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Razorpay Unveils Investment Program to Propel Early-Stage B2B Startups

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Razorpay, a leading payments and business banking platform, has introduced the Razorpay Venture Investment Program, designed to nurture the next generation of B2B innovators.In partnership with Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed, the program is set to identify and invest in over 50 visionary early-stage founders. Razorpay will provide funding, technological assistance, and leadership support, offering up to $1 million per startup to foster growth and innovation across various development stages.

The initiative focuses on startups in the pre-seed to Series A stages, spanning sectors such as fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, education, travel, retail, logistics, mobility, hospitality, and export. Aspiring entrepreneurs can apply directly through Razorpay’s official website.

Helming the program is Vishnu Acharya, Razorpay’s Head of Strategy and Corporate Development. With extensive experience collaborating with founders, Acharya aims to significantly impact India’s B2B landscape through this initiative.

Razorpay’s financial milestones include raising over $800 million across multiple funding rounds and achieving a valuation of approximately $7 billion. The company recorded a 24% year-on-year revenue growth in its Payment Gateway business, reaching Rs 2,068 crore, alongside a nearly fivefold increase in profit after tax during the same fiscal period.

This program underscores Razorpay’s commitment to driving innovation and supporting the B2B startup ecosystem in India.

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Wheelocity Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding to Expand Reach Across India’s Semi-Urban and Rural Areas

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Wheelocity, a semi-urban commerce platform, has successfully raised $15 million in an extended Series A round, led by existing investor Lightspeed. The funding round also saw participation from Alteria Capital, Anicut Capital, and the company’s founder.

This Bengaluru-based startup had previously raised $12 million in a Series A round in July 2022, also led by Lightspeed.

Since its last funding, Wheelocity claims to have expanded its footprint to more than 3,500 towns and villages, reaching one million consumers in just six months. With this new funding, the company aims to accelerate its growth, setting a target of reaching 20,000 towns and villages within the next 12 months and serving 10 million consumers.

The funds will be directed toward expanding Wheelocity’s proprietary technology stack, improving its direct reach network, and bolstering teams across various departments, including category management, operations, product, and engineering.

After a strategic shift in its business model last year, Wheelocity moved from a B2B framework to a B2C approach. Prior to this, the company was focused on supplying fresh produce to quick-commerce platforms such as Swiggy Instamart, Dunzo, Blinkit, and Zepto.

Founded in September 2021 by Selvam VMS and Senthil Kumar, Wheelocity is on a mission to bridge the commerce access gap in India’s semi-urban and rural markets, where over 800 million people are largely underserved by current platforms. By integrating advanced technology with supply chain innovations, the company aims to cater to India’s next 800 million consumers.

Wheelocity’s platform is designed to address the challenges faced by semi-urban India. It delivers high-frequency, direct access to essential goods like fresh produce and groceries, with plans for future expansion into other discretionary categories. The platform also offers a hybrid offline-online model that is specifically tailored to first-time users of organized commerce.

While the company has not yet filed its annual financial report for FY24, its operating revenue for FY23 was Rs 117 crore, with a loss of Rs 12.56 crore.

Infibeam Surpasses ₹1,000 Crore Revenue Milestone in Q2 FY25

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Digital payments giant Infibeam Avenues achieved remarkable growth in Q2 FY25, with its operating revenue climbing 29.19% year-on-year. The Ahmedabad-based company’s net profit also saw a 16.45% increase during the quarter ending September 2024.

According to its unaudited consolidated financial statements on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Infibeam reported ₹1,016.65 crore in operating revenue for Q2 FY25, up from ₹786.97 crore in the same period last year. The company’s payments business contributed 95.7% of the revenue, growing 31.82% to ₹973.34 crore. However, its e-commerce platform business faced a decline of 10.81%, falling to ₹43.31 crore. Total revenue for the quarter stood at ₹1,020.19 crore.

Infibeam operates a multi-faceted digital platform specializing in digital payments and e-commerce solutions.

The company’s expenses surged by 30.41% in Q2 FY25, reaching ₹957.1 crore. Operating expenses, which form the bulk of its costs, increased by 29.98% to ₹882.3 crore. Employee benefits rose 10.86% to ₹34.5 crore, while depreciation expenses grew 3.64% to ₹17.1 crore. Additional undisclosed expenses amounted to ₹23.2 crore.

