Additionally within the letter:
■ GlobalBees faces insolvency
■ Startups strengthen home management
■ Meta eyeing OpenAI expertise
City Firm posts Rs 240 crore revenue in FY25, income rises 38%
(L-R) Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounders, City Firm
IPO-bound City Firm has reported a 38% enhance in its working revenue, reaching Rs 1,144 crore for the monetary yr ending March 31, 2025, in accordance with its annual report launched on Wednesday.
Monetary particulars:
- The corporate turned worthwhile in FY25, posting a web revenue of Rs 240 crore in comparison with a lack of Rs 93 crore in FY24.
- A big a part of this turnaround got here from a Rs 211-crore deferred tax credit score booked in the course of the yr. Even earlier than tax, the at-home providers platform reported a revenue of Rs 28 crore.
Inform me extra:
- In a letter to shareholders, cofounders Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan acknowledged that the corporate plans to speed up progress by deepening its presence in present cities, getting into new markets, cross-selling providers, and increasing choices, equivalent to InstaHelp.
- In FY25, City Firm averaged round 47,800 lively service professionals on the platform every month and recorded 6.8 million annual transacting customers.
Additionally Learn: Urban Company enters quick commerce with 15-minute househelp service, Insta Maids
IPO plan: On April 28, City Firm filed its draft crimson herring prospectus for a Rs 1,900 crore IPO. The difficulty features a main element of Rs 429 crore. It is a scaled-down model of its earlier plan to boost Rs 3,000 crore.
Ola launches zero p.c fee mannequin throughout India; drivers to maintain complete fare earnings
Experience-hailing platform Ola has launched a zero-commission model throughout India, enabling driver-partners of autos, bikes, and cabs to retain 100% of their fare earnings.
Driving the information:
- With this transfer, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led firm claims to be the primary within the trade to scrap commissions fully.
- Drivers can now select from a variety of subscription plans and maintain the complete fare quantity, with no deductions or incomes caps, the corporate stated.
- The mannequin was launched in phases, beginning with Ola Autos, then Ola Bikes, and now prolonged to Ola Cabs.
Rival updates: As ET reported on April 9, each Ola and Uber have adopted a fee-based mannequin impressed by Namma Yatri and Rapido. As an alternative of taking a reduce per journey, the platforms now cost drivers a hard and fast every day or weekly charge, providing limitless entry to bookings.
Different particulars: Ola has confronted a income decline and a spate of senior-level exits over the previous yr. Earlier in January, the Central Client Safety Authority (CCPA) issued notices to Ola and different ride-hailing companies over price discrepancies between Android and iPhone users.
Additionally Learn: Rapido, Ola, Uber change bike taxi to parcel delivery service on app
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Insolvency plea filed in opposition to FirstCry subsidiary GlobalBees
Supam Maheshwari and Nitin Agarwal, founders, GlobalBees
The administrators of direct-to-customer (D2C) homecare firm Kuber Industries have filed an insolvency petition in opposition to GlobalBees Manufacturers, a subsidiary of omnichannel retailer FirstCry, over unpaid dues totalling Rs 65 crore.
Particulars:
- Ashutosh Garg, Paritosh Garg and Manju Agarwal filed the plea earlier than the New Delhi bench of the NCLT.
- The tribunal is but to resolve whether or not it can admit the case and provoke proceedings.
- In line with FirstCry’s crimson herring prospectus, GlobalBees acquired Kuber Industries in December 2021.
- BrainBees Options, the mother or father entity of FirstCry, holds a 51% stake in GlobalBees, which focuses on buying and scaling D2C manufacturers.
Inform me extra: The insolvency submitting comes simply months after FirstCry introduced plans to take a position Rs 146 crore in GlobalBees. In April, the roll-up agency’s CEO, Nitin Agarwal, resigned, citing private causes.
ET has been reporting on the stress within the roll-up ecommerce sector. The phase has struggled with overvalued acquisitions and weak monetary self-discipline, resulting in stress throughout companies equivalent to Good Glamm Group, Mensa Manufacturers, Upscalio and Goat Model Labs.
Additionally Learn: FirstCry parent’s Q4 net loss widens 2.5X to Rs 111.5 crore despite revenue growth
Indian startups which have pared Chinese language stakes
Deep Kalra, founder, MakeMyTrip
MakeMyTrip is raising $2.6 billion to repurchase shares from China’s Journey.com group, aiming to chop the investor’s stake from 45% to twenty%. This transfer mirrors a broader pattern amongst new-age Indian firms over the previous few years.
Exit route: A number of Indian startups have lowered or eradicated Chinese language possession amid rising geopolitical tensions and a rising push for home management and technological self-reliance.
As an example: The next firms have pared Chinese language buyers’ stakes:
- Paytm: Ant Monetary, Ant Group’s fintech arm, as soon as held a 25% stake in Paytm’s mother or father, One97 Communication. That stake has since dropped to beneath 5%.
- Zomato: Alibaba had invested within the meals and grocery supply firm by means of Ant Monetary and Alipay Singapore Holding. Alipay totally exited Zomato in 2023, whereas Ant Group has reduced its holding from 13.7% to 2.1%.
- BigBasket: The Tata Group acquired full possession of the e-grocer in 2021 by shopping for out Alibaba’s complete stake as a part of a $1.2 billion deal.
- Dream Sports: Tencent had invested $100 million in Dream11 in 2018, buying roughly a ten% stake. Whereas actual figures haven’t been disclosed, CEO Harsh Jain confirmed that Tencent’s holding is now underneath 10%, and acknowledged that the corporate won’t settle for future capital from Chinese language buyers.
Sam Altman says Meta provided $100 million bonuses to OpenAI workers
(L-R) Jack Altman, founder, Alt Capital and Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is keeping off stress from a number of fronts. Days after stories of tensions with its major backer, Microsoft, Altman has accused Meta of aggressively making an attempt to poach OpenAI’s prime expertise as each firms ramp up efforts in the direction of synthetic basic intelligence (AGI).
Particulars: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has reportedly provided OpenAI workers signing bonuses of as much as $100 million to recruit them, a part of a broader recruitment push for its new superintelligence unit. The transfer alerts an intensifying battle for elite AI expertise.
On the Uncapped podcast hosted by his brother, Altman stated, “They (Meta) began making big gives to lots of people on our group. You recognize, like $100 million signing bonuses, greater than that (in) compensation per yr.” He claimed that none of OpenAI’s greatest group members had accepted the gives.
Additionally Learn: Meta is not ‘great’ at innovation: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
Background: Meta Platforms has invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a startup now valued at over $29 billion. In line with Reuters, Scale cofounder and CEO Alexandr Wang will be a part of Meta’s new AGI-focused division. Zuckerberg is alleged to be personally leading hiring for the group, with plans to usher in about 50 folks, together with a brand new head of AI analysis.
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