Swiggy Q1: Losses deepen; Rapido stake on block

Additionally within the letter:
■ Zetwerk founders up stake
■ Microsoft, Meta journey the AI wave
■ Sops for chip designers

Swiggy’s loss doubles to Rs 1,197 crore, income jumps

Swiggy founder Sriharsha Majety

Swiggy’s losses deepened in Q1FY26, whilst the corporate posted a strong income progress.

Driving the information: The meals supply and fast commerce participant reported a web lack of Rs 1,197 crore, almost double in comparison with the identical time final 12 months, whereas income rose 54% year-on-year to Rs 4,961 crore. Mounting supply, advert, and logistics prices throughout verticals, particularly in fast commerce, drove whole bills up 60%.

Phase-wise breakup:

• Meals supply stayed worthwhile at Rs 202 crore.
• Instamart bled closely, with Rs 806 crore in income progress and Rs 797 crore in losses.
• Ebitda margin remained detrimental as the corporate continued to broaden its ecosystem.

The underside line: Swiggy is betting on ecosystem-led progress, however the mounting price of that ambition is holding profitability out of attain. With rivals circling throughout verticals, the corporate faces little room for error.

Additionally Learn: Swiggy flags quick commerce battle as Amazon, Flipkart join 10-minute race

Blinkit delivers prescription meds in Bengaluru pilot

In the meantime, Swiggy rival and Everlasting-owned fast commerce platform Blinkit is testing 10–30 minute delivery of prescription medicines in choose Bengaluru pincodes. The pilot consists of antibiotics, diabetes treatment, and neuro care merchandise, marking a step past its over-the-counter choice.

Heating up: This transfer places Blinkit into the crosshairs of established pharmacies reminiscent of Tata 1mg, Netmeds, and Pharmeasy, apart from newer challengers together with PhonePe’s Pincode and Davaindia. It can additionally probably run into acquainted fast commerce rivals Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and Zepto, which additionally supply quick medicine deliveries. Epharmacies at the moment seize solely 3–5% of India’s Rs 2.4 lakh crore market.

Swiggy to chop Rapido stake as meals supply pilot raises battle of curiosity

Swiggy founder Sriharsha Majety and Rapido cofounder Aravind Sanka

Swiggy plans to pare its stake in Rapido because the mobility unicorn steps into its house turf of meals supply.

What’s taking place: The meals supply platform stated it’s “actively re-evaluating” its 12% holding in Rapido, citing a “potential battle of curiosity” with the startup’s new plans. In a word to shareholders, Swiggy praised Rapido’s progress, however signalled the 2 corporations had been on divergent paths.

The backstory: Swiggy led a $180-million funding round in Rapido in 2022, valuing the agency at $830 million. Notably, the Naspers-owned Prosus has investments in each corporations.

Turf wars: Earlier this month, ET reported that Rapido will start trialling its meals supply service—Ownly— in choose areas of Bengaluru, reminiscent of Koramangala, HSR Structure, and Sarjapur Highway, with plans to scale the providing to 10 cities over the following 12 months, sources instructed us.

Quote, unquote: “Rapido is a parallel dialog (from money stability). We have chosen to go separate methods,” stated Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety.

Zetwerk founders guess massive with Rs 600 crore infusion

Srinath Ramakkrushnan (left) and Amrit Acharya, cofounders, Zetwerk

Zetwerk cofounders Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan have pumped Rs 600 crore into their business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing startup, elevating the money by way of private debt as they gear up for an preliminary public providing (IPO).

Driving the information: The infusion, routed through Creovate Improvements, lifts their mixed stake by over 2%, reflecting a broader development of Indian founders shoring up management earlier than going public. Acharya and Ramakkrushnan at the moment personal 14–15% of the corporate.

Huge image: Others have performed the identical hand just lately. Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal raised debt to buy shares. Zepto’s founders did the same to top up their stakes. Zetwerk plans to make use of the funds for operations and growth, because it evolves from a pure manufacturing market to a research-driven vertically built-in participant.

By the numbers: Revenue for FY24 climbed 26% to Rs 14,436 crore, although web losses widened to Rs 919 crore on account of one-off expenses.

Additionally Learn: Zetwerk mulls public listing within two years, cofounder says

Azure, Meta journey AI growth to beat earnings expectations

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft and Meta smashed Q2 forecasts, fuelled by surging enterprise urge for food for AI. Azure revenue leapt 39% year-on-year to an annualised $75 billion, whereas Meta’s Q2 net profit soared 36% to $18.3 billion.

Zoom in: The numbers present that their heavy AI spending is beginning to repay.

• Microsoft poured $24.2 billion into capital expenditure, up 27%, and is broadening Azure’s mannequin lineup with Meta, Mistral, and xAI, as OpenAI shifts some workloads to rivals.
• Meta projected 2025 bills of $114–118 billion, with buyers backing its “personal superintelligence vision”, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg says will hand extra customers management than centralising AI energy.

Zoom out: For now, Wall Avenue is rewarding outcomes over restraint. Each corporations are turning AI hype into actual enterprise offers and new merchandise. Nonetheless, the strain is on to maintain the pipeline and the income flowing.

Additionally Learn: Microsoft set to hit $4 trillion market cap after earnings beat

Govt backs 23 chip design startups with new funding

The Centre has cleared financial support for 23 chip design startups below its Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, aiming to energy improvements in surveillance, power, and telecom chipsets.

What’s taking place: This marks India’s most bold design push in semiconductors but. Every startup can entry as much as Rs 15 crore for prototyping and Rs 30 crore for commercialisation over 5 years.

• The federal government can also be providing entry to superior Electronics Design Automation (EDA) instruments to hurry up growth.

Of the 72 corporations onboarded below DLI to date, 10 have already secured enterprise capital funding, whereas six have dedicated to investing their very own funds.

Context: New Delhi is eager to chop its reliance on imported chips and construct a globally aggressive fabless ecosystem. The design-first strategy dovetails with big-ticket initiatives reminiscent of Micron’s Gujarat plant and India’s rising chip-packaging hubs.