Bullets

Netherlands-based investor Prosus is on a valuation marathon as it works on its stakes in Indian startups. Here are the changes Prosus made:

1. Byju’s valuation slashed to $5.1 Billion. 

2. Wiped out its $38 Million investment in ZestMoney to Zero.

3. Reported an 80% rise in Swiggy’s loss which amounts to $180 million in 2022.

All these developments showcase the clouds of instability roaming above Indian unicorns for the year. To get a deep dive into the matter, click here.

The market capitalization of InterGlobe Aviation is likely to cross the ₹1 trillion threshold after reaching an all-time high on placing the single largest buy order in commercial aviation.

The market worth is currently at ₹97,921 crore, which is only 2% away from the milestone.

Along with the strong earnings rise, InterGlobe Aviation's shares have increased by 26% in the last two months. Click here to learn more about its business model.
 

Denmark’s largest, Danske Bank, is ready for a digital transformation and has hired Infosys for the task. The five-year, $454 million deal comes with Infosys acquiring Danske’s IT Centre in Bengaluru at $2 million.

Infosys will work on enhancing digital, cloud, and data facilities for Danske using its generative AI tools with “Infosys Topaz”.

With the competitor TCS bagging a $1 billion deal from NEST last week, the fight between Infosys & TCS has heated up.

Byju's audited financial statements for FY22 and FY23 would be submitted by September and December, respectively, according to the founder and CFO of the company. 

Byju's has been in the headlines every other day due to layoffs, missed loan payments, the resignation of the auditor, a delay in the results' filing, and the departure of board members.

It will be interesting to watch if the business can overcome all of its challenges or is headed to join the failed startups. 🤷‍♀️
 

Wadia Group's Go First Airlines might have had to ground its flights due to engine and financial troubles, but it's looking to take flight again but on borrowed wings!

After Go First's insolvency professional sought interim relief from the airline's creditors. Owing to this request, a borrowing of ₹425 crore has been sanctioned on top of existing debt worth ₹11,500 crore in order for the airline to handle its day-to-day operations.

Is Go First flying too close to the sun?

Foxconn’s desire to put semiconductor manufacturing roots in India might be delayed due to playing house with JV partner Vedanta. The JV seems to be in danger since Vedanta is dealing with financial instability and huge debt proportions.

The Indian government suggests the Taiwanese firm look for another collaborator from Vedanta.

Whether Foxconn finds a new partner in the nation or will continue with Vedanta despite the obvious financial trouble depends upon the iPhone manufacturing company.

Meeting the Indian PM must have had some effect on Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, as he has set an investment goal of $26 billion in India by 2030, mobilising an additional $15 billion to reach this goal.

Amazon intends to create 2 million jobs, digitise 10 million small businesses, and lead to exports worth $10 billion by 2025.

Seems like an odd move, considering the 27,000 employees laid off globally, out of which 500 were Indian, due to slowing business.

PhonePe has started allocating merchant loans in the range of ₹15,000 to ₹5 lakhs. The merchants using the PhonePe app actively for six months would be eligible for the loans.

Along with this, merchants must also process ₹25,000/month for the loan. PhonePe has gone live with over 35 million merchants with a targeted annual loan disbursal rate of ₹1,000 crores.

This new development looks like a war cry from PhonePe to Paytm! ⚔️

Due to financial misreporting and money syphoning, SEBI has inflicted a severe blow to Eros International Media. They have prohibited its CEO Pradeep Dwivedi and MD Sunil Lulla from holding any positions.

The regulatory body discovered potentially fictitious agreements and substantial amounts transferred to entities connected to the promoters. 

Eros's reputation was damaged by impairment and write-offs in their FY20 figures. 

Here’s a reminder of the dire repercussions that occur when accountability and transparency in the financial sector are compromised.
 

Three directors, GV Ravishankar, MD at Peak XV Partners, Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, & Vivian Wu of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, resigned from Byju’s Board. Along with them, Byju’s auditor Deloitte Haskins also submitted his resignation.

The rift between lenders and the EdTech unicorn has led to growing tension with shareholders.

Byju’s is negotiating with lenders for the next loan repayment, and the members seem to resemble the passengers of a sinking ship. 🛳️ 

Will Byju’s survive the aftermath?

