Also in the letter:
■ Mobikwik shares soar
■ Smartphone shipments flat in 2024
■ QR code frauds double
KKR invests in Rebel Foods valuing the cloud kitchen brand at around $800 million
Rebel Foods founders Kallol Banerjee (left) and Jaydeep Barman
KKR has acquired a stake in Mumbai-based Rebel Foods, the parent company of Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and other cloud kitchen brands, the private equity major said in a news release.
Details: The investment was made through a secondary share purchase transaction and follows a $210 million (about Rs 1,782 crore) funding round led by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek announced on December 12.
Tell me more: A significant part of the financing round involved a secondary share sale, conducted at a valuation of approximately $750-800 million. The primary fund infusion as part of the round, valued the company at $1.4 billion, same as its previous funding round three years ago.
Similar large secondary fundings have been reported at companies like Lenskart, PhysicsWallah, Purplle and Healthkart as part of broader funding rounds.
Also Read: Exclusive: Temasek in talks for up to $150-million bite of Rebel Foods
Over 40 Indian startup leaders transitioned between founding and executive roles in 2024: report
Over 40 executives in the Indian startup ecosystem moved between senior leadership roles and entrepreneurial positions, with some stepping up as founders and CEOs, according to data shared by executive search firm Longhouse Consulting.
Shifting gears: Karthik Gurumurthy, former head of Swiggy Instamart, donned the cofounder hat by partnering with legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to launch SRT10 Athleisure, a sports athleisure brand. Meanwhile, Ayyappan R, who previously led Flipkart-owned travel booking platform Cleartrip, exited the firm to start FirstClub, a quick commerce startup.
More movements: Other notable executive-to-founder transitions include Abhijit Upadhye, previously a partner at Binny Bansal’s consultancy startup xto10x, who joined rural commerce startup Rozana as a cofounder and Karan Shroff, former chief marketing officer at edtech firm Unacademy, who cofounded gaming startup LightFury Games.
Vice versa: This year has also seen a trend where some leaders chose to step away from their cofounder roles to take up senior executive positions, bringing their entrepreneurial expertise to established firms. Cultsport cofounder Shamik Sharma moved to Australian enterprise software company Atlassian Corporation as senior vice president of engineering, while Maruthy Ramgandhi, cofounder of women-centric fashion platform Stumbl, became chief technology officer at Snitch, a new-age fashion brand.
MobiKwik shares jump 14%, rally extends to second day
Mobikwik cofounders Bipin Preet Singh, Upasana Taku
Shares of One MobiKwik Systems skyrocketed 14% in early trading today to a high of Rs 605 on the BSE, having surged 37% in two days after posting strong listing gains on Wednesday.
IPO outcome: Mobikwik’s IPO got a huge response from investors, with an overall subscription of 119 times at close. The stock has already posted returns of 117% from its upper price band of Rs 279. MobiKwik’s shares launched on the exchanges on Wednesday, with a premium of 58.5%.
More details: The Rs 572 crore IPO consists of a fresh issue of up to 2.05 crore equity shares, with proceeds allocated for growth in financial and payment services, research and development (R&D) in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and expansion of payment device infrastructure.
Also Read: Mobikwik shares surge 90% on stock market debut
Together, smartphone companies fail to increase volume again
After a tepid festive season for smartphone sales with a low single-digit increase in volume, market trackers estimate shipments to be flat for the second year in a row in 2024.
Expert take: Analysts expect a low single-digit growth in 2025 as well. Brands will need to renew their partnerships with offline retail channels and boost marketing spending around generative AI features in smartphones in order to revive the demand.
The numbers: The festive season this year, which started in late September and lasted till the end of October, saw only 1-2% volume growth compared to the last season, as per Counterpoint Research. It said that the smartphone segment’s overall volume was around 30% in the third quarter of 2023 which dropped to under 20% by Q3 2024.
Quote, unquote: “The festive season was slightly better than last year, but not as impactful as it used to be in the pre-pandemic years. Volume drivers like the sub-$100 phones are not seeing high demand because of poor macroeconomic conditions with the bottom-of-the-pyramid users under stress,” said Prachir Singh, senior analyst, Counterpoint Research.
QR code frauds double in two years
The number of QR code-based frauds in the country has doubled in two years to 39,638 in 2023-24 along with other digital financial frauds amid increasing digital payment transactions.
Tell me more: The amount involved in QR code fraud increased nearly three times to Rs 56.34 crore during the same period, the finance ministry has informed the Lok Sabha.
Until September end of FY25, 18,167 QR code fraud cases have been reported involving Rs 22.22 crore, it said.
Government initiative: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have taken various initiatives to prevent payment-related frauds including QR code-based frauds from time to time.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Blessy Reji and Riya Roy Chowdhury in Bengaluru.
