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Exclusive: PayU defers IPO plan to next fiscal year

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Exclusive: PayU defers IPO plan to next fiscal year
Medial

Digital payments platform PayU has postponed its public listing plan in this fiscal year, two sources aware of the development told Entrackr. The Prosus-owned company was earlier contemplating its initial public offering in the ongoing calendar year or H2 2024. “PayU has extended its IPO plan in the current fiscal year, although the company has finalized Goldman Sach as one of its lead bankers,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The firm has chalked out plan to go public sometime after first quarter of FY26.” PayU has been planning a public listing for the past couple of years but it deferred the plan as the Reserve Bank of India returned its payment aggregator license due to its complex corporate structure. However, the firm regained the payment aggregator license in April this year and started onboarding new merchants which was banned between January 2023 and April 2024. In India, PayU has a base of over 500,000 merchants across three business sectors: payments, credit, and PayTech. It also claims to generate over $60 billion in annualized transaction volume (TPV). As per sources, the company has been busy in readying itself for the public listing. “PayU may file DRHP in early 2025,” said another source who also wished not to be named. Queries sent to PayU didn’t elicit any response. We will update the story in case they do. Unlike FY23, PayU’s revenue grew only 11% to $444 million in the fiscal year ending March 2024 and also slipped into losses. The slow revenue growth and negative margin were the result of RBI’s restriction. PayU has been eyeing profitability and this is why it also laid off around 100 employees from its credit team, as per The Head And Tale report. Several senior employees also left the company in the past two years.

Exclusive: Increff co-founder Romil Jain quits

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Exclusive: Increff co-founder Romil Jain quits
Medial

Romil Jain, co-founder and former Chief Technical Officer of SaaS startup Increff, has left the firm, sources aware of the development told Entrackr. “Jain left Increff late last year and he’s likely to embark on a new entrepreneurial journey,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. Before founding Increff in 2016, Jain worked as a Chief Architect and Principal Engineer at DevFactory and Computer Associates. He co-founded Increff with Rahul Jain and Anshuman Agarwal. According to sources, Jain is expected to announce his new project soon. Increff has declined to comment on the story. This development coincides with the elevation of Vishal Raj as the new co-founder of the company. Raj, who has been with Increff for over seven years, is the current CTO of the company.

Exclusive: Swiggy offers 20% discount to HNIs in pre-IPO deal

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: Swiggy offers 20% discount to HNIs in pre-IPO deal
Medial

The Swiggy IPO is around the corner and the company has started preparing the ground for a debut on the stock exchange, likely after the general election. The firm turned into a public entity earlier this week and shortlisted bankers for running the IPO syndicate. While Entrackr exclusively reported about the firm’s conversion into the public entity and its financial numbers in three quarters of FY24, wealth managers on Swiggy’s behalf have been pitching a pre-IPO deal to high net-worth individuals (HNIs) to buy its shares at 20% discount on its current valuation, according to three sources aware of the details. “The company is offering shares at Rs 350 a piece and at a valuation of Rs 80,000 crore ($9.6 billion) valuation. This is roughly a 20% discount,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity According to sources, Swiggy’s current valuation stands at around Rs 1,00,000 lakh crore (over $12 billion). “The minimum investment in the round is Rs 25 lakh,” added the above-quoted person. It’s worth highlighting that US-based investor Invesco recently marked up Swiggy’s valuation up to $12.7 billion, indicating an optimistic outlook for the food tech company. It’s worth noting that it was the second markup in its value by Invesco and overall third for the Bengaluru-based foodtech decacorn. Queries sent to Swiggy did not elicit an immediate response. Swiggy booked Rs 5,476 crore in revenue from operations and Rs 1,600 crore loss during the first three quarters of the financial year FY24. Its revenue and losses stood at Rs 8,265 crore and Rs 4,179 crore, respectively, in the fiscal year ending March 2023. Meanwhile, rival Zomato’s revenue from operations stood at Rs 8,552 crore during the first three quarters of FY24. The firm, which made its public debut in 2021, also booked Rs 178 crore profit during the period. Currently, Zomato’s market cap hovers around $20.7 billion. That being said, Swiggy is marching ahead with its IPO plans as market sentiments appear to turn increasingly bullish following a year of the so-called ‘funding winter’. This is evident from recent valuation markups of several startups, including Meesho, PineLabs, FirstCry, and Ola Electric which are gearing up to go public either this year or early next year. While the sterling turnaround in peer Zomato’s numbers might give cause for optimism to Swiggy’s investment bankers, they will be aware that powering Zomato is the sharp rebound in the performance of Blinkit, its quick delivery platform. Swiggy’s Instamart by contrast, has been a laggard in the space. Lending further credence to the fact that profits on the IPO are hardly a given for investors is the matter of aggregate losses, unlike Zomato. It seems fairly certain that a successful IPO will be followed by at least a year or more of losses for Swiggy, or subdued growth, if it chooses to staunch losses. The $12 billion valuation in private markets, by that measure, seems too optimistic yet, perhaps a fairer indication of value in FY26, than in FY25, if at all.

Exclusive: PhysicsWallah in talks to acquire Drishti IAS for Rs 2,500 Cr

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Exclusive: PhysicsWallah in talks to acquire Drishti IAS for Rs 2,500 Cr
Medial

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah is in the advanced stages of acquiring offline coaching firm Drishti IAS Institute, according to three sources familiar with the matter. If finalized, this will mark the largest acquisition in the edtech space in the past couple of years. “PhysicsWallah is spending around Rs 2,500–3,000 crore to acquire the UPSC and state commissions preparatory platform,” said one of the sources, requesting anonymity. “The two companies have been in talks since January this year, and the deal is likely to be finalized soon.” The development comes at a time when PhysicsWallah is preparing for its initial public offering (IPO). The Noida-based company recently appointed three independent directors and is aiming to raise $500 million at a $5 billion valuation through the public listing. According to sources, the payment for the deal will be made in tranches and will be tied to future performance milestones. “Although we have been meeting several people from different organisations (IPO Bankers, PEs & Edtech founders) for our future plans, nothing has been finalized so far. The information you are talking about is just a rumour which shouldn't be taken seriously at all,” said Vivek Tiwari, CEO, Drishti IAS. Queries sent to PhysicsWallah did not elicit an immediate response. Drishti IAS, a 26-year-old educational platform that mainly provides offline coaching to help students prepare for the Civil Services Examination (CSE), reported Rs 405 crore in revenue with Rs 90 crore profit after tax (PAT) in FY24. Founded by Vikas Divyakirti, the Mukherjee Nagar Institute is the largest revenue contributor for Drishti IAS, accounting for 58% of the total coaching income, followed by Prayagraj, Jaipur, and Karol Bagh. On the other hand, nine-year-old PhysicsWallah has expanded into a full-fledged edtech platform offering live and recorded lectures, test series, study materials, and offline hybrid centers. The firm has raised over $300 million to date and was valued at around $2.8 billion during a $210 million Series B round in September last year. PhysicsWallah’s revenue from operations surged to Rs 1,940.4 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 744.3 crore in FY23. However, following the rising expenditure, its losses deepened over 13X to Rs 1,131 crore in FY24 against Rs 84 crore reported in FY23. The potential deal aligns with PhysicsWallah’s focus on offline coaching. Last year, the Lightspeed and WestBridge-backed company stated that it aims to achieve over Rs 1,000 crore in offline revenue by the end of FY25.

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