Dunzo defers salaries yet again; PhonePe enters stock broking

Hello,

Yet another investor exits Zomato.

On Wednesday, SoftBank Vision Fund sold a 1.17% stake in the foodtech firm in a deal valued at Rs 947 crore ($114.7 million), reported Reuters citing NSE data. The buyers include the International Monetary Fund, Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore, Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs (Singapore), Invesco Mutual Fund, and Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance.

The venture capital fund, part of Japan's SoftBank, sold 100 million shares at Rs 94.7 in bulk deals, joining other investors who are exiting Zomato. On Monday, Tiger Global sold its remaining 12.34 crore shares in the firm for Rs 1,123.85 crore.

Meanwhile, top-level executives continue to leave BYJU'S with WhiteHat Jr CEO Ananya Tripathi reportedly being the latest to move on from the edtech company. This is after several high level exits earlier this week, including CBO Pratyusha Agarwal.

Elsewhere, MediBuddy has raised an additional $18 million from existing investors Quadria Capital, Lightrock, and TEAMFund. 

ICYMI: The world’s economy plotted in one chart.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Dunzo defers salary payments again
• PhonePe enters stock broking
• Finhaat bridges financial services gap

Here’s your trivia for today: Which hairstyle is popularly associated with the phrase "business in front, party in the back"?

Quick commerce

Dunzo defers salary payments again

Quick commerce and last-mile logistics company Dunzo has further deferred the payment of outstanding salaries for its employees for the months of June and July. Employees who resigned or were laid off on or after June 1, 2023, will be paid their outstanding salaries by the first week of October.

In an email to its employees, the company said that all employees will be paid the full salary for the month of August on September 4, 2023.

Tough times:

• Dunzo had capped salary payouts for the months of June and July at Rs 75,000, affecting 15-20% of employees.
• The startup said it would pay the balance salaries at the earliest, along with 12% annual interest on the amount held back.
• The company is reportedly struggling to raise $20 million in new funding due to disagreements over valuation. It last raised $75 million in April from Reliance and Google.

Fintech

PhonePe enters stock broking

PhonePe is foraying into stock broking with the launch of a separate app—Share.Market. The app would allow retail investors to trade and invest in stocks (intraday and delivery), mutual funds and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), along with curated ‘WealthBaskets’. 

"We will work on providing that intelligence and quantitative research to get people into the market,” said Sameer Nigam, Co-founder and CEO at PhonePe. 

Creating wealth:

• Share.Market comes under PhonePe Wealth Broking led by Ujjwal Jain and Sujit Modi—co-founders of acquired wealth management platforms WealthDesk and OpenQ, respectively.
• The new app places its uniqueness on market intelligence and quantitative research-based “WealthBaskets” as "curated collections of stocks/investment products" that align with market trends.
• The brokerage is Rs 20/executed order (both delivery and intraday). There is zero brokerage up to Rs 400 on trades and nil on WealthBasket transactions. 

Startup

Finhaat bridges financial services gap

While more Indians are insured than ever before, less than 10% of rural Indians have life insurance, a PwC report shows. Finhaat is bridging this financial services gap with a financial product delivery platform for middle- and lower-income segments based in rural areas, and Tier III and IV cities.

Insuring Indians:

• Finhaat connects big financial product companies with local agents and institutions such as MFIs, NBFCs, non-profits, and other grassroots-level organisations.
• The startup digitises the sales and post-sales support. It handles distribution through tie-ups with institutions that have a presence in these areas and utilises their digital platforms to provide assistance.
• It differentiates itself with its tech-enabled service platform, especially for claims, to target the lower-income segment.

News & updates

• Resurgence: A new $900-plus Huawei smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro that launched earlier this week, has captivated China, inspiring hopes that the country’s biggest firms can overcome US sanctions seemingly designed to thwart their ascendancy.
• Litigation: A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing X, the social media service formerly called Twitter, of disproportionately laying off older workers when Elon Musk acquired the company last year.
• On a roll: Days after India’s successful moon mission, the country is now setting its sights on the Sun. According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be launched from the Sriharikota Spaceport on September 2 to study the Sun and its effect on space weather. 

Which hairstyle is popularly associated with the phrase "business in front, party in the back"?

Answer: A mullet.

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