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Aamra Seniors Club raises $150K in pre-seed round

EntrackrEntrackr · 2d ago
Aamra Seniors Club raises $150K in pre-seed round
Medial

Aamra Seniors Club, a Gurugram-based eldercare startup, has raised $150,000 in a pre-seed funding round from a group of angel investors. The proceeds will be used to strengthen product-market fit, build its preventive ageing framework, and expand its senior engagement centres. Founded in 2025 by Sripriya Yegneswaran and Dr. Akanksha Saxena, Aamra focuses on preventive eldercare through structured physical, cognitive, and social engagement programs. The startup currently operates its first centre in Gurgaon. Aamra claims to have recorded over 90% member retention at its centre, indicating continued participation among users. The company is also developing its Aamra CARE protocol, a framework aimed at assessing and tracking physical stability, cognitive engagement, and social connectedness among seniors.

Zomato hikes platform fee by 19% to Rs 14.9 per order

EntrackrEntrackr · 1d ago
Zomato hikes platform fee by 19% to Rs 14.9 per order
Medial

Zomato hikes platform fee by 19% to Rs 14.9 per order Food delivery major Zomato has increased its platform fee from Rs 12.5 to Rs 14.9 per order, representing a 19.2% jump as the company focuses on improving margins. The platform fee is a fixed charge levied on every order, over and above delivery charges and taxes. While the Rs 2.4 increase may appear marginal for users, it can translate into a meaningful revenue boost for the company, given the scale at which it operates. This is part of a series of hikes over the past few years. Zomato had earlier raised the platform fee from Rs 10 to Rs 12 in September 2025, before revising it to Rs 12.5. With the latest increase to Rs 14.9, the company continues to steadily expand this revenue stream. For context, Swiggy had increased its platform fees to Rs 15 in September last year. Importantly, Swiggy’s Rs 15 platform fee per order includes GST, while Zomato’s fee is charged excluding GST. Zomato first introduced the platform fee in 2023 at a nominal Rs 2 per order. Since then, it has emerged as a key lever to improve unit economics, helping the Gurugram-based company offset rising delivery costs, investments in logistics, and platform operations. The move comes as food delivery platforms look to balance growth with profitability. Instead of relying solely on commissions from restaurants or delivery charges, companies are increasingly layering additional fees to improve per-order contribution margins. For Zomato, the continued rise in platform fees underscores its strategy of incremental monetisation, where small ticket increases across a large order base can significantly strengthen its financial performance. According to the shareholder's letter of the previous quarter, the food delivery business has 24.9 million average monthly transacting customers. During Q3FY26, the food delivery business reported a 29% year-on-year growth, rising to Rs 2,676 crore from Rs 2,072 crore in Q3FY25. Overall, Eternal reported a revenue of Rs 16,315 crore with a net profit of Rs 102 crore in the quarter.

Deepinder Goyal enters billionaire club as his holding in Zomato crosses $1 Bn worth

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Deepinder Goyal enters billionaire club as his holding in Zomato crosses $1 Bn worth
Medial

Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, has entered the billionaire dollar club as the value of his holdings in the foodtech firm surpassed Rs 8,400 crore. With this, Goyal joins the ranks of Sachin and Binny Bansal, Nikhil and Nitin Kamath, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Byju’s Reveendran, and Ritesh Agarwal who hit a similar high at some point with their startups’ growth and valuation. As of March 31, 2024, Goyal owned a 4.19% stake in Zomato and had 36,94,71,500 shares. Since the Info Edge-backed firm recently hit its all time high share price ~Rs 232, the value of his personal holding crossed $1 billion. Zomato currently has a market capitalization of Rs 2,01,343 crore or $24.25 billion (as of 11.27 AM IST on July 15). With 36,94,71,500 equity shares, Deepinder Goyal’s holdings are valued at Rs 8,423 crore ($1.01 billion), as per Entrackr’s estimate. Food tech major also received shareholder approval to implement a new ESOP plan 2024 valued at $458 million. With the implementation of its new ESOP plan, the company’s total ESOP value surpassed $800 million. After Flipkart, Zomato seems to have the largest ESOP pool at the moment in the startup arena. In 2021, Oyo’s ESOP pool was worth close to $1 billion followed by Paytm, Nykaa and Policybazaar. However, value of Oyo and Paytm’s ESOP pool has nosedived since then in the wake of colossal loss in their valuations. While the holdings of bootstrapped startup’s founders such as Kamath brothers and Sridhar Vembu fortune are estimated to exceed $1 billion, Goyal has turned out to be the new entrant in the billionaire club from the VC-backed ecosystem. The good times for Zomato have continued on the stock exchange despite the company increasing its platform fees to Rs 6 in Delhi and Bengaluru. The company introduced a platform fee of Rs 2 in August last year, which was increased to Rs 5 in April, and now stands at Rs 6 per order as the firm looks to improve margin. Swiggy also spiked its platform fee to Rs 6 in the two cities. Zomato showed a robust growth in the last fiscal year (FY24) as its revenue from operations surged 71% year-on-year to Rs 12,114 crore in FY24 from Rs 7,079 crore in FY22. Moreover, the profits of the company stood at Rs 351 crore in FY24 as compared to a loss of Rs 971 crore in FY23.