Infibeam’s profit after tax rose to ₹47.4 crore, up from ₹40.69 crore in Q2 FY24. The company reported a Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of 1.62% and an EBITDA margin of 7.96%. Notably, Infibeam spent ₹0.94 for every rupee of operating revenue earned during the quarter.

Competing with industry leaders such as Paytm, Razorpay, and PhonePe, Infibeam continues to solidify its position in the digital payments space. At the close of trading, the company’s market capitalization stood at ₹7,600 crore, with its stock priced at ₹27.30 per share.

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Nykaa’s Q2 FY25 Revenue Surges by 24.4% to Rs 1,874 Crore, Profit Climbs 66%

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Omnichannel beauty and fashion giant Nykaa posted impressive growth in Q2 FY25, with revenue from operations reaching Rs 1,874.74 crore—a 24.4% year-on-year increase. Profits also saw a significant 66.3% jump, crossing into double-digit territory.

The company’s unaudited financial results, shared with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), reveal that its core beauty segment continues to dominate, contributing 91% of its revenue. Beauty sales rose 24.56% YoY to Rs 1,705.89 crore, while the fashion segment saw a 21.68% increase, generating Rs 166.09 crore. An additional Rs 5.3 crore from other income brought Nykaa’s total income to Rs 1,880 crore for the quarter.

Nykaa’s diverse portfolio includes private labels such as skincare brands Dot & Key and Earth Rhythm, jewelry brand Pipa Bella, and fashion retailers Gajra Gang and Kica. During Q1 FY25, Nykaa increased its stake in Dot & Key to 90% with an investment of Rs 265.3 crore, solidifying its position in the skincare market.

Operational expenses also grew in Q2 FY25, rising 23.74% to Rs 1,858.93 crore. Key contributors included material costs, which surged 22.9% to Rs 1,053.72 crore, representing 56.68% of total expenses. Employee benefits climbed by 18.46% to Rs 161.49 crore, while depreciation expenses rose by 16.46% to Rs 63.62 crore. Additional expenses of Rs 580.1 crore remained undisclosed.

Nykaa’s profit for the quarter reached Rs 12.97 crore, marking a significant 66.28% YoY increase from Rs 7.8 crore in Q2 FY24. The company’s ROCE stood at 2.88%, and its EBITDA margin reached 5.8%. Operational efficiency showed improvement, with Nykaa spending Re 0.99 to earn every rupee of operating revenue.

In a competitive landscape featuring Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and niche platforms like Purplle, Nykaa has solidified its market position. As of today, the company’s market capitalization stands at Rs 51,151 crore, with shares trading at Rs 179.01 at the close of trading.

This quarter’s performance underscores Nykaa’s resilience and strategic growth across its beauty and fashion verticals.

Noise Achieves Rs 1,431 Crore Revenue in FY24, Remains EBITDA Positive Amid Market Challenges

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Despite a downturn in the wearable market, Gurugram-based wearables brand Noise maintained stable revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2024. The company posted revenue from operations of Rs 1,431 crore, a modest 0.4% growth compared to Rs 1,426 crore in FY23, according to its financial filings. Total revenue, including scrap, allied services, and interest income, reached Rs 1,440 crore for FY24.

Wearables contributed 79.8% to the overall revenue, while audio products accounted for 19.7%. However, the cost of procurement, Noise’s largest expense, amounted to Rs 989 crore, representing 67.7% of total spending. Employee benefits saw a sharp 53% increase to Rs 78 crore, including Rs 6 crore in ESOP costs, while marketing and advertising expenditures totaled Rs 286 crore. The company’s total expenses for the year stood at Rs 1,460 crore.

The rise in costs, combined with flat revenue growth, resulted in a Rs 20 crore loss for Noise in FY24. Despite this, the company maintained a positive EBITDA margin of 0.83% and an ROCE of 5.36%. On a per-unit basis, Noise spent Rs 1.02 to earn a rupee.

Noise continued to expand its global footprint, incorporating a wholly-owned subsidiary, Noise Lab Co., in China and forming a joint venture with Stelltek Technologies. By March 2024, the firm reported current assets of Rs 773.26 crore, including cash and bank balances of Rs 85.4 crore.

During the fiscal year, Noise raised $10 million in a strategic funding round led by Bose, valuing the company at $460 million. This funding marks a milestone for the Gaurav Khatri-led firm, positioning it for future growth.

Competitor boAt also experienced flat growth, with a 5% dip in revenue to Rs 3,122 crore in FY24. Despite this, boAt reported a positive EBITDA, signaling a stronger financial performance.