Logistics business Delhivery seems to be losing favour among foreign investors as yet another is looking to exit the business. This time, it is the US-based private equity firm, Carlyle, after the Japanese holding company Softbank.

Carlyle is looking to sell its entire stake of 2.35%, or 18.4 million shares, at a price of ₹385.5 per share.

Retail investors still seem interested in Delhivery, as news about this stake sale led to a price spike of 7%, reaching ₹404.40.

Shein is ready for a comeback, but there are a number of terms and conditions. 

Reliance Retail will own Shein's Indian business entirely, training will be provided to produce products for global distribution.

Furthermore, Shein's operations in India will be subject to strict data storage regulations, ensuring that sensitive information remains within the country.

This strategic move aims to boost India's manufacturing sector, increase the presence of "made-in-India" goods, and generate exports worth $6 billion.
 

Online marketplace platform Olx has decided to remove 800 employees from its payroll. Based on reports, the layoffs will not be limited to any particular geography or department.

This round of firings will be a part of the 1500-employee-layoff plan that Olx declared in January.

In a change of events from the "new normal", Olx is removing these 800 employees as a result of an existing business vertical, Olx Autos, being wound up instead of rushed hiring during funding excess.

After losing a major client in USA’s Transamerica, Tata Consultancy Services is back with a bang. TCS achieved a $1 billion deal from UK’s National Employment Savings Trust, aka NEST.

TCS will use this deal to transform its scheme administration services digitally. The deal comes with an extension possibility from its initial 10 years tenure.

TCS is making its presence known loud-n-clear in the UK by grabbing multiple deals such as Marks & Spencer, Phoenix Group, and more.

BCCI published the tender for lead sponsor rights with a base price of ₹350 crore. 

The base price is lower than what Byju's paid until March. For domestic matches against Team India, for each match Byju's had paid ₹5.07 crore, and for competitions in the ICC and ACC, ₹1.56 crore. 

Byju’s is in financial trouble and still spending a lot on sponsorships. Maybe their plan is to sink in debt while making expensive advertising investments🤷‍♀️
 

Daniel Zhang, the current Chairman and CEO of Alibaba, will step down from his position in September. 

Eddie Wu, the Chairman of the Taobao and Tmall online commerce operations, will move up to CEO, while Executive Vice-Chairman Joseph Tsai will become the Chairman. 

The business disclosed its strategic choice to split into six independent companies earlier this year, giving them the freedom to seek fundraising. 

The cloud division, one of the six business groups, will be led by Zhang.
 

US-based asset management and private equity firm Blackstone is looking to bring India its biggest REIT IPO to date. The issue size of the IPO is expected to be around $800 million to $1 billion, as per reports.

The 45 million square feet of real estate under this REIT will include Blackstone's Nucleus Office Parks and properties of joint ventures formed with Panchshil Realty from Pune and Salapuria Sattva from Bengaluru.

Could REITs finally be gaining some traction in India?

500 Airbus planes were ordered by Indigo,bringing the total number of aircraft ordered to 1330. This marked the largest single purchase agreement to date.

The order is anticipated to be completed by 2030-2035, 480 planes are yet to be delivered from an earlier order. The agreement was inked on Monday at the Paris Air Show.

While the nation's smaller carriers are experiencing difficulties in running the business, we have IndiGo and Air India increasing their fleet size.
 

Is the title not hint enough about what is going on? It's BYJU'S, for crying out loud!

The EdTech platform has decided to axe around 500-1,000 more jobs in the third round of layoffs this year, sending the number of employees chopped to 4,000 for the year.

Non-sales teams and senior management will finally be hit by this round of layoffs. What's more, BYJU's sickness is spreading to its acquisitions, with employees from Whitehat Jr being asked to retire voluntarily.

Controversy is Reddit’s middle name for the year. After a mass protest over API pricing changes, Reddit now has to deal with hackers. Ransomware gang BlackCat stole 80GB of compressed data from Reddit, for which they are demanding a $4.5 million ransom along with withdrawing the API pricing changes.

An employee falling for a phishing scam on 9th February led to the hack.

Will Reddit comply with hackers’ demands or end up losing the data breach battle?