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Hello,

Meet the new hero of startup town: Zomato.

Yesterday, its market capitalisation rose to $15.29 billion, making it the most valuable company in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

As trading began on Friday morning, Zomato’s share price rose by 5% but declined later. At 11 am, it was trading at Rs 145.40 apiece and reached Rs 149 at the closing bell—almost double its listing price of Rs 76 in 2021. The Gurugram-based company delivered upbeat numbers earlier this week.

Interestingly, the second most valuable company from the Indian startup ecosystem is Swiggy, valued at around $8 billion.

Elsewhere, amid the recent developments with the RBI, Paytm said it will form an advisory committee on compliance and regulatory matters led by former SEBI Chairman M Damodaran.

Meanwhile, meat unicorn Licious laid off about 3% of its workforce, or 80 employees, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. 

ICYMI: After being initially rejected, a French man has now been awarded the Guinness world record for creating the tallest structure using matchsticks, an Eiffel Tower replica.

Talk about a U-turn!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Mamearth parent’s Q3 profit up 251%
• Jagran Prakashan’s ONDC play
• The 45-day MSME payment rule

Here’s your trivia for today: In what year did Apple introduce the iTunes Music Store?

D2C

Mamearth parent Q3 net profit up 251%

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Mamaearth’s product range

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Honasa Consumer, the omnichannel beauty and personal care company, posted a 251% YoY increase in net profit for the third quarter of FY24 driven by rising revenue and operational efficiencies.

Honasa, which owns brands like Mamaearth, The Derma Co., and Aqualogica, reported a net profit of Rs 25.9 crore for Q3 FY24 as compared with Rs 7.1 crore earned a year ago.

Green:

• The company’s revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 488 crore, a 27.8% rise from Rs 382 crore last year.
• Honasa noted that online growth was driven by platforms with a strong presence in Tier II locations. 
• At market close on Friday, the company’s stock was up 4.45%, trading at Rs 435 apiece, on the NSE.

<Top Funding Deals of the Week>

Startup: River

Amount: $40M

Round: Series B

Startup: Mufin Green Finance

Amount: $16.8M

Round: Series B

Startup: Keus Smart Home Automation

Amount: $12M

Round: Equity

Ecommerce

Jagran Prakashan’s ONDC play

Media conglomerate Jagran Prakashan’s digital vertical, Jagran New Media, is set to roll out a buyer-side application on the government-backed protocol Open Network of Digital Commerce (ONDC) as early as next month, a source aware of the development told YourStory.

Key takeaways:

• Buyer apps are the primary point of contact between buyers and sellers, enabling users to shop for products, including food, grocery, electronics, and apparel, sourced from a range of sellers enrolled with ONDC.
• Named Khojle, the feature will put Jagran in direct competition with Paytm, PhonePe’s Pincode, magicpin, and Mystore, among others.
• Jagran’s buyer app is likely to enable greater adoption of online commerce led by ONDC among Tier II and III consumers through its strong readership of over 88.6 million.

MSME

The 45-day MSME payment rule

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Image: YS Design

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Historically, micro and small businesses (MSEs)—a significant chunk of the Indian MSME sector—bear the brunt of delayed payments. 

To address this concern, in the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that starting April 1, 2024, the government would permit expense deduction on income tax claims for buyers only when they make payments to suppliers, i.e., the MSEs.

Clearing dues:

• The announcement read that MSEs are supposed to receive payments within 45 days if there is an agreement and/or within 15 days if there is no agreement.
• Mukesh Mohan Gupta, President of the Chamber of Indian MSMEs, says this announcement stands among the most significant developments for the MSME sector.
• According to Neeraj Kushwaha, Founder of Bhopal-based Technosys, the recent adjustment in the 45-day payment rule for MSMEs could prove disastrous for micro and small enterprises. 

News & updates

• Milestones: Microsoft-backed OpenAI hit the $2 billion revenue milestone in December. OpenAI believes it can more than double this figure in 2025, based on strong interest from business customers seeking to use its technology to adopt Gen AI tools in the workplace. 
• Duopoly: An Indian parliamentary panel has urged the government to support the growth of domestic fintech players that can provide alternatives to the Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay apps that currently command more than 83% of the country’s fast-growing digital payments market.
• IPO: Hyundai Motor appointed investment bankers JPMorgan and Citi to advise on its at least $3 billion India IPO, accelerating listing plans in the world’s third-largest auto market. It plans to file regulatory papers in India by May to June for approval.

In what year did Apple introduce the iTunes Music Store?

Answer: April 28, 2003.

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