Hello,
So many choices, so little time.
India’s quick food delivery space now has another player–Snacc. The new app by Swiggy has features of its private label Swiggy Cafe and Swiggy Bolt, its 10-minute food delivery service.
Snacc’s launch comes a day after Zomato started offering 15-minute food delivery options in select pin codes. The other major player in the segment is Zepto Cafe.
Despite the rising competition, Swiggy is expected to hold its market share in the food delivery and quick commerce segments, according to brokerage firm Bernstein which gave the company an ‘Outperform’ rating and a 25% upside in target price.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has announced cloud- and AI-led strategic partnerships with the Indian government and key industry leaders.
The MoUs signed with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as well as firms such as RailTel, Apollo Hospitals, and Bajaj Finserv are part of the company’s wider $3 billion commitment in India.
While technology has created new roles, several firms have had to trim their workforce in the past few years. One such company is Nasdaq-listed Freshworks, which slashed 13% of its global headcount last year, impacting over 660 employees of its 5,000-strong workforce.
In an exclusive interview with YourStory, Dennis Woodside, the newly appointed CEO of Freshworks, spoke about the need for restructuring.
ICYMI: From $500 smart indoor gardens that use fog to grow plants to a robot vacuum with an “arm” to pick things up, CES 2025 showcased cutting-edge gadgets for the household.
Oh, and there is also a device that charges a smartphone in less than five seconds!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Juspay eyes the unicorn prize
- A powerhouse of Indian advertising
Here’s your trivia for today: The Catedral de Sal, a cathedral carved entirely out of salt, is located in which country?
Funding
Juspay eyes the unicorn prize
Fintech firm Juspay is in talks to raise new funding that could make it 2025’s first unicorn, as the Softbank-backed startup seeks to raise capital at a valuation exceeding $1 billion, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told YourStory.
While the contours of the deal are yet to be finalised, the company could raise around $100 million in the new round, the sources added. Juspay has appointed investment bank Avendus Capital as its advisor for the transaction.
Race to the top:
- The company, previously valued at around $400 million (about Rs 3,500 crore), has initiated conversations with private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Kedaara Capital, and venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners, said the sources.
- Juspay is poised to achieve a significant valuation boost if the deal is finalised, standing out in the Indian startup ecosystem currently undergoing a valuation correction with companies struggling to retain their COVID-19 valuations.
- Founded over a decade ago by Vimal Kumar and Ramanathan RV in Bengaluru, Juspay specialises in developing payment orchestration solutions that act as a technology layer over traditional payment gateways. It also developed Namma Yatri, a mobility app focusing on ride-hailing services.
Funding Alert
Startup: RAS Luxury
Amount: $5M
Round: Series A
Startup: BrainSightAI
Amount: $5M
Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: hBits
Amount: Rs 40 Cr
Round: Series A
Women Entrepreneurs
A powerhouse of Indian advertising
Amita Madhvani’s upbringing amid the vibrancy of Marathi culture, traditional festivals, and a profound sense of community fostered a love for the arts and a belief in the power of the collective, values that permeate her professional ethos today as a pioneer in the advertising and filmmaking industry.
Her time at advertising giants like Ogilvy and Leo Burnett broadened her perspective and helped her gain invaluable insights into campaign building, client servicing, and the collaborative process between creatives and production teams. These experiences would go on to lay the groundwork for her ventures later.
Pioneer:
- Madhvani began her career in the 1980s, a time when the advertising industry was male-dominated. Eventually, she rose to become the co-partner and producer at Equinox Films and the co-founder of Ram Madhvani Films.
- During the pandemic, Madhvani and her team embraced digital formats, pioneering the use of production bubbles and remote workflows. Notably, Ram Madhvani Films’ web series Aarya was shot and post-produced during the height of COVID-19 restrictions.
- Madhvani has witnessed firsthand the dramatic shifts in India’s advertising landscape. Equinox Films has stayed ahead of the curve by integrating social media-friendly formats and providing clients with end-to-end solutions.
News & updates
- Fresh capital: Anthropic, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI research executives, is in late-stage talks to raise as much as $2 billion at a $60 billion valuation.
- Falling profits: Samsung Electronics’ preliminary fourth-quarter operating profit missed estimates by a large margin, with the South Korean tech giant hit hard by extra costs as it works towards providing high-end chips to Nvidia.
- eBay test: Meta will launch a test in Germany, France, and the United States that will enable buyers to browse listings from eBay on Facebook Marketplace and then complete their transactions on eBay.
The Catedral de Sal, a cathedral carved entirely out of salt, is located in which country?
Answer: Colombia. The cathedral is located 600 feet underground in a former salt mine.
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