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An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 1y ago
An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war
Medial

The U.S. Air Force has successfully tested an AI-controlled F-16 fighter jet in a dogfight. The experimental aircraft, called Vista, showcased its lightning-fast maneuvers and engaged with a human-piloted F-16. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who flew in the AI-controlled jet, expressed confidence in the future role of AI in air combat. The Air Force plans to have a fleet of over 1,000 unmanned AI-enabled warplanes by 2028. However, concerns about the autonomy of AI in making life-and-death decisions, such as launching weapons, have been raised by arms control experts and humanitarian groups. The military's shift towards AI-driven planes is driven by security, cost, and strategic capability.

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Travel Boutique Online’s PAT crosses Rs 200 Cr in FY24

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Travel Boutique Online’s PAT crosses Rs 200 Cr in FY24
Medial

Online B2B travel distribution platform Travel Boutique Online (TBO) demonstrated a decent 30.8% Y-O-Y growth during the fiscal year ended March 2024. At the same time, the profits (PAT) of the company spiked with the same pace and surpassed Rs 200 crore in the same period. Travel Boutique’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 1,393 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,065 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements accessed from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) show. TBO Tek TBO is a travel distribution platform that extends white-label solutions to travel agents and tour operators. By facilitating air travel, hotel bookings, and tour packages, the platform makes money on commissions on these services. The commission from hotels and packages formed a significant 72.8% of the total operating revenue which increased 40.4% to Rs 1,014 crore during FY24. Commission from air ticketing contributed Rs 347 crore to its operating income. For the B2B travel distribution platform, the cost of providing services for air ticketing, hotels, and packages accounted for 40% of the overall expenditure. This cost grew 41.9% to Rs 471 crore in FY24. Travel Boutique’s spending on employee benefits grew by 21.5% in FY24. Its legal, professional, advertising, technology, and other overheads took the overall expenditure up by 29.2% to Rs 1,181 crore in FY24. Head to TheKredible for the complete expense breakup. The controlled cost mechanism increased Travel Boutique’s profit by 35.8% to Rs 201 crore in FY24 from Rs 148 crore. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins stood at 31% and 19.9% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 0.85 to earn a rupee in FY24. FY23-FY24 FY23 FY24 EBITDA Margin 19% 19.9% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹0.86 ₹0.85 ROCE 43% 31% TBO Tek was listed on the stock exchange on 15th May 2024. Currently, the share price of the firm stands at Rs 1,410.3 (as of 31st May 2025) with a total market cap of Rs 15,314 crore.

Uber India made Rs 807 Cr from ride-hailing in FY24

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Uber India made Rs 807 Cr from ride-hailing in FY24
Medial

Online mobility platform Uber India recorded a 41.1% year-on-year surge in revenue, which surpassed Rs 3,700 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024. However, despite this growth, the company's losses shrank by 71.4% during the same period. According to the consolidated financial statements of Uber India System Private Limited, its revenue from operations increased to Rs 3,762 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,666 crore in FY23. Moving to revenue recognition, collection from Uber rides (ride-hailing) accounted for 21.45% of the total operating revenue which increased by 18.9% to Rs 807 crore in FY24 from Rs 679 crore in FY23. The remaining income came from Uber BV, generated through engineering support services, back-office, and other support services, billed under a cost-plus model. The company also added Rs 99 crore from interest on current investment and other miscellaneous sources (non-operating) which tallied the overall revenue to Rs 3,860 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,744 crore in FY23. According to its consolidated statements, Uber India spent 67.6% of its overall cost on employee benefits. This cost grew by 29.4% to Rs 2,690 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 2,079 crore in FY23. Its cost of consumables amounted to Rs 657 crore in the previous fiscal year (FY24). Legal/professional fees, advertising, rent, repairs, safety security, and other overheads took the total expenditure up by 26.4% to Rs 3,977 crore in FY24 from Rs 3,146 crore in FY23. Uber India’s over 40% growth and controlled expenditure led its net losses to shrink by 71.4% to Rs 89 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 311 crore in FY23. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.06 to earn a rupee in FY24. While continuing to play out like a mid-tier software firm with low margins and a division that is a drag (the cab services), Uber India seems the closest it will ever get to profitability, especially if it acquires Blusmart mobility, as some reports will have it. Even without that, for most lay observers, it's a wonder that the firm continues to make losses, when we consider that its best in terms of service quality and ‘partner morale’ or driver satisfaction, is well behind it. Granted, the firm has had to virtually create and make up a business model as it has gone along, but considering the not insignificant role it plays in many cities in India as a service provider, the numbers are underwhelming. Selling software services to its parent has been a good fix to cover up for what has surely been a very rough ride in India so far, but the bigger tragedy is that very few people or customers will sympathise. It is frankly incomprehensible that the firm has to struggle to make enough here, and get earn nothing but criticism most of the time. As it completes a dozen years in India this year, one can only hope that the firm makes a breakthrough financially, morally and efficiency wise.

