Fintech’s race for soundbox domination; Gaming made affordable with OnePlay

Hello,

A rejig at OYO.

Ahead of its much-awaited IPO, two senior executives have exited the travel tech company—Ankit Gupta, CEO, OYO India, who held the position for about a year before his exit this March, as well as Mandar Vaidya, Head, OYO Europe.

In other news, electric mobility startup Ather Energy has raised Rs 900 crore via a rights issue from its existing shareholders—Hero MotoCorp and Singapore's GIC. This Monday, Hero MotoCorp, which holds a 33.1% stake in Ather, said it will invest Rs 550 crore in the electric two-wheeler maker through Series E2 Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS).

Speaking of renewable energy, the government has approved Rs 3,760 crore for viability gap funding (VGF) of up to 40% of the total capital cost to set up a 4,000 MWh battery energy storage system in India. The VGF will be released in five tranches till 2030-31 and will lead to an investment of Rs 9,500 crore. At present, India is meeting its 25% of energy demand from renewable energy, including from large hydro plants.

Meanwhile, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) has entered into a joint venture with Alia Bhatt's Ed-a-Mamma, a conscious clothing brand for kids and maternity wear, for a 51% majority stake. The partnership also aims to expand Ed-a-Mamma into a personal care and baby furniture brand.

ICYMI: The Rolling Stones are back with a new album after over 18 years! Named the Hackney Diamonds, it will feature an array of artists and contains the final recordings with the band by late drummer Charlie Watts, who appears on two tracks.

The rationale for the delay? “We were maybe a bit too lazy,” says Mick Jagger.

Hard relate.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Fintech’s race for soundbox domination
• Gaming made affordable with OnePlay
• Digital-first brands to drive apparel market

Here’s your trivia for today: Which was the first industry to use modern production methods, such as adopting machines for higher volumes of output?

Fintech

Fintech’s race for soundbox domination

Soundboxes are having their moment in the sun as small businesses in India are increasingly adopting instant audio payment confirmation devices—be it from any major fintech like Paytm, Walmart-backed PhonePe, Pine Labs, BharatPe, Mswipe, etc. 

One thing is clear: fintechs are in a race to one-up their peers by bundling services together in a cost-effective manner for smaller businesses.

Scan to pay:

• Pine Labs launched ‘Mini’—a visual and audio confirmation payments machine for merchants that allows contactless card payments and QR code scanning. 
• Meanwhile, Paytm launched ‘Card Soundbox’, a new PoS terminal that accepts card and QR code payments along with giving audio confirmations. The idea is to make card terminals affordable to smaller businesses and put all its services (soundbox, QR, card) in one device.
• A solo sound box comes free of charge, sometimes with a small upfront cost of Rs 200-300, with a monthly subscription rental (Paytm: Rs 125–150 per month; PhonePe: Re 1–49 per month). On the other hand, a basic PoS device costs around Rs 2,000.   

Startup

Gaming made affordable with OnePlay

Building a decentralised cloud gaming platform was not part of the entrepreneurial plan for Harshit Jain and Abhik Saha as their hearts were set on the OTT space. But the boom in India’s gaming space caught their eye and they decided to go all in. 

In a bid to make games like GTA and Counter-Strike more accessible to those who can’t afford gaming rigs, OnePlay is building a decentralised platform for users everywhere.

Low-budget gaming:

• In December 2022, the co-founders set up OnePlay—a decentralised cloud gaming platform that allows users to access several titles from across different stores without any advanced gaming equipment.
• While a gaming rig—the whole setup of a PC, keyboard, and a high-computing CPU—can cost anywhere between Rs 77,000 and Rs 1,00,000 to set up, users of OnePlay can experience these games for as low as Rs 39 per hour or avail of a monthly plan at Rs 499. 
• Several AAA titles like Counter-Strike and GTA, which require a device with a high graphic card to play, can be accessed via OnePlay.

Ecommerce

Digital-first brands to drive apparel market

Nearly 50 digital-first fashion brands are expected to scale beyond Rs 250 crore in revenue terms by FY28, a report titled, Digital Fashion Disruptors: Navigating the Future of Fashion, said. 

The report by Bain & Company and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail backed house of brands, TMRW, estimates that nearly 700 online-first brands exist in India today, with less than 10% having scaled beyond Rs 50 crore in revenue terms. 

GenZ driven:

• Digital-first fashion brands are likely to grow by 35% to a $10 billion market opportunity by FY28 from the current market size of $2.4 billion, the report estimates. 
• These brands will likely command a 29% share of the online fashion market, estimated to grow to nearly $35 billion by FY28, the report highlighted. 
• According to Radhika Sridharan, Partner at Bain & Company, the growth in digital-first brands will be driven by purchases from GenZ and millennial buyers, who have a propensity to shop online for these categories. 

News & updates

• Restricted: China ordered officials at central government agencies not to use Apple iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work or bring them into the office. This directive is the latest step in Beijing’s campaign to cut reliance on foreign technology and enhance cybersecurity.
• Strategic: Tata Group's consumer unit is in talks to buy at least 51% of popular Indian snack food maker Haldiram's but is not comfortable with the $10 billion valuation sought. If successfully concluded, the Indian conglomerate will directly compete with Pepsi and Reliance Retail.
• New rules: The European Commission has designated six tech giants as “gatekeepers” under its new Digital Markets Act. Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and ByteDance will have six months to bring their core platform services into compliance with obligations laid out in the EU’s DMA.

Which was the first industry to use modern production methods, such as adopting machines for higher volumes of output?

Answer: Textile.

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.