Retail investors’ bond rush; Rapido’s angels exit

Happy Thursday! Retail participation in corporate bonds is surging as platforms ramp up awareness efforts. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

Also in the letter:
■ Tata’s cleanroom deal
■ Telegram vs India govt
■ Mercedes: powered by India

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Corporate bonds are drawing a growing number of retail igrowing number of retail investors, helped by online bond platform providers (OBPPs) that are stepping up marketing and investor education efforts around the asset class.

What's happening?

• Retail investors are now putting Rs 1,500-2,000 crore into corporate bonds every month, up from about Rs 300 crore a year ago.
• Around 3-4 lakh investors have participated in the segment so far.
• More than 100,000 are active investors.

Growth drivers: Greater clarity around advertising rules has encouraged platforms to spend more on increasing awareness around corporate bonds among retail investors, said Ajinkya Kulkarni, cofounder of bond distribution platform Wint Wealth.

The listed bond market is also seeing a stronger mix of issuers. In addition, rules requiring platforms to distribute only listed corporate bonds have improved transparency, giving investors access to more information about issuers before they invest.

New entrants:

• Fintech major Groww has obtained an OBPP licence and has started offering corporate bond products.
• Oxyzo Financial Services recently acquired Rainmatter-backed online bond platform GoldenPi.

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Aravind Sanka, founder, Rapido

A larger ongoing secondary share sale in Rapido is giving some of its angel investors an exit route, with stock worth about Rs 100 crore being offered to buyers, people in the know told us.

Round details:

• Shares are being marketed to high net-worth individuals through private wealth platforms.
• This is part of a larger $730 million funding exercise that includes both primary and secondary components, which ET had reported in September.
• In May, the startup raised $240 million from Prosus, Accel and WestBridge Capital at a $3 billion valuation.
• More than 90% of the secondary portion of the wider transaction was offloaded by food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy, which had invested in Rapido in 2022.

Quote, unquote: “Secondary transactions typically happen at a discount to primary rounds… while a valuation of $3 billion is being sought, there is pushback from investors who are willing to participate in this deal,” one of the sources said.

Also Read: Rapido FY25 revenue jumps 44% to Rs 934 crore, loss narrows 30% to Rs 258 crore


Gaurav Ajmera, CEO, Vetic

Pet care startup Vetic has closed a $40 million round led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) with participation from existing backers Greenoaks Capital, tech investor Lachy Groom, and the JSW Family Office.

Fund use: “The primary use of the fresh capital will be to expand and strengthen the platform,” founder and CEO Gaurav Ajmera told ET. “A significant portion of the capital will go towards building and scaling this infrastructure.”


Venture capital firms Peak XV and Nexus Venture Partners are set to make 7-9x returns on the shares they will sell in insurtech startup Turtlemint’s upcoming IPO.

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Tata Electronics has partnered with Malaysian cleanroom specialist IAQ Group for its upcoming semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, people familiar with the matter told us.

Jargon buster: Cleanrooms are highly controlled environments used in chip manufacturing to keep out contaminants that can affect the performance and reliability of semiconductor devices.

Why this matters: For Tata Electronics, the tie-up with a firm like IAQ will help ensure the cleanroom at its $11 billion Dholera fab meets the stringent standards required for semiconductor production.

This comes as the firm expands its semiconductor ecosystem. The company recently signed agreements with equipment maker ASML and US chipmaker Intel to manufacture and package products for local markets.

Analyst take: "Cleanroom readiness is the critical bottleneck for tool installation and fab ramp-up," said Ashwath Rao, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. "Tata’s first fab will need speed, execution certainty, and fast commissioning. Tata’s immediate priority is not just building manufacturing capability but also schedule certainty for tool move-in and ramp-up.”

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Telegram founder Pavel Durov

HC asks government to present proof that justifies Telegram blocking: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response from the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Home Affairs and the National Testing agency (NTA) on messaging platform Telegram FZ-LLC’s petition challenging the government's temporary ban imposed on it ahead of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) re-examination scheduled on June 21.

‘There’s a piece of India in every Mercedes’, says CTO Jörg Burzer: The S-Class, the luxury-car maker’s top-tier offering, is one of the early models that will feature MB. OS—Mercedes-Benz’s proprietary operating system designed majorly in India.

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■ When Americans choose Chinese AI (Rest of World)

■ Huawei’s big comeback tests limits of US chip controls (FT)