Top Stories This Week
The quick commerce sector is experiencing intense competition, with platforms attempting to rein in cash burn while discounting reaches record highs. The government’s clampdown on dark patterns in ecommerce, quick commerce, and ride-hailing will increase compliance costs for these companies.
Quick commerce players are facing difficulties in hiring and retaining delivery partners as demand surges. Companies like Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart have opened hundreds of dark stores to meet rapid delivery timelines, but some are cutting corners on hygiene and food safety.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has eased rules for startup founders on retaining their employee stock options (Esops) as they take their companies public. Investors are getting hooked on short, binge-worthy micro dramas as the next big wave in India’s entertainment space.
Omnichannel jewellery retailer BlueStone is set to become India’s newest unicorn, with a secondary deal valuing the company at around $1.2 billion ahead of its public listing. Ride-hailing platforms Rapido, Uber, and Ola suspended their bike taxi operations in Bengaluru following a Karnataka High Court order banning the service.
Private equity funds are acquiring significant stakes in rapidly growing technology firms across high-growth sectors. India’s deeptech-focused venture capital funds are stepping up their fundraising efforts as the ecosystem matures with growing government backing.
China’s curbs on rare earth exports have raised concerns across the electronics industry, with manufacturers warning of looming shortages. Apple’s largest supplier, Foxconn, is setting up a unit in Tamil Nadu to manufacture iPhone enclosures.
Digital lending startups are transitioning towards secured lending as the unsecured segment shows signs of slowing down. Stockbroker Groww is planning to seek Sebi’s approval to offer trading in corporate bonds through its mobile application.
Artificial intelligence has become central to how recruiters identify talent, handling 70-80% of the initial screening process at IT firms. Essential AI’s Ashish Vaswani expressed the company’s ambition to be the ‘DeepSeek in the West’, referring to the Chinese AI startup known for developing high-performing and cost-efficient large language models.
