Mamaearth parent eyes IPO; Peak XV announces Surge 09 cohort

Hello,

Happy Dussehra to you and your family!

Several Indian companies reported their Q2 earnings, including ICICI Bank which posted a massive 36% YoY rise in net profit in July-Sep 2023. Its standalone profit reached Rs 10,261 crore.

Also, Flipkart’s consolidated loss widened to Rs 4,890.6 crore in FY23 while its net total income increased 9.4% YoY to Rs 56,012.8 crore. The Walmart-owned company’s expenses shot up 11%.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 826 points on Monday while Nifty 50 also closed 1.36% lower, largely on the back of the uncertainty caused by Israel-Hamas War, weak Q2 results, and rise in US treasury yields. The negative sentiment at the bourses resulted in a loss of Rs 7.5 lakh crore to investors, 

In other news, the Finance Ministry has projected that India will remain the fastest-growing major economy in the current financial year on the back of strong domestic fundamentals. In its Monthly Economic Review report, the ministry also noted that there are downside risks from global headwinds.  

ICYMI: Tinder will now let your friends play the matchmaker.

Lastly, Bobi, the oldest dog in history, has passed away.

A purebred Rafeiro de Alentejo, he lived for 31 years and 165 days in a calm village in Portugal.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Mamaearth parent eyes IPO on Oct 31
• Peak XV announces Surge 09 cohort
• NoBroker creating a niche

Here’s your trivia for today: Which country is located between the borders of France and Spain?

Beauty and Wellness

Mamaearth parent eyes IPO on Oct 31

Gurugram-based Honasa Consumer, Mamaearth's parent, is reportedly planning to launch its IPO on October 31, 2023, seeking to raise Rs 1,700 crore at a valuation of Rs 10,500 crore. As per Moneycontrol, while the IPO is scheduled for October 31 to November 2, the anchor portion will open on October 30. However, there is no plan for a pre-IPO round.

Market entry:

• Mamaearth had put its IPO plans to raise $200-300 million on hold due to weak market conditions in March.
• Further, in August, the D2C personal care brand was reported to raise about $120-150 million in a new funding round ahead of its planned IPO.
• Earlier, in December 2022, the company had submitted a Draft Red Herring Prospectus to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Startups

Peak XV announces Surge 09 cohort

Peak XV Partners’s scale-up programme Surge launched its ninth cohort of early-stage startups featuring 32 founders across 13 startups. Surge 09 includes two Australian startups, besides seven from India and four from Southeast Asia.

Key takeaways:

• It is the first cohort since Peak XV rebranded from Sequoia India & Southeast Asia and forayed into greater Asia-Pacific expansion with the inclusion of Australia-based startups.
• Surge has shifted its sectoral mix to more advanced technologies from consumer brands and vertical ecommerce, such as deeptech, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and quantum computing sectors.
• Indian semiconductor companies Mindgrove and InCore are poised to play significant roles in the country’s ambition to become a global semiconductor hub.

Real Estate

NoBroker creating a niche

Facing the challenge of finding an apartment with huge brokerage cost, like millions of Indians, led Akhil Gupta, Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Saurabh Garg to find a solution where a broker can't do anything, and only genuine owners, tenants, buyers, and sellers could interact. 

At TechSparks 2023, Garg, Co-founder and CBO at NoBroker, shared how it went from convincing investors about its proposition to becoming India’s first proptech unicorn with a presence in nearly six cities.

Leveraging tech:

• NoBroker is designed to be a two-sided marketplace. While transitioning online on the demand side—which comprises tenants and buyers—was simple, the same cannot be said for the supply side. This is because it comprises several senior citizen owners who were not tech-savvy. 
• Some other strategies included targeting the younger property owners who would post ads on behalf of their parents. 
• Properties on NoBroker are rented out between 3-4 hours, which would otherwise take nearly 30 days, as per Garg.

News & updates

• M&A: Reliance is nearing a deal to acquire Disney’s India business. Disney values its India business at about $10 billion, whereas Reliance views the assets at between $7 billion to $8 billion. A deal could be finalised and announced as early as next month, the Monday Bloomberg News report said.
• Fall: Nine months after Hindenburg Research flagged an 85% downside in Adani shares, Adani Total Gas Ltd. has become the first of the group’s seven listed companies to achieve that valuation. Its shares slid as much as 2.6% to Rs 575.7 on Monday, taking losses from its Jan. 24 closing of Rs 3,891.75 to 85%.
• Probe: Japan’s competition watchdog, The Japan Fair Trade Commission, is investigating Google for alleged antitrust law violations. It is examining whether Google made agreements with Android smartphone makers to share search ad-related revenue on the condition that the device manufacturer does not install a rival search engine.

Which country is located between the borders of France and Spain?

Answer: Andorra.

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