Also in the letter:
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ Kenko founder on IRDAI red tape
■ L&T takes stake in E2E
Swiggy raises Rs 5,085 crore from anchor investors ahead of IPO launch
Swiggy founder Sriharsha Majety
BlackRock, Fidelity, Nomura, BNP Paribas, and Allianz Global are among more than 75 foreign and domestic investors who subscribed to the Rs 5,085-crore anchor portion of food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy’s initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday.
Driving the news: The anchor investors have been allotted shares at Rs 390 apiece – the upper end of the price band of Rs 371-390 per share set for the IPO. More than half of the anchor book has been allotted to domestic investors. The Rs 11,327 crore IPO – second largest this year after Hyundai Motor India—will include a primary issue of Rs 4,499 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 6,828 crore.
We reported on November 1 that Swiggy’s anchor book had received 25 times more bids than the shares on offer through this portion of the offering.
Swiggy IPO: Here’s how it stacks up against Zomato
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal; Sriharsha Majety, Group CEO, Swiggy
Swiggy’s IPO is priced at around 60% discount to its arch-rival Gurugram-based Zomato, which had a market cap of $25.4 billion, as of Tuesday end of trade.
Overall business: While Swiggy entered both food delivery and quick commerce businesses before Zomato, the IPO-bound company has been trailing its listed rival across metrics.
Also Read: Zomato to raise Rs 8,500 crore via QIP to fight quick commerce competition
Quick commerce: The 10-minute grocery delivery segment is the fastest-growing business vertical for both companies. In this space, Swiggy’s Instamart and Zomato-owned Blinkit compete with the likes of Zepto, Flipkart Minutes, and Bigbasket’s BB Now.
Also Read: Zomato’s QIP salvo before Swiggy IPO will further fuel quick commerce frenzy
Food delivery: Over the years, the two rivals have slugged it out in the food delivery space, overcoming several other players who shut down or sold their businesses.
Today, even though quick commerce is the fastest-growing segment, food delivery remains the biggest contributor to their revenues.
Also Read: Swiggy IPO anchor allocation opens today: all you need to know
PB Fintech reports net profit of Rs 51 crore in September quarter; revenue up 40%
Alok Bansal and Yashish Dahiya, founders, PB Fintech group
PB Fintech, which operates the insurance marketplace Policybazaar and credit marketplace Paisabazaar, reported a 40% jump in total revenue to Rs 1,273 crore in the September quarter of the current financial year 2024-25 from Rs 909 crore a year ago.
Financials:
- The company reported a net profit of Rs 51 crore in the September quarter compared to a net loss of Rs 21 crore last year
- It posted a net profit of Rs 60 crore in the June quarter
- Overall expenses for the September quarter rose 30.4% to Rs 1,213 crore, up from Rs 930 crore a year ago
- Cash in hand stood at Rs 5,423 crore
Tell me more: In terms of its business, Policybazaar processed Rs 5,450 crore in total insurance premiums, with Rs 3,922 crore coming from the core online business and Rs 1,528 crore from its new initiatives, which largely include the corporate business and business originated through retail agents.
Udaan logs lower net loss, flat operating revenue in FY24
Udaan founder Vaibhav Gupta
Bengaluru-based business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce platform Udaan posted a nearly flat operating revenue at Rs 5,707 crore in FY24. This year, the company underwent significant operational restructuring in an effort to reduce losses.
Financials: The company’s net loss for FY24 narrowed by nearly a fifth to Rs 1,674 crore in FY24 – from Rs 2,076 crore in FY23, according to the financial statements filed by the company’s Singapore-based parent, Trustroot Internet.
Also Read | Udaan eyes $100 million from UK’s M&G, others at flat valuation
Easy Home Finance secures $35 million from Ranjan Pai’s Claypond Capital, others
Easy Home Finance, a home financing startup, has secured $35 million in a funding round led by Manipal Group chief Ranjan Pai’s family office Claypond Capital and Japanese financial services major Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s Asia Rising Fund.
Deal details: Existing investors Xponentia Capital, Finsight Ventures, Harbourfront Capital, and Pegasus India Evolving Opportunities Fund also participated in the round. The Mumbai-based startup will use the funds to expand its scope of operations to 150 locations in the country and build assets under management (AUM) of $300 million.
Other Done Deals
Ex-defence secretary Ajay Kumar’s VC fund to invest in spacetech firm GalaxEye: Mounttech Growth Fund, an early-stage VC firm focused on space and defence startups, is joining the $10 million funding round of spacetech startup GalaxEye.
Marut Drones raises $6.2 million from Lok Capital: Hyderabad-based drone technology startup Marut Drones has raised $6.2 million in Series A funding from India-focused investment firm Lok Capital.
QubeHealth raises pre-series A funding from UIV, CanBank: Deep-tech focused, early-stage venture fund, Unicorn India Ventures, and CanBank Venture Capital Fund led an undisclosed investment into the Mumbai-based healthcare payments company, QubeHealth, as part of its Pre-Series A round.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Irdai red tape, archaic processes led to health tech startup Kenko’s fall: Cofounder Aniruddha Sen alleges: Pointing out that the insurance regulator was not very keen to allow venture-funded startups to set up insurance companies, Sen said they could have been informed about this in the beginning instead of being asked to make many changes to their corporate structure over multiple chains of communication with the regulator.
SaaS major Salesforce India hits $1 billion milestone, expands AI-driven growth: Cloud-based software-as-a-service major Salesforce’s India arm has hit the $1 billion revenue milestone. The company on Tuesday said that it grew 36% in the year ended March 31, 2024, registering a revenue of Rs 9,116 crore.
L&T to acquire 21% stake in AI cloud provider E2E Networks: Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Tuesday said it will acquire a 21% stake in E2E Networks, an Indian artificial intelligence (AI) cloud provider, in an all-cash transaction worth Rs 1,327 crore.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Elon Musk has parked his Tesla on the White House lawn (FT)
■ TikTok employees shrug off the US election (Wired)
■ How ChatGPT search paves the way for AI agents (MIT Technology Review)