Ola ride-hailing biz falls 11% in FY24, turns EBITDA profitable

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Ola ride-hailing biz falls 11% in FY24, turns EBITDA profitable
Medial

Ola recorded a 5.5% year-on-year decline in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2024, indicating no growth during the period. Despite the revenue drop, the firm managed to turn EBITDA profitable, driven by cost reductions in employee benefits and communication costs. Ola’s revenue from operations declined 5.5% to Rs 2,012 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,128 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show. Income from Ola's ride-hailing business contributed 87.5% of the total operating revenue in FY24, but it decreased by 11.3% to Rs 1,761 crore, down from Rs 1,985 crore in FY23. Ola's financial services business recorded a 3.6X growth in FY24, with revenue increasing to Rs 227 crore from Rs 63 crore in FY23. This segment focuses on selling insurance policies and providing financing services for vehicle purchases, primarily for Ola Electric. The company also added Rs 192 crore mainly from the interest on deposits which brought its overall income to Rs 2,204 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 2,277 crore in FY23. For Ola's ride-hailing business, transportation costs made up 28.8% of total expenses. Due to reduced mobility, these costs dropped by 15.2% to Rs 607 crore in FY24. Its employee benefit expenses shrank 42% to Rs 334 crore, while telephone and postage costs fell by 28% to Rs 280 crore. Surprisingly, its spending grew 2.6X to Rs 107 crore in FY24. Its legal, rent, and other overheads took the overall cost to Rs 2,107 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,517 crore in FY23. Note: We have excluded the cost of allowance for impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets in the calculation of losses which stood at Rs 319 crore and 149 crore in FY24 and FY23, respectively, due to its non-cash in nature. Despite the decline in its ride-hailing business, Ola effectively controlled its costs, resulting in a loss of Rs 10 crore in FY24, compared to a Rs 623 crore loss in FY23. Notably, the firm becomes EBITDA profitable during the previous fiscal year. On a unit level, the company spent Re 0.89 to earn a rupee of operating revenue during the fiscal year. In August 2024, Bhavish Aggarwal announced that Ola Cabs would be rebranded as Ola Consumer, bringing together its financial services, cloud kitchens, and electric logistics under one platform. The company is also moving closer to its initial public offering (IPO). According to sources, Ola’s parent company, ANI Technologies Private Limited, has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for November 14, 2024, to discuss matters related to the IPO. However, Ola hasn’t provided an official comment on the timeline for its public listing. In August 2024, Aggarwal announced that Ola Cabs would be rebranded as Ola Consumer, integrating financial services, cloud kitchens, and electric logistics under one umbrella. The company has also faced valuation markdowns by its investors in recent years. In August 2024, Vanguard adjusted Ola’s valuation to approximately $2 billion. Earlier, the investment advisor had reduced the valuation to $1.88 billion as of November 30, 2023. This marks a significant decline from 2021, when Ola was valued at $7.3 billion.

Exclusive: LifeWell set to raise $22 Mn more led by OrbiMed

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: LifeWell set to raise $22 Mn more led by OrbiMed
Medial

Diagnosis and stem cell bank LifeWell (the merged entity of mFine and LifeCell International’s diagnostic business) is raising Rs 184 crore (approximately $22 million) in what appears to be a pre-IPO round led by existing backer OrbiMed. This will be the first round of investment for the Chennai-based company this year. The board at LifeWell has passed a special resolution to issue 43,18,865 compulsory convertible preference to issue Rs 426.71 each to raise to Rs 184 crore, as per the company’s regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. OrbiMed will inject Rs 150 crore while Cellution Biostorage will pump Rs 30 crore in LifeWell. Individuals including S. Vinod Kumar, Sanjay Singh Kumar Jain, Siremal Kothjari, and others will also invest in this round. The allotment was done on partly paid-up capital via the right basis issue which means 25% of the new round has already been injected. The rest of the amount will come as decided by the board. In July 2022, healthcare platform mFine announced its merger with LifeCell’s diagnostics business. At that time, the duo claimed to have a combined user base of more than six million. The combined entity had set a target to serve more than 50 million users by 2026. As a part of the merger, the combined entity also scooped up $80 million in funding from OrbiMed. Before that, mFine had managed to raise $75 million until its Series C round. The merger came soon after mass firings at mFine in which more than 50% of its workforce were asked to leave. mFine and LifeCell’s diagnostic business was one of the notable consolidations in the digital healthcare space since January 2020. Earlier, DocsApp was merged with MediBuddy while Pristyn Care acquired Lybrate. All of these were distressed sales. The list also includes the acquisitions of ThyroCare, Medlife and Aknamed by PharmEasy while Reliance took over NetMeds.

