit of INR 7.1 Cr in FY23 due to the acquisition made during the year. 

Despite this, the Nazara CEO and joint MD Nitish Mittersain is positive about NODWIN. In an investor call, he highlighted positive developments such as the success of the Playground IP, particularly with Season 3 performing exceptionally well and garnering international interest. 

“Overall, we are optimistic that FY25 will be a much stronger year for esports, building on the groundwork laid in FY24,” he said.

As per the Nazara CEO, with a strong focus on expanding esports operations during FY25, NODWIN is all set for significant international activities in the coming quarters.

Interestingly, Mittersain’s optimism emerges from the fact that NODWIN Gaming accounted for 38% of Nazara’s FY24 revenues which stood at INR 1,138.3 Cr. 

All in all, NODWIN is surrounded by enough growth tailwinds. Given its large market share, new monetisation opportunities, acquisitions and backing from gaming giant Nazara, NODWIN Gaming is expected to start generating significant profits in no time, all while giving a boost to its parent Nazara.

The post How NODWIN Gaming Has Become Nazara Tech’s Biggest Revenue Contributor In 6 Years appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Despite the sharp re-rating of internet stocks, foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley remains logged into internet stocks, preferring Zomato and PB Fintech over other players. 

The brokerage reiterated its overweight call on Zomato, setting a target price of INR 235 per share, implying a 21% upside from the previous close.

As per a Moneycontrol report, Morgan Stanley highlighted that all macro and micro factors are currently favourable for India’s internet stocks. 

As dispersion in stock returns increases, the focus on stock-specific selection becomes crucial, considering the operating environment, track record, outlook, and valuation. Based on these criteria, Zomato and PB Fintech are outperforming other internet players, making them Morgan Stanley’s top picks.

The brokerage noted that Zepto’s latest funding round has increased the relevance of the quick commerce channel. Zomato, a key player in this space, bolstered its position with the acquisition of BlinkIt in June 2022.

However, there is a strong likelihood of increased competitive intensity in the near term. If competition intensifies, Morgan Stanley believes BlinkIt could struggle to achieve profitability, failing to meet current assumptions.

This could lead to selling pressure on the stock. However, the brokerage stated that any potential correction in Zomato presents a good buying opportunity for long-term investors.

Zomato shares have surged 160% over the past year, significantly outperforming the 25% rise in the frontline index Nifty 50 during the same period, added Moneycontrol.

Over the past five quarters, it consistently gained momentum, becoming one of the hottest stocks with a market cap touching $20 Bn (INR 1.6 Lakh Cr) and recording record profits of INR 351 Cr ($40 Mn) by FY24. 

However, since its Q4 results, Zomato has experienced volatility, reaching an all-time high of INR 207 in May but subsequently declining over 11% to INR 183.65 by early June, reflecting investor uncertainty amid broader market fluctuations.

Last month, shares of foodtech major Zomato tanked about 5% during intraday trading on Friday, May 31, dropping to INR 172.5 from the previous day’s close of INR 180.55. This decline followed Macquarie’s prediction of a nearly 50% drop in Zomato’s share price over the next 12 months. 

The post Morgan Stanley Stays Bullish on Zomato, PB Fintech Amid Internet Stock Surge appeared first on Inc42 Media.