Z47-backed GenWise lays off 20% of workforce

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Z47-backed GenWise lays off 20% of workforce
Medial

GenWise, an app-based online club for elders and senior citizens, has undergone layoffs across various departments, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Entrackr. “The layoffs have impacted 20% (15-20 employees) of GenWise’s workforce across functions — including tech, marketing, product, design, business, and operations,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity. “The decision came after several months in the market where they had actively engaged with potential partners (existing investors) to raise fresh funds. Unfortunately, they struggled to deliver on the traction and outcomes promised a year ago.” In June 2023, the Delhi-based startup secured $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), with additional participation from DBR Ventures, Climber Capital, and angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Suhail Sameer, and Achal Mittal. GenWise, founded by former BharatPe executives Geetanshu Singla, Nehul Malhotra, and Rajat Jain, offers a platform where seniors can connect with new friends, join engaging daily activities, and receive emotional and mental support from trained counselors. The startup claims to have built a community of more than 2 million older adults. “GenWise’s costs increased sharply following the UPI rollout, creating an imbalance between user growth and operational spending. As a result, the company was forced to take swift cost-cutting measures, which led to the recent layoffs,” said another source. In November last year, GenWise introduced UPI payments on its app through a collaboration with Axis Bank. As per sources, GenWise ventured into the UPI space, hoping to boost MAUs through broader utility. "Their primary user base shows limited adoption of digital payments, and even after introducing UPI, the growth in monthly active users remained modest." The firm has plans to expand its offerings beyond payments and add relevant fintech solutions for the elderly. Queries sent to GenWise did not elicit response until publication of the story. In addition to GenWise, several other elder care startups, including SeniorWorld, GetSetUp, 60Plus India, ElderAid Wellness, and Goodfellows, are also operating in this space.

Exclusive: Major shift in UPI as Govt may allow MDR for large merchants

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Exclusive: Major shift in UPI as Govt may allow MDR for large merchants
Medial

Exclusive: Major shift in UPI as Govt may allow MDR for large merchants As of now, the government provides 15 basis points (bps) of subsidy for UPI transactions below Rs 2,000. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Banks may soon find a monetization opportunity in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, with the Finance Ministry (FM) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likely to permit Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) collection only from large merchants. According to three sources familiar with the matter, the move is under active consideration and targets businesses handling high volumes of UPI payments. "Large merchants such as Amazon, Dream11, Swiggy, Zomato, and Zepto may soon start paying MDR to banks," said one of the sources requesting anonymity. "The Finance Ministry and the RBI are likely to define a threshold such as daily UPI transaction volume/value for MDR applicability on high-UPI transacting merchants," the source added. MDR on UPI refers to the fee that banks charge merchants for processing UPI-based payment transactions. “The new MDR slab comes with a condition that large merchants will not be allowed to pass on MDR to consumers, they must bear it as a cost of doing business,” said the person quoted above. According to sources, the discussion on applying MDR on UPI transactions has been ongoing since the last quarter of FY25. The potential move comes in response to growing concerns from banks and payment aggregators around the sustainability of UPI infrastructure, which currently operates without any revenue model and inadequate subsidy. “Banks are already bearing losses on UPI. Ongoing costs like server upgrades, tech investments, and compliance add up. Without MDR from large merchants, sustaining UPI’s growth will be difficult,” said one of the senior banking executives of a leading private bank requesting anonymity. Last year, the Payments Council of India (PCI) proposed that large merchants, already paying 2% MDR on cards, should also pay 25 bps for UPI, as subsidies aren’t needed given UPI’s popularity and lower cost. In March, PCI wrote to PM Modi highlighting that the government’s Rs 1,500 crore subsidy covers only a small part of the Rs 10,000 crore needed annually to sustain UPI. Ongoing investment in innovation, cybersecurity, compliance, and infra justifies the 25 bps MDR for large merchants. Banks used to charge 30 bps on UPI transactions before it was waived off completely by the FM in 2020. Sources say the government will likely allow banks to charge MDR on large merchants soon, but no exact timeline has been set. Queries sent to RBI and the Finance Ministry received no response. As per sources, the policy is still at a deliberation stage, and no final decision has been made by the Finance Ministry or RBI. Policy decisions may change or evolve before formal notification. Despite soaring UPI volumes, the current revenue model is unsustainable, causing strain on banks, Payment Aggregators, and Payment System Providers (PSPs). Introducing MDR could provide crucial support to banks and enable a revenue-sharing model that benefits PAs, PGs, and PSPs.

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