Fintech major PhonePe has discontinued its partnership with SoftBank-backed payments platform Juspay and will not be working with any third-party routing platform, offering direct integration to its customers, the firm told CNBC-TV18.
“As a payment aggregator, one of our core roles is to provide the best in class success rates to our merchants through our solutions. We are able to do it consistently for merchants directly integrated with us and hence have decided to not offer our solutions through any payment orchestration platform,” PhonePe said in a statement.
“Going forward, we would offer our solutions to merchants through direct integrations only,” the statement added.
Bhavish Aggarwal set to pledge 1% of Ola Electric’s equity; EV plans to open 4,000 in 19 days
Founder Bhavish Aggarwal has planned to pledge 1.10% of OLA Electric’s equity—a move believed to be a first for the EV maker. As of September 30, Aggarwal held 30.02% of the company’s total shares.
Under the non-disposal undertaking, Aggarwal has undertaken to not dispose of 48,353,967 equity shares of the company comprising 1.10% of the equity share capital, which constitute 3.65% of the promoter shares.
The uptrend in the Ola Electric stock also comes on a day when the company has announced a massive store expansion plan over the month of December. With 800 stores at present, the firm has announced it will expand its store network by over four times and have 4,000 stores in India by December 20, 2024.
Prosus doubles profit in H1; HY25 revenue jumps 26%
Dutch technology investor Prosus has nearly doubled its profit in H1FY25, with a 26% topline growth in its operations. Consolidated e-commerce revenue hit $3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA for the same soared 5x to $181 million.
The Swiggy IPO marked a major milestone, valuing the company at $11.3 billion. Prosus sold a part of its stake for $500 million, although Swiggy’s internal rate of return (IRR) stood at a modest 7%. Prosus’ other Indian investments, however, have delivered stronger IRRs: ElasticRun at 31%, Meesho at 32%, and PayU at 30%.
In edtech, Eruditus is a bright spot, delivering positive returns, unlike global peers like Byju’s, Stack Overflow, and Skillsoft. Beyond this, Prosus is doubling down on India’s potential. It recently invested $80 million in Mintifi, a supply chain company, and $100 million in Vastu Housing Finance.
Pathway raises $10 million in seed funding round
AI startup Pathway, has raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by TQ Ventures, with participation from Kadmos, Inovo, Market One Capital, and Id4. Early investor Lukasz Kaiser, a co-author of the Transformer model and key researcher behind GPT-1 at OpenAI, also pitched in along with high-profile angel investors.
The startup will use fresh capital to support the creation of AI systems that think and learn in real-time, mimicking human cognition. The firm’s offerings include infrastructure components that fuel live AI systems from dynamic sources of structured and unstructured data, enabling decision-making based on always up-to-date knowledge.
“Live AI will be a critical enabler of the next generation of LLMs that support complex reasoning. Today, we empower organizations with complex, changing data sets to embrace real-time intelligence. This funding will help us create the missing components that will enable all enterprises, even those holding the most sensitive data, to address issues they’ve never been able to solve before,” said Zuzanna Stamirowska, co-founder and CEO of Pathway.
Nazara invests Rs 196 crores cumulatively in new & portfolio companies
Nazara Technologies, a diversified gaming and sports media company, has expanded into physical entertainment with the acquisition of a 60% stake in Funky Monkeys Play Centers, an indoor soft play centers for children, for Rs 43.7 crores. Funky Monkeys operates 11 centers across India, offering interactive play experiences for children.
Nazara will also invest Rs 4.2 crores for a 4.7% stake in Learntube.ai, an AI-powered edtech platform. Catering to over 20 lakh learners, LearnTube offers affordable, interactive gamified learning experiences for professional skilling.
Additionally, Nazara will invest Rs 148 crores in its existing subsidiaries including Sportskeeda, Nodwin Gaming, and Datawrkz to increase its ownership in them and support their growth.
PeakXV Spark backs fraud prevention software startup RaptorX
Fraud prevention software company RaptorX has bagged Rs 4 crore in a pre-seed funding round from PeakXV Spark, EagleWings Ventures, and Point One Capital. The round also saw participation from Lenskart Founder & CEO Peyush Bansal, Boat Co-founder & CMO Aman Gupta, and key angels (SVPs) from Google.
The startup intends to use the fresh capital to build and enhance its AI and machine learning capabilities for applications in both banking and e-commerce. The funds will also be used funds to expand its team, improve integrations with payment gateways, e-commerce platforms, and banking systems.
Additionally, RaptorX will invest in customer onboarding, training, and support to encourage user adoption.
Swiggy expands 10-minute food delivery service to over 400 cities
Foodtech giant Swiggy has expanded its 10-minute food delivery offering, Bolt, to over 400 cities and towns across India. Initially launched in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune, Bolt is now active in cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Indore, Coimbatore, and Kochi as well.
Swiggy has expanded the 10-minute food delivery service to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Roorkee, Guntur, Warangal, Patna, Jagtial, Solan, Nashik and Shillong among others, it added. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have witnessed the highest adoption for Bolt followed by Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab, it said in a statement.
