Additionally within the letter:
■ Everlasting shares slide, Ola surges
■ Rising manufacturers draw investments
■ Google’s most cancers breakthrough
Programming observe: ETtech High 5 can be off for the subsequent few days. We can be again on October 22. Wishing all our readers a contented and affluent Diwali!
Lenskart anticipated to boost Rs 430 crore pre-IPO placement forward of November itemizing
Peyush Bansal, founder, Lenskart
Eyewear retailer Lenskart is inching nearer to wrapping up a Rs 430 crore pre-IPO funding round, simply weeks forward of its public debut. Traders corresponding to DMart founder Radhakishan Damani and SBI Mutual Fund are anticipated to take part.
Funding particulars:
Additionally Learn: ETtech Explainer: Inside Lenskart’s upcoming Rs 8,000-crore IPO
IPO snapshot: If it goes via, this could be India’s fourth-largest IPO of 2025, after Tata Capital, HDB Financial, and LG.
- As per the draft pink herring prospectus (DRHP), Lenskart plans to boost Rs 2,150 crore by way of a contemporary difficulty.
- A secondary sale of 132 million shares will observe, with exits by buyers like TPG Progress, Kedaara Capital, and TR Capital.
- Founders Peyush Bansal, Neha Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi will even offload part of their stake.
- The IPO worth band is predicted to be introduced by the tip of October.
- Lenskart has appointed Kotak Mahindra, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Avendus Capital, and Intensive Fiscal Companies as lead bankers.
If profitable, this could be India’s fourth-largest IPO in 2025, trailing Tata Capital, HDB Monetary, and LG.
Financials:
- Internet revenue: Jumped to Rs 297 crore in FY25, in comparison with a lack of Rs 10 crore the earlier yr.
- Income: Rose to Rs 6,652 crore in FY25, up from Rs 5,428 crore in FY24.
Additionally Learn: Shark Tank judge Peyush Bansal nears billionaire status with Lenskart IPO
Capgemini completes acquisition of WNS
Aiman Ezzat, CEO, Capgemini
French IT heavyweight Capgemini has sealed its $3.3 billion acquisition of WNS, the Indian-origin enterprise course of outsourcing agency headquartered within the US. The deal, first announced in July, is among the greatest performs in international tech companies in recent times.
Acquisition particulars:
- Capgemini is paying $76.50 per share, excluding WNS’s internet debt, to bolster its enterprise AI and enterprise companies stack.
- WNS can be folded into Capgemini’s books from October 17, including deep BPO capabilities to the group’s portfolio.
Additionally Learn: Inside Capgemini’s $3 billion deal for WNS: All you need to know
Purchasing spree:
In regards to the firm: With a world turnover of $25 billion, Capgemini is Europe’s No. 2 tech companies agency, second solely to Accenture — however now a number of steps nearer.
Additionally Learn: Capgemini’s $3.3 billion WNS buy may revive IT-plus-BPO model
Everlasting shares fall after Q2 revenue decline; analysts keep bullish
Deepinder Goyal, CEO, Everlasting
Shares of Eternal (Zomato’s parent) fell on Friday after it reported a steep revenue decline for Q2, whilst income almost tripled year-on-year. Regardless of the drag on earnings, analysts stay bullish on the corporate’s fast commerce play and progress prospects.
Financials:
- Income: Surged 183% YoY to Rs 13,590 crore, from Rs 4,799 crore throughout the identical interval final yr.
- Internet revenue: Fell 63% YoY to Rs 65 crore, down from Rs 176 crore a yr in the past.
- Blinkit: Losses barely lowered to Rs 156 crore (from Rs 162 crore in Q1)
- Hyperpure: Income fell 31% YoY and 55% QoQ to Rs 1,023 crore.
Inventory motion: Everlasting inventory fell as a lot as 4% on NSE earlier than recovering barely to finish the day 1.5% decrease at Rs 342.75 per share.
Analysts’ take:
- Goldman Sachs: Blinkit is gaining market share in a beneficial aggressive panorama. Whereas retailer expansions and consumer acquisition prices will weigh in margins, long-term outlook stays sturdy.
- Morgan Stanley: GST-led demand is predicted to normalise by Q3. Margin enhancements from Blinkit’s On the spot Buy combine ought to play out over the subsequent 4–6 quarters.
- Elara Capital: 80% of Everlasting’s enterprise has shifted to the moment mannequin, including 100 foundation factors to margins.
Ola Electrical rises 15% in run as much as vitality storage foray
Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola Electrical
Ola Electric rallied nearly 15% over three periods because it unveiled its new energy storage initiative, Ola Shakti.
Inventory motion: The inventory hit back-to-back higher circuits on Wednesday and Thursday. It rose one other 4.6% on Friday earlier than cooling to shut at Rs 56.85, up 2.65%. Nonetheless, it stays over 40% beneath its 52-week excessive of Rs 102.50 and greater than 60% off its all-time peak of Rs 157.
Mid-sized shopper manufacturers like Wingreens, Wow! Momo, Curefoods eye PE funding
A clutch of mid-sized shopper firms is back on investors’ radar because the slowdown that froze dealmaking for almost two years begins to thaw.
For example: Names like Wingreens Farms, Curefoods, Chitale Bandhu, Baker’s Dozen, and Wow! Momo are in energetic talks with personal fairness and enterprise funds to boost contemporary capital by promoting 10-15% minority stakes, sources instructed us.
Non-public fairness companies corresponding to A91 Companions, Amicus Capital Companions, Xponentia Capital and Kedaara Capital are main the discussions.
Why the push:
- Huge-ticket shopper offers corresponding to Balaji Wafers have slowed due to steep valuations.
- In consequence, funds are turning their consideration to agile mid-sized manufacturers, with funding sizes starting from Rs 200-500 crore.
- These firms, insiders say, are rising quick sufficient to alter established gamers throughout their respective classes.
Funding buzz:
Google Gemma mannequin helps uncover a brand new potential most cancers remedy
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
Google DeepMind’s newest breakthrough could have simply pushed the frontiers of cancer treatment. In partnership with Yale, DeepMind’s AI mannequin from the Gemma household generated a contemporary speculation on how most cancers cells behave — one which was later confirmed in lab experiments.
The invention: The AI mannequin, skilled to grasp the mobile “language”, crunched via single-cell knowledge to determine a significant hurdle: “chilly” tumours. These tumours slip below the immune system’s radar and resist immunotherapy.
- Gemma proposed a conditional amplifier drug that may make chilly tumours extra seen to immune cells — however solely in particular mobile environments.
- That is the type of layered, situational perception that conventional trial-and-error analysis typically misses.
Why it issues: “What made this prediction so thrilling was that it was a novel concept,” Google stated in a weblog publish. DeepMind researchers imagine this reveals how larger, extra superior organic AI fashions can result in utterly new scientific concepts.
Additionally Learn: Vizag hub Google’s largest AI investment outside US: Sundar Pichai