 Morning Dispatch |
VerSe valuation sinks; Paytm Q2 profit rises
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Happy Tuesday! Dailyhunt parent VerSe Innovation’s valuation has taken a sharp hit. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ Oracle may bring VSP to India
■ Protectt.ai takes over AIShield
■ Matiks raises $10 million
Umang Bedi, cofounder, VerSe Innovation
British investor Baillie Gifford has pegged news aggregator Dailyhunt’s parent VerSe Innovation’s implied valuation at $576 million, nearly 90% below its $5 billion peak in 2022.
Tell me more: The fund valued its 1.3% holding at $7.47 million as of August 31, down 27% since January and almost 80% over 19 months. The company valuation is extrapolated from the investment mark, rather than a fresh funding round.
The fund also cited company-specific execution challenges and the repricing of comparable listed companies behind the markdowns.
Revenue hit: VerSe’s operating revenue fell 40% to Rs 1,162 crore in FY26 from Rs 1,930 crore. Net loss narrowed 28% to Rs 699 crore as expenses fell.
Business pressure: The gaming ban hurt Dailyhunt’s advertising business and slowed Valueleaf’s growth. VerSe also lost livestreaming revenue after its Tango tie-up ended, while competition for regional-language viewers intensified.
One 97 Communications, which operates digital payments platform Paytm, reported a sharp rise in profitability in the July-September quarter, with net profit jumping tenfold as revenue grew and operating leverage improved.
Financials:
Tarun Mehta, CEO, Ather
Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy turned profitable in the July-September quarter and posted a surge in revenues as well.
Financials:
Oracle may extend a voluntary separation programme (VSP) - currently rolled out in the US - to India as the technology giant restructures its global workforce amid rising investments in AI, people aware of the matter told us.
AI-led changes: In its March earnings announcement, the company said AI-assisted code generation was enabling it to develop more software in less time with fewer people, and that it was reorganising product development teams accordingly.
Restructuring costs: Oracle’s global headcount declined by around 21,000 in FY26, according to Achyuta Ghosh, global GCC research head at HFS Research. The company’s September regulatory filing put its estimated restructuring costs at about $2.8 billion, including an additional $700 million for further planned actions.
Outsourcing push: The company is also pushing more work through technology services partners such as Wipro, the people said. Further outsourcing could create opportunities for Indian IT services firms, an industry expert said.
Protectt.ai takes majority stake in AIShield: Cybersecurity startup Protectt.ai has taken a majority stake in AIShield, a platform incubated at Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), to build solutions to secure enterprise AI systems. Protectt.ai has invested through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases.
Matiks raises $10 million in funding: Social gaming platform Matiks has raised $10 million funding led by General Catalyst. The startup will use the fresh capital to expand internationally, invest in new games and social experiences, and launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered game creation platform that will allow users to build and publish their own brain games without coding.
■ AI models cost more when you don’t use English (Rest of World)
■ Anthropic warns of 'catastrophic risk' to humankind ahead of blockbuster share listing (BBC)
■ Toyota takes on Tesla and China in humanoid robot race (FT)
Also in the letter:
■ Oracle may bring VSP to India
■ Protectt.ai takes over AIShield
■ Matiks raises $10 million
Dailyhunt parent VerSe Innovation’s valuation plunges nearly 90% to $576 million
British investor Baillie Gifford has pegged news aggregator Dailyhunt’s parent VerSe Innovation’s implied valuation at $576 million, nearly 90% below its $5 billion peak in 2022.
Tell me more: The fund valued its 1.3% holding at $7.47 million as of August 31, down 27% since January and almost 80% over 19 months. The company valuation is extrapolated from the investment mark, rather than a fresh funding round.
The fund also cited company-specific execution challenges and the repricing of comparable listed companies behind the markdowns.
Revenue hit: VerSe’s operating revenue fell 40% to Rs 1,162 crore in FY26 from Rs 1,930 crore. Net loss narrowed 28% to Rs 699 crore as expenses fell.
Business pressure: The gaming ban hurt Dailyhunt’s advertising business and slowed Valueleaf’s growth. VerSe also lost livestreaming revenue after its Tango tie-up ended, while competition for regional-language viewers intensified.
Paytm’s Q2 profit jumps 10-fold to Rs 225 crore, revenue up 28%
One 97 Communications, which operates digital payments platform Paytm, reported a sharp rise in profitability in the July-September quarter, with net profit jumping tenfold as revenue grew and operating leverage improved.
Financials:
- Net profit: Rs 225 crore versus Rs 22 crore a year earlier.
- Operating revenue: Rose 28% year-on-year to Rs 2,648 crore.
- Ebitda: Increased 90% to Rs 270 crore.
- Contribution profit: Rose 23% to Rs 1,479 crore, while indirect expenses increased 14% to Rs 1,209 crore.
Ather Energy swings to Rs 1.26 crore profit in Q2; shares rise 19%
Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy turned profitable in the July-September quarter and posted a surge in revenues as well.
Financials:
- Net profit: Rs 1.26 crore versus a loss of Rs 154.07 crore a year earlier.
- Revenue from operations: Rose 63% on-year to Rs 1,464.24 crore.
- Ebitda: Turned positive at Rs 11.3 crore, against an Ebitda loss of Rs 133 crore a year earlier.
Oracle may extend US staff separation scheme to India
Oracle may extend a voluntary separation programme (VSP) - currently rolled out in the US - to India as the technology giant restructures its global workforce amid rising investments in AI, people aware of the matter told us.
AI-led changes: In its March earnings announcement, the company said AI-assisted code generation was enabling it to develop more software in less time with fewer people, and that it was reorganising product development teams accordingly.
Restructuring costs: Oracle’s global headcount declined by around 21,000 in FY26, according to Achyuta Ghosh, global GCC research head at HFS Research. The company’s September regulatory filing put its estimated restructuring costs at about $2.8 billion, including an additional $700 million for further planned actions.
Outsourcing push: The company is also pushing more work through technology services partners such as Wipro, the people said. Further outsourcing could create opportunities for Indian IT services firms, an industry expert said.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Protectt.ai takes majority stake in AIShield: Cybersecurity startup Protectt.ai has taken a majority stake in AIShield, a platform incubated at Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), to build solutions to secure enterprise AI systems. Protectt.ai has invested through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases.
Matiks raises $10 million in funding: Social gaming platform Matiks has raised $10 million funding led by General Catalyst. The startup will use the fresh capital to expand internationally, invest in new games and social experiences, and launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered game creation platform that will allow users to build and publish their own brain games without coding.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ AI models cost more when you don’t use English (Rest of World)
■ Anthropic warns of 'catastrophic risk' to humankind ahead of blockbuster share listing (BBC)
■ Toyota takes on Tesla and China in humanoid robot race (FT)
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