“To ensure safety of delivery partners, they are not informed of the distinction between Bolt and regular orders, and there is no incentive for fast delivery. The delivery radius for Bolt is limited to 2 km as of now which also increases familiarity and enables faster delivery,” the company said.
Newton School of Technology launches seed fund to boost student entrepreneurship
Newton School of Technology has launched “StartX,” an innovative seed fund program, designed to provide students with an opportunity to go beyond the regular course curriculum and develop impactful solutions during college years.
The fund was officially announced by Pratik Poddar, Partner, Nexus Venture Partners and entrepreneur Varun Mayya at NST’s Pune campus in Ajeenkya DY Patil University.
The seed fund will provide funding, mentorship, and resources to help students develop tech-driven products tackling real-world problems, fostering a culture of bold ideas and transformative innovation.
Amazon Indian expands Multi-Channel Fulfilment offerings to sellers and D2C brands
Amazon India has announced the expansion of its Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) offerings, enhancing automation capabilities and payment options for sellers and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands.
This expansion includes two key features: an Integrations API suite and a Pay-on-Delivery (POD) payment option. Today, more than 1000 entrepreneurs and D2C brands including Himalayan Organics, DermaTouch, Satthwa and others are using MCF services, a statement said.
“This service streamlines operations, provides flexible payment options, and allows seamless integration across sales channels, helping businesses offer superior customer experiences and expand their reach. Our vision is to level the playing field for businesses of all sizes, contributing to the overall growth of India’s digital economy,” said Vivek Somareddy, VP, Seller Experience, Emerging Markets and India Global Trade at Amazon.
Razorpay joins MHA to combat cyber fraud around digital payments ecosystem
Fintech major Razorpay has partnered with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to boost cyber security around the digital payments ecosystem in the country.
The collaboration aims to empower businesses and end-customers with critical knowledge to protect themselves while driving widespread awareness about cybersecurity across the country.
Recent data from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal revealed a sharp increase in digital fraud incidents across India, with over 7,000 complaints reported daily (between January and April 2024).
44.78 million Indians travelled by bus in July-September period: redBus Report
The gross ticketing value reached Rs 40 crore in July – September 2024. During this period, there were 5000+ active private bus operators, and 44.78 million passengers travelled in this period, according to redBus India BusTrack report.
Metros contributed 33% of bus bookings, while other areas accounted for 67%, continuing to demonstrate the growing importance of tier-II and tier-III towns. Tamil Nadu topped the charts with an 81% bus occupancy rate. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recorded the lowest occupancy at 61%. The all-India bus occupancy rate stood at 74%.
On redBus platforms, millennials dominated, with 38% aged 26-36 years and 30% aged 18-25 years – possibly because of the festive seasons. Last quarter young adults dominated the bus bookings in the last quarter. 33% of all passengers were female and 54% of all bookings were for solo travelers, the report added.
Chingari foray into faith and astrology market with AstroLive
Tech4Billion Media Pvt Limited, the parent company of live video streaming & social casual gaming platform Chingari, has expanded into the $350 billion faith and astrology market with the launch of its new app, AstroLive.
The platform will connect users with professional astrologers for live consultations and personalized spiritual guidance.
Started in September 2024, AstroLive said it has garnered over 100,000 paid users and has onboarded more than 1500 expert astrologers. The app plans to acquire 1 million paid users by the end of 2025, a statement said.
Renewable energy capacity grew 5x over the past decade: EY-IVCA Report
Renewable energy capacity has grown 5x over the past decade, from 24 GW in FY14-15 to 136 GW in FY24-25. Non-fossil fuel capacity now represents 45% of the total installed power generation capacity, according to a report by EY-IVCA.
Titled “Energy Transition: India’s Journey to Net Zero”, the report showed that India is on track to achieve 50% non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030 and aims for 500 GW of such capacity by then. The country has already reduced emissions intensity by 40% compared to 2005 levels, building confidence in achieving the 45% reduction target by 2030.
Despite advancements in renewables, coal will remain crucial in meeting India’s rising energy demand in the near term. Initiatives include biofuel blending, rapid EV adoption, and electrification of Indian Railways, which aims to achieve net zero by 2030, the report added.
Mphasis F1 Foundation and The/Nudge Institute launch a program to create digital work opportunities for 1 million women
Mphasis F1 Foundation, in partnership with The/Nudge Institute, has announced the launch of the ‘Digital Naukri Challenge,’ aimed at creating and showcasing digital work opportunities for 1 million women by 2030.
With a Prize Purse of Rs 6.5 crores and a duration spanning 20 months, the challenge invites tech startups and innovators across digital work organisations, IT/ITES, BPO, tech outsourcing companies, Job Access Platforms, Digital/Tech Skilling organisations and more, to discover disruptive, tech-first, and population-scale solutions to unlock gainful employment opportunities for more women in India, a statement said.
The cohort will comprise of 8-10 organisations and will be provided with access to mentorship from investors, research, and implementation partners, advisors, academia, and policymakers.