An IDC report highlighted the Indian wearables market’s first-ever decline, with shipments falling by 10% to 29.5 million units in the June 2024 quarter. Contributing factors included unsold inventory and limited product innovation. Noise’s shipments fell 13.9%, with competitors Oppo, OnePlus, Fire-Boltt, and boAt also experiencing declines.

While market challenges persist, Noise’s ability to sustain revenue and secure strategic investments demonstrates resilience and a focus on long-term growth.

VWO and LS Digital Join Forces to Empower Indian Brands with Data-Driven Digital Solutions

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

VWO, a leader in experimentation and experience optimization, has teamed up with LS Digital, an integrated Digital Business Transformation (DBT) company, to help Indian brands elevate their digital journeys and accelerate growth through data-powered insights and testing.

This collaboration merges VWO’s expertise in A/B testing, user behavior analysis, personalization, and conversion optimization with LS Digital’s vast experience in digital transformation. LS Digital’s services span Media, Creative & Communication, Data & Insights, Tech & Innovation, UI/UX, and CX/EX, offering a comprehensive suite to meet the needs of brands aiming to enhance customer engagement and boost conversion rates.

As part of this partnership, LS Digital clients will benefit from VWO’s all-encompassing platform, which provides valuable insights into user interactions, facilitates A/B testing on web and mobile platforms, and allows for large-scale personalization. The goal is to provide brands with the tools necessary to continuously improve their digital presence and deliver outstanding user experiences.

Santosh Shukla, CEO – UI/UX at LS Digital, shared, “At LS Digital, we are always looking for partnerships that can provide innovative solutions to our clients, helping them stay competitive in the digital space. Working with VWO allows us to offer state-of-the-art experience optimization capabilities, enabling brands to craft seamless and effective customer journeys. This collaboration combines our transformation expertise with VWO’s powerful platform, enhancing the value we deliver and supporting long-term growth and customer loyalty.”

Sparsh Gupta, CEO of VWO, added, “This partnership with LS Digital is a strategic move to extend our cutting-edge experience optimization tools to a wider range of businesses, enabling us to deliver greater value to our mutual clients. LS Digital’s prowess in digital business transformation is in perfect alignment with our mission to help brands make data-driven decisions that significantly improve customer experience and fuel sustainable growth.”

Through this partnership, brands can expect a seamless user experience across devices, unlocking new opportunities for growth and ensuring that they remain at the forefront of the digital transformation curve.

Connecty AI Secures $1.8 Million in Pre-Seed Funding to Advance Enterprise AI Solutions

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Enterprise AI solutions innovator Connecty AI has raised $1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Market One Capital. The round also saw investments from Notion Capital and notable data industry leaders such as Marcin Zukowski, co-founder of Snowflake, and Maciej Zawadzinski, founder of Piwik PRO.

The funding will support Connecty AI’s efforts to enhance its context engine by integrating more data sources and offering the technology as an API-based service.

Founded by Aish Agarwal and Peter Wisniewski, Connecty AI enables businesses to connect to data warehouses like Snowflake and BigQuery in under five minutes using no-code deployment. Emerging from stealth mode, the platform leverages advanced tools to extract and link multi-dimensional context from diverse data sources and use cases. Its enterprise-specific context graph integrates real-time human feedback, enabling a dynamic semantic system to automate data tasks across various roles.

During its prototype stage, Connecty AI collaborated with enterprises generating annual recurring revenues between $5 million and $2 billion, validating its approach on real-world data scenarios rather than relying on public datasets.

This fresh funding positions Connecty AI to continue driving innovation in enterprise AI, offering scalable and highly adaptive solutions for data management and automation.

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Wingify Achieves Rs 61 Cr Profit in FY24 with Robust Revenue Growth

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Wingify, a bootstrapped SaaS enterprise, marked a strong performance in FY24, with its operating revenue increasing by 30.8% to Rs 288.61 crore, as per its consolidated financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The Pune-based company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 61.04 crore, reflecting a 30% year-on-year growth.

The company specializes in SaaS solutions, particularly its flagship product, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), which aids online businesses in improving conversion rates. Revenue from the sale of VWO products accounted for the entirety of its operational income. Additional income streams, including Rs 9.98 crore from interest income and Rs 2.91 crore from other non-operating sources, brought Wingify’s total revenue to Rs 301.5 crore for FY24.

