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Qcomm’s Diwali boost; Energy startups attract funds
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Happy Wednesday! Quick commerce powered a strong festive season for D2C brands. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ Rippling steps up AI hiring in India
■ SoftBank’s India gains
■ Tata Electronics after gas leak deaths
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands across fashion, beauty and personal care (BPC), healthy snacks, gifting and puja essentials saw strong sales growth this festive season, with several doubling their sales from a year earlier, even as shoppers grew more cautious about what they bought, founders told ET.
Sales uptick:
Startups developing hardware for India's energy infrastructure are securing follow-on funding several times larger than their earlier rounds.
For instance:
What’s behind this: Risk investors are deepening their bets on energy hardware spanning grid management, storage and power electronics.
“The driver is energy security more than climate,” said Vishesh Rajaram, founding partner at Speciale Invest. “India imports most of its oil, a large share of its gas, and nearly all its battery cells, electrolyser stacks and critical power electronics.” Without domestic hardware underpinning renewables and storage, scaling those technologies could deepen import dependence, he said.
Prosus, which has invested $100 million in Sachin Bansal-founded Navi, is planning to dial up its fintech investments in India, a senior executive at the firm told ET.
It has invested around $80 million in supply-chain financing platform Mintifi and $100 million in Vastu Housing Finance over the past two years.
Quote, unquote: “You will see us over-indexing on financial services,” Ashutosh Sharma, head of Prosus India, told ET. He said the recent investments were a part of a shift that has gathered pace over the past two to three years.
San Francisco-based HR and enterprise software company Rippling is expanding its artificial intelligence laboratory in Bengaluru and ramping up hiring for senior engineering and leadership roles, India head Sonia Parandekar told us in an exclusive interaction.
Hiring now: The firm is recruiting principal engineers, senior staff engineers and senior directors, among others, as the lab builds core components of Rippling’s global AI platform, Parandekar told ET in an exclusive interaction.
“We have a really strong team here which is driving evaluation frameworks and evaluation-driven development across all of Rippling,” she said. “A lot of the infrastructure scaling and sandboxing work is also happening from here.”
India strength: India is Rippling’s largest office outside San Francisco, with about 2,000 employees, including more than 500 engineers; the rest work in customer support, operations, implementation and sales. The company launched a dedicated AI Lab at its Bengaluru campus in September.
What it does: Founded in 2016 by Parker Conrad and Prasanna Sankar, Rippling gives businesses a platform to manage HR, payroll, IT and finance operations—covering onboarding, payroll processing, benefits administration, device and software access management, and expense management.
Masayoshi Son, CEO, SoftBank
SoftBank’s India gains: Japanese technology investor SoftBank's Vision funds saw gains of nearly $400 million from its investments in Lenskart and Meesho during the September quarter, as the two Indian startups emerged among the strongest performers in its listed portfolio globally.
Tata Electronics on alert after gas leak deaths: Apple supplier Tata Electronics has been directed to review the safety performance of agencies maintaining the effluent treatment plant (ETP) at its Krishnagiri facility after three contract workers died during maintenance work.
■ Tech’s ‘vertical’ obsession doesn’t stack up (FT)
■ Chinese AI firms want Silicon Valley’s top minds. Poaching them won’t be easy (Rest of World)
■ How Jensen Huang’s years-long ties to Alice Huang enabled $7 billion-plus Nvidia chip sales to China (The Information)
Also in the letter:
■ Rippling steps up AI hiring in India
■ SoftBank’s India gains
■ Tata Electronics after gas leak deaths
Quick commerce delivers huge festive triumph for D2C brands
Sales uptick:
- Pilgrim & Open Secret doubled their sales year-on-year (YoY) during the festive period.
- Suta witnessed a 15% increase in festive sales over last year, with consumers favoring practical stock-keeping units (SKUs).
- DailyObjects reported 48% YoY growth, driven by higher-value products despite lower items per order.
- Secret Alchemist achieved 7x growth, heavily propelled by premium gift box options.
- Quick commerce emerged as the ultimate growth engine this season, accounting for up to 65% of overall sales for brands like Open Secret.
- Driven by micro-occasions and rapid delivery for gifting, platforms saw steady ordering through festival days—even stretching past midnight.
- This massive surge created a festive rush that led to longer delivery times and rider shortages in several pin codes.
Energy infra startups see bigger cheques as investors bet on sovereign play
For instance:
- Enerzolve, which makes smart meters, power conversion systems and energy storage systems, is in talks to raise $20 million from existing investors, sources told ET.
- Tan90 Thermal is in talks to raise about $10.6 million (Rs 100 crore) led by Blume Ventures, according to sources.
What’s behind this: Risk investors are deepening their bets on energy hardware spanning grid management, storage and power electronics.
“The driver is energy security more than climate,” said Vishesh Rajaram, founding partner at Speciale Invest. “India imports most of its oil, a large share of its gas, and nearly all its battery cells, electrolyser stacks and critical power electronics.” Without domestic hardware underpinning renewables and storage, scaling those technologies could deepen import dependence, he said.
Tighter risk filters guide Prosus’ new India fintech push
It has invested around $80 million in supply-chain financing platform Mintifi and $100 million in Vastu Housing Finance over the past two years.
Quote, unquote: “You will see us over-indexing on financial services,” Ashutosh Sharma, head of Prosus India, told ET. He said the recent investments were a part of a shift that has gathered pace over the past two to three years.
Rippling steps up AI hiring in India, looks to expand enterprise push
Hiring now: The firm is recruiting principal engineers, senior staff engineers and senior directors, among others, as the lab builds core components of Rippling’s global AI platform, Parandekar told ET in an exclusive interaction.
“We have a really strong team here which is driving evaluation frameworks and evaluation-driven development across all of Rippling,” she said. “A lot of the infrastructure scaling and sandboxing work is also happening from here.”
India strength: India is Rippling’s largest office outside San Francisco, with about 2,000 employees, including more than 500 engineers; the rest work in customer support, operations, implementation and sales. The company launched a dedicated AI Lab at its Bengaluru campus in September.
What it does: Founded in 2016 by Parker Conrad and Prasanna Sankar, Rippling gives businesses a platform to manage HR, payroll, IT and finance operations—covering onboarding, payroll processing, benefits administration, device and software access management, and expense management.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
SoftBank’s India gains: Japanese technology investor SoftBank's Vision funds saw gains of nearly $400 million from its investments in Lenskart and Meesho during the September quarter, as the two Indian startups emerged among the strongest performers in its listed portfolio globally.
Tata Electronics on alert after gas leak deaths: Apple supplier Tata Electronics has been directed to review the safety performance of agencies maintaining the effluent treatment plant (ETP) at its Krishnagiri facility after three contract workers died during maintenance work.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Tech’s ‘vertical’ obsession doesn’t stack up (FT)
■ Chinese AI firms want Silicon Valley’s top minds. Poaching them won’t be easy (Rest of World)
■ How Jensen Huang’s years-long ties to Alice Huang enabled $7 billion-plus Nvidia chip sales to China (The Information)
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