Safegold gross revenue nears Rs 5,000 Cr in FY23; turns profitable

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Safegold gross revenue nears Rs 5,000 Cr in FY23; turns profitable
Medial

Several digital investment platform users like Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, and more saw a huge uptick in user base in the last couple of years, mainly driven by the stay-at-home-norms during the Covid phase. Beyond the stock markets, investment in digital gold experienced a turnaround, too. This could also be evident from Safegold’s exceptional financial performance in FY23. Safegold gross revenue surged by 81.8% to Rs 4,498 crore in FY23 from Rs 2,474 crore in FY22, its consolidated financial statements filed with the Register of Companies show. Safegold is a digital platform enabling customers to effortlessly purchase, sell, and securely receive vaulted gold, even at minimal amounts. The sale of digital gold from online and offline platforms was the only source of revenue for the Delhi-based company. Notably, 79.2% of Goldsafe’s trade comprises wholesale transactions, with the remaining portion falling under retail trade. For the digital gold platform, the purchase of digital gold and related items accounted for 99.1% of the overall expenditure. In tune with scale, this cost grew 99.1% to Rs 4,459 crore in FY23 from Rs 2,443 crore in FY22. Its employee benefits, legal/professional, advertising, distribution, and other overheads took the overall cost to Rs 4500 crore in FY23 from Rs 2475 crore in FY22. See TheKredible for the detailed expense breakup. The 80% year-on-year scale and controlled expenditure helped Safegold to register a profit of Rs 11 crore in FY23 where the figures were at a loss of Rs 1 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at 46% and 0.2% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1 to earn a rupee in FY23. FY22-FY23 FY22 FY23 EBITDA Margin 0% 0.2% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹1.00 ₹1.00 ROCE -8% 46% Safegold is backed by Pravega Ventures, Beenext, a Singapore angel network, and individuals like Rajan Anandan, Roshan Angrish, Prashant Malik, and Niraj Shah. Head to TheKredible for the complete shareholding. In what is a business built on the finest of margins in a commodity as well established as gold, the company has done well to deliver high growth. But with margins set to remain slim, and profitability delivered on the back of interest income, the firm still needs work to ensure costs stay in check as volumes grow. That sounds possible in a category like Gold, especially in a bullish market for the yellow metal, making Safegold a firm to keep an eye on .

Ultrahuman income jumps 15x to Rs 107 Cr in two fiscal years

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
Ultrahuman income jumps 15x to Rs 107 Cr in two fiscal years
Medial

Wearable tech startup Ultrahuman scaled three-fold year-on-year to over Rs 100 crore during the fiscal year ended in March 2024. Moreover, the Deepinder Goyal-backed firm managed to reduce its losses by 45% in the same period. Ultrahuman's total income grew to Rs 107 crore in FY24 from Rs 30 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Ultrahuman is a self-quantification platform that provides a smart ring called Ring Air, a glucose monitoring wearable M1 Live, and a blood testing product called Blood Vision, among others. Ultrahuman recently launched its luxury Rare smart ring collection at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, featuring 18-karat gold and platinum models priced up to $2,200. It is considered one of the most expensive smart rings in the world. Income from the sale of smart rings accounted for 75% of the total revenue which stood at Rs 80 crore in FY24. The rest of the collections come from subscription income and other allied services for the Bengaluru-based company. The company also has two subsidiaries in UAE and London till FY24. Moving to its cost front, its cost of procurement of rings and related materials was the largest cost center for Ultrahuman accounting for 26% of the overall expenditure which increased 85% to Rs 38 crore in FY23. The company managed to keep the employee benefits flat and reduced its advertising cost by 38% during FY24. Its technology, freight, legal, software, server, and other overheads took the overall expenditure up by 44.6% to Rs 146 crore in FY24 from Rs 101 crore in FY23. The 3X scale and controlled expenditure helped Ultrahuman to shrink its losses by 45% to Rs 39 crore in FY24, compared to 71 crore in FY23. On a per-unit basis, the company spent Rs 1.36 to earn Rs 1 in FY24, a significant improvement from Rs 3.37 in FY23. Ultrahuman has raised over $60 million to date including its $35 million Series B round led by Deepinder Goyal and existing investors at a post-money valuation of $125 million. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Nexus Ventures is the largest external stakeholder with 17.26% followed by Blume Ventures. Its co-founders Mohit Kumar and Vatsal Singhal cumulatively owned 28.9% of the company. While the growth metrics seem inspired by its name, Ultrahuman still faces a formidable challenge of turning the corner in terms of profits. Smart ring, glucose monitoring are all fiercely competitive categories where the best narrative will win finally. With the utter dependence on outsourcing manufacturing, the business will always face external risks that are difficult to predict.

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