On the expenditure side, employee benefits remained the largest cost driver, consuming 61.8% of the company’s total expenses, which rose by 16.4% to Rs 136.83 crore. Legal expenses saw a sharp rise, surging by 497% to Rs 38.10 crore, hinting at either substantial legal challenges or significant investment in legal infrastructure. Other operational costs, such as IT and rentals, totaled Rs 32.04 crore, while advertising expenses held steady at Rs 14.36 crore. Wingify’s overall expenses grew 33.5% to Rs 221.33 crore in FY24.

Despite these increased costs, Wingify maintained strong profitability metrics, with a return on capital employed (ROCE) of 18.85% and an EBITDA margin of 27%. For every rupee of operational revenue earned, the company spent just Re 0.77 in FY24. The company reported cash and cash equivalents of Rs 7.42 crore, with trade receivables growing to Rs 74.09 crore by the fiscal year’s end.

In terms of leadership, co-founder and CEO Sparsh Gupta received an annual remuneration of Rs 19.5 crore in FY24, marking a significant increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, founder Paras Chopra’s remuneration dropped considerably to Rs 1.38 crore. Chopra remains the majority stakeholder, with Gupta holding approximately 5% of the company’s equity.

Wingify competes with global players like Optimizely and Google Optimize. With pricing options starting at Rs 50,000 per month, the company targets a broad customer base, ensuring relevance across various industries. Its robust growth after a modest FY23 performance underscores the resilience and efficiency of its bootstrapped, zero-debt business model.

Wingify represents a scalable, sustainable vision for Indian SaaS companies, showcasing how smaller, agile firms can create impactful solutions for global markets without relying on external funding or massive organizational structures.

Sumit Maloo Takes Charge as CFO at Neeman’s, Driving Retail Expansion Plans

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

Sustainable footwear brand Neeman’s has welcomed Sumit Maloo as its Chief Financial Officer, marking a strategic move to accelerate its growth trajectory.

With extensive experience in financial strategy and operations, Sumit brings expertise from his tenure at Skechers South Asia, where he managed financial planning, analysis, reporting, and treasury. His career portfolio also includes leadership roles in finance at Staples, ICICI Bank, and Reliance Brands, showcasing his vast industry acumen.

Neeman’s, often compared to the US-based Allbirds, creates eco-friendly footwear using innovative materials such as merino wool, organic cotton, recycled PET bottles, tree wood, and bamboo. The brand distributes its products through its website and leading marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, while also maintaining an offline presence in retail chains like Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle.

Despite achieving nearly 50% growth in FY23, the Hyderabad-based startup reported losses exceeding ₹100 crore. To drive future growth, Neeman’s is doubling down on its retail strategy. With 14 exclusive offline stores already operational, the company aims to expand to 100 stores across major Indian cities within the next two years, under Sumit’s financial leadership.

This strategic expansion underscores Neeman’s commitment to making sustainable footwear accessible across India.

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DesignX Secures $1 Million in Pre-Series A Funding Led by Piper Serica Angel Fund

By
Supriya Biswas
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0

DesignX, a Noida-based hyper-automation company revolutionizing manufacturing shop floors, has raised $1 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Piper Serica Angel Fund.

Previously, the company garnered $300,000 in equity funding in 2021 from Modular Capital, Accel, and select investors from the manufacturing sector.

The fresh funding will propel DesignX’s Df-OS platform into key global markets, including APAC, Japan, and Europe, while focusing on achieving lighthouse status through AI-driven analytics and sustainable manufacturing practices.

Founded in 2015 by Rajat Srivastava and Nishant Srivastava, DesignX specializes in enabling manufacturers to optimize productivity and sustainability. Its flagship Df-OS platform leverages real-time data analytics to minimize waste and carbon footprints, serving industries like automotive, FMCG, and consumer electronics.

The platform transforms traditional factory processes with minimal infrastructure investment, likened to the disruptive impacts of UPI and 4G technologies. It addresses challenges like outdated workflows and infrastructure, significantly reducing modernization costs and timelines.

With the factory process application market valued at around $34 billion annually, DesignX is positioned to capture growing demand for digital transformation in manufacturing.

The company has established partnerships with prominent players, including Unilever, Hero MotoCorp, and Dabur. Over the last three years, it has digitized more than 10,000 processes in 500+ factories, connected over 1,400 machines in real time, and amassed 405+ customers.

DesignX continues to lead the charge in redefining manufacturing operations with its innovative solutions and forward-looking strategies.

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